the_hiring_and_firing_question_and_answer_book

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Part I: Hiring Chapter 1: Common Questions About the Hiring Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1. What are the key employment laws rel... ated to hiring? . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2. What’s the most effective recruitment method? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 3. What are my company’s responsibilities regarding negligent hiring and retention? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 4. What records must I keep and for how long? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 5. How should I complete Immigration Eligibility Form I-9? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 6. How should I retain Form I-9? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 7. Am I obligated to have an affirmative action plan? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 8. How do I make diversity a key goal of our hiring process? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 9. Can I insist that new hires sign mandatory arbitration agreements? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 10. How do I determine whether someone is an employee or an independent contractor? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 11. What are reasonable accommodations? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 12. How do I determine what accommodations will be necessary for applicants with disabilities? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Chapter 2: Recruitment Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 13. How do I structure an employment application to get the most information? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 ix topsgrades x Contents 14. Do candidates need to fill out an employment application, or will a resume suffice? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 15. Should I test applicants? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 16. How do I validate tests? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 17. What are the benefits of working with recruitment advertising agencies? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 18. How do I maximize my working relationship with contingency and retained search firms? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 19. How do I negotiate fees and guarantee periods with search firms? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 20. How could research firms and outplacement organizations help me recruit new hires? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 21. Will an employee referral program work for my company? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 22. Should I consider sponsoring foreign workers and offering them green cards? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 23. How do I temporarily sponsor foreign workers using an H-1B nonimmigrant visa? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 24. Should I directly recruit candidates from competitors? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 25. What role should temp-to-hire staffing play in my organization? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 26. How do I initiate a campus recruitment program? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 27. How could a recruitment brochure help me market my company to prospective new hires? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Chapter 3: Online Recruitment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 28. What are the advantages and disadvantages of recruiting on the Internet? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 29. How can I begin recruiting online without generating expenses for my company? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 30. What are the most effective fee-paid Web sites? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 31. How should I write an online job ad? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 32. How do I make the most of my corporate Web site? . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 33. How do I increase traffic to my corporate Web site? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 34. How do I harvest resumes from online databases? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 35. How can I reach passive job seekers online? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 36. How do I develop an integrated online recruitment program? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Chapter 4: Interviewing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 37. What are the three criteria used in selecting high-potential hires? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 38. Can I prescreen candidates with a telephone interview? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 TEAMFLY topsgrades Contents xi 39. How do I interview a candidate when I don’t have a resume in front of me? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 40. How do I balance the company’s needs with the candidate’s requirements? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 41. What kind of notes should I take during the interview? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 42. How formal should an interview be? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 43. Are there any specific questions that should become a staple of every interview? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 44. What is behavior-based interviewing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 45. What are the three biggest mistakes that interviewers typically make? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 46. How do I interview technical candidates when I’m not a ‘‘techie’’ myself? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 47. How do I interview Generation X job hoppers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108 48. What are the ten most common interviewing questions that could cause legal problems? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 Chapter 5: Making the Final Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114 49. How can I conduct an effective reference check? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 50. What questions yield the most useful information in a reference check? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 51. May I deny employment to job applicants who have been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 52. Should I hire a background investigation firm? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 53. How do I select a background investigation firm? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 54. Should I institute drug testing for all new hires? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124 55. How do I decide between two good candidates? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 56. Should I hire on the basis of gut feelings or vibes? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128 57. How do I take the wrinkles out of the salary negotiation process? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129 58. How do I prevent candidates from leveraging counteroffers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133 59. Can I rescind an offer before the start date if I change my mind? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 60. How do I compose a job offer letter? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 Part II: Firing Chapter 6: Common Questions About the Performance Management and Termination Process . . . . .141 61. What is progressive discipline? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141 62. What does it mean for an employee to be hired ‘‘at will’’? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 topsgrades xii Contents 63. How do I communicate the employment-at-will relationship to my workers? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 64. What is a ‘‘probationary’’ period? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146 65. How do I conduct an internal investigation of an employee accused of misconduct? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 66. How should I conduct internal investigations regarding sexual harassment or discrimination? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 67. Should I allow an employee to ‘‘resign by mutual consent’’? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153 68. How do I discipline someone for attitudinal behavior? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 69. What does it mean to fire ‘‘for cause’’? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 70. How should I handle poor performance? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158 71. How can I encourage an underperforming and unhappy employee to leave the company when we haven’t begun the progressive disciplinary process yet? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159 72. How do I maximize exit interviews? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163 Chapter 7: Progressive Discipline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165 73. How do I administer progressive discipline? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165 74. How do I ensure that the progressive discipline is fair? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167 75. What are the most common kinds of disciplinary infractions? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 76. How do I ‘‘bundle’’ separate performance infractions? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 77. How do I determine what level of progressive discipline is appropriate to the offense? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 78. What is an appropriate disciplinary time window? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 79. Is it a good idea to remove disciplinary warnings from an employee’s file? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 80. How do I document my concerns on an annual performance review if I haven’t discussed those issues with the employee in the past? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 81. Can I dock a worker’s pay for substandard job performance or unacceptable conduct? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179 82. What’s the most effective way to deal with excessive absenteeism problems? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 83. How do I handle employees who pattern their unauthorized absences around their regularly scheduled weekends? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 topsgrades Contents xiii 84. How does FMLA limit my right to discipline employees with excessive absenteeism problems? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 85. How can an EAP (employee assistance program) help? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185 86. What are the three biggest mistakes that employers make when documenting discipline? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 87. What are letters of clarification? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 88. What if an employee refuses to sign a written warning? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190 89. Should I rebut a rebuttal or allow the employee to have the last word? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 90. Can a union employee demand that a steward be present at a progressive disciplinary meeting with management? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 91. Can a nonunion employee demand that a coworker be present at a progressive disciplinary meeting with management? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Chapter 8: Terminations for Cause and Summary Offenses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .196 92. How long do I have to terminate an employee after a final incident occurs that violates prior warnings? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 93. Should letters of termination be specific or generic? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 94. If an employee gives two weeks’ notice of resignation, are we permitted to let the employee go that same day? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199 95. How do I handle job abandonment? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 96. Can we terminate an employee for egregious behavior at a company party? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 97. What is the best way to conduct an employee termination meeting? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 98. What if I suspect that an employee may react violently to being terminated? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 99. How can I allay some of the anxiety and depression that come with termination? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208 100. How do I announce that an employee has been terminated? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 Chapter 9: Reductions-in-Force (RIFs) and Layoffs . . . . . . .212 101. What do I need to know before laying someone off? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212 topsgrades xiv Contents 102. Can I lay off a substandard job performer rather than terminate for cause? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 103. How do I select who should be let go? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 104. What do I need to consider when there are union contract ‘‘bumping’’ provisions? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 105. Will our union contract prevent us from outsourcing one of our departments? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219 106. How much notice am I obligated to give employees who are about to be laid off under the WARN Act? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 107. What’s the best way to handle the actual layoff meeting with the employee? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221 108. Should a release or separation agreement be prepared for terminating employees? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 109. Should I offer to provide displaced workers with letters of recommendation? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 110. How valuable is outplacement as a tool to help my laid-off employees find new jobs? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 111. How do I choose an outplacement firm? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 112. Will my displaced workers have any trouble getting unemployment insurance? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 Appendixes: Sample Policies, Agreements, and Letters . . . . . . . . . . . . . .235 Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .271 Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .275 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2 [Show More]

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