Meeting Your Staffing Requirements For 2011

As businesses begin to inch their way out of the economic recession of the past two years, workforce planning has become more critical than ever.  Employers are concerned about recruiting and employing qualified employees to fill their specific needs and are equally as concerned that expanding their labor force too quickly and beyond their business requirements would be detrimental to their business’ longer-term successful growth.  This has always been a delicate skill for managers and one that has been wrought with lurking pitfalls of not only overextending their business’ workforce needs, but also in employing persons who are not a good fit for the job.

One method for managers to successfully overcome these pitfalls and address their requirement of increasing their labor force with skilled employees is to utilize the services of an employment services company.  By using this type of service to assist in staffing the organization at an appropriate level provides the following significant advantages to employers:

1.    The employer uses the employment services company to advertise the job, recruit, interview and qualify the skills and credentials of the employment candidates that may be considered.  This reduces employer costs of advertising the job opening, it diminishes the time associated with the employer’s collection and review of resumes, scheduling and holding interviews, administering reference and background checks, and arranging for drug screens and personality assessments when appropriate.

2.    Upon the employer’s satisfactory selection of candidates that the employment services company has presented, the employer can bring the candidate onboard as a temporary or a temporary-to-hire employee.  Under this status, they are not the employees of the employer.  They are employees of the employment services company.  Without placing the candidate on their payroll, this provides the employer with the opportunity to evaluate the candidate’s work skills, knowledge, performance, attitude, aptitude and behavior before they become considered for employment by the employer.  Until that time, the candidate is still employed by the employment services company and can be removed from the position immediately if the candidate happens not to be a good fit for the job.  Still as a temporary or temporary-to-hire employee, there are no employment taxes, unemployment compensation or worker’s compensation charged to the employer.  Under the temporary or temporary-to-hire status, since these employees are employed by the employment services company, these costs are paid by them.

The HR Office, Inc. is a comprehensive employment services and human resource consulting firm dedicated to assisting our clients in growing their business by helping them manage their human resources.

Authored by Jeffrey M. Krauss, Co-Owner.

Employee Classification For Managers

If an employer’s managers are exempt from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act, they must receive a regular salary and the employer can’t reduce that salary because they miss a few hours of work.  If, on the other hand, these managers don’t qualify for the overtime exemption, you must pay them time and one-half for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours per workweek. However, the employer is also free to reduce the managers’ pay for hours they don’t work.

To be exempt from FLSA’s overtime requirement, executive, administrative, and professional employees must meet the standard test for their classification and be paid no less than $455 a week for any week in which they perform any work, regardless of the number of days or hours worked.

The employer can’t reduce an employee’s salary for showing up late, leaving early, or taking extended lunches, unless the employer wants to risk losing that employee’s exempt status and the exempt status of employees in similar jobs.  Also the employer could potentially pay a significant amount of  back-overtime to affected employees.  To discourage employees from taking long lunches or leaving early, consider utilizing the employer’s disciplinary process to address these matters.

The penalties associated with docking an exempt employee’s salary will depend upon the circumstances associated with the reduction of salary.  If the salary deductions are based on the quality or quantitiy of work performed, the Department of Labor may view this action as a lack of intent to pay on a salary basis.  The employer could lose the overtime exemption for the employee and other employees in similar jobs for the entire period that the improper deductions were made. 

Information for this blog provided by The Bureau of National Affairs.

Content written by Jeffrey M. Krauss, Co-Owner, The HR Office, Inc.

Leadership is Key in Human Resource Management

When working with our clients, very often we find that the problems or issues they face come down to the leadership abilities of those in charge. This is true of the “big boss” right down to the supervisor on the shop floor.

What is the best way to bring about the change you are looking for in your organization?
Here are some things to think about:

1. Decide what kind of organization you want to have, then share your vision with everyone, especially those tasked with leading others.
2. Put the right people in leadership roles. Just because an employee is good at making products or providing services, does not mean they will be good at managing people. There are a variety of personality inventories which can help with employment selection.
3. Develop solid people systems and “walk the talk”. Human Resource Administration policies, procedures and consistent decisions are needed to build trust in the organization.
4. Train everyone, especially leaders. This does not mean one day programs which most often do not bring about real change. Training and learning happens many different ways, but probably the most important is communication in an open, trusting atmosphere. Help the leader understand what is expected of him/her.
5. Provide regular feedback, positive and negative, to promote learning.
6. Listen to the people in the organization and give their ideas honest consideration.

Leadership is the key!!

Salaries for Jobs; How to decide what to pay people?

Knowing what other companies pay for similar positions is an important step in establishing a competitive pay system.  Our firm recently completed the development of a salary schedule for a local biotechnology company.  We were able to gather salary data through surveys and from that build a salary schedule which will provide a basis for the company’s pay policies, decisions on pay increases and hopefully help reduce the turnover which may occur if pay is not competitive.

Prior to developing the salary schedule, we wrote job descriptions and established job levels which are important steps in building the fundamental Human Resource Management System.

Employment Services in Challenging Times

In challenging financial times like we’re experiencing, finding employment has proven to be very difficult. Searching for a job means developing a resume that properly reflects the job hunter’s work experience and sending hundreds or more of them in response to electronic job advertisements.  It means responding to any and all appropriate printed job advertisements from local newspapers and other printed sources.  It requires that the job hunter network with any business person or employer that would agree to speak with them about potential employment. All of this has placed the job hunter in a quandary, trying to figure out, after doing all of these things and they still can’t find a job, how are they going to find employment when they believe that all job search options have been exhausted.

Often, the job hunter that uses the services of an employment services company can provide themselves with additional options that were not available in their own job search.  Temporary job opportunities through employment service companies are frequently the stepping stone for a job hunter to finding a full-time job.

Employing job hunters through an employment services company, which is the method that many employers are currently using to slowly increase their workforce, provides the employer with the opportunity to examine the temporary employee’s work performance, attitude and interest.  It also provides the temporary employee with additional experience and skills that can be used in their job search.

At anytime, but especially in these challenging financial times, using an employment services company to assist in job hunting makes great sense. It provides the job hunter with one more option to finding that job.

Jeff Krauss; Co-Founder of the The HR Office Inc