If you are thinking about hiring interns for the summer, April is a good time to begin preparing. If you haven’t thought about hiring interns, maybe you should. Summer interns can help you build a pipeline for future talent needs, bring new perspectives and energy to the workplace and can serve as “ambassadors” to promote knowledge about your company with their peers. Here are some tips for hiring and managing interns effectively.

Determine whether you will use paid or unpaid interns. If you hire paid interns, the same minimum wage and overtime laws apply to them as apply to your fulltime employees. And you have more flexibility in terms of the type of work you can have them do. If you hire unpaid interns, be sure you understand the California Department of Labor guidelines for determining whether the intern is entitled to wages.

Create a detailed job description. The intern may have little or no work experience. Be clear about expectations, supervision, etc. Ideally, tie the work to their school curriculum (this is especially important for unpaid interns). Consider what tools and resources – and training – they might need to fulfill expectations and include that in your planning.

Start early, i.e., now. Many college campuses have summer intern fairs. The best, most ambitious students will be accepting intern opportunities early to make sure they have something secured by summer.

Develop relationships with local college career centers. There are a number of campuses in the Bay Area. Reach out to them to learn their guidelines and get on their list as a source for internships. Some of their students may be your future workforce!

Make the internship a positive learning experience. In addition to providing them skills and knowledge related to their area of study, help them learn the workplace skills they’ll need when they transition from campus to office – time management, networking, effective communication, email etiquette and other skills and behaviors that will help them succeed.

Done well, summer internships can be a very rewarding experience for both you and your interns!

Job descriptions are an essential management tool – for hiring, performance management and employee development. Yet, it’s amazing how many companies either don’t have written job descriptions or have job descriptions that are out of date or incomplete. Don’t fall into this category!

In addition to providing a benchmark for hiring and performance, job descriptions can provide the documentation necessary to protect you in legal disputes over employee non-performance of requirements.

An effective job description should include:

• Job title
• Job location
• A summary of the job objective/purpose
• Scope of responsibility
• Reporting relationships
• Qualifications required (experience, skills, competencies)
• Key functions and duties (including standards)
• Physical requirements

While you need to incorporate flexibility into the document to allow for personal growth and organizational changes, it’s important to be as detailed as possible, especially in areas that are critical to job success.

One area that often isn’t detailed enough is the “physical requirements” area. Be sure that if the job requires lifting a certain amount of weight that you specify the weight. If it requires bending, stooping, reaching, and/or walking on uneven surfaces, for example, document that in the description. Also, note any particular characteristics of the work environment, such as exposure to the elements or the need to go in and out of a freezer.

The more detailed you can be in the job description, the more likely you are to find and keep the right person for the job.

While the economy has reduced the number and “flair” of company parties, most companies still take the opportunity at least once a year to gather for socializing, recognition and/or team building. And these parties often involve alcohol. Because of concerns around corporate liability should something happen as a result of an intoxicated employee, many companies are developing drinking guidelines as part of their event planning process. These range from “drink responsibly” messages to establishing a two-drink maximum, to providing van or cab rides home. Creating guidelines to protect employees and the company is a good idea. However, if you merely create the guidelines and then don’t follow them, you could be putting your company at risk.

Take the example of Marriott Hotel, who in Purton v. Marriott International was found liable in a “wrongful death” following a company party.  Prior to their holiday party in 2009, Marriott Del Mar Hotel management decided that they would give each party attendee only two drink tickets and would only serve beer and wine.  An employee of the hotel, who was a bartender, arrived at the party having already had a couple of drinks, and bearing a full flask of whiskey. At some point during the night, the employee was able to refill his flask. He left the party and arrived home safely. Shortly after he arrived home, he left again to drive an intoxicated coworker home. While driving the coworker home, the employee hit another vehicle at 100 mph, killing the occupant. He received a six-year sentence for vehicular manslaughter.

Now you might think that Marriott’s responsibility ended once the employee had arrived home safely. However, in the “wrongful death” suit filed by the victim’s family, the court held that “an employer may be found liable for its employee’s torts as long as the proximate cause of the injury (here, alcohol consumption) occurred within the scope of employment.” They also found irrelevant the fact that the effects of the employee’s negligent conduct occurred when the employee was no longer acting within the scope of his employment (i.e., after he had left the party.)

Had Marriott enforced the rules they implemented to protect themselves, things might have turned out differently.

As you plan for your summer and holiday parties this year, keep these things in mind:

1. Be consistent in enforcing safe drinking guidelines.
2. Assign someone to monitor alcohol consumption.
3. Remember that your responsibility doesn’t end when an intoxicated employee gets home.

In our continuing series on new and revised California employment laws, here are two revisions that extend protections for victims of crime, domestic abuse and stalking.

SB288 currently prohibits an employer from discharging or discriminating against an employee who takes time off to serve on a jury; an employee who is a victim of a crime for taking time off to appear in court as a witness; or an employee who is a victim of domestic violence or sexual assault to obtain or attempt to obtain prescribed relief.  A new provision in the law allows crime victims to take time off from work for court appearances in which their rights are at issue. This law applies to specific crimes only, and affected employees must request leave in compliance with company policy.

SB 400 has been amended to provide stalking victims with the same protections now provided for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, including time off to appear at legal proceedings.  All employers must provide time off to covered victims for court appearances. Employers with 25 or more employees must provide victims with time off to seek medical/psychological treatment, including safety planning.

Additionally, SB 400 now requires that employers provide reasonable accommodation for victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking, which may include implementation of safety measures.

Please be sure to update your Leave of Absence and Time Off policies accordingly.

In my last blog we talked about the new minimum wage for the state of California and for the cities of San Francisco and San Jose.  Another ruling related to wages has to do with compensation for piece rate employees. If you employ piece rate workers, you must pay them at the piece rate for all piece rate work, and at a rate that is at least at the minimum wage for each hour of non-piece rate work. This means it’s not enough to average the piece rate and non-piece rate over total hours worked for the pay period and then make up the difference only where the total falls below the minimum wage.

Also, for 2014 the minimum annual salary required in California for a Computer Professional to be exempt from overtime pay is $84,130.53. This calculates to $40.38 per hour (up from the previous rate of $39.90) and $7,010.88 per month (up from $6,927.75). Besides meeting pay requirements, a stringent duties test must also be satisfied to meet the Computer Professional exemption.  For example, regardless of pay, the exemption does not apply to entry-level computer software professionals and employees who do not work independently without close supervision.

Recommendations:  The new piece rate laws require California employers to keep accurate time records.  This means accurate tracking is required on your part.  The Computer Professional guideline is a reminder to conduct a review of jobs that may be considered under the exemption.  Be sure to conduct the review under attorney-client privilege.

There are a number of new employment-related laws going into effect in 2014.
I’ll be summarizing those for you in my next few blogs. Let’s start with minimum wage changes.

AB 10 raises the minimum wage in California from $8/hour to $9/hour effective July 1, 2014. The minimum wage will bump up another dollar in 2016 when it goes up to $10/hour effective January 1, 2016. The law also requires California employers to pay non-exempt employees one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for:  (1) hours worked in excess of 8 in one day; and, (2) the first 8 hours worked on the 7th consecutive day of work in any one workweek;  and two times their regular rate of pay for:  (1) hours worked in excess of 12 in one day; and, (2) hours worked in excess of 8 hours on the 7th consecutive of work in a work week.

Another law – AB 442 – increases the penalty for employers who fail to pay minimum wage. Now, in addition to existing penalties, employers cited by the Labor Commissioner for failing to pay minimum wage will be required to pay liquidated damages to the affected employee.

In the city of San Jose, minimum wage increased from $10/hour to $10.15/hour, effective January 1 this year. Also effective January 1, 2014, minimum wage in the City and County of San Francisco increased from $10.55/hour to $10.74/hour. The cities of Los Angeles and San Diego have not passed ordinances to increase the minimum wage above California’s state-wide requirements.

To avoid penalties, be sure you are complying with these new minimum wage rulings. Watch for my next blog for more information about new laws in 2014.

Believe it or not, 2013 is nearly over. Before you take off for the holidays, be sure you have reviewed and completed those HR items you need to finish before year end. Here’s a checklist for you:

• Order any updated Federal and State Labor Law Posters.
• Review your employee handbook to identify where changes are needed to reflect new laws, policies and/or procedures.
• Review and update employee addresses in preparation for W-2 distribution.
• Review and update job descriptions.
• Finalize the HR Budget for 2014.
• Schedule implementation of Employee Survey suggestions.
• Determine dates of company holidays for 2014.
• Renew any annual memberships and subscriptions.
• Check stock on basic forms and reorder as necessary.
• Deal with any lingering employee relations issues.

In addition to taking care of these items, take the opportunity to look back over the year and assess – from a people standpoint – what went well and what didn’t go so well. Are your employees engaged and productive? If not, do you see any trends that you could work on turning around in 2014? Are there any employees who stand out as particularly high potential? How will you develop and retain them in 2014?

Giving some thought to these things now, and then putting a plan in place to address them after the first of the year will get 2014 off to a good start!

If you do not have an Employee Handbook or haven’t updated yours in awhile, or need help updating job descriptions, contact me at Connect to HR, LLC at michelle@connecttohr.com.

In my last blog I wrote about the benefits that community service provides to teams, individuals and corporations, as well as to the organizations served. Now it’s time to start planning how you and your team are going to be “helping hands” to those in need this year.  Here are a few organizations that have a strong tradition of helping the local community, plus opportunities for both monetary contributions and volunteer work.

Second Harvest Food Bank needs help packing and sorting the food it collects and provides to people in need in the community. This makes a great team event. Your employees may also want to help with food distribution.

You can also help Second Harvest by setting up a food drive at your office. This year some major corporations are promising additional donations when certain targets are met in the food drive campaign.

Another great team activity is volunteering at the Family Giving Tree warehouse.  Volunteers may help in gift receiving or sorting, gift wrapping, quality check, gift distribution or warehouse clean up.

Your company can also help by participating in the Family Giving Tree’s Holiday Wish Drive.  You display “wish cards” in your lobby and other public areas.  Each wish card describes an age appropriate gift for a child in need. Employees select the wish cards and pledge to provide the new, unwrapped gift by the due date. Gifts this year are due at the warehouse by Tuesday, December 10.

Family Support Services has many families who are in need of basics – warm clothes, shoes, etc.  Family Support Services of the Bay Area will provide a list of needs for each family member plus some suggested “dream wish” ideas.

Additional group volunteer ideas are available at Volunteer San Jose.

Also, please don’t forget the many people in the Philippines affected by Typhoon Haiyan.  Financial donations to the American Red Cross will help them provide shelter, food, emotional support and other assistance to those in need, many of whom have lost everything.

Group dinners and ping pong tournaments have their place in developing team camaraderie and cohesion.  And there are many, more elaborate (and costly) activities available to challenge team strength and build intra-team trust. In this season of giving, however, consider the benefits of team activities that contribute to your external community, while at the same time building a sense of purpose, cooperation and fun within the team.

In a 2010 study by United Healthcare and Volunteer Match, 81% of respondents said that volunteering with work colleagues strengthened their relationships, and 76% said they felt better about their employer because of their volunteer activities. The study also indicated that volunteering improved individuals’ sense of well-being and purpose.

Team community service also provides an opportunity to develop the skills of individual team members. Put someone who is not in a leadership role in charge of the event. Put someone else in charge of communications. Build collaboration by letting the team research and decide on the organization they will help.  These skills will then translate back to the job and result in a higher performing team.

Research shows that companies who give back to their communities have better brand visibility, more highly-engaged employees and stronger relationships with their customers. With more than 60% of employees reporting that they are not engaged at work, providing opportunities to contribute in meaningful ways as a team outside of work may help them view the organization with new eyes and enthusiasm.

Next time we’ll talk about some specific local opportunities for team volunteering.

“The highest of distinctions is service to others.” – King George IV

“The greatest leader is not necessarily the one who does the greatest things. He is the one that gets the people to do the greatest things.” – Ronald Reagan