Human Resources Management Blog

By Margaret Jacoby, MJ Management Solutions

Like many other areas of life and business, human resources has a unique life cycle. However, instead of focusing on the biological aspects of development, the HR life cycle involves the stages employees go through and the role HR takes on during those stages.

Each stage of the human resources life cycle has its own challenges, opportunities, and benefits. For instance, if your small business is experiencing excessive employee turnover, it’s likely that the Motivation stage of the HR life cycle needs attention. If an employee’s skills aren’t improving, you will want to address the Evaluation stage.

When there’s a breakdown at any stage of the cycle, you need to take the necessary steps to correct the problem so both your employees and your business continue to grow.

The Circle of Life For Your Small Business

The typical employee experiences five different stages during their employment with your business:

Recruitment

Education

Motivation

Evaluation

Celebration

By Margaret Jacoby, MJ Management Solutions

While there are many laws that apply to businesses of all sizes, others are based on the number of employees you have. As a small business owner, it’s hard to keep up with these changing laws—especially if your business is going through a rapid growth and hiring phase. But while you’re hiring additional staff, make sure to verify you’re in compliance with the law. Not following it could result in fines, a loss of business license, or even a lawsuit.

Staying in compliance demonstrates that you know what is right and take the responsibility seriously. You not only protect your company but your employees as well. If you are fined significantly, you may not be able to retain employees and your resources may become depleted.

By Margaret Jacoby, MJ Management Solutions

Baby Boomers are one of five generations you’re likely to have in your small business—alongside the Traditionalists, Generation X, Generation Y, and Generation Z employees. Catering to all of these generations isn’t easy; it requires you to tailor your policies and management practices to suit the needs of each group. Baby Boomers, who are likely in leadership roles within your company, aren’t retiring just yet. It’s in your best interest to accommodate their needs just as much as the younger generations.

Who Are the Baby Boomers? Baby Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, are the largest living generation and most likely dominate the higher-level positions in your small business. Common traits of Baby Boomers include being:

Work-centric: By and large, they’re workaholics who define themselves by their professional accomplishments. They believe younger generations should pay their dues, and may criticize them for a lack of work ethic and commitment to the company.

Goal-oriented: Baby Boomers thrive on achievements, are dedicated to the company for which they work, and are extremely focused on getting ahead in their careers. They want to know they’re making a difference and like to take on challenging projects.

Independent: Baby Boomers are confident and self-reliant. After growing up in an era of reform where they questioned authority systems, they welcome confrontation and don’t shy away from challenging established practices within the company.

Competitive: Since they equate their self-worth with their position and work accomplishments, competition is high among Baby Boomers. They believe in a hierarchical structure, and may fault younger generations for trends towards workplace flexibility.

By Margaret Jacoby, MJ Management Solutions

You have to follow many regulations as a small business owner—many of which apply to your employees. There are at least twenty state and federal laws applicable to small businesses that employ fifteen or fewer employees. With several of these regulations changing in 2015, you need to make sure you’re in full compliance to avoid costly penalties.

By Margaret Jacoby, MJ Management Solutions

Most small business owners have little time to attend seminars and train themselves on becoming an interviewing expert. But hiring the right people can dramatically impact the success of your business. The interview is the prime time to measure a candidate’s skill level and see if he or she is a great fit for your company. However, conducting an interview without preparation can result in choosing the wrong candidate or, worse, landing in some legal hot water.

As a small business owner, there’s a lot of information out there on interviewing. But these are some key interview tips to help you hire the right employee to help build your business.

By Margaret Jacoby, MJ Management Solutions

The Traditionalist generation, also known as the veterans and the silent generation, are all about building a lifetime career. They are devoted to a single employer and expect that employer to be loyal to them until they retire. It’s likely that you have a Traditionalist (or more) in your small business. While they were born before 1945, these hard workers will continue to work until they can’t. Unlike your Generation X and Millennial employees, however, traditionalist have much different needs and requirements.

Understanding the Traditionalist Generation

Traditionalists were born between 1922 and 1945, and those still in the workforce have extreme respect for authority. They will stick to the rules you give them, and they take pride in their work. In fact, despite their age, they’re probably some of your small business’ hardest working employees. They do, however, demand respect for the hard work they do, and they prefer to deal with direct leadership and a more formal work environment.

Many employers, probably your business included, have included a statement in the employee handbook that reinforces that employment with the company is “at will.” This generally means that employees can be fired for any reason or no reason at all, providing the termination does not violate state or federal law. This is a good beginning, but it does not go far enough. 

Have you checked your employee handbook to be sure it doesn't contain stipulations within the policies that undermine the at-will relationship? Here are some areas that might need some attention:

By Margaret Jacoby, MJ Management Solutions

When you hear an employee come into the office and say, “I want to see my personnel file,” does your heart sink a little? Are your personnel files in good order, or are they a task you’ve prioritized based upon the glamour and sheer joy you get from doing filing work?

Open the average personnel file and you will find one of two things—way too much paper, often not of the right kind, or not nearly enough. Both alternatives are as problematic as they are prevalent.

Make Personnel Files Resources

Files are supposed to contain helpful resources. If these helpful resources are not present or if materials that shouldn’t be in the files are in them, there can be negative legal and employee relations’ ramifications. If important documents are missing from a file, it will not provide needed information and documentary backup. Files with too much paper are harder to use, harder to maintain and, most importantly, may contain information that unnecessarily invites unwanted regulatory or employee attention.

By Margaret Jacoby, MJ Management Solutions

Employment contracts are binding agreements between an employer and employee. They spell out every detail, including how long the contract period will last, what the compensation will be, and other employment issues. While you may think that employment contracts are only for large companies, you may want to think again. They can benefit even the smallest business, especially if you have valuable trade secrets you need to protect.

Why Should You Use an Employment Contract?

They protect trade secrets: Many small businesses have trade secrets. Whether it’s a recipe for your signature bagels or a production method, it must be protected. An employment contract can have a non-disclosure agreement, which prohibits employees from sharing trade secret information during and after their contract period is over.

Non-compete: Don’t want your employee to work for a competitor or start his own business just down the street? You can include non-compete agreements within your contracts to prevent current and past employees from doing just that. (In California, where non-competes are unenforceable for the most part, employers can use non-solicitation agreements and nondisclosure agreements to protect their trade secrets, client lists, and employees when an employee leaves.)

Ensures steady employment: With an employment contract, you have a promise from an employee that you will have access to their skills as long as you provide work for a specified period. While the at-will employee can quit whenever he or she wishes, employees with contracts are less likely to resign because of the benefits and guaranteed work and risk of breaching the contract.

Better talent acquisition: An employment contract may attract better talent to your company. A good employee will value the benefits of a contract, and if you can offer them a worthwhile opportunity, you may lock in the best talent long-term.

By Margaret Jacoby, MJ Management Solutions

Most of us enjoy using social media during our personal time. But what happens when social media spills over into the workplace? Your small business suffers for every minute an employee uses social media during working hours. After all, you’re paying them to do a specific job, not to correspond with friends—or worse, posting comments that actually disparage your company.

A social media policy doesn’t just protect your small business. It gives your employees guidance on how they should behave—and not behave. For example, misuse of company logo, disclosure of trade secrets, racially offensive social media posts, sexually harassing posts, etc. Creating a clear-cut policy lets your employees know what behaviors are acceptable and what behaviors could result in disciplinary action up to termination.

By Margaret Jacoby, MJ Management Solutions

The world of human resources changes fast. If your small business isn’t on top of the trends, you could not only experience significant turnover, but also legal ramifications. Whether you employ a team of fifteen HR employees or are the accidental HR manager, it’s important to know the current trends and legal considerations.

Top Human Resources Trends

Trends help you tailor your employee benefits package, keep retention rates up, and even assist with recruiting. Key HR trends include:

Compensation is still driving employee interest. As long as employees are adequately compensated, they are more likely to stay with your small business. Job security comes in a close second to compensation. After all, it doesn’t matter how much you pay if employees are constantly worried that they won’t keep their jobs.

By Margaret Jacoby, MJ Management Solutions

There are likely multiple generations working for your small business. By taking the time to understand their unique needs, you can reduce employee turnover. Structuring your policies and procedures and even your compensation could help you retain all of the generations—especially Generation X.

Who are Generation X Workers?

Generation X employees were born between 1965 and 1980, and total about 45 million people in the U.S. Your Generation X workers will be responsible for managing your staff after the Baby Boomers have retired. 

Leverage Their Strengths

Generation X was raised on computers, so they prefer virtual work environments. They generally don’t like working extra hours, but they will do what is required of them during regular working hours and always strive to meet their deadlines.

By Margaret Jacoby, MJ Management Solutions

The questions you ask in the interview with a prospective new employee are anything but routine. They’re crucial for uncovering a candidate’s qualifications, skills, personality and, of course, whether they’re the right person for the job. When you sit down for your next interview, don’t waste time asking questions that cannot help you pinpoint the perfect hire. Instead, stick to the questions that reveal something valuable.

Don’t Interview For the Sake of Interviewing

Some small business owners feel like they’re required to interview a certain number of candidates because they don’t want to risk being accused of discrimination. You can mitigate that fear by writing more conscientious job descriptions with clear job-related minimum requirements and pre-interview questionnaires.

By Margaret Jacoby, MJ Management Solutions

Bullying doesn’t just happen at school. In fact, workplace bullying is becoming a disturbingly common occurrence. Unfortunately, too many employers are unaware that it happens or don’t know how to put a stop to it. Anyone can be a bully in the workplace—from coworkers to managers to owners. It’s important that you identify bullying and know how to end it—before it costs your business.

Why Stopping Bullying is Important

Although it’s not legally considered harassment, you’re opening the door bullying behaviors if you don’t have a policy in place. Bullying can quickly escalate and lead to claims of a hostile work environment, discrimination, and even retaliation. In addition to putting your small business at risk for lawsuits, it could also be the reason your business has such high employee turnover rates. Can you afford taking on these risks by ignoring workplace bullying?

By Margaret Jacoby, MJ Management Solutions

No one wants to admit failure, but if you want to see improvement in your small business, you need to take a closer look at your human resources department. While some businesses have tried to cut costs by eliminating their human resource departments altogether, it’s a critical component to the success of your business. Of course, if you don’t want to deal with having an internal HR department, you can always outsource human resources to a professional.

As we get closer to a new year, now’s the time to work on improving your HR policies and procedures. Start 2015 off right with human resources that produce the best results with the most cost-effective solutions for your business. Here are a few points to consider.

By Margaret Jacoby, MJ Management Solutions

Halloween is almost here, which means you’re probably organizing the company party and possibly the costume policy. But what’s spookier than this year’s costume lineup is the risk of your company being sued because of those festivities. From inappropriate and offensive costumes to liabilities at the party itself, you have a lot more to prepare for than just hiring a caterer and hanging decorations. So before you announce the monster bash, consider these tips for keeping your company’s Halloween party lawsuit free.

By Margaret Jacoby, MJ Management Solutions

Today’s workforce is increasingly becoming multi-generational. If your business can’t meet the demands and expectations of all of them, you’re going to experience costly, unnecessary turnover. By recognizing how to bridge the gaps between multiple generations, you can reduce turnover and give your company a competitive edge.

What Generations Are Represented in Today’s Workforce?

There are four predominant generations:

Traditionalists – Born between 1922 and 1945

Baby Boomers – Born between 1946 and 1964

Generation X – Born between 1965 and 1980

Generation Y – Born between 1981 and 1994

Each of these generations has its own particular set of work ethics, characteristics, and expectations from their employers. In order to attract, retain, and engage your workforce, your small business must recognize the distinct differences between these groups.