HR Compliance Through Systems
Admittedly, this edition is not as interesting as the previous Culture Building edition (at least in my opinion) but no less important. As we look at HR compliance there are levels of compliance that organizations work toward.
The first is the basic level of compliance; this is just enough to keep you out of trouble with the Department of Labor. The basic level includes having the correct new hire paperwork, benefit plans when needed, worker’s compensation, and the labor posters.
The next level is the intermediate level of compliance where basic systems are being implemented on top of the basic compliance functions. These generally include an employee handbook, performance reviews, time off, attendance, and other general HR procedures.
Every organization must have the basic level of compliance but should really have the intermediate level of compliance in order to support the people side of the business.
These processes ensure that people know what is expected of them and have an opportunity to grow and develop in the organization.
The next level is focused on using systems to drive compliance, especially around recruiting and hiring. As your organization grows and approaches the 50 person mark, increased compliance becomes especially important. It is critical to have a record of the applications you receive and the reasons that they were or were not called for an interview.
More critically, once you have interviewed someone and choose not to hire him or her, you must maintain a record of why you chose not to hire him or her. There have been many lawsuits around hiring discrimination and there will inevitably be more.
In these cases the best defense is a great offense, and maintaining records as part of a hiring and recruiting workflow system is the best offense.
Beyond recruiting and hiring, it is important to ensure you have a system in place to maintain your policies, such as the employee handbook, and the employees acknowledge new policies as well as policy updates. This prevents misunderstandings and the spread of misinformation.
