Tag: Hiring

Basics of Onboarding an Employee

Published by Brett Holubeck on July 13, 2020

Picture of a life preserver with the phrase "Welcome Aboard" written on it to demonstrate that when onboarding employees should feel welcome. — Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash

Onboarding a new employee is tough. Onboarding a new employee remotely is even harder. There are several considerations that every company needs to have before they bring on a new employee especially in light of the current Coronavirus pandemic.

Make sure that the Paperwork is Completed

As I mentioned in an earlier post, employers still need to complete the I-9 for all new hires, but this rule has changed somewhat:

Every employee must fill out an I-9 when they are first hired. Employers normally cannot complete the I-9 form remotely. Companies must review the applicant/new hire’s documents in person. With COVID-19 (the Coronavirus) raging, this is one rule that has been relaxed. Remote workers no longer need to present documents physically. Companies can now view the documents through video and write COVID-19 as the reason for the delay in physical inspection on the relevant part of the I-9. They will need to review the documents physically once this disaster is over.

In another post, I listed some additional information on the paperwork that an employee needs to fill out on their first day. Rather than rehash that article, I want to use this post to discuss the actual onboarding process beyond merely filling out paperwork.

What is New Hire Orientation?

Onboarding is not new hire orientation. New hire orientation is essentially showing the new employee where they will sit/work, reviewing policies, and, let’s be honest, it is mostly filling out paperwork and watching training videos. It also involves telling them the basics of how to do their job.

Onboarding goes much deeper. It is about setting the employee up for long term success and to be a member of the team.

How to Onboard Employees Effectively

You need to have a plan. When I did Teach for America, one of the most important lessons that we were taught as teachers was to backwards plan. You needed to know where you wanted to end up, so that you could understand how to get there. For example, one of the goals may have been for the students to know their multiplication tables up to the number twelve. With that end in mind you can plan a series of lessons and tricks to help students memorize these tables so that they could do multiplication with bigger numbers later.

The same lesson applies to employees. A good job description can help you keep the end in mind (I wrote about job descriptions previously here). It is essentially what you want the employee to be able to do (i.e. where you want the employee to end up).

If a company doesn’t know what their end goals are for a new employee, then the new employee definitely won’t meet those goals. Onboarding starts on day one and continues for months until the employee is fully integrated into the company. Before getting into the details of improving onboarding at an organization, I want to briefly note that onboarding is a company and job specific process (or at least it should be). Ideally, there should be a different onboarding process for every type of job at the company because the purpose of onboarding is to make a new employee a good fit for their position and at the specific company they work for. Moreover, in the times of the coronavirus there are several additional considerations and training that employees will need.

Here is a quick overview of what the onboarding process may look like for employees generally.

The First Day of Onboarding

Companies need to communicate with the coworkers of the future employee to let them know that the company has hired a new employee. The team, or several members that the new employee will work with, should be encouraged to welcome the new employee when they first come into the office. In the coronavirus or “zoom era,” a quick zoom chat with everyone to welcome the new employee at the beginning of their first day is a great way to make the employee feel that they are a part of a team and the company is a good place to work. The same is true when the employee first comes into the office or onsite work environment. Gathering the fellow coworkers of the new employee to welcome them is a great way to immediately break the tension of starting the first day at a new job.

After the initial welcome, the new employee will likely have several trainings or meetings with their manager. Management should obviously give the new employee a schedule that they will follow on the first day; there is nothing worse than feeling lost on day one. The company should also assign a mentor or supervisor that will make sure that the employee finds his or her way to lunch, has people to eat with, and can answer any questions the new employee has throughout the day.

After the First Day

Once the new hire orientation is completed. The actual process of onboarding begins. This is where a good onboarding and a bad onboarding program can be differentiated. Many times, a company’s onboarding process is just a couple day new hire and training process without a long-term plan to integrate the employees into the overall team.

The only way to do that effectively is to map out the information that the employee will need to be successful in the workplace. In other words, you need an actual, formal onboarding program rather than an informal, haphazard one where employees learn what they need to do on the fly.

As I see it, there are a few key components of the formal, long-term onboarding process. One is integrating the employee into the company or business. It involves making them believe in the mission of the company and the aims of its business. The second is integrating the employee within the team that they work with. This involves them getting an understanding of the strengths of the team, the areas for improvement, how the team communicates and works together to complete its tasks, and just generally becoming comfortable and sociable with their coworkers. The final component of onboarding is orienting the employee into the basics of their job.

Let’s look at these three areas in a bit more detail.

1. Making the Employee Truly a Part of the Company

A new employee cannot integrate into a company’s culture in a week, but they do get a picture of what they believe the culture is. Within the first week the employee will have seen how different people interact with each other. He or she will see what issues his manager places their focus on and whether those issues come from the company or are something that the manager makes up on the fly.

Over the course of several months, if onboarding goes well, the employee will adapt to the culture of the company. If the company has a poor culture, then the employee will obviously try to work within that culture. A good culture or foundation is important for the new employee. A workplace culture is really what drives the employees at the company. Many companies have high morale because they care for employees and respect their ideas. Other companies have poor morale because of management or other problems at the company.

An employee learns about the culture of the workplace by watching and following what other employees are doing. If the workplace has a dog eat dog culture, then the employee will notice that the first time that they get stabbed in the back or when people do not share credit for some project or task. The new employee will likely adapt to whatever culture is already present in the workplace rather than changing it.

2. Becoming a Member of the Team

This is probably one of the most critical, but often overlooked elements of the onboarding process. The social interaction and getting comfortable with the team that an employee will work with is important. Companies can aid this process by doing a few basic things. They need to create opportunities for the team to interact with the new employee. Usually, this means taking the new employee out to lunch or having them sit with a certain assigned person in the lunchroom so that the employee can avoid that awkward moment of not knowing where to sit that may take some of us back to high school.

Good companies create opportunities for the person to feel a part of the team throughout their time at a company. That means that employees are encouraged to share ideas and feedback with each other. It also means that employees encourage each other and support each other in their work. A good manager, proper training, and feedback are necessary to create this culture.

3. Helping An Employee Adjust to Their Job

This is the reason that the employee is there: to do their job. A long onboarding process helps them become more effective and brings them up to speed quicker. There should be regular checks with the employee to see how they are doing. Ideally this would be done on a formal basis at one month, three months, six months, and a year. On an informal basis, management should check in with the employee on a multiple time a day basis during their first few days, then a daily basis through the one-month period, and perhaps weekly after that.

Every job has specific requirements. Companies need to conduct their own analysis to see what skills they need to develop within the new employee and what the employee needs to know in their specific job to be successful. Some jobs have only a few skills that a new employee needs to know, and these can usually be learned quickly. Other jobs have a variety of skills and tasks that need to be completed. Sometimes the job will even have tasks that will only occur once a year or sometimes once every other year (like planning a conference). A good employer will help employees understand what they need to do to complete these tasks and train them so that they can do them effectively.

Some Quick Notes about Remote Onboarding

With remote onboarding, companies need to be even more intentional than they are with employees that they see on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis. Managers must check in with their employees and their work to see how they are doing. Every coworker must aim to make the new employee feel welcome and part of the culture. There needs to be a specific plan and agenda in place to help the new employee integrate into the company. It needs to be thought out and time must be blocked off for the various parts of the first day. As I mentioned before, a quick zoom call at the beginning of the employee’s first day is a great way to make the employee feel welcome. Buying the remote employee lunch on their first day and having a lunch meeting over zoom is another way.

Throughout the first week the manager and other coworkers should check in with the employee. Employers need to create an intentional plan to interact with the employee so that they don’t feel like they are an outsider or completely isolated from the company. Companies can be successful in making remote employees fully part of the team and feel like they fit within the company. It just takes a lot of preparation and a plan.

Conclusion

Around one-third of employees leave a job within the first six months. The more a person is integrated into the company, their team, and their job the less likely it is that a person will leave. Remember, hiring is expensive. The cost of a bad hiring decision according to the Department of Labor is 30% of their first year earnings. Onboarding is an opportunity that employers have to help their employees and their business grow. It is too important to leave to chance or do without a well-developed plan.

The information provided in this blog is for educational purposes only and is not legal advice. If you need legal advice, then you should speak with a lawyer about your specific issues. Every legal issue is unique. A lawyer can help you with your situation. Reading the blog, contacting me through the site, emailing me or commenting on a post does not create an attorney-client relationship between any reader and me.

The information provided is my own and does not reflect the opinion of my firm or anyone else.

New Employers Need a Hiring Checklist

Published by Brett Holubeck on January 22, 2019

Image of a "Come in. We're open" sign to show that the new business is open and to align with the theme that businesses need a hiring checklist. — Photo by Richard Balog on Unsplash

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s campaign was fined $1,500 for failing to obtain the required worker’s compensation coverage from March 31, 2018, to April 30, 2018. As Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez found out, being a new employer is not easy. There are tons of laws to follow, multiple entities that make and enforce the required rules and regulations, and tens of thousands of court cases explaining and refining these laws. Not only is it important to follow employment requirements because you do not want to break the law; ensuring your employees are equipped, prepared; and welcomed on their first (and every) day, has long-term implications for employee retention; satisfaction; and helps to prevent liability in the future. New employers need a hiring checklist.

What New Businesses Must Consider When Hiring New Employees: A Hiring Checklist

Let’s talk about some of the many tasks that new businesses need to do to ensure they do not make a mistake when they hire their first employee. (For the sake of this piece I am going to assume that the company has already created a legal entity, opened a company bank account, applied for an employer identification number, registered with any required state or local agencies, obtained any required business licenses, and is basically at the point of being ready to hire its first employee.)

Here is a hiring checklist that any new business should review when hiring its first employee:

1. Employers need an employee handbook. The employee handbook should outline the various requirements that employees must follow and explain what the company will do for its employees including that the company will follow all the required laws and regulations regarding employment. A handbook tells employees how to request leave, the discipline structure, how to report complaints, what company holidays will be, what benefits employee have, and any pertinent information that all employees need to know. This is the guide that helps employees know what is expected of them.

2. Companies need a plan to motivate employees. A motivated workforce performs better. A lack of employee engagement is responsible for $450-550 billion in lost productivity each year in the U.S. Here are some things to ask yourselves related to employee motivation:

How will employees grow at the company? If there is no room for employees to grow, then they will not be motivated and will eventually look for a new job. Helping employees grow can help retain your best employees, which improves your business. (This includes things like room for promotions, learning new skills, opportunities to manage or train, utilizing employee strengths, etc.)

How will you treat them as employees? Employees want and need recognition and feedback. You shouldn’t just talk to an employee when there’s a problem, in fact, you should share with them how you feel about their successes (formally and informally).

3. Make sure that employees fill out all of their required paperwork correctly. Think about the I-9s. Section 1 on the I-9 must be completed on the first day of the employee’s employment. Employers have three days to complete Section 2. You can review what to do here in my earlier post.

New employees also must complete the W-4 form for their tax withholding.

4. Businesses also need to run any necessary background checks, drug tests, motor vehicle reports, and other checks that are required for your particular business or these employees. You should get the employee’s written permission to run drug tests and background checks.

5. Employers also need to set some formal processes that the employees will follow (and great employers also include not only adequate, but exceptional, training). This training/support should detail for employees how they successfully do their jobs. What are the processes for things that require step-by-step actions to perform them correctly? Who do they report to in the event of a problem? Who do they refer people to based on particular needs? What are the communication norms and expectations within the business/department/team? Essentially, how do they do their jobs? You should not expect an employee to be able to exercise their own discretion to do their new job. Just like anything else, learning to do a job takes time.

Think about Chick-Fil-A. They have a very particular way they want their employees communicate with their customers. Rather than saying “you’re welcome” when a customer says, “thank you” every employee is instructed to say “my pleasure.” This is something that is readily identifiable and special about Chick-Fil-A. People remember it. There are also a slew of memes about it. Employees would not do this with the consistency required for this brand recognition without the training and feedback they receive.

6. Employers need a personnel file and a recordkeeping system for the employees. When you hire an employee, you need to ensure that they sign any necessary documents for your company including:

Noncompetition and nondisclosure agreements
Employee handbook acknowledgement (stating that the employee received a copy of the handbook)
Life and health insurance plan information documents
401(k) documents

7. Ensure that the workers have a safe place to work and the tools that they need. Nothing makes an employee feel unwelcome more quickly then showing you didn’t put any thought into their arrival, first day, and needs. Do you have enough equipment for the employee on their first day? Is their computer set-up? Is there someone to train them? Have you showed them where to put their lunch? There is nothing worse than feeling like an afterthought on your first day of work because no one was told that you were starting, or nobody cared to figure out how to orient you. It makes you feel a bit like Milton when he gets moved down to the basement in Office Space.

8. And don’t forget to get worker’s compensation coverage for your business. Workplace accidents can get expensive.

Conclusion

Hiring a new employee is incredibly important, which is why all companies should have a hiring checklist. If a company fails to properly prepare for a new employee, then you start with an employee that already feels out of place and unwanted. The company may also set itself up for a lot of liability later on by not adequately ensuring successful orientation and onboarding. Great training, preparation, and navigation of the laws can ensure success for employer and employee alike.

The information provided is my own and does not reflect the opinion of my firm or anyone else.

Pitfalls in Hiring Employees

Published by Brett Holubeck on September 21, 2018

One of the most difficult tasks that managers, HR, and business owners face is hiring new employees. According to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, the average cost of hiring a new employee is $4,129 and the average time to fill a position is 42 days. This is not a process that you want to do more than you have to (at least for the same position). In addition, employers often hire their problems by not taking the hiring process seriously. Oftentimes companies will hire haphazardly for an ill-defined position. Companies can save themselves a lot of trouble in the future by carefully planning their hiring.

Before Hiring New Employees Assess Your Needs

The first step in hiring a new employee, even if it is to replace a current employee, is to determine what need you are trying to fill. If you do not know what the employee will be expected to do, then neither will the applicant. Moreover, you will not know what the requirements are for the position.

By outlining the duties of the position, a company understands what is expected of any applicant. A good job description includes duties that the employee will perform that are essential but may not be performed on a day to day to basis. This could include climbing a ladder or carrying a certain amount of weight. If you leave this information off, then it may indicate that these are not essential functions of the position. For example, one nurse did not have an ADA claim that could be pursued when she was unable to perform one of the essential functions of her position: lifting up to 100 pounds on occasion. She needed to be able to lift patients on occasion but was restricted from lifting more than 50 pounds for 6 weeks after returning from 12 weeks of FMLA leave. Her employer escaped an ADA claim because she could not fulfill one of the essential functions of her position: being able to lift patients.

Another mistake that managers and others make is that they believe that they know all the job duties and the requirements of the position. They do not talk to any other employees that may have more information. Employees that are already in the same position or anyone that works closely with the position are good resources. They may have guidance on what is actually required for the position, what the new hire will do, and any job requirements that you may not have considered. Companies benefit by involving these employees in the hiring process.

Finally, if you are determining whether you need to hire someone for a new position, then you need to spend even more time carefully considering what you are looking for in the position. Review where employees (or you) are spending your time. Are you doing work outside of your regular duties? For example, if you are a dentist and are spending a lot of time answering the phone, calendaring appointments, and completing office paperwork, then it may be time to get an office manager. If you are hiring your first employee, then it is often a good idea to track your time to figure out how much time you are spending in activities that someone else (a new hire) could do.

Legal Oh-No-No’s

Some quick reminders of what is absolutely illegal in an interview (and elsewhere in the process) and yet still appears every year in news articles, announcements from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and Jon Hyman’s annual worst employer of the year nominations.

This is some publicity that you want to avoid:

Refusing to Hire an Applicant Because She is Pregnant

Inc. has a great article on a woman that was fired one week after she started her job because the boss found out she was pregnant. Chris Matyszczyk also posed a great question in the article. “How much training does it take to tell a manager that they can’t fire a woman because she’s pregnant?” Training is an important step to reduce the likelihood of discrimination. The EEOC even offers guidance on training employees and managers.

However, training alone is likely not enough to combat discrimination in the workplace. Culture is often one of the key differences in having an effective team and minimizing harassment and discrimination. David Minze lists five steps on how to improve culture and reduce discrimination at work. He recommends that companies 1) develop values, 2) create a culture of feedback, 3) lead with courage (i.e. do not protect high performers just because they are valuable to the company), 4) build connections (treat employees as humans, which means that you or their manager should ask them how they are doing and genuinely be interested in their well-being), and 5) provide guidance to managers. These are simple steps that all companies can take.

Asking an Applicant Whether She Has Children

The EEOC does not look kindly on this question. Employers that ask this and similar questions get sued because the employer may be (is probably) discriminating based on the applicant’s sex.

Asking Questions About a Candidate’s Race, Religion, Sex or Any Other Protected Characteristic

Don’t refuse to hire people based on these characteristics. That’s just illegal. Well, it is usually illegal. Someone’s religion or sex may be a Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ) in certain jobs. For example, a Christian church may require that the pastor it hires be Christian. Another example is hiring only women for jobs that require close contact (e.g. strip searches) with female prisoners. The BFOQ defense is very narrow and many companies have been sued for potentially violating the policy (especially restaurants like Hooters and Twin Peaks).

Conclusion

Hiring is one of the most important issues that companies undertake. Employers that have a plan in the hiring process, seek help from their staff, and avoid major legal issues are generally more successful than those that hire employees without any plan.

The information provided is my own and does not reflect the opinion of my firm or anyone else.