HR for Small Business: Managing HR Compliance

HR for Small Businesses

Managing HR Compliance:

Is Your Company HR Compliant? 

Building and maintaining an HR compliance program for your business, particularly in what seems to be an ever changing employment regulatory landscape at the state and federal levels, should be a top priority among small business owners. Compliance with these regulations can impact many aspects of your business, from the type of employees you hire, how you hire, how you manage your employees, to how to end employment for employees who are no longer compatible with your business’s needs. 

HR compliance policies, procedures and practices within a business begin with the mindset and attitudes of the people within the company. At the center of an effective and sustainable HR compliance program are ethics and a genuinely authentic approach to doing business day to day. 

 “It’s important to get to the hearts and minds of our people so that ethics and compliance does not remain an abstract issue,” –Pohlmann

The responsibility for adhering to the various HR compliance regulatory requirements falls upon everyone within a business. However, the senior managers and leaders of the business ultimately set the stage for whether or not HR compliance is a topic to be taken seriously or lightly, as they set the tone, messaging and precedent through employment decision making actions during the course of business. Employment decision making actions typically fall into one or more of the categories, which include hiring, managing performance, and ending employment. 

Placing HR compliance at the center of your efforts in building and managing your business helps support optimization of workforce productivity, employee morale, staff retention, opportunities for business contracts, business profitability, among many other advantages. Moreover, it places your business in a stronger position to minimize and mitigate potential employment compliance exposure and associated costs.

Tips for building and sustaining an HR compliance program for your small business include, but are not limited to, the following: 

Hiring

• Develop job postings to include required and necessary information about the job vacancy.

• Establish a consistent process for screening and interviewing with job related questions.

• Ensure appropriate documentation is maintained on candidates being considered for employment.

• Prepare an employment offer letter discussing the employment details.

• Evaluate your interviewing and hiring practices regularly using a compliance checklist.

Performance Management

• Train supervisors on appropriate techniques for employee coaching and corrective action.

• Conduct employee awareness training on workplace diversity, anti-harassment and discrimination.

• Make employment decisions objectively and on the basis of job related criteria. 

• Be timely when addressing employee issues, rather than waiting to address them.

• Document employee performance, discussions, and related actions appropriately.

• Retain employee documentation securely and in accordance with record retention regulations.

• Enlist the help of an HR Specialist for complex HR matters for additional support and guidance.

Ending Employment

• Obtain a written letter of voluntary resignation when an employee decides to resign from the job.

• Conduct an exit interview and company property check-in with the departing employee.

• If you decide to terminate an employee, ensure appropriate steps have been taken prior to termination.

• Enlist the help of an HR Specialist prior to terminating an employee for additional guidance.

• Ensure the final payroll check is issued timely and in accordance with applicable state/federal law.

The tips above do not serve as an all-encompassing listing of every possible area of consideration nor method in which your business can be HR compliant, nor do these tips offer any guarantee that your business will be HR compliant, as every business and its internal dynamics and workings are different. These tips are intended as, and shall be used as general guidelines, and should not be used as a substitute for legal advice at any time nor sound discretion and judgment in a given situation. 

For questions or to request additional information regarding this article, contact Kandor Group, Inc. at info@kandorgp.com. 

Published by Kandor Group, Inc.

All Rights Reserved (2015)