Randi Frank HR Consulting

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Randi presents Sexual Harassment Prevention program to WKU students

Randi presents Sexual Harassment Prevention Training to students

Randi Frank presenting a Sexual Harassment Prevention training program for Western Kentucky University (WKU). There were over 35 students with a lively discussion. This was promoted by Dr. Victoria Gordon, Director, Center for Local Governments, WKU Political Science Department. She felt this was important for students going out into the work place to understand their rights.  In addition to explaining the WKU Policy we also discussed the Title IX regulations related to campus life.  Title IX originally was set up to make sure woman and men sports were equal on campus but now includes equitable treatment of both males and females on campus. Of course, Sexual Harassment falls under Title VII of the Civil Rights Laws.

Feel free to contact Randi Frank Consulting if you need Sexual Harassment Prevention Training for your organization.

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Four Tips for Employment Applications

1. When should you have an application for employment?

It is always helpful to have an application on file for all employees.  However, when recruiting for professionals you may want them send you a resume first and if they are being asked to come in for an interview then you will want to have them complete an application so you have more specific information like dates of previous employment, confirmation of education degrees and that they signed that they understand misinformation is cause for dismissal, etc. For entry positions you may want to start with an application to see if people can follow instructions and if they meet the minimum qualifications.

If your organization has walk in candidates then you will want to have a application for them to complete and keep on file for future vacancies.  If you have an online process then you may have the application format as a fillable PDF with the ability to attach a Resume.

2. What should be asked on the Application?

Section 1 – Personal Information

The first section should be personal information such as: Full Name, Date, Phone numbers, email, maybe city and state since most people receive information via email or phone; are they a citizen or legally authorized to work in the U.S; position they are applying for and whether they are available part-time or full-time, etc. Sometimes this section may include Military Service Dates.

Section 2 – Education

The second section should be about education including: the name of school, major or course of study, number of years completed and if they graduated, if so what type of degree.  This should include a section for high school if entry positions, technical schools or trade schools, and undergraduate and graduate schools or space for at least two colleges.

Section 3 – Experience/Past Employment

The third section should include information for past experience and past employers. It should include the name of employer; type of employer – what they do; title of position; supervisor name and contact information (email/phone); dates of employment; reason for leaving; summary of past job description with the ability to attach resume with more details. Usually you have room for four past employers with a note to add pages as needed.

Section 4 – Special skills and Job requirements

The fourth section should be about special skills needed for the position – you can leave it open for candidates to fill in or have a list of special skills such as typing speed, driver license, certificates, trade licenses; ability to operate heavy equipment, training or knowledge in certain type of technology – hardware & software, etc.

Section 5 – References

Fifth Section can include references or you can wait till they are finalist to collect this information along with information for background and reference checks. Background checks could include: credit check, drivers license check, criminal & civil court check, drug tests and physical examination depending upon the position. It would be at this time you would collect birthdates, social security numbers and other private information after you have made a pre-offer pending background check.

Section 6 – Legal Agreement/Signature

The final section would be when you have the candidate sign their application. This is where a lot of legal items are listed which say you are agreeing to this if you sign.  Some of the legal language includes;

  • Misrepresentation of information can be cause for dismissal
  • Acceptance of employment does not create a contractual obligation of employment for any set term
  • If credit checks are done candidate has a right to get a copy per the credit report laws
  • Authorization for the employer to do background and reference checks, etc.

3. What should not be on an Application form?

Most of the items that can not be on an application form are related to discrimination or privacy such as:

  • Birth date (age discrimination)
  • Gender, Marital Status, Race, disability (Title VII discrimination or ADA-Americans with Disabilities Act)
  • Many states do not allow you to ask about criminal convictions
  • New laws are being raised about not being able to ask about past salaries
  • Graduation dates (age discrimination)

4. Should you ask essay questions on an application?

 I do not recommend this – I think it should be a separate document or requested in the advertisement to be addressed in the cover letter.  For example, for an entry level position you may wish the candidates to describe their technology knowledge or skill levels with certain software.  You can also ask them to review the job description or advertisement and address how they meet the qualifications, knowledge, skill and abilities. I use a special questionnaire on many of my recruitments to find out more details about the candidates.  This is done only if they meet the minimum qualifications and is used to reduce the list of qualified candidates.  Some questions asked are:

  • Provide an example of dealing with an irate customer
  • Provide an example of a tough decision you had to make and provide details of the situation
  • Provide an example of how your have worked cooperatively with a team
  • Describe your strengths and weaknesses as it relates to this position
  • What is your proudest accomplishment in your past positions?
  • Why are you interested in this position and how does it fit into your career goals?

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Blue Blood says #Me Too

The Me Too Movement is now being focused on TV shows.  I watched Blue Bloods the other night and one of the stories was about sexual harassment in the work place. Nickie, daughter of Attorney Erin Regan and Granddaughter of Commission Regan, was the subject of sexual harassment. She started a new job as an intern.  Nickie used her father’s name Boyle to prevent special treatment as a Regan, which meant her new employer did not know she was related to a Police Family.

Her boss told her to call him Bobby and was very friendly and outgoing and was portrayed as an up-an-coming leader in the business world.  One of the other woman in the office told her not to wear too much make-up in the office or be too girly because of all the men in the office.  Nickie was surprised and asked if Bobby knew about it and the co-worker said he was no help.

Nickie was invited to dinner by the boss after work to join him and others from the office.  When she arrived, no one was there except the boss.  He said everyone stood him up.  He then got a business call that he had to take and said he had to go to his place next door and would have food brought up for him and her.  She did not go and was clearly nervous.  The next day the boss asked her what happened.  She said she didn’t think it was appropriate and he then made a move on her and tried to hold and kiss her.  She said no and pushed him away and ran out of the closed office.  She then grabbed her stuff and left the office and 3 other women followed her. Like they said it happened to me too and one person standing up allows others to stand up.

The show ended when Nickie went to her mother’s District Attorney’s office to tell her she quit her new job and 3 women followed her. Attorney Regan asked her what her boss did and if the women would talk to her office. Even though this was a television show, it happens every day in the real world just ask the Me Too Movement Members.

See Tips on Sexual Harassment Training for more information on this topic– The tips highlight training and what polices should say and what companies and agencies should do to create a harassment free workplace that treats everyone with respect.

Contact Randi Frank if you’re not sure your policy or training is up to date.
Randi can give you a quote for Sexual Harassment Prevention Training and Policy Development.

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#ME TOO MOVEMENT

The #Me Too Movement and #Times UP group has raised $21 million dollars in 60 days. This money will be used for legal assistance and other assistance for woman who can’t afford to file a claim of Sexual Harassment.  As we have said before many women don’t file claims because they can’t afford to lose their job or don’t know what to do or who to call. These funds will help them it these efforts.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – EEOC (the federal agency that handles sexual harassment complaints) conducted a study in 2015 about Workplace Harassment.  This is some of the things they found.

  • Out of 90,000 charges received by EEOC in FY 2015, one third (almost 30,000) were allegation of workplace harassment. Workplace harassment includes sexual harassment and harassment based on sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, race, disability, age, ethnic/national origin, color and religion.
  • They also found three out of four individuals who experienced harassment never even talked to a supervisor, manager or union representative about the harassing conduct mostly because the fear no one will believe and take the issue seriously.
  • The EEOC alone recovered $164.5 million for workers alleging harassment. That is money that could have been spent on increased wages, investment into growing businesses, etc. As a result of these costs every employer should be training their employees and promoting a workplace of respect.

The Me Too Movement has also attracted attention of the legislatures.  Here are two examples:

  • CT is considering changing their law which requires employers of 50 or more employees to train their supervisors. They are looking into changing it to employers of 15 employees and mandating training employees and supervisors.
  • New York is looking into changing the existing law that puts a high burden on the employee to establish a sexual harassment claim is severe or pervasive enough to be actionable. Senate Bill S7193 would amend the law to make sexual harassment and sex discrimination unlawful regardless of the severity or pervasiveness of the conduct as long as the perpetrator was motivated in whole or part by the employee’s gender. (taken from article written for SHRM by Lisa Nagele Piazza)

See Tips on Sexual Harassment Training for more information on this topic– The tips highlight training and what polices should say and what companies and agencies should do to create a harassment free workplace that treats everyone with respect.

Contact Randi Frank if you’re not sure your policy or training is up to date.
Randi can give you a quote for Sexual Harassment Prevention Training and Policy Development.

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Succession Planning Tip #7: If possible have multiple people ready to be promoted at any time.

If the talent development is working correctly, there should be many candidates gaining more skills and experience. Having multiple people prepared to move up provides you with a better pool of candidates to choose from to fill the position. It is always better to have a surplus of options, than to be left with none.

Be sure to balance the competition well because if too many candidates have to compete against each other for the same position, the employees may feel frustrated and leave if they do not get the position. To avoid this you may want to train them for other divisions and provide with them choices as well.

Questions? Contact me today!

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Job Description Tip 6

6. Job descriptions help to develop equitable and competitive compensation programs according to the skills, experience and abilities needed for the positions.

The job description describes the level of skills, responsibilities, accountability, experience and education. All of these factors determine the level of the position in relation to other positions and, therefore, the level of compensation. For example, in a point-factor job evaluation system, each job is evaluated based on compensable factors to determine the relative worth of one job to another and the appropriate pay level. Compensable factors usually encompass four categories, including skills (experience, education/training, ability), responsibility (supervisory, fiscal), efforts (mental, physical) and working conditions (location, hazards, physical demand, extremes in environment). In a word, job descriptions are the basis of job evaluation and pay structure.

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NEW – Network of Entrepreneurial Women

NEW Attended a great networking meeting with Women from NEW- Network of Entrepreneurial Women. The topic was “If I had only known these Lessons”.  Mindy Munson, President of Munson Business Interiors – an office design firm for mid to large size companies that provides office furniture and solutions.  Mindy has over 30 years of experience with this business that she started which now as grown to 24 employees and annual revenues of over $10 million. She is currently training her daughter in all aspects of the business as her succession plan for her eventual retirement.  These were some of the things she said she wished she had none when she started in business:

  1. Find your niche – what you are good at and passionate about!
  2. Understand your cash flow – find a bank that represents you and vendors that will give you a line of credit
  3. Always take the cash discount by paying your bills quickly
  4. Manage and collect your account receivables
  5. Find a smaller legal and accounting firm that can provide personal service
  6. Develop an employee handbook (this is something that we at Randi Frank Consulting can help your with)
  7. Document your procedures so if someone is out others know the process
  8. Make sure you have the right insurance
  9. When hiring look for grit, can they continue to learn and will they work hard (again Randi Frank Consulting can help you with this see our blog on Reviewing resumes & Executive Searches)
  10. You should have panel interviews so you get different perspectives from your staff on new employees (See Blog Tips on Interviewing)
  11. What gets measured get done – have goals and objectives
  12. What gets celebrated gets repeated

These are all great ideas for new businesses and entrepreneurs. If you are just staring your business call Randi Frank Consulting for your Human Resources needs. [email protected]

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Hiring an Intern Tip #4: How do you find Interns?

Tip 4 – How do you find Interns?

You’ve decided that an intern would be ideal for your company, what now? There are several ways to find interns. One of the best places to start is your local College or University. Many higher education programs now require internships (if they don’t they should). Several Universities have someone assigned to serve as the liaison for internships. If not, you can contact the department or major that is most closely related to your business (i.e. Accounting, Master’s in Business Administration, Communication, Technology, etc.).

Many professional associations have internship programs and they make direct contact with the colleges for you. Another option is your local workforce board. Many of them have youth work study programs. These are local students that often can work year round in some capacity, which helps alleviate the need to constantly train someone new.

Many firms have set up internships that require students to submit applications with the idea that after they train the intern and provide them with specific rotations in their firm they will be placed into a full time job. Since more people are talking about internships for college students there are now companies that are specifically available to find you interns for a fee and assist you with the whole process.

As a Human Resource professional and business owner, I was contacted by a University Professor who serves as the advisor to HR students. I am now getting resumes directly from students who have been referred to me by the Professor. This helps to ensure my internship opportunities match the right intern.

Questions? Contact me today!

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KY City & County Managers Association – Chapter of International City/County Management Association

I attended the KCCMA Annual Conference recently where we learned about trends in health insurance, how Hopkinsville planned for the Solar Eclipse and about Murry State University’s Martin School of Public Policy. Professor Morrison provided us an example of a municipal issue for discussion which we critiqued and talked about a better way to handle a similar situation. Then Jay McCord, a consultant, talked about Managing Multiple Generations in the Workforce.

He discussed how we have 4 generations working in the same workforce at this time. Traditionalist, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y-Millennials and the next group coming is Gen Z.  He compared it to a Salad Bowl where you have all types of people in one place and you need to get them to work together.  It is all about building relationships with each group and understanding where they are coming from – such as:

  • Traditionalist (before 1946)– Meet me – Love rules & structure- like to show their knowledge
  • Baby Boomers (1946-1966) – Call me – Want to make a difference – significant success – corner stone of Building is what they want to leave behind – leaders by influence – 10,000 retiring every day
  • Gen X – (1966-1981) email me – Smallest Generation – very individual – money, fulfilling job and health are important – they played video games for the score
  • Gen Y – (1981-2000) text me – Know technology, multi-taskers – want to change the world – community is important because they played games as a group – expect technology – use to Uber, Air BNB, Amazon, – understand services can be offered different way – will be 54% of workforce – de-institutionalize system and demand more from government
  • Gen Z – visual – You Tube

After this interesting speech we went to dinner at the Kentucky Castle – see some pictures attached.

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Southwest Woman’s Roundtable

I have been networking with a number of woman’s groups within the Louisville Metro area to make more connections for my business. I attended my first meeting of the Southwest Woman’s Roundtable a group of woman in business that focus on their businesses in the Southwest part of Louisville.  They meet each month to support each other’s business and have different speakers.  The speaker at the meeting I attended was Colonel Pamela Stevenson – U.S. Airforce (retired). Her topic was the “The Power of me – Personal Leadership that Makes the Difference”

She highlighted the issues she faced as one of the rare woman in the Airforce (it was man’s world then and she felt it still is but we can change that as woman). She highlighted a Woman’s Power:

  • Power of me is a declaration of self
  • Build a team around you
  • Believe in you
  • Be bold leaders with confidences, courage, vested interest and tenacity
  • Don’t get in your own way with excuses and negative thoughts.

She then recommended woman use their power to move your city and community forward in some way such as: empower other woman, empower girls behind us, and end racism.  Pick a cause and move forward step by step.  I enjoyed this inspirational speaker.

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Kentucky International Public Management Association for Human Resources (IPMA-HR)

I attended a meeting recently of the Kentucky International Public Management Association for Human Resources (IPMA-HR). The topic was the State of Talent Management given by Jayne Hale Jarvis of Talent Bar Recruiting, LLC. She said the days of posting/advertising a job and praying are over. In today’s environment you need to sell your organizations.

This is happening by making sure your organization is on the various social media sites to generate interest in your organization, so when you advertise the position people know it is a great place to work. Human Resource personnel need to have a sales mentality about their organizations and positions. They need to make more than one touch with potential candidates to attract their attention. This means various social media sites and various professional sites via advertising and emails.

But the talent management doesn’t stop with advertising/recruiting. You need to make sure the candidate has a positive experience throughout the recruitment process and on-boarding process. In addition you need to continue a positive atmosphere for employees so they enjoy working for your organization until they retire. Happy employees are your best sells people to help with your talent management.  Ms. Jarvis then talked about Workforce planning & retention as part of talent management including:

  • Personal assessment to get people read for promotions
  • Engaging employees
  • Recognition programs for employees
  • Stay interviews to make sure your good employees don’t leave and you help them with their goals for their careers

As Ms. Jarvis mentioned recruitment and on-boarding are very important parts of the Talent Management and Workforce planning & retention systems.  Please click on my tips for recruitment and on-boarding as part of my blogs.

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What should you do if you Experience Sexual Harassment in your Work Place?

Sexual Harassment - What should you do when it happens to you?If you have experienced sexual harassment in your workplace that are similar to the examples in the news then you need to report it.

Hopefully your agency/organization has a Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy that lets you know the proper person to approach to report your issue.  Policies should provide you with a number of options of supervisors, managers, directors or CEO’s.  Find the person you feel most comfortable with to discuss the issue. Management should have been trained to take these cases seriously (and now that everyone is talking about it in the news they should take it seriously).

An investigation should be done to give both the victim and accused the opportunity to be heard. Witnesses will also be questioned. If the investigation is determined in favor of the victim, the discipline or termination of the accuser will depend on the severity of the incident.  If the incident includes exposing oneself or constant touching of males or females then termination may be the answer.

In some cases, where the incident is limited to inappropriate comments, it is likely training will be recommended. This is the reason why training should be done and even small incidents should be reported so the environment does not become one of sexual tension in the workplace. Sexual Harassment Prevention Training will, hopefully, prevent small uncomfortable, inappropriate acts from occurring and escalating into hostile work environments where sex seems to become a job requisite.

If your agency/organization does not have a Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy then you may need to approach an Attorney or contact State or Federal Equal Employment Opportunity type agencies.

See Tips on Sexual Harassment Training for more information on this topic– The tips highlight training as well as what should be included in policies and what companies and agencies should do to create a harassment free workplace that treats everyone with respect.

Contact Randi Frank if you’re not sure your policy or training is up to date.
Randi can give you a quote for Sexual Harassment Prevention Training and Policy Development.

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So, is Sexual Harassment Happening in Regular Business Offices?

Sexual Harassment - It's not just in the headlinesYes, we have heard about the cases in Hollywood, Military, Tech World, and Political Offices but it is also happening in regular business offices. According to the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), “Sexual harassment is common in the startup community.” A NAWBO survey found that 78% of women founders surveyed said they had been or knew someone who had been harassed.

I have been teaching Sexual Harassment Prevention Training since 1995 and every time I complete a class, I learn about another case of sexual harassment. Here are just a few of the stories I have heard:

  • A young man joined a national recruitment firm. He shared a secretary with his boss. On his first week of work he had a big project that required getting a lot of documents together for a client presentation. He went to the Secretary (female) to ask for her assistance. She said she would help him only if he slept with her. He decided to do the work himself. His boss’s response was oh she is always like that!
  • Another woman told the story that her boss came on to her with flirting type of behavior. When it became more intense and she said no – he moved her out of the good job she had and moved her to another office which was like a demotion. That is called retaliation. She did hire an attorney and received a payment.
  • A young man started his first job after receiving his MBA. He was so excited about his degree and new job. On his first day he walked down the hall past a number of offices. Each of the woman he past held up a card with the number 7 to 9 rating his body. That is just as disrespectful as if it was done to a woman. Employees should be rated by their bosses only on their performance not their body parts.
  • There was a case where a CEO made crude remarks (sexual in nature or jokes) to an Administrative Assistant. She sued the agency and a Manager who witnessed these situations testified that he had heard the remarks by the CEO to the Administrative Assistant. Then the CEO terminated the Manager – the Manager sued and won for retaliation.
  • A Supervisor had sex with his Assistant and the next day that Assistant gets the plum assignment within a Team of 5 other people. Everyone on the Team knows about the Supervisor and Assistant hooking up and they are very uncomfortable working within this Team – This is called a hostile work environment.

See Tips on Sexual Harassment Training for more information on this topic– The tips highlight training, what policies should say and what companies and agencies should do to create a harassment free workplace that treats everyone with respect.

Contact Randi Frank if you’re not sure your policy or training is up to date.
Randi can give you a quote for Sexual Harassment Prevention Training and Policy Development.

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Kentucky Public Human Resources Association (KPHRS)

I joined KPHRS – Kentucky Public Human Resources Association and attended their fall conference recently. KPHRS is an association of HR professionals who work for City, County or Public Agencies. It is similar to the ConnPelra group in CT that represents the Municipal HR professionals. The Fall conference was held in Frankfort at the Kentucky Association of County Officials-KACO.

Topics covered at the fall conference included the State Pension Plan revisions that affect all municipal employees (there is one system in the State so if you move from one city to another you are still in the same pension plan). The Kentucky system includes State employees-KERS and the City/County Employees in the CERS. Unfortunately, the State has not been making their payments while the City and Counties have and the retirement system is underfunded similar to other States.

There was also a review of health benefits that was based on a survey conducted regarding usual changes in premium share and co-payments.

The last speaker, a municipal attorney, reviewed the State Freedom of Information (FOI) laws, and sexual harassment cases by vendors or customers. FOI rules in Kentucky allow Cities to charge commercial entities for copies and time spent gathering information. It also allows Cities to appeal if the request is too burdensome and only provide the information in the format they have and not put it into a requested format.

The State of Kentucky does not require by law that supervisors be trained in Sexual Harassment Prevention as is required in Connecticut. However, it is recommended that training be conducted and the policies must have a number of ways for employees to report problems. It also requires that employers make sure that employees are not being harassed by outside vendors or customers. For additional information about Sexual Harassment Prevention see my website at https://randifrank.com/category/hr-tips-techniques/sexual-harassment-prevention/

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Tips for New Leaders/New Executives Tip 8: Take Appropriate Management Classes

A promotion that changes your position from colleague to supervisor will change the working dynamic with your colleagues. Here are some tips to help you manage that transition successfully.

Take appropriate management classes to assist you with your training for the new responsibilities. You may not have extensive experience with some of your new responsibilities such as budget, human resources, supervision, finances, purchasing, or risk management, to name a few.

  1. Brush up on all the administrative functions is very important–especially if your previous position was very technical and did not include many administrative responsibilities.
  2. Remember what you liked about your good supervisors and try to incorporate their positive traits into your management style.

Learn from the mistakes of bad supervisors.

Questions? Contact me today!

Member – Louisville Independent Business Alliance

member of Louisville Independent Business Alliance

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