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The Retail Employer

April 2006

The Hiring Process—Part Two

by David E. Nagle

The consequences of bad hiring can be significant: diminished productivity, lost opportunity costs (in time invested in training, supervision, and turnover, and the disruption, expense and uncertainty of litigation. Hiring is an investment, and skill in managing the hiring process must be acquired. Like all skills, it takes considerable training, effort and experience to develop, and a review of all of the legal considerations applicable to the hiring process would be incomplete even if we devoted the entire two day seminar to that topic. This article summarizes the author’s presentation to the Advanced Employment Issues Symposium conducted in Las Vegas. It focuses upon (a) the way in which organizing the hiring process can help reduce the risk of litigation, and (b) selected issues where legal considerations require particular attention. One step will be featured in each issue of the Retail Employer.

Generate Applicants for the Position

With respect to advertisements, keep in mind the consequences of the advertising medium and vehicle selected, i.e., TV and radio vs. Internet vs. metropolitan newspaper vs. community publications vs. specialty publications vs. approaches directed towards female and minority community. The geographic territory selected for running advertisements may have an impact upon the relevant workforce for purposes of defending against a pattern-and-practice disparate treatment claim of discrimination in hiring.

Targeted campaigns to solicit applicants may be the best way to bring out the most attractive candidates, whether the employer is looking for particular education, credentials, skills, experience, level, compensation, willingness to perform certain tasks, or to increase female and minority applicants.

This information was taken from an article by David E. Nagle of the LeClair Ryan law firm in Richmond.  He can be reached at (804) 343-4077, or dnagle@leclairryan.com.  The information originally appeared in an article he wrote for the Virginia Employment Law Letter, published monthly by M. Lee Smith Publishers, Inc.  For information on that publication, call 1-800-274-6774

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Building a Better Workforce: Dealing with Chronic Tardiness

Running a good business with a positive environment is dependent upon good training and high standards for employees. When problems arise in the workplace, it is important to identify specific problems and find solutions. Tardiness, evident in 20% of America’s workforce, reflects poorly on the individual and can negatively impact an organization. This is one issue that employers can remedy with basic knowledge of the problem and by implementing simple steps to solve it.

Arriving to work a few minutes late each day may seem unimportant, but that time adds up. By the end of the year, being a mere 10 minutes late each day is comparable to taking a week’s vacation at the company’s expense. In fact, each year, U.S. businesses lose more than $3 billion in lost time from late employees. In addition to costing the company, tardiness can also be a huge inconvenience for co-workers who have to take on the extra responsibility during the absence of the tardy employee.

Chronically late employees can inflict problems on themselves as well. Supervisors and co-workers often develop negative perceptions of them. The late employee can be seen as selfish and inconsiderate of the time of others, and they are not likely to be trusted or relied on with important responsibilities.

Employers can take precautionary steps to reduce or eliminate tardiness in the workplace. Encouraging and expecting employees to be punctual and starting meetings promptly is a great place to start. Another way to encourage punctuality is to keep employees informed of penalties for not adhering to the company’s policy on tardiness. To increase timeliness for meetings, send out an e-mail with the meeting’s agenda, location and time. After the meeting begins, allow latecomers to join, but don’t waste the time of the people who were on time by bringing late employees up to speed.

For employees who cannot seem to make it to work and meetings on time, individual coaching may be necessary. This may require as little as stating the obvious to an employee. For example, if they are always 15 minutes late, they need to leave for work 20 minutes earlier.

Employers who have tardiness problems should also make individual changes to meet the requirements of the company. Being a good example of timely behavior is a great way to lead employees to do the same. The best way to begin is to create a plan. As the adage goes, failing to prepare is preparing to fail. That’s why planning ahead and making time each day to arrive early is so important.

Building a productive workplace can be achieved with good leadership. Remember that creating an expectation of how employees should value their time starts with employers. For more information on workplace issues and how to address them, read next month’s article on building a better workforce.

This article is reprinted with permission of www.ExpressPersonnel.com . Contact Mr. Lars Nordin at Lars.Nordin@ExpressPersonnel.com if you would like to be added to their distribution list.

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Questions to Dr. Wally—Hiring the Temp

Question:

I recently hired a person to manage the front office. When the old office manager left unexpectedly "Sue" began as a temporary. She seemed to be working out, so I hired her after a couple of months. Unfortunately, some of her shortcomings that were OK on a temporary basis are not so on a permanent basis. How should I handle this? I feel some responsibility to Sue for this mess, but I really need the work done. Short Sighted

Dr. Wally's Answer:

What you describe is one of the most common traps associated with the hiring process – hoping you will get what you think you see.  For some strange reason, we have a tendency to look at a person, listen for a few minutes, and then make a judgment as to who and what they are.  Sorry, it doesn’t work that way.

You were in a jam and needed someone.  Sue was there so you glossed over her shortcomings and hired her. What you have to do now is determine if her poor performance is due to lack of direction or limits in her capacity.

I suggest you start taking corrective actions.  Ask her to explain her job to you as she sees it.  Also, ask her what her strengths and weaknesses are in getting the work done.  If she does not see her shortcomings, you will need to point them out.  Then work with her on a plan to correct the problems.  If you are successful with Sue you will have the effective manager you need and if not you will have to find a new person.  

This is reprinted with permission of Dr. Wallace Johnston. You may contact Dr. Wally at DrWally@AskDrWally.com.

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