“Hire right because the penalties of hiring wrong are huge.”
—Ray Dalio
This is my third summer writing about hiring the right employees. I continue to follow an executive, and in the past year, the guy has changed jobs twice. You want to ask, are companies that desperate, or is there something else going on?
Michele Harmon
So how do you hire an ethical workforce? My recipe is simple. Here are my top ten recommendations.
- Utilize summer interns.
- Scrutinize resumes and do background and drug tests.
- Check at least two previous supervisor references.
- Never hire your friends without another manager’s opinion.
- Onboard with care.
- Utilize and explain an up-to-date Employee Handbook
- Terminate employees that are not working out, and do so sooner rather than later.
- Most important, forget about wasting time on culture. Insist upon an ethical workplace. The only culture an organization needs is to insist upon honesty, timely work, following the rules, and treating people as you want to be treated.
- Select team players as well as those that do their best work alone. You know, remote work.
- Model, model, model good behavior.
Utilize summer interns. There is nothing like a paid internship to find out if the summer employee is a good fit for your organization. Yes, an intern might be able to hide their true self in the summer, but that is not very likely. Have a couple of sets of eyes on the interns.
Scrutinize resumes, and do background and drug tests. Have a literate individual check resumes for a complete timeline of work, grammatical errors, etc. Refrain from being dazzled by fancy resumes. Resumes need to be honest and to the point. Everyone should get a criminal background and drug tests. No one is excused, not even the CEO.
Check at least two previous supervisor references. Get permission to contact references, and if you want more, ask the applicant. Friends are not references. Coworkers can be one reference. Supervisors lie to get rid of lemons. Be cautious so your organization is not on the receiving end of a lemon.
Never hire your friends without another manager’s opinion. It is a natural tendency to hire people who are familiar to us personally or who resemble the hiring manager. The hiring committee needs to be made up of some staff that do not necessarily think like you. If every committee member is a male, what chance do you think that a female will be hired?
Onboard with care. Onboarding may have a checklist, but proper onboarding is more than a checklist. Each new employee must complete legally required paperwork and know the new job’s requirements. Every position needs a job description. Every employee needs to understand what benefits you offer and ought to be convinced that the benefits are comparable to those of your competition. Do the right thing, and ensure employees are eligible for benefits by the first of next month.
Utilize and explain an up-to-date Employee Handbook. This is where the rubber meets the road. Employee Handbooks are this writer’s thing. Keep the handbook up to date. Share the Handbook on the first day of employment, if not sooner. Highlight the most important points, and of course, have the employee sign it to show they had it reviewed with them. The Handbook is what the employer can fall back on to document the employee being terminated, having violated a company policy.
Terminate employees that are not working out, and do so sooner rather than later. I am not a fan of the 90 Review. However, there is a good reason for releasing an employee sooner rather than later. Bottom line, the less time an employee spends on your payroll, the less chance you will be stuck with part of the employee’s unemployment benefits. If you terminate an employee, ensure all your staff knows the company’s rules about providing references. Having rules gives you a fighting chance of staying out of litigation. Stick to telling the reference check, the dates of employment, and the job title. Stay away from discussing anything personal or the previous employee’s salary.
Most important, forget about wasting time on culture. Insist upon an ethical workplace. The only culture an organization needs is to insist upon honesty, timely work, following the rules, and treating people as you want to be treated. The word “culture” wears me out. The employees cannot hold on to the company culture. The employee understands honesty; if they do not, they’d better be out the door in the blink of an eye. Getting work completed promptly speaks to their work ethic and is necessary for the organization’s success.
Select team players as well as those that do their best work alone. You know, remote work. Most people need to play well in the sandbox with others. However, being a team player means employees must learn to trust their teammates. Trust is not automatic. It takes time. You do not need too many Pollyannas. Some degree of suspicion is a good thing.
Lastly, model, model, model good behavior. I do not like the employer with a bar in the office. I am not a fan of an employer that drinks with their employees. I am not a fan of an employer who dates an employee. You want to be the employer everyone wants to work for, not the employer with an unethical culture that condones risky behavior. Remember, loose lips sink ships, and distractions at work can prevent employees from doing their best work.
“Your employees are the heart of your organization.” Dr. Michele Harmon is a Human Resource professional, supporting clients in Texas and New Mexico that range in size from five to more than 3,000 employees. Email: micheleharmon1@gmail.com