Hiring Practices
Hiring and Firing – the business equivalent of marriage and divorce – stand out among issues facing business owners for several reasons: (1) every business owner runs into both situations repeatedly; (2) few business owners can separate myth from reality where legal issues are concerned; and (3) both consistently rank among the top five “small business killers” when mistakes are made.
Regardless of whether you run a three person company about to hire its fourth employee or operate a large multi-state enterprise, a well thought-out hiring process is the key to increase moral, a healthier bottom line, and a lawsuit-free future and you don’t necessarily need to hire an $80,000.00 per year HR director or pay an arm and a leg in legal fees in order to hire well.
A good hiring policy rests on three legs – a well-crafted job description, the application, and the interview. While the job description is the most overlooked element of the hiring process, particularly for small businesses, it is usually the most crucial and, more often than not, is mentioned by a business owner immediately after the words “I wish we had drafted a …”
There is an art and a science to drafting job descriptions. A well drafted job description has several components:
- A description of duties;
- A summary of qualifications;
- A summary of pre-requisites (physical, mental, and/or emotional)
This is the document that will enable you to hire, promote, and fire without fear that your actions will be interpreted as discriminatory in violation of state or federal law. This is the document that will withstand scrutiny by a judge, jury, or the EEOC when questions of demotion, disciplinary action, or termination arise. Unfortunately, this is also the document most business owners do not take the time to draft.
Both the application process and the interview must proceed in lockstep with company policies and the requirements set down in the job description. Application forms can (and should) be standardized to avoid any possibility of disparate treatment between candidates. Potentially troublesome practices, such as the request for photos (or copies of driver’s licenses), inquiries into personal information, or discussion of required benefits should be eliminated.
While applications may be standardized, interviews rarely follow a set pattern, as they are driven by conversation. Nevertheless, a well trained interviewer will understand questions to avoid, subject which, while well intentioned, can expose a company to litigation brought by an unsuccessful applicant, techniques to bring out each candidate’s strengths and weaknesses, and a uniform core message concerning the company’s policies and the specific job at hand.
Frequently, one of the most effective defenses a company can raise to a claim of discriminatory hiring practices is that interviewers and hiring managers were provided with training through a seminar or required reading and certification. And remember, this sort of training is not restricted to big companies. Training is often inexpensive and valuable to any size business.
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