What a busy start to the year. I am in shock to see that March has pounced on us and we are almost through the first quarter. I am excited that another successful ACA 1094/1095 reporting is in the books and that everything went off without a hitch for our clients. Now we watch for law changes and keep an eye on what is happening in the HR world.
The #MeToo movement is still going strong. New cases come forward almost daily about employers struggling to follow the rules and provide the training to their employees. Most of the cases I read are just a lack of understanding for the employees of the company. As an employer, you hold the liability to your employees to provide a safe and harassment free environment. The easiest thing you can do is provide training to your current employees and any future new hires. And don’t just stop with one training but do it often. Some states have requirements on how often the employer must provide training. Make sure you are familiar with your state rules.
Unemployment rates are still at a record low which means we have more jobs than we have available bodies to fill the vacancy. If your hiring, what do you do to attract and retain employees? There are many things you can do to make it easier to attract applicants. Make sure the application process is simple. If you use LinkedIn to recruit, use the “Easy Apply” feature to reduce the candidate having to fill out unnecessary data that is already on their profile. Don’t require so much data at the door that the candidate may decide it is not worth knocking. If you require a resume’, cover letter, references, college transcripts, salary history, blood type, ok, maybe not blood type, but you see the problem. Your process should not deter someone from applying to your company.
Once you get a great employee in the door, make sure you are doing the right steps to keep them.
How often is the manager doing “Stay” interviews with their team? Most people are familiar with an exit interview where an employee that is leaving gets to vent all the things they saw wrong and why they are going to a new job. If you are doing an exit interview, it is too late to fix the problem that caused that employee to leave. Stay interviews allow you to find problems and correct them, before you lose a valuable employee.
There are many things to do to attract and retain good employees. However, if you are not looking at new ways and keeping a pulse on your culture, you may miss opportunity. What worked at one time, may not fit today’s workforce.
If you would like more information on interviewing, onboarding, or training for employees, please reach out to OmniaHR today.
