ABR Blog

The BLS Employment Situation Summary continues to paint an anemic economic picture.

Economists continue to talk about a “jobless recovery,” with many employers focusing on productivity gains, as opposed to hiring, to manage any increases in business.

What’s the upside?

Well, if your company isn’t focused on hiring right now, it may be the perfect time for you to review and improve your employment screening process.  Doing so could help you:

• increase compliance;
• reduce theft, fraud and accidents;
• prepare you to make even better hires when the time comes.

As experts in employment screening, ABR Employment Services recommends taking the following steps to reduce the potential for negligent hiring and discrimination:

Consult with your attorney. If you hire on your own, you should have your legal counsel review your screening process to ensure you’re complying with all current legislation and hiring regulations.

Be consistent. Your screening process should be the same for all candidates within comparable job descriptions.  If you do a background check on one manager, you should also conduct the same background check with candidates for all similar positions.  In addition to preventing anyone from “slipping through the cracks,” a uniform process helps minimize your exposure to litigation.

Use social media carefully. Social media has made access to candidate information fast, easy and free.  But if you intend to use this publicly available information to screen candidates, make sure that you obtain written permission and follow all EEOC and FCRA provisions.

Formalize and document your process. If you don’t already have one in place, now is the time to standardize, formalize and document your background screening policies and procedures.  Creating a formal policy makes screening more effective, efficient and consistent.  Furthermore, should a problem arise, your ability to show that you applied fair, consistent and documented screening processes will limit your legal exposure.

Reduce your risks and make better quality hires with ABR Employment.

Hiring top talent – honest, hardworking individuals who do what they claim they can do – is critical to your organization’s continued success.  ABR Employment’s Direct Hiring Services can help ensure that success.  Here are just a few of the benefits our comprehensive, accurate screening process provides:

• transfer employment screening risks such as discrimination and negligent hiring;
• create a safer work environment;
• build a more productive workforce;
• save time and eliminate process bottlenecks employment screening creates;
• hire the best talent available – pre-screened, reference-checked, skills-verified and ready to perform for you.

Work with ABR Employment Services and your hiring decisions can be made with confidence – guaranteed.

Ever play “whisper down the lane”?

Also known as ”telephone,” this popular children’s game provides a simple, yet critical illustration of how important information can get lost in translation.

Great fun if you’re just playing around, but not so great for business.

When it comes to ordering on-time (temporary) personnel, many clients call in their job orders.  Sure, it’s quick and convenient, but did you know that placing your order verbally is not the most effective way to work with us?

The reason is simple – verbal job descriptions can change as they’re transmitted from person to person, resulting in a “whisper down the lane” effect.  Consider, for example, how many people are potentially involved in the “lane” of communication when a job order is placed.  A department manager contacts HR with a need; HR contacts a staffing service coordinator with the order; the coordinator speaks with the staffing firm’s recruiter; the recruiter then communicates the job description to an employee.

See the potential problem?  While a verbal approach may seem easier, challenges can arise when duties get added or subtracted, or if job titles change over time.  As a result, the staffing provider may not send you the best match for the assignment.

At ABR Employment Services, we highly recommend that you submit or approve a written job description to which everyone in the line (or “lane”) of communication can refer.  Doing so will eliminate miscommunications, misunderstandings and confusion, and ensure that you get the best employee for the assignment.

Improve your staffing success with ABR Employment’s complete Human Resource solutions.

“You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”

When you hear this saying, you may envision a nervous job seeker, compulsively straightening his suit and repeating his 30-second “personal sales pitch” before an interview.  But quite honestly, the saying is just as relevant for the hiring company.  Why?

When you mainstream and orient a new hire, you set the tone for his work experience with your organization.  The more positive that initial experience, the more welcome and prepared the individual will feel in his new position.  This will, in turn, give him the confidence and resources to quickly begin making a positive impact within your company (which is why you hired this person in the first place, right?).

So make a commitment to create a great first impression on your new hire by implementing a thorough and effective onboarding process.  Use these tips to make him feel welcomed, valued and prepared to hit the ground running:

• Welcome a new employee with a letter.  Before the individual’s first day, send a friendly and informative letter to welcome him and review his first day’s schedule, helpful tips for parking, to whom he should report, etc.  Alternately, you can post new employee schedules, materials, benefits forms and a FAQ on your company Intranet, and make it accessible from a link in a welcome e-mail.
• Prepare a corporate “family tree.”  Familiarize new hires with your company’s “who’s who.”  You can make photos, names and job titles available on your company’s Intranet, or maintain a simple bulletin board with the same info to facilitate the getting-to-know-you process.
• Pre-orient existing staff members.  Provide employees with your new employee’s résumé and job description before he starts.  Advise each team member to conduct a meeting with the new hire in which he shares a description of his own position, reviews the ways their roles interact and covers how they might work together in the future.
• Approach the process from the employee’s point of view.  The onboarding process can be complex and overwhelming for your new hire.  To keep your new team member feeling valued, try to create orientation procedures that make the process fun, interesting and as painless as possible.
• Provide and review a written plan of employee objectives and responsibilities.  This step will eliminate confusion about job functions and will open the floor to discuss concerns or new opportunities.
• Give the new employee your undivided attention.  Be careful not to let e-mails, phone calls, or other employees distract you during orientation sessions, because this sends the unintended message that the new hire is not worth your time – a real morale-killer.
• Make day one personal.  Prioritize interpersonal relationships with key colleagues as soon as your new employee starts.  Make sure you welcome the whole person – not just a set of job functions – from the outset, and you’ll be sure to make a great first impression.

ABR Employment Services works to make new employee transitions as successful and simple as possible.  Our stringent screening process ensures that the candidates we refer (whether on-time or direct) have the skills, experience and traits necessary to integrate seamlessly with your existing workforce.  Contact us today to learn more about our staffing solutions for Wisconsin employers.

Part 2:  Co-Employment Tips for Success

Last week’s post featured a link to a brief quiz on co-employment laws.  How well did you do?

If your score was less than perfect, don’t worry.  This week’s post contains practical tips to maximize the effectiveness of your co-employment arrangement, while minimizing the potential for problems:

• Let the staffing firm do its job.  When co-employment problems occur, they often stem from situations in which a client company unnecessarily assumes employment responsibilities over on-time (temporary) or contract workers.  So remember that when you pay an on-time (temporary) or contract employee’s hourly bill rate, included in that rate are the services the staffing firm provides – recruiting, interviewing, testing and selecting candidates.  Head-off potential problems by allowing the staffing service (who is the employer of record for these workers) to perform these tasks.
• Take advantage of on-site coordinators.  If you have a large contingent workforce, ask your staffing service to provide an on-site representative.  This individual can reinforce the staffing service’s role as employer, by carrying out administrative functions, handling performance counseling and addressing disciplinary action.  Although there may be a charge involved, the benefits usually far outweigh the costs of an on-site coordinator.
• Give the staffing firm specific feedback on their employees’ job performance.  If performance issues arise, it may seem natural for you to speak directly with the on-time (temporary) or contract worker assigned to you.  But to steer clear of potential co-employment problems, you should instead speak with your staffing representative about your concerns.  That way, when the individual is subjected to disciplinary action, the staffing service will be able to provide him or her with the performance-related reason for the action – making the individual far less likely to consider the action to be discriminatory, or to file a charge.
• Allow the staffing firm to handle employee termination.  If you are dissatisfied with an on-time (temporary) or contract worker, ask your staffing provider to handle disciplinary action and / or termination and replacement.  Provide information about the individual’s work performance to your staffing representative, and then allow him or her to handle the rest.
• Review your benefit plan descriptions.  Ask an expert to make sure that the language in your benefit plan effectively excludes on-time (temporary) and contract employees.  To guard against lawsuits that stem from ambivalent wording, be sure to incorporate exclusionary language that makes benefit entitlement dependent upon your employment classifications – regardless of common law definitions.

Ensure Successful Co-Employment with ABR Employment Services

As a leading Wisconsin staffing firm, ABR Employment’s staffing experts can work with you to develop effective co-employment procedures from both a legal and operational standpoint.  Give us a call to learn more.

Part 1:  Test Your Knowledge

Today’s post is the first in a two-part installment on co-employment laws – those that govern any situation in which two legally distinct employers (typically a staffing firm and their business client) have employer-employee relationships with the same person. 

Over the past several years, co-employment law has rapidly evolved in response to the increased use of on-time (temporary) and contract staff.  Is your legal knowledge up to date?  Find out by taking the American Staffing Association’s Staffing Smarts quiz on Co-Employment Law.

When you have a few minutes, take this quick 5-question quiz that tests your knowledge of the legal issues involved in on-time (temporary) and contract staffing arrangements.  Then, check next week’s post for helpful tips on making co-employment work for your organization.

Have a co-employment concern or question?

Give ABR Employment Services a call.  As a leading Wisconsin staffing firm, our staffing specialists can show you how to effectively manage co-employment relationships.

Temporary employees can be a great asset to your organization.  They can help you meet critical deadlines, fill-in for unplanned absences and free your core staff to focus on their most important tasks.

But if your company uses large numbers of temporary employees, it’s easy for your direct staff to fall into an “Us vs. Them” mentality.  And although treating temporary workers as an entirely separate workforce may seem innocuous, the practice can have unintended consequences for your direct employees – and your company as a whole. 

For example, research from the University of Arizona has found that direct employees (particularly at lower levels) are less satisfied with co-workers and bosses when working with a higher proportion of temporary employees.  Why?  The responsibility of training and socializing temporary workers on company-specific processes is often assigned to direct employees.  As a result, having more temporaries can complicate full-time workers’ jobs.

Here are a few suggestions for improving the working relationship between temporary and direct employees to achieve even better staffing results:

• Make temporary employees feel included.  While temporaries are, in fact, a separate part of your workforce (and must be treated differently because of co-employment laws), you and your staff can still make them feel welcome in your organization.  By encouraging social interaction (e.g., formal or informal introductions) among all workers, you can foster social ties that are essential to a cohesive workforce.
• Educate your direct staff.  Take the time to clearly explain the role and value of temporary workers.  The better your direct employees understand the benefits temporary employees provide, the more likely they’ll be to work productively with them.
• Take advantage of training.  If you use large numbers of temporaries, many staffing services will develop customized orientation and training programs for specific positions.  This shifts the time-consuming burden of getting new temporary employees up-to-speed off your direct employees’ shoulders.
• Consider strategic staffing options.  If your direct staff is burdened with the administration, training and management of temporary employees, consider implementing a strategic staffing option.  From primary partner staffing to VOP to planned staffing services, these solutions can optimize the relationship between your direct and temporary employees - saving you time and money while improving worker performance.

Bottom line, there are a number of steps you can take to keep relations between temporary and direct employees positive.  And the more positive their working relationship, the better your results will be.  Contact ABR Employment Services today to learn more about our strategic staffing solutions for Wisconsin employers.

Help your staffing service help you.

Continuous improvement should be a goal of any business relationship – your relationship with your staffing provider is no exception.  Help your staffing firm deliver better results by providing them with frequent, measurable feedback.  By letting them know what they’re doing right, as well as how they can improve, you can make your staffing function even more efficient and cost-effective.

Ask internal staff who supervise temporary employees to periodically fill out a simple report card for your staffing service.  It can evaluate quality of fills, ease of working with the staffing specialist, timeliness of service, etc.  Then, share the feedback with your staffing provider.  They will use the information to identify opportunities for improvement, to further customize the service they deliver, and to make your job as easy as possible.

Here are a few sample questions to consider:

The Staffing Firm

1. How well does the staffing firm demonstrate an understanding of your business?
2. How well does the staffing firm meet your expectations?
3. How would you rate the staffing firm’s service, as compared to other services you’ve used?
4. How would you rate your staffing service representative?

The Employees

1. How well do the employees fit the assignments?
2. How would you rate the employees’ attitudes toward their work?
3. How punctual are the employees?
4. How prepared are the employees (i.e., how quickly do they get to work)?

How well are we doing?

At ABR Employment Services, we pride ourselves on the quality of both our service and our employees.  We want to know what we’re doing right and where we can improve.  Please contact us with your feedback, so we can deliver even better results for your organization.