HR Training for Line Management is
Key
By David Lewis
Reprinted from the Norwalk Hour
2/24/03
In today's litigious business world your company is susceptible
to lawsuits initiated by your employees or former employees. Many
businesses in an effort to limit their liability focus their attention
on training an office manager or even hiring a Human Resources administrator.
While this is a prudent and critical step the majority of legal exposure
that businesses possess comes at the line management level, where
training is thin and perhaps non-existent. Line managers interact
with your employees more than any other personnel, yet they seem
to be regularly overlooked when it comes to receiving the essential
understanding of the dos and don'ts when it comes to Human Resources
management.
To insure your business has limited exposure to the possibility
of an HR related lawsuit consider offering up the following type
of training to your management and perhaps even the staff:
While most managers are credited with having some ability to interview
prospective new hires, some form of training will pay for itself
100 times over. Train your managers on how to strategically interview
a candidate, allowing them to truly uncover the strengths, weaknesses
and desires of the candidate, and the result will be a more skilled
and productive workforce. Train your managers on the legal ins and
outs of the interview process, focusing on what they can and can't
ask a candidate for employment, and you will significantly limit
your chances for being sued for discriminatory hiring processes.
The use of employee handbooks is becoming
more prevalent, and rightly so, given the value they offer the
business in that they generally define the rules of employment.
You wouldn't put an umpire on a baseball field that is not intimately
familiar with the game. Then why do we put managers on the floor
without training on the rules of the management game? Providing
training on the key policies and procedures within your employee
handbook will insure that your "field managers" are
able to properly enforce the rules of the game.
Sexual Harassment claims against employers have been growing at
exponential rates over the past ten years. The state of CT mandates
that employers with 50 or more employees must train their supervisors
on sexual harassment prevention. Companies of all sizes should offer
up this training, regardless of the mandate. An environment that
is hostile or harassing in any way has far greater implications on
your business than the thousands of dollars you may spend defending
yourself in a claim action, let alone what you may be mandated to
pay if the litigation is successful.
Performance management is a critical part of the success of any
business. Offering your managers training on the ways to effectively
drive performance, on how to address poor performers, and on the
overall approaches to take that insure you have limited legal exposure
should you choose to terminate an employee is essential to all businesses.
Providing training that includes role-playing and take-away guides
will go a long way towards protecting your business.
Management training will provide an immediate return on investment,
easily in excess of whatever you spend to deliver it. It does not
have to be longer than an hour at a time, allowing for minimal disruption
to your operation. Consider it insurance that will pay a huge dividend
in the short and long term, delivering better performance while limiting
liability.
