Introduction ix
1 Do You Really Need a New Employee? 1
1. Why Hiring Isn’t Always the Answer 1
2. Alternatives to Hiring 2
2 Preparing for Hiring 7
1. Determining What You Need 7
2. Determining the Requirements of a Position 10
3. Where Do You Look for Help? 11
4. Developing Your Recruitment Ad 19
3 The Law — What You Need to Know 23
1. The Best Person for the Job 23
2. Guidelines in the United States 25
3. Guidelines in Canada 30
4 The Application Form and Résumé 33
1. Application Forms 33
2. Résumés 37
3. Narrowing It Down 40
iv Employee management for small business
5 The Interview 44
1. Types of Interviews 45
2. Stages of the Interview 46
3. Setting up the Interview Framework 47
4. Using the Past to Predict the Future 53
6 Questioning Skills 58
1. Developing Rapport 58
2. Effective Listening Techniques 59
3. Observing Nonverbal Cues 61
4. Ten Common Questions 62
5. A Grab Bag of Questions 64
6. Conducting Legal Interviews 66
7. Tips for Making Your Interviews Foolproof 68
7 Checking — and Giving — References 71
1. Why Reference Checks Are Important 71
2. Why You May Legally Be Required to Obtain References 72
3. The Catch: Why Many Companies Are Hesitant to Give References 72
4. Avoiding the Catch-22: How to Break the Barriers and Get Good Information 73
5. Methods of Checking References 75
6. How to Establish a Program for Giving Useful Information 79
8 Making Your Selection 81
1. Common Selection Measures 81
2. Common Selection Criteria 82
3. Steps to Error-Free Selection Decisions 82
4. The Ten Most Common Selection Mistakes 83
9 Starting Employees on the Right Track 88
1. Making the Offer 88
2. Orientation and Training 88
3. Goals, Roles, and Reporting Lines 97
4. Maintaining Ongoing Contact 99
5. Violence in the Workplace 101
Contents v
10 Employee Contracts and Covenants 103
1. Trademarks, Patents, and Copyright 103
2. Who Owns It? 104
3. Employment-at-Will 105
4. Employment Contracts 105
5. Nondisclosure Agreements 107
6. Noncompetition Agreements 108
11 Company Policies 111
1. Why Does My Company Need an Employee Handbook? 112
2. Watch Your Language 113
3. The Handbook As a Contractual Document 116
4. The Legal Review 118
5. Living by the Book 118
6. Some Dos and Don’ts of Preparing Your Employee Handbook 120
12 Issues Related to Pay and Work Hours 122
1. Issues of Money and Hours of Work 122
2. Rates of Pay 124
13 Dealing with Employee Absenteeism 131
1. Trends in Absenteeism 132
2. Examining Absenteeism 135
3. Your Absenteeism Policy 136
4. Combating Absenteeism 137
5. Dealing with Individual Employees 138
14 Performance Evaluation 140
1. Job Standards 140
2. Establishing Goals 142
3. Feedback 145
4. Formal Evaluation 149
vi Employee management for small business
15 When Employees Become Problems 161
1. How to Create a Problem Employee 161
2. Addressing Poor Performance 164
3. The Disciplinary Conference 166
4. Disciplinary Procedures 167
5. Separation Anxiety 168
6. When You Don’t Want Them to Go 173
7. Exit Interviews 176
16 Maintaining a Fully Functioning Workforce 180
1. Individuals Have Individual Needs 180
2. The Power of Communication 181
3. Harvesting the Gold: How to Get Good Ideas from Your Employees 182
4. Involvement in Decision Making 185
5. Maintaining High Employee Morale 186
Contents vii
Checklists
1 Creating a recruitment advertisement 21
2 New hire checklist 91
3 Company policy outline 115
4 Termination action checklist 174
Exercise
1 Permissible pre-employment inquiries 69
Samples
1 Job description 9
2 Job specifi cations 10
3 Application for employment 34
4 Interview questions 52
5 Interview summary 56
6 Telephone reference check 77
7 Applicant selection summary 83
8 Letter confi rming employment 89
9 Personnel record 93
10 Invention covenant 106
11 Nondisclosure and noncompetition covenant 110
12 Attendance record 125
13 Accident/injury report 126
14 Employee earnings card 130
15 Performance evaluation 151
16 Performance appraisal 153
17 Employee self-evaluation 156
18 Peer evaluation 157
19 Disciplinary warning notice 168
20 Disciplinary warning letter 169
21 Dismissal letter 173
22 Exit interview 179
viii Employee management for small business
Tables
1 Benefi ts of social media for hiring 18
2 Evaluating résumés on a selection grid 41
3 Using the selection grid to structure the interview 42
4 Some prohibited areas of questioning 67
5 Breaks for hours worked 123
6 Effectiveness and use of work-life programs 133
7 Effectiveness and use of absence control programs 133
8 Common jobs and job tasks and appropriate standards
for measuring performance 142