Employee Hiring

The session also lends itself to handing over the company's employment and/or operating policies to be read by the employee. Some companies provide two copies, one of which is to be signed and returned to indicate that the employee has read and understood the contents.

Part of the registration process, normally, is a minimal orientation. It may involve providing the employee keys to the business or to toilet facilities, a brief tour that should include pointing out emergency procedures and exits, and passing on important trivialities such as, for instance, under what conditions the copier always jams and how to avoid it '¦

INTRODUCTION TO THE JOB

The employee registration and orientation typically ends with introductions to co-workers and to the work itself. The new hire will usually be part of a team with its own supervisor. The lines of authority to be followed can be made clear at this stage—with the supervisor then assuming the role of guide and trainer; in many situations, the trainer may also be a co-worker assigned to introduce the new employee to the actual work itself.

In most work situations some training will be required. In well-run operations such training will be administered based on a checklist and will not be allowed to take place casually—with potentially costly consequences if training is neglected. The job might involve working with complex computerized databases or may require the employee to fill customers' propane containers. All manner of equipment training may be involved. In yet other organizations, complex telephone disciplines may be used. If all training cannot be provided immediately, it is always at least possible to alert the new employee to dangers and to instruct him or her to ask for help before using the forklift, the compressor, or the sonic instrument cleaner.

HIRING AND THE LAW

The hiring process is subject to legal guidelines set out by both federal and state governments; these deal with discriminatory hiring practices. Companies that hire people may not discriminate on the basis of sex, age, race, national origin, religion, physical disability, or veteran status—so-called "protected classes." A hiring manager may not screen out any applicant because of membership in a protected class or address topics during the job interview related to the protected class.

The most important laws related to hiring are—

• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII)
• Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 (ADEA)
• Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)
• The Uniformed Services Employment Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (USERRA)
• Immigration Reform and Control Act

Anti-discrimination laws do not require a company to hire an applicant because of membership in a protected class, nor is a manager required to hire applicants from any protected class in proportion to their numbers in the community. But the business owner is required to select the best qualified applicant for the position, based on the critical skills of the job, and is required to make that selection irrespective of whether or not that applicant belongs to a protected class.

The complexity of the laws shown above is rather daunting. Fortunately an excellent booklet is available from the U.S. Small Business Administration to help the small business owner and his or her administrative helpers. It is entitled An Equal Opportunity Guide for Small Business Employers and available on the Internet for downloading (see references below). The SBA guide has the merit of being much more than a motivational pamphlet. It is comprehensive, well-organized, and sufficiently detailed to let the business owner translate its requirements to his or her operation. It provides specific guidance on many issues. Obtaining this guide and spending one or two evenings looking it over with a marking pen will probably suffice in most instances to vastly improve a small business's compliance with the many laws relating to protected classes.