Randi Frank HR Consulting

HR Tips for Employers

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New Employee Orientation & Onboarding Tip 5: Make sure new employees are ready to work on the first day.

• Have the employee’s desk or other work area, and the materials needed to perform the job, set up when he or she comes into work.

• Make sure the employee has a working phone, computer, desk, chair and whatever else he or she may need for the job.

• Set up all computer protocols so the employee can sign on to organization’s Internet, intranet and specific software programs.

• Gather all the proper paperwork a new employee needs to fill out on the first day. (Outside of the usual Human Resources paperwork like department-specific forms—see the next tip about payroll forms.)

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New Employee Orientation & Onboarding Tip 4: Give new employees a tour of the office.

• Make sure new employees have a tour of the office. It’s important for them to get a feel for the company’s atmosphere, and be able to find their way around.

• As you’re touring the company, tell new employees about the functions and services provided by the different divisions so they can understand their part in the whole organization.

• During the tour, current employees can meet the new employee and help make the new employee feel welcome and part of the team.

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New Employee Orientation & Onboarding Tip 3: Provide new employees with written policies.

• Make the company’s culture, values, mission and strategies clear by providing the new employee with a guidebook/handbook and annual reports that give a nice overview of organization.

• Discuss policies, procedures and other administrative matters, and review safety plans. Include workplace violence policy, sexual harassment prevention policy, workers’ compensation program, affirmative action program, leave policies and the like.

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New Employee Orientation & Onboarding Tip 2: Make sure your new employee has a proper orientation.

• Give the new employee basic information about the company (e.g., history and mission, programs and services, working environment, and recreational and community engagement activities).

• Provide new employees with the information needed for them to learn the job. Giving new employees proper training can increase the morale of new workers and reduce turnover.

• It’s okay to use different forms of overview orientation tailored to the different needs of employees, based on their position (administrative vs. engineering, for example). Hold group job-specific orientation sessions if you have more than one person starting in a similar position at the same time.

• Be there when your new employee is introduced to his or her department head (if that did not happen during the interview process). If possible, designate a “buddy” to help him or her get acquainted with the organization.

• Along with making the new employee feel comfortable, make sure that current employees are comfortable with the new worker. Before his or her arrival, inform current employees that there will be a new employee, and tell them what department the newcomer will be in and what his or her job will include.

• Hold a small gathering to introduce new employees or take them out for lunch to make them feel welcome.

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New Employee Orientation & Onboarding Tip 1: Prepare for your new employee’s arrival.

• Confirm your new employee’s acceptance of the position.

• Make sure you know what paperwork is required and with whom the new employee will meet to complete it (e.g., Human Resources, payroll coordinator, benefits assistant).

• Stay in regular communication with your new employees via email or phone during the period between the acceptance and the start date; make sure they understand the conditions of employment and anything they need to do before their new job starts.

• Provide critical first-day information (e.g., when to arrive, where to park, where to report, what to wear, what documents to bring to complete, what the schedule will be).

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Tip 9: Performance evaluation provides information and justification for demotion, termination, or other disciplinary decisions.

Demotion, termination, and other disciplinary decisions are so sensitive that managers need to deal with these issues very carefully. All employment decisions should be based on the results of performance evaluation, which is a strong tool to protect the company from lawsuits. A manager should discuss a performance problem with the employee when it becomes obvious, and develop an action plan for improvement. If the problem persists and the manager decides to discipline the employee, he or she should document everything that could help the organization prove its position in arbitration, including the performance problem, employee feedback from the action plan, and the reason for the discipline. For demotions, terminations, and disciplinary action, one should always remember to dot the i’s and cross t’s. In others words, document, document, document.

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Q: Is less more when it comes to expressing your past education and training on a resume?

A: Another thing that hurts some applicants is their formatting, or lack of. People will put on their resumes the university they attended but they don’t list the degree. This is a huge problem because I am left unsure whether they graduated—and most positions require candidates to have a bachelor’s degree at a minimum.

When it comes to a candidate’s training and experience, I find it difficult to read when there is an overload on the resume. My advice is to focus on the training and experience that are most important and relevant to the position. When there is too much to read it becomes a challenge for the recruiter, who might just put your resume in the “not interested” pile.

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Q: Is it effective to include every detail on a resume?

A: I have done a number of searches for HR directors and I’ve been surprised at how many of them neglected specifics on their resumes. Terms such as “staffing” or “recruiting” were not included, so I had no idea what experience they had in this area. On the other hand, I have also experienced some very technical resumes, listing every project they’ve worked on, but they didn’t say what their positions were. Were they the managers? Do they have any management experience? Those are the kinds of questions a recruiter asks when reading a resume for a managerial position.

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Q: What is the benefit of a panel style interview?

A: I like panel interviews best when dealing with executive level positions compared to entry-level positions. I observe how the candidate addresses and speaks to the whole panel because speaking to groups will also be a part of their job. I recommend doing both panel and one-on-one interviews for certain positions. This way I meet with the candidate one-on-one and I can see how they behave in a group meeting, too. It is important to see them in both environments.

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Q: How does the feel of an interview change when it is one-on-one and not by telephone?

A: In one-on-one interviews, I can see the person’s characteristics come through. There is more time for sharing stories and I have the chance to get to know the candidates better. It is easier to have more of a conversation with the candidates and I can see how they handle themselves. And when it is time to move on to the next question, they can see my non-verbal cues that they need to wrap up their response, which is hard to do in a telephone interview.

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Q: What do you look for when conducting telephone interviews?

A: I have to listen for enthusiasm and the person’s tone of voice more when conducting phone interviews zovirax price. You can’t see facial expressions so it is harder to get a feel for the person’s personality. As a result, I also focus more on their knowledge because I really concentrate on what they are saying. I tell people to prepare for a phone interview by pumping themselves up for it beforehand so their voice portrays their excitement through the telephone.

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Q: What really helps a recruiter begin an executive search?

A: As a recruiter, the most important thing for me is to really get to know the organization completely. I like to understand all of the agency/company’s divisions, functions, visions, and so forth. I really work with management to find out what they are specifically looking for in their next executive. It is so important to recruit the right people. Once I know exactly what they are looking for, I can prepare a quality profile. This really helps when I am working with candidates because I can give them information about the position and about the agency/company as well. I make sure that the candidate is comfortable with the position and thoroughly informed on what the agency/company is looking for.

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Q: Why do you recommend a checklist of physical activities in your job descriptions?

A: Although it can be kind of a lengthy section, I have found a checklist of all the physical activities required on the job to be very helpful. If frequent lifting, carrying, kneeling, and so forth are part of the job, they go on the checklist at the end of job descriptions. It is an excellent document to have on file for employees to understand their physical requirements and even more important for Workers’ Compensation situations. It shows the doctors a list of things the employees do at work; then the doctor can determine, based on the employees’ injury, what they can or cannot do if they return to work. It’s a great way to reduce the time away from work because the workers can get back on the job and provide assistance in other areas within their ability.

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Q: What situations can arise from not training staff on sexual harassment?

A: A great illustration of why sexual harassment training is so crucial is a mishap at a summer camp program. At typical summer camps, the ages of staff range from 16 to 25 years old. At the camp in question, one of the older male counselors consistently made passes at a younger female counselor, and would make comments about going to a bar and dating that were inappropriate for work. This made the younger counselor very uncomfortable and when she reported it, the directors realized they needed to train the staff on sexual harassment. Because they were so young, most of the counselors hadn’t experienced a professional work environment and they weren’t aware of the severity of their actions.

Have an HR related question you would like to ask? Feel free to contact me!

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