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“Do I need an employee handbook if I have a small start up business?” This is a question that I have been getting a lot lately. The answer is: Yes you do.

Even if you have a small family owned business and have employees, you still need to have one. Why? It protects you from the unknown, the what ifs, the little disagreement you have with an employee, and so on and so forth. An employee handbook is a tool. A tool, that lays out the guidelines of the firm; keeps you in compliance; helps prevent you from loosing potential law suits.

“But I trust my employees. We have a level of understanding that other businesses don’t have.” Great! I am glad to hear that. Here is my question: How fast can that trust be broken? In some cases very quickly and if you have nothing in place to protect yourself you might be in trouble, especially if the EEOC finds out or other agencies.

Do you have the cash on hand to settle a disagreement, a lawsuit, a fine? I am not talking about a few hundred dollars, I am talking about $20,000 to $200,000? And this might just be the fine, what about the costs of hiring an attorney, the legal fees and other misc. costs?

“But isn’t that why we have an LLC or liability insurance?” No. An LLC or a liability insurance policy protects your personal finances. So in other words, the employee can’t come after you, they have to go after the company. Now, I am not an expert in LLC’s or liability insurance. If you want more information I would talk with your business attorney or accountant.

“Yeah, but I AM A SMALL BUSINESS OWNER! There aren’t any compliance issues that we have to deal with.” Are you sure? “Yes I am sure, we don’t have 15 employees.” You are right, there are laws that don’t apply to you until you have 15 employees like Affirmative Action. However there are a lof of laws that do apply like: American Disability Act, Discrimination Acts, Age Discrimination Laws, Fair Labor Standards Act (Fair Pay), Sex Discrimination, Equal Opportunity Employer, Immigration and Naturalization Service Compliance, Confidentiality Compliance, Personal Days (National and State Compliance), and on and on and on. There are a lot of laws that still apply to your firm, even if you only have one employee!

An employee handbook isn’t just about being in compliance, it’s also about how to handle different situations. For instance, if you allow your employees to use either company or personal vehicle during work hours how should your employee(s) handle accidents? What type of insurance must they have to use their personal vehicle? Even better, where to go when there is a tornado, fire, hurricane, earthquake, etc. Where do you meet after the incident is over or communicate to see if everyone is alright? Who documents attendance after one of those natural disasters? Who calls the fire department? Who is CPR certified?

Even non natural disasters need to be explained too. Including where is the paper shredder, what gets shredded, where are the supplies, etc. How to open the store, how to close the store, how to handle customer compliance, etc.

Your employee handbook is more than a compliance tool. It’s an orientation tool, a resource to find information on different aspects of the firm. An employee handbook informs your staff on how you treat your employees. This won’t hurt your relationship at all, its a communication tool to make sure that everyone knows what their responsibilities are and in the event that something happens you and your staff are now prepared.

“Wow, I have never thought about that. When should I hand it out?” The employee handbook should be handed out upon the orientation process. You can use it as an outline to structure your orientation process or as reading material for your new hires.

“But how do I know if they read it or not?” That’s a great question. You may never know. That is why it’s extremely important to have them sign the acknowledgment form stating that they have read it. Why is this important? In the event that they come back and sew you, you have proof that they read and agreed to the handbook guidelines (hard evidence that can be used in court, etc.).

However, an employee handbook is not a contract of employment! Let me repeat: AN EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK IS NOT A CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT. It’s a guide for you and your staff. The best part about an employee handbook is that it can be adjusted at any time by management and should be reviewed once a year.

If you have any questions about employee handbooks or any other HR questions I answer questions live on Twitter Wednesdays and Fridays from 10am – 11am CDT. My Twitter name is TheHRExpert_Sam. If you are unable to make that time or don’t have a twitter account you can contact me through email or give me a call. Just click on my contact me page.

Recently I have seen an increase of activity regarding poor use of words when discussing disabilities in the workplace.  For your conveinence I have created a Do’s and Don’ts comparison list for you to use when training employees on disabilities in the workplace.

Do’s                                                                                                                                                  Don’ts

1. person with an intellectual,                                                                                  retarded; mentally
   cognitive or developmental                                                                                 defective
   disability
2. person who is blind; person                                                                                  the blind

   who is visually impaired
3. person with a disability                                                                                          the disabled;
                                                                                                                                             handicapped
4. person who is deaf or                                                                                              the deaf; deaf and

   hearing impaired                                                                                                      dumb
5. person who has multiple                                                                                      afflicted by MS

   sclerosis
6. person with epilepsy; person                                                                             Epileptic

   with a seizure disorder
7. person who uses a wheel-                                                                                    confined or

   chair                                                                                                                             restricted to a wheelchair
8. person with a physical                                                                                         crippled; lame;

   disability; physically                                                                                            deformed

   disabled
9. unable to speak; uses                                                                                            dumb; mute

   synthetic speech

10. person with a psychiatric                                                                                    crazy; nuts

    disability

11. person who is successful,                                                                                    has overcome his

    productive                                                                                                                or her disability; is

                                                                                                                                           courageous (when it

                                                                                                                                           implies the person has

Happy New Year to you, your family and your staff.  The other day I was thinking about my personal resolutions and then started to think about what resolutions would be for HR departments.  If you don’t have any resolutions for your department why not?  Is your department that perfect?  I highly doubt it.  What I suggest you do is sit down with your staff and seriously brain storm resolutions for the department as a whole and then have them pick a resolution for themselves, career wise.  This will help you out tramendously in getting your new year off on the right foot.  Here are some New Years HR Resolution ideas:

1.  Improve employee relations efficiency by 30%

2.  Develop an Employee Volunteer Program

3.  Survey the corporate atmosphere

4. Prepare for HealthCare reform by implementing a employee wellness program

5.  Reduce company turnover by 50%

These are just a few HR Resolutions that will help you jump start your HR Department for a successful 2010.

Last week reminded me vividly that Wisconsin has winter!  Especially for an HR Consultant, like myself who travels all the time.  With well over 12″ of snow in parts of the area I was trying to remind myself that winter is now one day shorter and that warmth would soon cover Wisconsin again.  This got me into thinking about all of HR Departments and businesses who are planning holiday parties.  A lot of businesses have been cutting back on their budgets and not even organizing their holiday parties, however there are businesses who are still putting them on.  If your organization will be having a holiday party it is absolutely vital that you do it the right way.  I am not talking about decking out the ball room with all of the trinkets, treats, and entertainment but how are you going to maintain it legally and prevent HR nightmares?

Yes this can be an HR nightmare!  Especially if alcohol is involved, employees dressing suggestively, employees failing to attend for good reason, co-workers flirting with other co-workers or even their significant other, employees brining uninvited guests or children, employees forgetting that the company holiday party is an actually company party not some wild insane dance club (see  picture to the left), etc.

Even more vital is how you are organizing the event and communicating to your employees.  There have been countless HR Managers who have been terminated because they communicated the event to the employees the wrong way.  Especially with how they title the event, like Christmas Party.  “But Sam, it is a Christmas Party.  Why would we not call it that?” you ask.  Discrimination, that is why.  Remember, not everyone celebrates Christmas.

A friend of mine sent me an email joke last week with a series of memos that were arranged by an HR Director of a company.  I won’t go into details because of the grammar, but the messages where constantly offending employees like people who celebrate different holiday traditions, eat different types of foods, people who don’t drink, etc.  Basically the HR Director offended so many people, that management terminated them immediately and the Holiday Party was cancelled.

Here is what I highly recommend if you are having one, call it “Holiday Party” and don’t have Santa there, gift exchanges, or anything related to any particular denomination.

“But Sam, how can you have a “Holiday Party” without being discriminating?”, you ask.

Here are some ideas:

1. Have festive material, like tinsel, multi colored lights, or new year decorations (No-Noes: wreaths, symbols of a particular denomination, Santa, gifts, christmas or other holiday music)
2. No Games that relate to any particular denomination, instead how about games that relate to new years or end of the year games.  This could be trivia of major events or events that happened this past year in your business, or trivia on the history of the company, or new years trivia, etc.
3. Break out into groups, pick a topic that would get people to interact and get to know each other (especially if you have a lot of employees, this is a great way for people to get know each other and their families and build relationship that will help your business out down the road, etc.) etc.

There are palethera of ways to have fun at a “Holiday or New Year or End of Year Party” just as long as you aren’t discriminating and making it an all round encompassing event. 

If you have any particular questions or need ideas for your event feel free to contact me.  Have a wonderful Holiday Season and New Years!  Enjoy!

Due to the H1N1 pandemic there has been a new bill that has been proposed in Washington.  On 11/10/2009, Seth Harris, Deputy Secretary of Labor, testified in front of the Senate on children and families regarding workplace flexibility and paid leave in the context of the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic.  He announced to the Senate that the Obama Administration has endorsed the Healthy Families Act (HFA). 

This potential law will drastically affect your business if it is signed into law.  If this passes you must allow your employees to take days off and can’t terminate them because they are sick, no matter how long they are out.  This would include parents who have to take care of their kids if they are sick or if their school is closed.  These days would not count against any personal time or vacation time.   This bill was created because of the severity of the H1N1 flu pandemic and the increase of employees being terminated because they are taking too many days off to care for themselves or their kids.

Keep your eyes peeled for further updates on this bill.  In the mean time boost up your efforts to help prevent the spread of the seasonal flu and H1N1 virus by keeping your office clean and have plenty of hand sanitizer throughout the office.  Remember you can’t discriminate against your employees for being sick, if you have specific questions about your employees being sick feel free to call me.

I have heard a lot of people talking about the Employee Free Choice Act and the changes that will come with it.  Yes, it is currently on the table in Washington, just not the number one issue on Obama’s plate.  Regardless if the bill passes or not, I can guarantee that Labor Reform will happen and businesses must prepare for it.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), is very volatile by nature.  Most people know about the NRLB, but do you know how it is structured and how it works? 

The NLRB is consist of five members, who are appointed by the President for a five-year term.  “Traditionally two of the members have management background, while two more are aligned with organized labor.”  The fifth person is a swing person, primarily used for voting purposes and may come from either side, pending on what the President decides.

The NLRB primary purpose to manage and implement new rules for unions, not laws.  This does not limit them from proposing new bills to the President.  These rules and policies arise from case decisions, decisions that can be appealed in federal court.  Normally the board doesn’t like making huge changes, the fear is that with the new NLRB members, that President Obama will put in place, will aggressively use the power to change rules and policies to reform the union marketplace.

Currently Wilma Liebman is the Board Chairperson, who often was the “swing vote” and outspoken critic of decisions from the Bush-era.  Before she appointed on the board she served as legal counsel to the Teamsters union.  There is one other person currently on the board from the Bush Administration,  Peter Shaumberg, a Republican.

Some potential nominees for the remaining seats include:

Craig Becker: A Service Employee International Union (SEIU) council member, has drawn the most fears from employers.  Why?  He is pro-union and has expressed aversion to the so-called captive audience meetings and an insistence upon “equal access” for unions.

Mark Pearce: Union-side Attorney

Once the NLRB members are in place with Chairperson Liebman, they will become a very formidable aggressive pro-union team who will presumably push for several things.  The first is eliminating restrictions on employees to communicate during work through email about forming a union.  This was put in place back in 2007.  Other employer areas of concern include the right to counsel non-union employees outside of the presence of a representative, excluding temporary workers and front-line supervisors from bargaining units, and the long-standing entitlement to permanently replace economic strikers.

So how do you prepare for this potentially strong union push?  There are several things that you need to look at and do.  Everything from discussing this with your management team, to reviewing your employee recognition program, to constantly communicating with your employees to ensure that they are happy.

I strongly suggest having a strategic planning meeting with management to established a well-rounded Union Prevention Plan.  This meeting will look at all aspects of your employee relations program.  Specifically, your employee recognition program.  Are you really paying attention to what your employees are talking about?  The following people need to be involved in this meeting:

1. CEO/President
2. Vice President
3. Human Resources Director/ Manager
4. Director of Operations
5. CFO/Controller/VP of Finance
6. Anyone else who is involved with business decision-making

I have provided a free Management Meeting Agenda outline for you to use.  This is a basic outline that can help you get started.  If you would like assistants structuring a solid agenda for the meeting that fits your business or if you have any questions on this topic, please let me know.

1. Company Secrets:  When companies lay off employees more and more employees get add responsibilities and wear many different hats to make up for the lack of staff in order to keep productivity high.  Most of the time this includes access to parts of the server and other company information that contains the secrets to the company’s secrets.  To ensure that your secrets are held in your hands and not your employees this is a perfect time to beef up your Computer, Internet and Email Usage policy and your Social Media Policy.

2. Electronic Communication Harassment: With the down turn in the economy most companies have been cutting back a lot on pay and benefits to their employees.  This has added more stress on the employees back at home with paying bills and other expenses.  Due to this situation there has been an increase in lawsuits from employees to the employer for what is classified as Text Harassment.  With the increased popularity of smart phones, PDAs and cell phones in the business climate employers are communicating a lot with their employees through text messages.  It is vital that you are communicating to your employees in full words not abbreviations like lol (laugh out loud) or np (no problem).  There are so many different types of abbreviations that many of them mean the same thing.  The best way to prevent any potential law suits to happen it is extremely important that you beef up your Cell Phone. PDA SmartPhone Policy to include specifications on texting.  Click here for a free sample policy.

3. Equal Pay: With all of the pay cuts employers are doing to save money there has been an increase in pay discrimination cases.  It is vital that if/when you do a pay cut that you do it across the board.  The best way to do this is to cut everyone’s pay, including all executives, by a percentage across the board (10%, 20%, etc).  This will help prevent law suits from happening.

Now there is another concern that you must be aware of.  When you are downsizing your staff and you are giving more responsibility to your employees it is important to national, federal and state regulations in regards to breaks.  There is more work to do with less staff and it is important that you give them their required breaks and lunch breaks.  If you don’t you are exposing yourself to potential lawsuits.  If you are unaware of the laws for your state please contact me.

4. You Are Union Bait: In my opinion this is my number one concern for businesses in today’s economic condition.  With the all of the cut backs in benefits, pay and staff business are doing and more responsibility employees are getting unions are chomping at their bits to convince employees, regardless of what industry you are in, to form a union.  Even more pressing is that the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is still actively in the process in Washington and the Federal Labor Relations Board (FLRB) (Oversees all union activity) has a new president who is extremely aggressive in forming unions and is very close with President Obama.  Unions are hurting and this is an opportune time for them to grow.  Remember unions aren’t limited to specific industries.  It is PERTINENT that you reward your employees and still have strong employee recognition program.  In fact DON’T eliminate parts or your employee recognition program, BEEF IT UP!!!  You don’t want your staff to feel rejected or not worth anything in this tough market place.  Yes it may cost you some cash; however you will be save thousands if not millions of dollars compared to what you could be paying your employees if they unionize.  If you are worried and need some advise click here.

5.  Don’t Age Discriminate!  One of the attorneys that I work with mentioned to me that there has been an astronomical increase in Age Discrimination law suits due to business cutting back on higher paid employees and the majority of these individuals are in their 60s.  I strongly recommend that when you release any employees with a severance package that you DON’T give them a generic package.  You must customize each severance package with the individual in mind.  Remember the severance packages need to comply with the Older Workers Benefits Protection Act (OWBPA).

Remember Age Discrimination doesn’t just apply to downsizing or terminations but also to comments that imply age.  I strongly recommend that you promote your employees to not tease people in the office.

6. Preparing for the Turnaround: Most businesses do a lot of cut backs in a down economy.  But how are you preparing your business for when it does turnaround?  When businesses start to hire more aggressively for top talent your employees will be more inclined to look at those opportunities.  So, how do maintain the best talent within your business?  Succession Planning.  Have a solid game plan in place to cross train employees so that they feel more valuable is vital to your future success once the economy does recover along with rewarding employees even when the market is down.

 7. Social Media Apocalypse! With the advancement in today’s technology it is vital that HR Departments stay ahead of the curve.  For instance, many businesses allow their employees to use social media to attract new business.  However, employees have been abusing these sites because it is so convenient to get information out to the market.  Having a solid social media policy and team in place is vital.  For more information check out my post on establishing a social media policy.