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    Human Resources At Its Best!
    Human Resources At Its Best!
    Human Resources At Its Best!
    Ebook262 pages3 hours

    Human Resources At Its Best!

    By Roberta Cava

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    About this ebook

    Many small companies struggle along trying to run their Human Resources function without an HR specialist on board. Most companies simply promote oneof their managers to look after that function and expect them to be able to run that department with no training in how to do so. What a mistake! A company's biggest asset is their employees and if they aren't dealt with fairly - the company fails.
    It offers detailed, proven strategies for handling the majority of Human Resource functions including:
    Hiring the right employee
    Employment Interview tips
    After the interview
    Job descriptions
    Performance appraisals
    How to keep employees motivated to do a good job
    Training and development
    Counselling interviews
    Discipline problems
    Disciplinary interviews

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCava Consulting
    Release dateApr 9, 2011
    ISBN9780975766163
    Human Resources At Its Best!
    Author

    Roberta Cava

    Roberta Cava is the author of 30 books. Two of them are international best-sellers. Her Dealing with Difficult People book was published in 1990 (23 publishers in 17 languages). She was born in Canada but now lives on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia.

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      Book preview

      Human Resources At Its Best! - Roberta Cava

      Human Resources at its best!

      - How to Manage an HR Department

      Roberta Cava

      Published by Cava Consulting

      Smashwords Edition

      Copyright 2008 - 2011 by Roberta Cava

      Discover other titles by Roberta Cava at Smashwords.com.

      This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      ISBN 9780975766 163

      If the Human Resource function in a company is second-rate, the performance of the employees working in that company can turn out to be second-rate as well. Human Resources at its Best – How to Manage an HR Department offers detailed, proven strategies for handling the majority of Human Resource areas. Chapters include:

      Hiring the right employee

      Employment Interview Tips

      After the Interview / Job Descriptions

      Performance Appraisals

      How to keep employees motivated to do a good job

      Training and Development

      Counselling Interviews

      Discipline Problems

      Disciplinary Interviews

      Human Resources at its Best – How to Manage an HR Department is an absolute must for anyone who works in or manages a Human Resources Department.

      Roberta Cava is the owner of Cava Consulting in Australia and has presented her seminars worldwide, including her most popular session: Dealing with Difficult People that has been presented to over 55,000 participants. She is the author of 30 books and will be writing more.

      BOOKS BY ROBERTA CAVA

      Non-Fiction

      Dealing with Difficult People

      (22 publishers - in 16 languages)

      Dealing with Difficult Situations – at Work and at Home

      Dealing with Difficult Spouses and Children

      Dealing with Difficult Relatives and In-Laws

      Dealing with Domestic Violence and Child Abuse

      Dealing with School Bullying

      Dealing with Workplace Bullying

      What am I going to do with the rest of my life?

      Before tying the knot – Questions couples Must ask each other

      Before they marry!

      How Women can advance in business

      Survival Skills for Supervisors and Managers

      Human Resources at its Best!

      Human Resources Policies and Procedures

      Employee Handbooks

      Easy Come – Hard to go – The Art of Hiring,

      Disciplining and Firing Employees

      Time and Stress – Today’s silent killers

      Take Command of your Future – Make things Happen

      Belly Laughs for All! – Volumes 1 to 4

      Wisdom of the World

      Fiction

      That Something Special

      Something Missing

      Trilogy: Life Gets Complicated

      Life Goes On

      Life Gets Better

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      My gratitude is extended to the thousands of companies I have helped set up their Human Resources Departments. I learned as much from them as they did from me.

      Special thanks go to the participants of my Managing the Human Resources Function seminars. They too helped me keep abreast of what was happening in the field of Human Resources in their countries.

      DEDICATION

      Dedicated to the many government departments that have kept me up-to-date relating to Human Resources matters.

      HUMAN RESOURCES AT ITS BEST!

      How to Manage an HR Department

      Table of Contents

      Introduction

      Chapter 1 – Hiring the right employee

      Shortage of good employees

      Part-time employees

      Mandate of Employers

      Mandate of Supervisors / Managers

      Mandate of Employees

      What will you offer employees for their

      services?

      How candidates will apply for vacancies?

      Employment Interview Objectives

      Hiring the new employee – Steps 1 – 14

      Stages of the employment interview

      Chapter 2 – Employment Interview Tips

      Job Descriptions

      Knowing your employees better

      Pay Equity

      Equal pay for work of equal value

      Employment Equity

      Standards of Performances

      Advantages of setting standards of performance

      Anti-Discrimination Act 1991

      Resume acknowledgement letter

      Unsuitable candidate letter

      Evaluating candidates

      Preparing for the employment interview

      Company application form

      Employee interview questions

      Testing candidates

      Panel vs individual interviews

      During the interview

      Areas for in-depth probing

      Green / red flags

      Trouble signs to watch for

      What should interviewers guard against?

      What can be asked on application forms and interviews?

      Questions often asked of women on interviews

      Why are applicants rejected?

      Transferrable skills

      Chapter 3 – After the Interview

      Reference Checks

      Important questions to ask

      Who should you contact?

      The Job Offer

      Sample job offer

      If the candidate accepts position

      The first day

      Chapter 4 – Other Human Resources Duties

      Performance Appraisals

      Planning a performance appraisal interview

      Why are Performance Appraisals held?

      How to provide the right climate

      Levels of Performance

      How often are Performance Appraisals completed?

      Who should conduct Performance Appraisal interviews?

      What information should be on an employee’s personnel file?

      Chapter 5 – How to keep employees motivated

      What motivates most employees?

      Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

      De-motivating factors

      Common ways we see anger expressed at work

      The Right of appeal

      Chapter 6 – Training and Development

      Qualities of a good trainer

      Teaching adults

      Characteristics of adult learners

      Differences in adult/child learners

      Learning process

      How to ‘lock in’ training

      One-on-one training

      Determining training needs

      Testing abilities of employees

      Dimensions tested

      Manpower planning

      Training needs of supervisors

      Learning a new skill

      Training of others

      Retention of information

      Training vs. development

      Career development

      Training procedure

      Tangible/intangible behaviour

      Setting objectives

      Sample objectives

      Identifying costs of training

      Methods of instruction

      Methods I use

      Preparing for a seminar/workshop

      Group vs. individual activities

      Technical vs. life skills

      Theoretical vs. practical training

      Bridging

      Timing of training segments

      Use of training aids

      Re-enforcement of training

      How to keep participants motivated

      Instructor’s apparel

      Presentation skills

      Training Agreements

      Chapter 7 – Counselling Interviews

      Why managers hate disciplining their staff

      Firing probationary employees

      Disciplining former peers

      Differences between counselling and disciplinary interviews

      Interview objectives

      Interview pointers

      Where should interviews be held?

      Counselling Interviews – when they are warranted

      Difficult counselling interviews

      Planning a counselling interview

      Conducting a counselling interview

      Documentation

      Follow-up

      Questioning employees

      Maintaining improved performance

      When no improvement is clear

      Chapter 8 – Discipline Problems

      Absenteeism

      Absenteeism policies

      Overlong lunch hour

      Coffee break abuses

      Smoke Break Abuses

      Personality conflicts

      Buck-passing employees

      Bottleneck employees

      Aggressive attitude

      Ethnic problems

      Personal telephone calls

      Mistake-ridden employees

      When to interfere in personal employee problems

      Employee daydreaming

      Disorganised or messy work area

      Supply theft

      Alcoholic employee

      Sexual harassment

      What is sexual harassment

      Where does sexual harassment happen?

      Who is liable for discrimination and sexual harassment?

      How does sexual harassment affect others?

      Model sexual harassment policy

      Workplace bullying

      Who are the targets of bullying?

      How to deal with workplace bullying

      Model bullying, harassment and violence policy

      Chapter 9 – Disciplinary Interviews

      Preparing yourself psychologically

      The disciplinary procedure

      Disciplinary interviews

      Conducting disciplinary interviews

      Documentation

      Types of disciplinary action

      Termination/dismissal/firing

      How to investigate an incident

      Exit interviews

      Model exit interviews

      Purpose of exit interviews

      Conclusion

      Bibliography

      INTRODUCTION

      My seminar Managing the Human Resources Function and ultimately this book evolved because I kept seeing the poor job most companies were doing in managing their Human Resources Departments. Most simply promoted one of their managers to look after that function and expected them to be able to run that department with no training in how to do so. What a mistake! A company’s biggest asset is their employees and if they aren’t dealt with fairly – the company can’t function to its full capacity.

      Human Resources includes the following

      areas:

      Ensure that all employment laws are enforced

      Writing Human Resources Policies and Procedures

      Preparing Employee Handbooks

      Hiring the right employees to fill positions in the company

      Checking references before employee is hired

      Writing Job Descriptions

      Classifying Positions

      Wage and Salary Surveys

      Manpower Planning

      Performance Appraisals

      Managing employee’s confidential Personnel Files

      Finding ways to keep employees motivated to do a good job

      Employee relations to deal with employee problems

      Liaising with management, union and employees

      Determining training needs

      Training and development of staff

      Manage training agreements

      Career development

      Conducting counselling interviews

      Conducting Disciplinary interviews

      Writing written warnings

      When necessary, firing / terminating employees

      Laying off or making positions redundant when required

      Dealing with personality conflicts between supervisors, unions and employees

      Many companies do not have proper job descriptions. They expect a simple paragraph to describe what their employees do to complete their tasks. Then they have the audacity to conduct performance appraisals when neither the supervisors nor the employee have nothing in writing about what they are evaluating. Many performance appraisals evaluate subjective, rather than objective issues. No wonder there’s chaos in some companies.

      Other HR Managers have had no formal training in how to counsel employees, yet they are responsible for the Employee Relations function of their company. They are the ones that should be mediating during disputes between staff and management. They are the liaison between unions and management.

      If they don’t take enough time when hiring employees, they’ll be setting themselves up for a period of misery. If they don’t know how to find and/or provide the necessary training employees need to do their jobs effectively – the tasks won’t be completed properly. If they ask discriminatory questions on the interview and they don’t hire the candidate – that candidate can charge the company with discrimination. And if the employee’s behaviour or productivity becomes a problem – do they have the knowledge to discipline and/or fire that employee. In many cases they don’t so companies end up in court being charged with wrongful dismissal.

      The contents of this book are not to be construed as being professional advice. Readers must always check their Federal and State laws to ensure that they are acting according to their laws. Any decision made by the reader as a result of reading this book, is the sole responsibility of the reader.

      BacktoTop

      CHAPTER ONE

      HIRING THE RIGHT EMPLOYEES

      When hiring employees, problems can occur if:

      The right questions aren’t asked on the interview;

      The interviewers aren’t knowledgeable enough to hire competent personnel; and

      References aren’t checked properly.

      Companies may end up with a bad employee who, instead of helping their company with production, cause more work in the long run. Have you hired someone and found that:

      a) They lied on the interview about how long they worked for a company?

      b) They told you they had more experience than they actually had?

      c) They didn’t fit in with the existing staff?

      d) Their work ethic left much to be desired?

      e) They weren’t able to handle the duties of the position after considerable in-house or professional training?

      f) Their supervisor was on a different wave-length than the new employee and found it difficult to get him/her to do things the way s/he wanted them done?

      g) The company required a self-starter and the employee required very detailed instructions to complete any job?

      h) The person was hired to work on the front lines dealing directly with clients but you’ve found that they don’t have the people-skills required for them to do a good job?

      i) The person whinges and complains about everything which eventually rubs off on their co-workers and causes low morale in their department?

      j) Your company has installed a new computer system, but the new employee is unwilling or unable to pick up the new technology?

      k) The person looked very presentable on the interview, but their day-to-day appearance leaves much to be desired even after several requests from his/her supervisor?

      l) The person procrastinates or is a perfectionist so that project deadlines aren’t met?

      m) The employee is a know-it-all, doesn’t follow directions, does things his/her own way and bucks the system?

      I’m sure you’ve run into the above kinds of employees in your daily work situation. Proper interviewing, screening and reference checking of the above employees would have eliminated most of those problems.

      Unfortunately it seems the more lazy and crafty the employee, the harder they seem to get rid of. So doing things right at the onset before they’re hired, is crucial. Does this take a lot of training? No, it doesn’t but it will certainly help to know how to get the information you require to choose the best candidate for the position. Some interviewers felt as if they were being interviewed by the candidate rather than the other way around, but didn’t know how to get the interview back on track.

      Shortage of Good Employees

      In addition to the pending shortage of workers, many jobs will require skills that available workers simply don’t have. In tomorrow’s high-tech workplaces, simple entry-level jobs will be almost nonexistent. The inroads of microprocessors, electronic components and the ability to read and understand technical manuals will keep many from doing what used to be simple tasks.

      Where immigrant workers in the past could be shown how to use a machine and do their job, they’re now required to read instructions, gauges, printouts and graphs so require a good command of English

      Unfortunately, many applicants for clerical positions aren’t able to pass even simple reading and math tests. While the calibre of applicants for entry-level positions is declining, the level of skills required for the same jobs is rising, creating an employee vacuum that companies are scrambling to fill. In the past, many employers saved their training dollars for their supervisory or management staff, but they’re finding it necessary to spend almost as much getting their entry-level people up to the standards they require for them to do a good job.

      Other firms find that those in entry-level positions are bored, and give poor performance. To eliminate this, they’ve initiated job rotation to keep the employees interested. Training is the answer to many of the foregoing problems. Companies will be forced to spend more money to fill the gap between job requirements and the employee’s skills and abilities. Many corporations will pay more attention to human resources because of this.

      Part-time Employees

      Companies have been hiring clerical, drafting and other people by the hour for decades. With an increasing shortage of qualified people, companies will take advantage of others they may not have considered for part-time help in the past. Although rates may be comparable to full-time salaries, the company won't have to pay bonuses, benefits or payroll taxes.

      Those who know how to use word-processors, but don't wish to work in an office setting, could have the option of working out of their homes. Their companies will provide a computer and the employee will contact the office once or twice a week, take home the work, and deliver the finished product the next time they visit the office. The use of FAX machines and e-mail even make that unnecessary.

      Temporary executives can be hired on a contract basis to fill recurring as well as one-time employment needs. For example, during a company merger, a temporary executive versed in these matters, will be hired to oversee the changeover. Another company could hire a computer expert to look after the installation of a highly sophisticated computer and in the training of staff required to run it.

      A company may decide to cut their in-house training staff down to one person who determines training needs. After doing so s/he will hire outside trainers to fill identified needs or send employees to courses provided by learning institutes.

      A part-time executive might be hired to work along with first-time entrepreneurs to help them during their critical start-up stage. Small businesses will hire a human resources expert on a part-time basis to help them with hiring initial staff,

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