If this newsletter does not appear to be displaying correctly please click here or paste the following link into your internet browser: http://www.retailmerchants.com/_newsletters/retail-employer-2006-06.htm

The Retail Employer

June 2006

The Hiring Process—Part Four

by David E. Nagle

The consequences of bad hiring can be significant: diminished productivity, lost opportunity costs (in time invested in training, supervision, and turnover, and the disruption, expense and uncertainty of litigation. Hiring is an investment, and skill in managing the hiring process must be acquired. Like all skills, it takes considerable training, effort and experience to develop, and a review of all of the legal considerations applicable to the hiring process would be incomplete even if we devoted the entire two day seminar to that topic. This article summarizes the author’s presentation to the Advanced Employment Issues Symposium conducted in Las Vegas. It focuses upon (a) the way in which organizing the hiring process can help reduce the risk of litigation, and (b) selected issues where legal considerations require particular attention. One step will be featured in each issue of the Retail Employer.

Extending the Offer of Employment

Must be done by the right person, at the right time, on the right terms. An offer is only to be conveyed by one authorized individual, who may or may not be one of the interviewers, or the supervisor of the position being filled. Those who are not authorized to extend offers need to recognize and appreciate the limits upon their authority.

An offer is only to be conveyed at a specific point in time, which will almost never be at the conclusion of an interview. The candidate assessment process must be complete, not only with respect to the candidate in question, but with respect to all candidates being assessed for the position.

An offer is only to be conveyed in a carefully-crafted letter which contains all of the essential terms and conditions of the offer. The letter should be in a form approved by counsel, and should be neither ambiguous nor misleading. It should contain:

  • Job title
  • Compensation, including description of significant components of compensation plan beyond hourly rate/commission/salary.
  • Other critical job-specific items (e.g., location)
  • Contingencies, known limitations on duration of position
  • Identification of primary benefits and the definitive source for additional information
  • Identification of conditions of employment (more next month))

An employer should not allow the desire for a positive tone in the letter result in the omission of these critical matters. This need not reflect the blunt language that will be contained in the acknowledgment form (next month), however, this must be sufficient to provide advance notice of conditions of employment. It is imperative that new hires not be in a position to declare that they first learned of conditions of employment after they had accepted the job.

An employer needs to be familiar with the post-offer, pre-employment opportunity for medical questions and medical examinations permissible under the ADA.

This information was taken from an article by David E. Nagle of the LeClair Ryan law firm in Richmond.  He can be reached at (804) 343-4077, or dnagle@leclairryan.com.  The information originally appeared in an article he wrote for the Virginia Employment Law Letter, published monthly by M. Lee Smith Publishers, Inc.  For information on that publication, call 1-800-274-6774

<< Back to top

Providing Employee Feedback

Everyone has experienced difficulty whether giving feedback or receiving it. In either case, individual’s emotions can get in the way of clear communications.

Last month we focused on:

  • Focus on the behavior, not the person.
    Always focus on the person’s behavior never on them personally. It is the behavior you want to change.
  • Insure Two-way Understanding.
    More problems have been created because of a misunderstanding in communications. Here is simple question to insure your correct message has been heard: "Now, tell me what you heard me say?"

Here is another suggestion:

Respect the other's viewpoint.

Listening and understanding does not mean agreement with a person’s point of view. Listening is much harder than most people realize; it is so far beyond hearing the words.

Let me paraphrase one of Steven Covey’s seven habits of successful executives:

  • Seek first to understand and then to be understood.

Spend the front half of your discussion making sure you understand the speaker’s point of view. Ask probing questions; qualify and quantify their material to insure that you understand what it is they are saying. Frequently you will find digging deep enough a different issue / point of view than you thought existed.

Only after you understand the speaker’s point of view should you present your own point of view.

  • Seek first to understand and then to be understood.

Try it, you will be pleasantly surprised!

This article is reprinted with permission of Mike Dunleavey, Executive Associate —Business Support Center—Retail Merchants Association.

<< Back to top

Learn to Lead: Giving an Effective Performance Review

Giving effective, timely feedback is vital for the proper functioning of any team. The most useful feedback is coupled with an effective annual performance review, which means more than simply following technical procedures and filling out paperwork. In many organizations, performance reviews are merely a matter of process and don’t make any impact on the team. To make matters worse, if employees don’t value the process of review time, then even valid criticism, suggestions or observations from employers will rarely be taken to heart.

Part of the problem with annual reviews is that they are rarely taken seriously by the parties involved, largely because many managers have never been trained on how to give a review. In fact, only 13% of employees and managers think their company’s performance reviews are effective, according to People IQ, a company specializing in performance appraisals. Unless the review process is valued from the top down, chances are reviews will continue to be a matter of routine rather than an opportunity to encourage individual and team success. By following some simple tips, managers can give an effective review and start getting the performance they desire.

Starting out with a positive mindset is vital to an effective review. Managers should speak and think optimistically about review time and talk about it with employees as an opportunity to grow professionally. If employees are excited about their review rather than anxious or apathetic, employers will gain a lot more ground with their feedback.

Managers should set specific objectives  for the review and communicate those expectations to employees. It is best to give employees a copy of their job description and their personal and team goals prior to meeting. Before the review, managers should ask employees to prepare by writing out specific questions about goals and performance progress. Also, employers should approach the review equipped with observations, questions and specific examples of employee performance themselves.

Similarly, employers should ask some basic questions before the review to find out how workers on their team perceive their performance. Some examples of good questions to ask employees include: What do you like most/least about your job? What is your biggest achievement this year? What are your specific goals for the coming year and how will you achieve them? How do you feel about your relationship with your supervisor? What contributions have you made to your team in the last year? Asking questions like these helps employees feel that their input and perspective is considered in the review process and can help set a more positive tone for the meeting.

During the review, managers should go over the job description and goals, and answer the employees’ questions. If the organization has formal forms and paperwork to fill out for reviews, go over these with employees and explain their scores on certain areas. Make sure to give examples from daily observation throughout the past year so employees understand their performance levels. Set specific, measurable goals for the coming year, and make sure they align with departmental and organizational goals. Setting goals will make giving feedback and performance reviews in the future more effective because it is easy to compare results and behavior against mutually agreed upon objectives set for the coming year.

Following these simple steps can help make performance review time valuable and meaningful, both for managers and employees. Check out next month’s article on rewarding performance to learn more about how to motivate your team.

This article is reprinted with permission of www.ExpressPersonnel.com . Contact Mr. Lars Nordin at Lars.Nordin@ExpressPersonnel.com if you would like to be added to their distribution list.

<< Back to top