School will be out soon, and many ambitious students will be looking for ways to earn some money and/or expand their experience during the summer break.  If you plan to hire paid interns, the same minimum wage and overtime laws apply to them as apply to your fulltime employees.

If, on the other hand, you are considering hiring unpaid interns, note that in California the Department of Labor considers the following 6 criteria when determining whether an intern is entitled to wages in exchange for his or her services:

1. The internship is similar to training that would be given in an educational environment
2. The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern
3. The intern works under close supervision of existing staff and does not displace regular employees
4. The employer derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern, and, on occasion, its operations may even be impeded
5. The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the end of the internship
6. The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship

The more you can structure your internship program like that of an academic experience versus the intern engaging in your company operations, the more likely it will be viewed as part of their education and thereby meet the criteria. Job shadowing, for example, where the intern observes various functions under close supervision but performs minimal or no work, can be considered training. Again, the experience must be for the benefit of the intern, not the employer.

For more information, refer to the California Department of Labor Fact Sheet #71.

If you have questions of a general nature regarding this topic, please feel free to contact me. For specific legal advice, contact a California employment law attorney.

Under SB 1339, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last October, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) are authorized to establish a commuter benefit policy aimed at reducing traffic and improving air quality.

The four-year pilot program would require employers with 50 or more full-time employees to offer their employees at least one of the following benefits:

• The option to pay for their transit, vanpooling or bicycling expenses with pre-tax dollars, as allowed by federal law;
• A transit or vanpool subsidy of at least $75 per month;
• A free shuttle or vanpool operated by or for the employer; or
• An alternative program, approved by the MTC and BAAQMD, that provides similar benefits in reducing single-occupant vehicles

Although the bill authorized adoption of the policy on or after January 1^st of this year, an effective date has not yet been determined. Employers will have six months to comply with the policy once the effective date has been established. The policy will cover employers in the following counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara as well as the southwest portion of Solano County and the southern portion of Sonoma County.

In addition to contributing to a cleaner environment, the policy will offer economic benefits to both employers and employees. Employers can reduce payroll taxes (approximately 9 percent of subject wages) and employees can lower their commute costs by up to 40 percent.

For more information, visit http://rideshare.511.org/employers/.

You’ve worked hard to recruit, interview, and hire the right fit for a key position.  Your job is done, right? Wrong! Too often new hires are thrown into the workplace with little or no company knowledge or resources to help them succeed. This is one of the main reasons as many as 42% of new hires leave their jobs within the first year.

Providing new hires with a positive, memorable experience during their first few months, and providing them with tools, knowledge and resources to help them succeed is essential to their engagement and retention.  Here are some best practices for doing so.

Start the process when they accept the offer.  There’s usually a time lapse between when they accept the offer and their start date. Time to change their mind. Send them a warm welcome letter and a small gift (something with your company logo on it) and follow up with a phone call. Include an agenda for the first day, and what to expect during their first week. Advise them about parking and any other logistics that will help them get started.

Be ready for them. Make sure their workspace and technology is set up and ready to go on the first day. First impressions do count. Put together a starter packet of supplies. Have a welcome sign on their desk.

Plan for a 30-90 onboarding process. Onboarding is more than just filling out forms and learning about the company.  An Orientation class is just part of it. Onboarding is a structured process that helps the new hire understand their role and how it fits into the big picture; the company culture; how to navigate through the various company processes; what’s expected of them; who’s who, etc. Include check-in points along the way to gather feedback and an overall evaluation of the process at the end.

Get a head start on the paperwork. If appropriate, send some of the paperwork out to the employee ahead of time.  If you send them benefits information, for example, they can begin the discussion with family members to accelerate the decision process. In the welcome letter, include the items they need to bring in with them, e.g., two forms of ID for the I-9 form.

Make it fun. Plan some activities during the onboarding period that will help new hires get to know other employees. Have a theme. Create a treasure hunt to help them learn about other departments or master the company intranet.

Involve others. Assign each new hire a “buddy” for the first 30 days to help orient them.  In the new hire announcement ask all employees to be welcoming and helpful.  Invite department managers or long term employees to speak at the Orientation class about their areas and/or their (positive) experience at the company.

Set some short term goals. The hiring manager should meet one-on-one with the new hire during their first few days to talk in detail about the role, the department, expectations, his or her leadership style, etc.  Set a few specific short term goals at this point to provide focus and the opportunity for early success.

Need some help developing your onboarding process? Send me an email at connecttohr@yahoo.com

In today’s hectic workplace where we’re all trying to do more with less, conducting an interview can often feel like just one more task on an ever-growing “to do” list. But it is a very important task indeed. Done effectively, it can mean the difference between hiring a valuable contributor to the team, or making a very costly mistake. Here are some tips to ensure your interviews are effective.

1. Be clear about the qualities you do want and those you don’t want. This includes not just technical or job-specific skills, but also the “soft skills” or competencies that are necessary to succeed in the role.  Develop a profile of the best performer you’ve had in that role. Also, think about the qualities that will make the person a good fit for the team or organization. Or not.
2. Ask well-developed, behavioral questions. Once you’ve defined the skills and qualities you’re looking for, prepare questions that draw out specific examples from the candidate of how they’ve demonstrated that skill or competency.   Avoid open ended questions instead ask specific examples such as tell me about a time when you did x, what happened and what was the result?
3. Conduct structured interviews. Use the same set of questions for every candidate interviewing for the role. This will facilitate the decision process and ensure that you are treating candidates equally. Divide the questions among interviewers based on their respective areas of expertise.  This provides a more well-rounded view of the candidate, and keeps the candidate engaged during the interview. It’s frustrating to a candidate to have to answer the same questions multiple times.
4. Be legal. Know the questions you need to avoid. The questions need to be related to the job.  Avoid asking questions related to an applicant’s race, color, religion, age, gender, national origin, marital status, or disability.  Remember that the interview begins the minute the candidate walks in the door. Be sure the receptionist and whoever greets the candidate knows the questions to avoid as well.
5. Train and prepare your interviewers. Effective interviewing is a learned skill. Without training, people will often “go with their gut” versus making an objective decision. Or favor a candidate who is like them versus one who is different, but right for the role.  Be sure they know the requirements for the role, are armed with a good set of questions, and will represent your organization well.
6. Make a good impression. Candidates are primed to leave you with a good impression of them. You need to give them a good impression as well. Be prepared. Be respectful. Be honest. If you’re the decision maker, and know that the candidate is lacking in a certain area, offer some helpful advice. The candidate will appreciate it, and will likely share their positive experience with others.

Need some help developing your interview questions or process? Send me an email at connecttohr@yahoo.com.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has published a revised Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 (Rev. 03/08/13). The revised form includes new fields, reformatting to reduce errors and clearer instructions for both employees and employers.  Employers should immediately begin using the revised Form I-9 for all new hires and reverifications. Employers do not need to complete the revised form for current employees if a properly completed Form I-9 is already on file.

All employers are required to complete a Form I-9 for each employee hired in the United States. Employers may continue to use previous Form I-9 revisions (Rev. 02/02/09 and Rev. 08/07/09) until May 7, 2013. After May 7, 2013, employers must us only the newly revised form.

We all know that hiring mistakes are costly. Estimates range from $40,000 to $200,000 per hire, which includes tangible costs such as training, recruiting, unemployment insurance, and severance as well as intangible costs such as impacts to employee morale and customer relationships.

To avoid bad hires, it’s essential to begin by developing a good job description.  The job description should clearly articulate the job requirements, qualifications, years of experience and other important factors such as travel expectations, physical requirements for the job and education.  In addition, it is a good idea to define what constitutes a “good fit,” and prepare questions that identify a match or a miss. You must know what you DO want. What we often overlook, though, is that it’s just as important to know what you DON’T want.  Approaching each candidate from the “do want / don’t want” perspective in the interview, follow up and reference phases of the process will improve your success rate at finding the right hire. So how do you develop a “Don’t Want” profile?

Learn from past mistakes. Review your hires and terminations over the past year. Were there any patterns among the employees who didn’t work out?  What qualities made them a bad fit for the culture? Were there any background areas – experience level or previous companies – that impaired their success?

Train your interviewers. Hopefully you are already training your interviewers on how to identify the qualities you DO want in an employee. Also train them to recognize the qualities you DON’T want.  Give them examples of subtle signals that indicate a bad attitude. Give them specific clues to watch for in the interview that demonstrate the person won’t fit the culture. Share with them the lessons learned from bad hiring choices in the past.

As a reminder, it is also a good idea to train your interview team on questions to avoid from a legal perspective.  You cannot ask any question during an interview that relates to an applicant’s race, color, religion, age, gender, national origin, or disability. In some states, inquiries about a candidate’s sexual orientation are illegal.

Put it in writing. Just as you develop a written profile for the qualities you DO want, commit to paper the characteristics and behaviors you DON’T want. Use it consistently in your hiring process. Update it as you learn more from hires that don’t work out.

The more structured, prepared and consistent you are in all aspects of your hiring process, the more likely you are to hire and keep the right employees.

Any recruiter or hiring manager will tell you that while there are plenty of applicants for open positions, finding qualified talent that’s right for the position and a good fit for the company is getting harder.  So if you’re looking to grow your team but your current recruiting methods aren’t working, what can you do?

Get creative! Here are some ideas.

Hold an open house. Invite qualified applicants to an after-work event at your office. Ask hiring managers and other key employees to attend and interact with the candidates. Add some structure by setting up interviews on the “speed dating” model, where candidates rotate through interviewers every 5 minutes or so. You can observe how candidates react in groups, gather feedback from multiple people and identify some stars you want to bring in for further discussions.

Spiff up the career section of your website. Is your website attracting the kind of candidate you want? It may be time for a refresh. The best candidates are looking for challenging work in an organization where they can grow and have some fun. Many also are focused on joining a company that cares about its people, the community and the environment. How well does your website sell your vision, values and culture? It’s more than just listing benefits. Add videos, pictures of company events and job descriptions  that have personality.

Give past candidates another look. Maybe there’s a candidate you interviewed a while back who had a great attitude, but was “runner up” for the position or was missing one requirement.  Check back in with them. Maybe they’ve updated their skills. Or, if they’re a good fit otherwise, you can train them for that missing requirement. There’s something to be said for “hire for attitude, train for aptitude.”

Hang out where the talent is. Attend events that are not job fairs, such as professional organization meetings and meet-up events that might attract the talent you need. Join relevant groups on LinkedIn and watch the comments and conversations. There may be someone who is looking for an opportunity like the one you have available.

Leverage your networks. Check with your colleagues at other companies to see whether they’ve recently had a “runner up” candidate that might be a good fit. Likewise, when you aren’t able to place a candidate, think about whom else you know that might have a spot for them.  Your colleague may return the favor and the candidate will walk away with a positive impression of you and your company. They just may send other qualified candidates your way.

And above all, make your company a great place to work, where employees feel they have a career – not just a J-O-B -and where they want to bring the most highly qualified people they know to work.

Earlier this month I shared with you 5 Tips for Creating Effective Employee Goals. Creating the goals, though, is only a beginning.  How are you going to ensure that those goals are achieved?  Communicate, support, review and recognize!

Communicate with your employees on a regular basis through informal meetings (e.g., weekly one-on-ones) and more formal quarterly check-ins. Encourage them to take the lead in initiating and scheduling the meetings (to develop their accountability), but don’t let it drop if they fail to do so. Ask questions and listen to determine how they’re tracking to the goals and any issues they’re having.  Share with them any changes to organizational or team direction that might impact the nature or timeline of their goals. Nothing is more frustrating to an employee than putting effort into something that is no longer needed or no longer relevant to the big picture.

Provide support in terms of resources and guidance as they work on their goals. Are they having trouble getting the input, effort or approvals needed from others in order to complete the goal? Are there roadblocks? Use this as a coaching opportunity and work together to develop a path forward. If too much of the goal is dependent on someone other than the employee for it to be achieved, it’s not truly a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound) goal.

Review the goals on a regular basis. Not just progress and issues, but evaluate whether the goal is still relevant and if the timing still makes sense. Have priorities shifted? Revise goals accordingly. If the deadline is in peril, break the goal into components and prioritize and schedule those that are achievable.   It is important to stay on course and keep track of their accomplishments.

When goals are achieved, recognize the achievement. For especially challenging or stretch goals, spend some time with the employee discussing his or her approach, lessons learned, things that could have been done differently.

Then roll that learning into the next year’s goals!

Now that the holidays are over and we have at least one regular work week under our belts, it’s time to put some structure around what we want to accomplish this year.  You’ve probably already charted out what you want to achieve as an organization. Or will do so shortly. But what about your employees? Have you worked with them to develop goals that will keep them motivated and engaged this year?  As someone once said, “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.”

Here are 5 tips for creating effective goals with your employees.

1. Help employees align their goals with team and organizational goals. Employees need to know where the company is headed and how they – as individuals – can help it get there. When their goals are tied to team goals and the overall goals of the organization, they see a purpose for their work and are motivated to contribute to organizational success.
2. Develop goals collaboratively. Employees need to buy into their goals to be motivated to achieve them. Give them some ideas based on company goals and their specific role, but allow  employees to write the goals themselves. Then provide feedback and coaching to ensure the goals are aligned and SMART.
3. Be sure they are SMART goals. Review employee goals to ensure they are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-bound. The goal, “Reduce customer wait time,” begs the questions: Wait time for what? By how much? By when? Is it tied to an organizational goal? Is it achievable? A goal without a date is just a dream.
4. Limit goals to 3 or 4 (depending on company size). Again, the point is to make the goals achievable. Some employees may have more or fewer goals depending on the amount of effort involved in each goal and the associated timelines. Work with your employees to review and update goals at least quarterly.
5. Include at least one development goal. Employee development opportunities keep employees engaged and loyal. Ensure that at least one of the employee goals is related to building on a strength, improving a development area or adding a new skill. Think about the organizational direction and the skills and competencies that will be needed to get there. Set your employees up for success – and build loyalty – by identifying and supporting related development opportunities.

What best practices are you using around goal setting and follow up?  If you need assistance in setting goals in your organization, please send me an email at connecttohr@yahoo.com.

There are a number of new laws going into affect in 2013 that will impact California employers. We’ve listed them below. You can find more detailed information on the CalChamber website.  Except as noted, all new laws go into effect January 1, 2013.

Religion and Reasonable Accommodation – clarifies that accommodation also covers religious dress practices and religious grooming practices.

Sex Discrimination and Breastfeeding – changes the definition of “sex” under FEHA for purpose of discrimination protections to include breastfeeding and related medical conditions.

Social Media and Personal Passwords – prohibits employers from requiring or request employees or job applicants to provide user names or passwords for personal social media accounts.

Inspection of Personnel Records – clarifies who has the right to inspect or request copies of personnel files; any deadlines for providing access to files; where and how records must be made available; an employer’s obligation to retain files; and penalties for failure to comply.

Itemized Wage Statements/Temporary Service Employers – this is effective July 1, 2013. It amends the labor code relating to itemized wage statement and wage notice requirements and requires specific information from temporary service employers.

Penalties for Wage Statement Violations – defines an “injury” for purposes of violating the itemized wage statement statute. Employers are required to provide specified information to employees on a wage statement each time wages are paid. An employee who “suffers an injury” as a result of an employer knowingly or intentionally failing to comply with the statute is entitled to recover damages against the employer.

Commission agreements – amends the written commission agreement law to exempt certain types of wage payments from the written agreement requirement.

Fixed Salaries and Overtime –states that payment of a fixed salary to a nonexempt employee will be deemed to be payment only for the employee’s regular non-overtime hours, notwithstanding any private agreement or “explicit mutual wage agreement” to the contrary.

Wage Garnishment – increases the amount of wages that are exempt from garnishment. This amendment is effective July 1, 2013.

Human Trafficking Posting – requires specified businesses to post a notice, on or before April 1, 2013, that contains information about organizations that provide services to eliminate slavery and human trafficking. The Department of Justice will make available a model of the notice.

Workers’ Compensation Reform – offsets necessary increases in permanent disability benefits and potentially lowers system costs for employers.

Accessibility Reform – limits frivolous litigation regarding technical violations concerning disability access by reducing statutory damages and putting into place provisions to prevent “stacking” of multiple claims.

FEHC Eliminated, Duties Transferred to the DFEH – eliminates the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission (FEHC), changing the manner in which charges of discrimination or harassment are handled.

Intellectual Disabilities – substitutes the term “intellectual disability” for the outdated term mental retardation in many statutes and regulations.

Unemployment Insurance: Overpayment and Penalties – provides that the EDD can deny reimbursement to an employer for any overpayments made to its unemployment insurance reserve accounts if the EDD determines that  overpayment result from an employer’s failure to respond to or provide adequate information to the EDD. Applies to benefit overpayments established on or after October 22, 2013.

Prevailing Wage –  states that increased employer payment contributions that result in a lower hourly straight time or overtime wage do not constitute a violation of the applicable prevailing wage determination as long as certain specified conditions are met.

In addition, several cities and counties are increasing their minimum wages as of January 1, 2013.  Locally, San Francisco’s new minimum wage will increase to $10.55 an hour and San Jose is increasing its minimum wage to $10.00 an hour.