Employee Management for Small Business

Finding and keeping good employees is crucial to the success of every business, but it's not easy. This book will show small-business owners how to develop a human resources plan tailored to their needs.

Finding and keeping good employees is crucial to the success of every business, but it's not easy. This book will show small-business owners how to develop a human resources plan tailored to their needs.From hiring and orientation to developing company policies and negotiating employment contracts, this book covers the essentials of employee management.Like all the books in the 101 for Small Business series, each topic in the book is explained in simple language and is illustrated with real-world examples, checklists, and forms.Whether a business has 1 or 100 employees, the third edition of Employee Management for Small Business provides the tools and knowledge required to take an active and positive approach to maintaining an effective human resources plan.

Introduction ix1 Do You Really Need a New Employee? 11. Why Hiring Isn’t Always the Answer 12. Alternatives to Hiring 22 Preparing for Hiring 71. Determining What You Need 72. Determining the Requirements of a Position 103. Where Do You Look for Help? 114. Developing Your Recruitment Ad 193 The Law — What You Need to Know 231. The Best Person for the Job 232. Guidelines in the United States 253. Guidelines in Canada 304 The Application Form and Résumé 331. Application Forms 332. Résumés 373. Narrowing It Down 40iv Employee management for small business5 The Interview 441. Types of Interviews 452. Stages of the Interview 463. Setting up the Interview Framework 474. Using the Past to Predict the Future 536 Questioning Skills 581. Developing Rapport 582. Effective Listening Techniques 593. Observing Nonverbal Cues 614. Ten Common Questions 625. A Grab Bag of Questions 646. Conducting Legal Interviews 667. Tips for Making Your Interviews Foolproof 687 Checking — and Giving — References 711. Why Reference Checks Are Important 712. Why You May Legally Be Required to Obtain References 723. The Catch: Why Many Companies Are Hesitant to Give References 724. Avoiding the Catch-22: How to Break the Barriers and Get Good Information 735. Methods of Checking References 756. How to Establish a Program for Giving Useful Information 798 Making Your Selection 811. Common Selection Measures 812. Common Selection Criteria 823. Steps to Error-Free Selection Decisions 824. The Ten Most Common Selection Mistakes 839 Starting Employees on the Right Track 881. Making the Offer 882. Orientation and Training 883. Goals, Roles, and Reporting Lines 974. Maintaining Ongoing Contact 995. Violence in the Workplace 101Contents v10 Employee Contracts and Covenants 1031. Trademarks, Patents, and Copyright 1032. Who Owns It? 1043. Employment-at-Will 1054. Employment Contracts 1055. Nondisclosure Agreements 1076. Noncompetition Agreements 10811 Company Policies 1111. Why Does My Company Need an Employee Handbook? 1122. Watch Your Language 1133. The Handbook As a Contractual Document 1164. The Legal Review 1185. Living by the Book 1186. Some Dos and Don’ts of Preparing Your Employee Handbook 12012 Issues Related to Pay and Work Hours 1221. Issues of Money and Hours of Work 1222. Rates of Pay 12413 Dealing with Employee Absenteeism 1311. Trends in Absenteeism 1322. Examining Absenteeism 1353. Your Absenteeism Policy 1364. Combating Absenteeism 1375. Dealing with Individual Employees 13814 Performance Evaluation 1401. Job Standards 1402. Establishing Goals 1423. Feedback 1454. Formal Evaluation 149vi Employee management for small business15 When Employees Become Problems 1611. How to Create a Problem Employee 1612. Addressing Poor Performance 1643. The Disciplinary Conference 1664. Disciplinary Procedures 1675. Separation Anxiety 1686. When You Don’t Want Them to Go 1737. Exit Interviews 17616 Maintaining a Fully Functioning Workforce 1801. Individuals Have Individual Needs 1802. The Power of Communication 1813. Harvesting the Gold: How to Get Good Ideas from Your Employees 1824. Involvement in Decision Making 1855. Maintaining High Employee Morale 186Contents viiChecklists1 Creating a recruitment advertisement 212 New hire checklist 913 Company policy outline 1154 Termination action checklist 174Exercise1 Permissible pre-employment inquiries 69Samples1 Job description 92 Job specifi cations 103 Application for employment 344 Interview questions 525 Interview summary 566 Telephone reference check 777 Applicant selection summary 838 Letter confi rming employment 899 Personnel record 9310 Invention covenant 10611 Nondisclosure and noncompetition covenant 11012 Attendance record 12513 Accident/injury report 12614 Employee earnings card 13015 Performance evaluation 15116 Performance appraisal 15317 Employee self-evaluation 15618 Peer evaluation 15719 Disciplinary warning notice 16820 Disciplinary warning letter 16921 Dismissal letter 17322 Exit interview 179viii Employee management for small businessTables1 Benefi ts of social media for hiring 182 Evaluating résumés on a selection grid 413 Using the selection grid to structure the interview 424 Some prohibited areas of questioning 675 Breaks for hours worked 1236 Effectiveness and use of work-life programs 1337 Effectiveness and use of absence control programs 1338 Common jobs and job tasks and appropriate standardsfor measuring performance 142