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HR Glossary and Reference Center
To begin, type a term you want to understand better in the search box below. Then, add that term to the Your Challenges Checklist on the right.
- Age Discrimination in Employment Act (“ADEA”):
This is a federal law that prohibits employers from making employment decisions on the basis of age and protects employees aged 40 years and older from employment discrimination on the basis of age. Make sure you know how to handle employees who are facing disability issues properly. If you have a question on ADEA, go to the Your HR Help Desk and describe your issue. - Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”):
A federal law that requires employers with 15 or more workers to provide equal employment opportunities to, and prohibits such employers from discriminating against, “qualified” individuals with disabilities, and requires that covered employers offer reasonable accommodations to such persons. The “ADA” defines disability as a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits individuals in the performance of one or more major life activities. A critical factor in determining whether an individual is qualified for a position is whether the individual can perform the essential job functions, with or without reasonable accommodation. Many states have laws governing workplace treatment of people with disabilities, with similar or more expansive definitions of disability, and which cover employers with as few as one or more employees. Make sure you know how to handle employees who are facing disability issues properly. If you have questions on ADA, go to the Your HR Help Desk and describe your issue. - Attendance Policy:
These are guidelines and expectations for employee attendance at work as defined, written, disseminated, and implemented by an organization. Attendance policies often include absence reporting procedures and requirements, and address how to manage circumstances of chronic absence from work. This should be included in any employee handbook or employee manual. - At Will Employment:
This is a type of employment relationship in which there is no contractual agreement and both the employer and employee may end the employment relationship at any time, for any lawful reason or for no reason at all, with or without prior notice, without incurring a penalty. This should be included in any employee handbook or employee manual. - Background Checking or Background Investigation:
Actions by employers to verify or determine a job candidate’s prior history, which may include education, work experience, licensing, criminal records, military service, credit history and personal facts. The specific types of background information appropriate for investigation depends on the responsibilities of the position sought. Before you hire a person into your organization, you should be sure that you have a thorough and legal check of their background. Find out more about conducting background checks and drug screens. - Back pay:
A type of damages award in an employment lawsuit that represents the amount of money the employee would have earned between the date of the unlawful act and the date of the court decision or settlement, if the employee had not been improperly fired or subject to other unlawful treatment. - Behavioral Interview:
An evaluative tool used to determine if an individual has the behavioral characteristics that have been selected as necessary for success in a particular job. Behavioral interviews ask the candidate to pinpoint specific instances in which a specific behavior was exhibited in the past. In the best behaviorally-based interviews, the candidate is unaware of the behaviors the interviewer is seeking to verify. Since we often hire for skills and fire for behaviors, make sure you incorporate both in your selection process. Are you interested in developing a Behavioral Structured Interview process to improve the accuracy of your candidate interviews? - Benefits:
Benefits can be non-cash additions to salary that employers provide to employees to take as part of a total compensation package. Benefits may include health insurance, dental insurance, life insurance, disability insurance, deferred compensation (pension, profit-sharing, 401K), tuition assistance, paid time-off, employee discounts, club memberships, etc. On average, employers spend 41 cents on benefits for every dollar of payroll, representing 20% of the total employee compensation package. Properly developing a good benefit program and then communicating it effectively to your employees is an important part of a total pay program. - Bereavement Policy:
A benefit whereby employee allow certain categories of employees paid time-off to attend the funeral and attend to other matters surrounding the death of a family member. The number of days permitted and the definition of “family member” vary among employers’ bereavement policies. This should be included in any employee handbook or employee manual. - Business Casual Dress Code:
This is a policy that allows employees to project a professional, business-like image, while experiencing the advantages of more casual and relaxed clothing. Business Casual Dress Code policies often state specific permissible and prohibited attire (e.g. no jeans, no shorts, no tube tops, no sneakers, etc.). You need to be clear in your employee handbook and manual what the expected dress policy in your organization is. Do not assume. - Cafeteria Plan:
A type of employment benefits plan in which employees select benefits from a “menu,” up to a specified dollar amount, which allows employees to attain only those benefits they need or want to use. You may wish to explore this approach in your organization and give your employees the most choice possible. - Coaching:
A method used by managers and supervisors to provide positive or constructive feedback to employees, to help them continue excellent performance or identify ways employees may improve performance. A good coach can be very useful to assist an employee to reach their maximum potential or to turn around a person who is not a positive influence on your team. To locate a great coach in your area, contact us today. - Comparable Worth:
A legal concept under which people that perform dissimilar jobs of similar value to the employer, must be paid the same regardless of the gender of the job incumbents. In a compensation process you want to be sure that people are treated fairly within the organization (sometime called internal equity) and properly paid in comparison to the marketplace (sometimes call external equity). See Compensation Reviews for more information. - Compensation Reviews:
A process by which employers use accurate, up-to-date job descriptions and review pay ranges for all jobs to ensure that the employer maintains a fair and competitive compensation program. Factors employers consider include: Market Competitiveness (information from salary surveys and other sources to determine what other organizations pay for similar jobs) and Internal Equity (internal analysis of the level of job responsibility and pay compared to similar jobs within the organization to verify consistencies and uncover inconsistencies between responsibilities and pay). - Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (“COBRA”):
A federal law that requires employers to notify and allow continued coverage under a group health plan for a period of 18 months (or longer under certain circumstances) if an employee and/or his/her beneficiaries lose insurance benefits due to a “qualifying event.” Coverage continuation requires the participant to pay 100% of the monthly benefit premium and allows employers to charge an additional 2% administrative fee. “Qualifying events” include loss of insurance coverage because a covered employee: voluntarily resigns from employment, is involuntarily terminated for reasons other than “gross misconduct”, has schedule of work hours reduced below eligibility minimums, retires, becomes eligible for Medicare, becomes legally separated, divorced, or dies. COBRA can be both a state and federal requirement for companies who employ a certain number of employees. See Your HR Solutions consultant for more information. - Constructive Discharge:
A type of termination of the employment relationship in which the employee quits, but the employer is liable for wrongful termination, because the employee was forced to resign rather than continuing to endure working conditions that are so severe that no reasonable employee would be willing to tolerate them. This can be a very expensive proposition for employers who do not terminate employees in a legal and appropriate manner. While you may be an “employer-at-will” you can still have significant liability issues when you do not do things properly. See Your HR Solutions consultant for more information. - Counseling:
Providing day-to-day feedback to employees about areas in which their performance at work can improve and possible consequences of not improving. This is another term for coaching a person to better performance or a way to document their activities that can lead to termination. - Culture:
The values, beliefs, underlying assumptions, attitudes, and behaviors shared by a group of people. Culture is the behavior that results when a group arrives at a set of rules (generally unspoken and unwritten) for working together. An organization’s culture includes the life experiences each employee brings to the organization. Ultimately it is the sum of the behaviors and actions that people take that create the culture in an organization. “It’s just the way we do things around here.” Is this the culture you want? Are you looking to build a different culture in your organization? Your HR consultant can assist you in measuring, defining and changing the culture to take your organization to a higher level. - Department:
These are entities, which organizations form to organize people, reporting relationships, and work, in a way that best supports accomplishment of the organization’s goals. Departments usually are organized by functions such as human resources, marketing, administration, and sales, but a department can be organized in any way that makes sense for the organization. - Discipline:
This is a process for dealing with job-related behavior that does not meet expected and communicated performance standards. Discipline requires timely documentation of such behaviors and may be formal or informal, and may include warnings, denial of salary increases or bonuses, demotion, suspension, termination, or other negative consequences. The outline of the appropriate disciplinary procedures and processes are usually found in the employee manual or handbook. - Dispute Resolution:
This is a system in which employers provide employees with a formal means of resolving employer-employee grievances. Your system should ensure fair, prompt, and consistent treatment of all complaints. Appropriate dispute resolution is one means of expressing management’s commitment to employee relations in the establishment and credible usage of an internal grievance or complaint procedure. If you are not sure what an appropriate way to resolve conflicts and disputes, turn to the Your HR Help Desk for guidance and advice. - Downsizing:
This is an employer’s intentional reduction of the number of employees in an organization or part of an organization. Downsizing is also known as lay-offs or reductions in force (RIF), downsizing can be an organizational lifesaver, when used sparingly, and with planning, but when used repeatedly without a thoughtful strategy, can destroy an organization’s effectiveness. - Dress Code:
These are a set of standards that employers develop to help provide their employees with guidance about what is appropriate to wear to work. Work dress codes range from formal to business casual to casual. The formality of the workplace dress code is normally determined by the amount of interaction employees have with customers and the culture or style of an organization. - Drug-free Workplace:
This is a practice where an employer takes steps and initiates policies to ensure that employees are not taking or using alcohol or drugs, selling drugs at work, and are not affected by the after effects of indulging in alcohol or drugs outside of the workplace. A drug-free workplace policy may include post-offer pre-placement screening of potential new hires and mandatory drug and alcohol screening where the employer has reasonable individualized suspicion that a specific employee is under the influence at a specific time based on objective observation and evidence. The policy also may require drug and alcohol screening for employees with Commercial Driver’s License (CDL). A goal of a drug-free workplace program may be to encourage employees with a substance abuse problem to seek treatment, recover, and return to work. The outline of a drug-free workplace is usually defined in the employee handbook or manual. - Employee Assistance Program (“EAP”):
A workplace benefit that employers provide to assist employees in addressing drug or alcohol abuse, emotional problems, job stress, marital discord, workplace conflict, or other issues, by providing free, limited, off-site and confidential counseling assistance. - Employee Empowerment:
The process of enabling or authorizing an individual to think, behave, act, and control work / decision-making in autonomous ways. Empowerment is a development strategy working towards developing an employee’s state of feeling of having the fortitude to take control of one’s own destiny. The degree the employee is empowered to act or not to act is a direct function of clearly defined delegation by leadership and management. The best form of employee empowerment is when the employees has all the appropriate information and uses the same decision making processes that management would use if they were present at that time. - Employee Handbook:
A collection of an employer’s communicated policies, procedures, programs, and methods, summarized for easy use by employees and supervisors. Handbooks should be used to document an employer’s legal compliance, provide useful information to employees and to publicize the benefits of working for a particular employer. Employee handbooks, employee manuals, employee policy guides and other terms to define the organization or company rules and regulations are an important part of good employee communication and leads to a fair and equal application of those policies throughout the organization. - Employee Involvement:
Creating an environment in which employees have an impact on decisions and actions that affect their jobs. Employee involvement is not a goal nor is it a tool, but rather, it is a management and leadership philosophy about how best to enable people to contribute to an organization. - Employee Stock Ownership Plan (“ESOP”):
This is an employer-provided benefit that allows employees to receive or purchase stock in the company under certain favorable terms. It is a defined contribution plan that provides a company’s workers with an ownership interest in the company. In an ESOP, companies provide their employees with stock ownership, typically at no cost to the employees. Shares are given to employees and are held in the ESOP trust until the employee retires or leaves the company, or earlier diversification opportunities arise. A lot of study and research has been conducted recently at Rutgers University’s School of Management and Labor Relations on this subject by Rhokeun Park, Douglas Kruse and James Sesil. For more information explore their work or reach out to a Your HR Solutions consultant for guidance. - Employment Eligibility Verification (I-9):
The I-9 form is required by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to document all employees legal eligibility for employment within the United States . All employees hired after November 6, 1986, must complete Section 1 of this form, within the first 3 days of employment and provide supporting documentation to the employer in order to maintain employment. - Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC):
A federal agency charged with the responsibility for enforcing anti-discrimination employment discrimination. (Title VII, ADEA, ADA, etc.). The EEOC promulgates federal regulations, compliance guidelines, and receives, investigates and, where appropriate, prosecutes claims of unlawful discrimination, particularly employment discrimination. The EEOC investigates discrimination complaints based on an individual’s race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, disability, genetic information and retaliation for reporting, participating in and/or opposing a discriminatory practice. The Commission also mediates and settles thousands of discrimination complaints each year prior to their investigation. The EEOC is also empowered to file discrimination suits against employers on behalf of alleged victims and to adjudicate claims of discrimination brought against federal agencies. State governments also have their own EEOC laws and rules that impact the way that companies and organization operate within their borders. - Equal Pay Act:
This is a federal law that requires employers to pay the same to all employees who do the same work, regardless of gender. There are also state laws that cover this area as well. A well-constructed and executed compensation program should be implemented within in every organization to be sure that each person is properly and fairly paid for the work they do. - Exempt Employee:
An employee who, because of his/her positional duties and responsibilities and extent of decision making authority, is exempt from the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and comparable state wage and hour laws. Exempt employees must be paid a fixed sum each payroll period (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly) regardless of number of hours worked. One of the critical issues that state and federal department of labor workers examine is whether a person is exempt or non-exempt from these laws. The fines and penalties are extremely harsh for companies who try to mis-catagorize employees from non-exempt into exempt. See a Your HR Solutions consultant for guidance and advice on how to handle this situation in your company. - Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA):
This is a federal law setting standards for minimum wage, hours of work, overtime pay, child labor, and wage / hour recordkeeping requirements. The FLSA covers most private and all public sector employers, including state, local, and federal governments. States have similar laws that reflect this federal law as well. See exempt and non-exempt sections of this glossary for additional information. - Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs):
A benefit program authorized under Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code, whereby, employees may have a fixed sum withheld from each paycheck on a pre-tax basis, to be used to pay medical expenses, such as deductibles, co-pays, and non-reimbursed medical charges. - Garnishment:
This is a legal procedure by which a court order requires an employer to withhold a specific sum from each employee’s paycheck in order to pay a debt or other legal obligation, such as child support. - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA):
A federal law mandating and establishing national standards to protect patients’ personal health information, as contained in medical records and medical insurance forms and other documents. HIPAA applies primarily to medical providers (doctors hospitals, therapists) and to insurance carriers offering medical insurance. Employers generally are not subject to HIPAA unless they administer a self-funded medical insurance program, but employers still are obligated to protect the confidentiality of employee medical information pursuant to the ADA. Among other things, HIPAA regulations place civil and criminal liability on the intentional or unintentional release of medical information unless the patient gives prior written approval for the release. - Hostile Working Environment:
This is a work environment that is so charged with discrimination and/or harassment or similar unwelcome behavior based on attributes protected under federal and state anti-discrimination laws, that it interferes with an employee’s ability to do his/her job. Companies need to be very concerned that individual supervisors, managers, employees, associates, vendors, and other people who have access to people within the organization are respecting the people who work there. Companies can be held responsible for the actions of people especially if there was no clear and pro-active attempt by the company to establish a culture and environment that is free from harassment and discrimination. - Human Resource Development (HRD):
This is the framework for helping employees develop their personal and organizational skills, knowledge, and abilities, it includes such opportunities as employee training, employee career development, performance management, development, coaching, succession planning, key employee identification, and organizational development. - Human Resource Management:
Human Resources or HR is the function within an organization that focuses on recruitment, management, the direction of the people in the organization, in the administering of benefits and compensation programs. The individuals within this department work with line management to establish and execute the strategies and tactics that create an engaged and energized work force. - Human Resources Information System (HRIS):
A software or online solution for the data entry, data tracking, and data information needs of the Human Resources function of an organization. Normally packaged as a data base, hundreds of companies sell some form of HRIS and every HRIS has different capabilities, and should be selected to satisfy an organization’s specific needs. Many times this can be integrated with your payroll service provider and in other cases can be a stand-alone product. - Implied contract:
This is a type of enforceable contract that is not made explicitly or in writing, but is implied from the circumstances or the parties’ conduct. Even though an organization may have specific rules in their manuals and handbooks, implied contracts can be created by management establishing a pattern of behaviors and actions. These can be then enforced by legal action to become the norm for an organization or force appropriate penalties. - Independent Contractor:
A business or person, who performs services / produces for a particular outcome, or creates a product for a person or a business under a written or implied agreement, but who is not an employee and is not eligible for employee benefits nor subject to mandatory withholding of taxes from wages. Federal and state Department of Labor workers search under FLSA statutes to determine if Independent Contractors (sometimes known under the IRS code 1099) have become employees due to the nature of the work relationship. There are 6 defined standards that determine is a person is a 1099 Contractor or an employee. Heavy fines and penalties have been levied for companies who try to improperly categorize someone as a 1099 contractor when they are in fact an employee. See a Your HR Solutions consultant for guidance and advice. - Individual Retirement Account (“IRA”):
A tax-deferred savings account in which the employee contributes up to a pre-set maximum amount annually. There are other pension programs that can do similar things such as 401K or 503c - Interview:
There are screening interviews and hiring or selection interviews. Screening interviews qualify a candidate before he/she meets with a hiring authority for possible selection. Hiring interviews allow employers to assess the fit of a candidate. Candidates also interview employers for job suitability. Most of these interviews take place in an office setting one-on-one or in a small group. - Job Analysis:
The process used to collect information about the duties, responsibilities, necessary skills, outcomes, and work environment of a particular job, frequently used to provide the basis on which a job description is written. - Job Description:
These are written statements that describe the duties, responsibilities, most important contributions and outcomes needed from a position, required qualifications of candidates, and the reporting relationship of a particular job. A good job description identifies both the tasks, or what you do, and the behaviors, or how you do that job. It should also include the tools and knowledge required, the internal and external customer expectations and a description of why the job is important to the success of the organization. HR Out of the Box has been designed to provide the foundation for a good HR process. The HR process also links the job description to the training program, known as the Learning Checklist, and the performance review process known as the Performance and Development Plan. - Job Offer Letter:
A document that confirms the details of an offer of employment, such as title, salary, benefits, description of duty, location, and may include reporting relationship, and proposed start date. Offer letters also should include an employment at will statement. These must be very carefully written to avoid unintended consequences and implied contracts. See Your HR Solutions consultants for guidance and advice. - Learning Organization:
These are organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together. - Letter of Resignation:
A written statement from an employee of his/her desire or intention to end the employment relationship. How resignations and terminations are handled can be a potentially treacherous situations for companies. There are an increasing number of laws that determine how this is to be handled and you should be cautious about your steps. - Minimum Wage:
The minimum hourly rate that employers are required by law to pay their employees. Federal minimum wage currently is $7.25. A state’s minimum wage may be higher; Employers are advised to pay the higher rate. If you have further questions go to the Your HR Help Desk and let us know how we can help. - Mission Statement:
A precise description of what an organization does, including the business of the organization and why the organization exists currently. The mission is an embodiment of what the company wants to be. It can define its core values and principles. It can also be known as a values statement or philosophy or simply as an expression of the direction for the organization. - Mitigation:
Actions by an employee that will reduce the amount of damages resulting from an unlawful employment practice, i.e., obtaining new employment after a wrongful termination. This is something a company should always consider when implementing a policy such as sexual harassment or discrimination. If they are forceful and consistent in applying the policies of the company, plus provides a rigorous training for its people on what is acceptable and not acceptable behavior, some unlawful employment practices by single individuals can be mitigated. An employment attorney is the best person to provide that advice in this situation. - MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheets):
Generally prepared by manufacturers to describe the ingredients of products with hazardous chemicals, proper safe-handling procedures, and potential health risks of improper use. Employers provide employees with MSDS to satisfy their obligations under the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard, 29 CFR 1910.1200, which requires employers who use hazardous chemicals in the workplace to have a written hazard communication program in order to ensure that they properly inform employees of the hazards associated with the chemicals present, and requires employers to maintain and distribute MSDS and to conduct safety training. MSDS sheets should be readily available even in small companies where cleaning supplies are used. The purpose is to provide quick and useful information for people to follow in the case of accidents. They are important to have just in case. - National Origin Discrimination:
Discrimination on the basis of an employee’s, or his/her ancestor’s country of origin or ethnicity. - Networking:
This is defined as building a web of interpersonal relationships for mutually beneficial purposes such as business referrals, customer acquisition, complementary product offerings, and sharing information. Establishing, maintaining and utilizing contacts made for purposes beyond the reason for the initial contact. Today networking can be expanded to include Social Media such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. A good network of contacts can make a difference in the growth of companies and individuals. - New Employee Orientation:
This is the process for welcoming new employees into an organization generally includes providing information about safety, the work environment, the new job description, benefits and eligibility, organizational culture and history, and anything else relevant to working in the new organization. Sometimes this can also be described as On-boarding. In any case teaching the new employee how to work within an organization and the basic rules for success is vital to the integration and assimilation of that employee i - Noncompetition Agreement:
A contract (or part of a contract) in which an employee promises not to work for a competing employer (or to set up a competing business), or not to solicit the employer’s customers for a competitive purpose, both during, and for a period of time after, the employment with the employer ends. - Non-exempt Employee:
An employee, who because of the type of duties performed, the usual level of decision making authority, and the method of compensation, is subject to all FLSA and state wage and hour provisions, including those pertaining to minimum wage and overtime. - Occupational Network On-line
The Department of Labor has developed a nationally recognized source of career and job information called the O*Net (Occupational Network) designed to provide valuable assistance to individuals making decisions about their future work lives. It can be found at http://www.onetonline.org . In combination with the Profiles Pathway Planner, it can be very useful to people looking for career exploration and job analysis. - Occupational Safety & Health Administration (“OSHA”):
The federal agencycharged with creating and enforcing workplace health and safety standards. These standards are designed to protect employees in the workplace. These standards can be very complex and it is important to have a good plan to implement them appropriately. - Open Door Policy:
A policy that literally means that each manager’s door is open to every employee. The purpose of an open door policy is to encourage open communication, feedback, and discussion about any matter of importance to any employee. - Orientation Period:
The initial 30 to 90 days of employment during which the employee learns his/her job and about the organization. In this time period employer also has the chance to access the new employee’s likelihood of succeeding in the job. This is not an introductory or probationary period because employment remains at-will both during and following the orientation period. How you implement this approach is critical to the employee properly integrating into the culture of your organization and to properly learn the way that position should be handled. - Outsourcing:
A practice of paying an outside party to perform one or more of an organization’s internal processes or functions. Frequently outsourced functions include: Payroll, Human Resource services, 401(k) administration, employee assistance programs, retirement planning, customer service/call centers, and product maintenance and repair; depending on the function. - Overtime:
A higher rate of pay (usually 1.5 times the regular base hourly rate) an employer is obligated to pay non-exempt employees who work more than forty (40) hours per week. Overtime also could be set at a higher rate and an employer’s obligation to pay overtime could arise based on a different number of hours in a day or week due to state law, policy or contractual obligations. The issue of whether an employee is exempt or non-exempt is based on the classification of their job and the responsibilities identified in their job description. This is a volatile issue that should be very carefully reviewed by a Human Resource expert to protect the organization. - Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
This is a federal law, commonly called Obamacare (or the federal health care law), is a United States federal statute signed into law by President Barack Obama on March 23, 2010. Together with the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act, it represents the most significant regulatory overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system since the passage of Medicare and Medicaid in 1965. - Paid Time Off:
Benefits by which an employee receives compensation while not working, such as vacation, sick leave, personal time, bereavement leave, jury duty leave, etc. There are many ways to design a paid time off program to make the process fair and understandable. - Performance Appraisals:
A tool managers use to provide feedback to employees by comparing actual performance with expected standards and setting goals for the next evaluation period. Written performance appraisals also are a means by which managers can document successes and shortcomings in an employee’s job performance. Sometime the performance appraisal is also known as the performance review. The Performance and Development Planning process (or PDP) is a part of HR Out of the Box and is a linked and integrated program with the job descriptions and learning checklists found in that process. It is designed to be a dialogue rather than a monologue by the boss to their direct reports. - Profit Sharing:
This is a variable pay plan, whereby an employer takes a certain percentage of its annual profits and divides the resulting pool of money among all eligible employees, using a preset formula for distribution. Employers often use profit sharing plans as a deferred compensation benefit, allowing employees to receive the payment following retirement or other departure from employment, so that their money grows tax-free and employees are not taxed on the money until they actually receive it. This is one of many approaches to mid-term and long-term compensation and pay programs. See Your HR Solutions representative for ideas on how to build and implement a program for you. - Progressive Discipline:
A process for dealing with job-related behavior that does not meet expected and communicated performance standards, characterized by increasingly severe penalties. Discipline that is administered by management must be clear, understandable and legal to protect the company and organization from improper termination due to discrimination and harassment. The most important ingredient in this process is to document the entire process in writing. - Promotion:
The advancement of an employee from one position to another position, which has a higher salary range maximum and/or a higher reporting position and greater responsibility. - Recruiter:
This is an individual, who is responsible for finding and qualifying new employees for an organization, and may be an employee or an outside contractor. Outside or third party recruiters charge fees for their services in the form of either an up-front payment or a company-paid percentage of the hired person’s first year’s pay. - Recruiting / Recruitment:
To find and take on or hire a new employee. - Sarbanes-Oxley:
This is a federal law that regulates publicly traded companies and requires them to implement policies and procedures regarding corporate governance, ethics, and legal compliance, includes numerous reporting and disclosure requirements, including executive compensation. - Severance Pay:
This is money that an employer provides for an employee who is leaving employment often under circumstances such as layoffs, job elimination, or a mutual agreement to part ways. Employers should offer severance benefits only in exchange for the employee signing a waiver of all rights to sue the employer. Severance pay often is calculated as a fixed payment (e.g. one week base pay) for each year of employment, and may include extended benefits and outplacement assistance as part of a total severance package. - Sexual Harassment:
Unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, or promises of benefits in exchange for sexual favors, denial of benefits for refusing sexual favors, and other verbal, physical or electronic conduct of a sexual nature, that occurs during the course of employment.
“Quid pro quo” harassment is unwelcome sexual advances by an employer or supervisor that becomes a condition of the employee’s employment or represents a threat to the employee’s continued employment. A “hostile work environment” harassment claim can arise when the presence of demeaning or sexual photographs, jokes, threats, or overall atmosphere is so pervasive as to create an intimidating and offensive work environment. - Social Security:
A federal program of retirement or disability payments created by taxing employees’ income. - Stock Options:
A type of deferred compensation program in which employees have the opportunity to purchase stock in the company for which they work, often at a pre-determined price. - Succession Planning:
A process whereby an organization ensures that employees are recruited and developed to fill each key role within the organization as it is vacated by the present incumbent. - Telecommuting:
A flexible work arrangement that enables an individual to work distantly from the employer all or part of the time, often from the individual’s home. - The Family and Medical Leave Act:
A federal law that requires covered employers to provide eligible employees, who have completed at least twelve (12) months of employment and meet certain minimum hours and service requirements, up to twelve (12) weeks of unpaid family or medical leave within each 12-month period. Family leave includes absences due to the birth or adoption of a child or to care for an immediate family member (parent, child, spouse) with a serious health condition; medical leave is an absence due to an employee’s own serious health condition. The FMLA applies to private employers with 50 or more employees, and to all public employers. Some states, like New Jersey, have separate family and/or medical leave statutes. - Title VII:
Part of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of color, national origin, race, religion, and sex. - Tuition Assistance:
An employee benefit by which the employer pays all or part of an employee’s cost to attend college or university classes. - 360 Degree Feedback:
A method and a tool that provides each employee the opportunity to receive feedback on their performance from his/her supervisor, peers, direct reports, staff members, co-workers and customers. The Profiles 360 CheckPoint survey has been specifically design to gather information and provide reports to help understand the participant’s perception versus the perception of others. It also provides detailed coaching and development planning suggestions for the participant. - Unemployment Compensation:
A government-run program, funded through employment taxes, which provides individuals with a minimal amount of income, if the employee loses his/her job involuntarily. While rules and formulas vary by state, individuals generally must be able to prove that they are actively seeking new employment, in order to remain eligible for benefits. - Variable Pay:
A compensation system used generally to recognize and reward employee contribution toward company productivity, profitability, team work, safety, quality, or some other metric deemed important. Variable pay changes depending upon the circumstances. - Whistleblower:
An individual, often an employee, who “blows the whistle” on an organization by reporting an employer’s illegal or unethical actions or practices to public authorities, the news media, or a supervisor. Whistleblowers are entitled to a number of protections under state and federal law, including non-retaliation by the employer. - Work Coaching:
A method used by managers and supervisors to provide positive or constructive feedback to employees to help them continue excellent performance or identify ways to improve performance. - Workers’ Compensation:
A statutorily mandated program that pays for medical treatment and provides partial salary continuation to employees who suffer an injury or illness that arises out of or is related to his/her employment. Every state requires that employers purchase workers’ compensation insurance.
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What is a Your HR Audit?
Your HR Audit is intended to take a closer look at your current practices in Human Resources, to assess your vulnerability in a number of policy areas, and provide you with a report and information to make good decisions going forward. You may only have a little time to make the corrections and you want to be sure you’re moving in the right direction.
Why do a Your HR Audit?
It will provide you with a 45 page report on the status of your business and a roadmap on what to do next.
See a brief sample of the Your HR Audit SAMPLE. Where it is green you are good. Where it is red you may be vulnerable.
How do I get started with my Your HR Audit?
In order to take the Audit, please register for Your HR Audit here. When you have created your own username and password you can go directly to the Login screens and follow the instructions to take the audit. It is a simple process. You will answer YES, NO, or I’M NOT SURE to each question. A TalentValue representative will contact you and discuss the report that your answers generate.
S.O.A.R. © A Human Resource System
A complete linked and integrated Human Resource system for improving the productivity of your people
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Selection, Hiring and Recruiting Practices — Placing the Right Person in the Right Job — The 8 Steps to a First Class Selection process
Job Descriptions
Do you have a job description written for each position? Do you have the proper and basic building blocks built for every HR program?
- The job description (JD) is foundation for any HR system. Each job description will be customized to the way you do business in your company. This will be based on what you know to be successful or how you want the person to do the job. Any job description has two major parts – one the tasks or what you do and second the behaviors or how you do the tasks. HR Out of the Box then links that essential JD to the way you learn (using the Learning Checklist or LCL) and the Performance Development Plan (PDP).
- Once the JDs have been customized, we will work on making sure the entire system is understood and implemented properly.
Sourcing Strategies
Do you know how to find the right applicants for your jobs? Are you looking and sourcing both internally and externally for candidates?
- Creating an internal posting process so that promotions and transfers are handled in a fair and equitable manner creates a powerful incentive for good behavior. There is hope in the organization and people know that they can grow by staying in the company.
- Writing a good ad in newspapers for applicants is an important first step in retaining good associates. It should be one part of an integrated approach of selection and hiring.
- The world of searching for good applicants is changing every day. Social Media site, recruiting sites, referrals, and other sources must be used to develop the largest pool of applicants from which to choose.
Applicant Management and Tracking
Do you know how to manage the flow of people you are considering for employment?
- Each person who applies needs to be treated with courtesy and respect. They are potential customers. Their families and neighbors hear how the person is treated. This affects the company’s image in the community.
- You should have an applicant management and tracking system.
Interviewing
Are you and your supervisors conducting a behaviorally structured interview? Do you script your interviews based on your job descriptions? Are your interviews legally compliant?
- People tend to hire for candidate’s skills and then fire for employee behavior. Many interviews tend to be a wandering conversation that focuses primarily on the technical aspects of a position. The interview should be planned to gather the information necessary to make a good decisions based on what was determined in the job description. The questions need to be phrased to allow the candidate to talk. We are looking for a way to predict how they will think and act on the job. Every person involved in the interview needs to be trained on what they should ask and what they should avoid asking during the interview.
- In addition a properly documented interviewing process allows senior management to understand what went on in previous interviews in order to gather the most relevant information in subsequent discussions.
Pre-employment screening and testing
Do you conduct the appropriate technical and behavioral tests to determine if each applicant is the right fit for your organization?
We should confirm what we have discovered about the technical and behaviorally capabilities of our applicant. Test their technical knowledge to do the job and perform a Profiles assessment. There are several that could be considered depending on the needs of the business.
- The Customer Service Perspective (CSPII) – designed to specifically look at the behaviors and the customer service philosophy of each candidate. It is used as a selection and a coaching / training tool based on benchmarking your best current associates and then comparing the applicant’s results to the best.
- The Profiles XT – This is generally used when selecting management and senior associates and then coaching them more effectively. This is based on the people who are already successful on the job based on performance matching.
- Profiles Sales Assessment™ (PSA) – This assessment measures how well a person fits specific sales jobs in your organization. It is used primarily for selecting, onboarding, and managing sales people and account managers. Besides providing information on critical sales behaviors, it provides information on the candidate’s attitudes towards Prospecting, Closing the Sale, Call Reluctance, Self-Starting, Working with a team, Building and maintaining relationships, and compensation preference; all based on your best sales performers in your company.
- The Step One Survey (SOSII) is a basic assessment that looks at a person’s integrity, attitudes towards substance abuse, reliability and work ethic. In other words: Are they honest? On drugs? Will they show up? And if they do show up will they work? With a distortion index that tells you if they are faking the test. How important is this to know BEFORE you hire them?
For more information on these assessment tools go to Your Profiles Solutions.
Compensation practices
How appropriate are your salary, bonus, rewards and benefit programs to meet the demands of your marketplace and your people? Is it both fair and equitable? Is it easy to manage? Do your people know what the rewards will be when they do things right?
- Providing the right incentives is a delicate process. It combines the needs of the company to remain profitable while at the same time allowing the individual to make more money. It means tying together the desire to build a strong team and provide positive and negative consequence to the actions each individual takes.
- The process should link performance to the measurements of success of the organization. We treasure what we measure.
- Rewards and Recognition does not mean that we have to pass out money. It means that we need to design a process that helps to support the Vision and Values of the store.
- Benefits have become an integral part of a total compensation plan. Good communications about what you offer is vital to keeping morale high in an organization. Building the right benefit offerings while keeping costs down is a major effort and requires a thoughtful plan.
Background checking
Do you verify that what the applicant says is accurate?
- Since over half of all resumes contain some distortion it makes sense to check the backgrounds of all new hires. A background check could include Driver’s License, Social Security number, Criminal and Credit check, Educational, and Sex Offender Search. It can also include checking references, previous employer information, and a drug screen. Not every new hire should have a full battery of checks, but the option should be available when it is necessary.
A new study by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) show why you need to conduct thorough, effect and legal background checks.
A majority of applicant stretch the truth on resumes, the study showed. More than half, 55 %, lied about the length of past employment.
- Past salaries 52%
- Criminal records 45%
- Former job titles 44%
- Former employers 34%
- Driving records 33%
- Degrees 28%
- Credit 24%
- Schools attended 22%
- Falsify their social security numbers 15%
Since over half of all resumes contain some distortion it makes sense to check the backgrounds of all new hires. A background check could include Driver’s License, Social Security number, Criminal and Credit check, Educational, and Sex Offender Search. It can also include checking references, previous employer information, and a drug screen. Not every new hire should have a full battery of checks, but the option should be available when it is necessary.
Legal Hiring practices
Are you properly completing all the paperwork you need to prepare when a new employee joins your team?
- With all the changes in the laws over the last few years, you need to be sure that what you are doing is legal. What you can request and what you should avoid is important. What you include in your files and how they are organized can either protect you or leave you legally vulnerable.
- Are you following good legal hiring practices?
Orientation practices — Learning the Essentials of the Position
On-boarding program
Are you getting your new employees acquainted with your organization’s policies and procedures so they quickly feel a part of your team? So they know the rules of the company and how things get done here?
- The Orientation is the first step in acquainting a new hire to the way you do business in your store. It includes the safety, values, operations and legal compliance requirements being a member of the store. It also does another important function and that is allowing to the new hire to learn HOW we want people to learn in the company. The format for this phase is the same format for the learning checklist which the department manager will be using.
- Do you have an on-boarding program?
Basic skills and behavioral training
What is your plan to train your new employees so they can do their jobs properly and best serve your customers? Do you have a customized learning checklist?
- While a local manager is usually technically very good at what they do, they are usually not very good trainers. The Learning Checklist (LCL) is designed to assure the proper training of new associates to the position. The same criteria written in the Job Description (JD) is now made available in the LCL. They learn by reading about how the task is done, by listening to Manager describe it and by doing it themselves. This is a critical way to improve customer service and enhance productivity.
Assimilation practices — Developing Each Person into a Member of the Team
Performance Management
Do you have an annual performance discussion and review with each of your employees to determine their past results and future objectives? Do you have a plan to review the performance of your new employees and set them on the right path?
- The Performance Development Plan (PDP) is the third component of a well designed HR system. The same way we hire using the JD is the same way we train using the LCL and is the same way we evaluate and retain associates using the PDP. This method allows people to take responsibility for the tasks and behaviors. It changes the dynamics of the process to create a plan for performance and a plan for successful development. Because every piece has been customized to the way it is done in your company it works.
- The PDP process is a valuable component in assuring that the business objectives are integrated into individual objectives.
Team Building
How are you working with each employee to create a team? Does your leadership know how to properly build a team that functions at peak productivity?
- The activities of building a strong team is a continuous process. It takes good management and it takes associates willing to participate. Everyone sees it as an important part of their personal goals and objectives. Some will be enthusiastic in supporting the efforts and some will resist. Some have an entirely different agenda. How to strike a balance between letting people function on their own and providing the appropriate discipline means giving each member of the team the knowledge and tools to succeed. There are 8 key steps in building a good team dynamic.
Customer Service
What are your current customer service perspectives? What could you do to improve customer service to your customers? Are you surveying your customers to determine what they think?
- An annual Customer Survey should provide a sampling from your best customers of what they think in detail. There should be a plan to measure the on-going customer service perspective weekly or at least monthly to determine if we are moving on the right track.
On-going employee training and development; seminars, on-line courses
What is the learning plan for each employee based on his/her strengths and development needs? Do you conduct sexual harassment training and other legal compliance training for your employees? Are your employees aware of what they need to know?
- Based on the Vision and Values, the PDP and the overall objectives of the company, each person should have their own personal growth plan.
- Specialized training should be given to reinforce the Vision and Values of the company.
Retention practices — Keeping and Recognizing our Best People
Business planning
Have you constructed a business plan for the future of your business? Short-term? Mid-term? Long-term?
- You have established the beginnings of the plan to achieve your Vision and Values. The next step is to create a few specific objectives to make that real. Have you identified the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that drive success – both leading and lagging measurements? Do you have a balanced and compelling scorecard to keep track of your progress? Do you plan effectively? Execute with discipline? Review your progress with clarity?
Communications programs
How are you consistently communicating with your employees? What is working now? What needs to change?
- There is a consistent need to communicate the large and small things that are happening throughout the company.
- Is your team as knowledgeable about your plan as the leadership or are they working in the dark?
Employee Engagement surveys
Do you know to what degree your employees are engaged in your business and satisfied with their employment? Do you measure their satisfaction with you each year?
- A well designed HR program includes many pieces. While you can not attack all of them at once, making careful decisions on the most important priorities is why it is necessary to have an overall plan.
- How strongly your associates are engaged in the business is a major indicator of your overall productivity and ultimately your success. Having an ASM score tells you where you need to focus your attention. Having a plan to address the issues is worth the money you spend.
Award and recognition programs
How do you appreciate, thank, recognize and reward your employees for a job well done?
- Money is not the only reward. The intangible rewards are especially crucial in building a motivated workforce. We need to identify what interests and motivates your people and develop a process to incentivize them to achieve their goals.
Employee Relations and Discipline
What are your current practices when things are not going well with an employee? What are your disciplinary procedures? How do you manage employee complaints and issues?
- When everything is going well and there are no stresses in the business, management is a straightforward process. When a person or groups of people are not performing as they should, how you approach the issue can make all the difference. Developing a good disciplinary approach that every manager can understand and simply execute can reduce tensions and build teams.
Leadership and management development
Do you have an effective plan for building the leadership skills and knowledge for you and your management team?
- People leave companies for 4 reasons and in this order. (1) Poor supervision (2) No one trained me (3) No one thanked me (4) No one paid me. Leadership is getting people to do what they don’t want to do, but will willingly do so anyway. The Leadership process is called L.E.A.D.
- L = Leadership – providing the right direction
- E = Education – teaching people what they need to do
- A = Appreciation = Thanking people for the work and effort they do and
- D = Dollars – understanding the value that people receive is worth the effort expended.
- L = Leadership – providing the right direction
- The approach is to get people to move from managing associate’s work and instead leading them to where they need to be. Managing too often means telling them exactly what to do all the time rather than directing their actions and allowing them to take control over their work and their lives.
Succession planning
Do you have a plan to replace your key people in case they are no longer working for the organization? In case of retirement or death? Do you know who is ready to move up in responsibility?
- Sometimes people will find another job or need to be terminated from their position. In other cases, they are not leaving but have mentally “checked-out” and are not performing as they should. In either case, the company should have a plan to develop the management so that the future is protected. The information can come from a variety of places including a good performance management (PDP) process. The concept is to identify the technical and behavioral capabilities that are necessary for an organization to succeed in the future.
- Do you have a succession plan for your organization?
Organizational structure review
Do you have an appropriate reporting structure to manage your future growth? Do you have a contingency plan so that your organization will continue even after some of your key people leave?
- The right reporting structure brings efficiency to everyone’s efforts. With the right span of control in place, each manager can handle their responsibilities and achieve the goals of the organization.
Managing the Transactions within HR
Are you properly maintaining the day-to-day activities that are required of every organization so the right things happen correctly all the time?
Keeping up with the basics of personnel
- Payroll
- Benefits
- Your HR Question and Answer Center
- Ask Your HR Experts – HR legal compliance with “alphabet” soup of federal and state laws and regulations.
- Pension and Long term financial planning
- Workers compensation
- Unemployment claims
- Employee handbooks
Have you conducted an HR audit to determine where your current practices are good and where you are vulnerable?
L.E.A.D. A Leadership System
A unified Leadership philosophy for building your leadership team.
Read More About L.E.A.D. »
Our leadership development principles are called L.E.A.D.
- Leading – providing a clear and understandable direction
- Educating – developing a challenging and creative workplace
- Appreciating – appreciating and recognizing each person
- Dollarizing – making sure your people know they are valued
Watch the L.E.A.D. animation video
For more information see Focus on building your leadership team.
HR Out of the Box A Human Resource Platform
The web based Job Center for creating and managing your job descriptions, training, and performance management; a Resource Center for information on a wide variety of topics and subjects.
Read More About HR Out of the Box »
HR Out of the Box is designed to help you manage your business and your people. Hiring and managing your people can take a lot of time and energy. These human resource systems are created to increase productivity, better engage employees in the business, create individualized learning opportunities, and involve everyone in making the business just a little bit better.
There are several important reasons why you should consider using Your HR Solutions Human Resource process:
- Each part is linked to every other part – You don’t have to reinvent the wheel when you go from one part to another. They are all linked together.
- The process is industry specific. Most job descriptions are bland useless words that have little impact in the real world. This was created with industry experts – the men and women who work on these jobs every day. They have told us what they do and that knowledge is available to you now. It is just common sense to tell your employees what they have to do in terms that they can understand so they can do the job your customers expect of your company.
- You will have your own job site within “hroutofthebox”. Here you can tailor, modify, and change the industry standards to the way you do business in your home town. The job description – which describes the job exactly – then links to the learning checklist – which trains the person to do the job the right way – which automatically creates the performance and development plan – which helps you and your employee discuss how they are doing on the job based on what the job description told them they had to do – both praise their work and correct their mistakes where it is appropriate.
- It is all on the Internet. It is there 24 hours a day; 7 days a week whenever you want it. It combines high-quality HR tools with any time, any place access interactivity.
- The site is set up to make it easy to work. The help screens are written in English … not technological “globbly-de-gook” or computer jargon. It will walk you through the process one step at a time.
We want to make the whole human resource process simple to work. We want to make it easy to understand. We want to allow your people to work more effectively and more efficiently. That is why this site has been developed.
We are proud to introduce this new platform for human resources. There are 3 major components of the site:
Job Descriptions (JD)
industry specific descriptions of what a person is suppose to do on the job… not only the tasks to be accomplished, but also the standards and measurements of how that is suppose to happen. Click Here to see sample.
Learning Checklists (LCL)
Tells the employee exactly what they are suppose to know to do their job. The content is directly linked to the job description so that people know precisely what they have to learn to do the job correctly.
This training outline is organized to deliver the most effective orientation to the job. The LCL is a job specific training process that helps your employee learn the details of how to do their job in the most effective and efficient manner. Click Here to see a sample.
The Performance and Development Plans (PDP)
These very useful performance discussions are now available based on what the Job Description said and what the Learning Checklist told them they had to learn.
It is intended to be a performance dialogue system and is designed to take the “pain” out of the appraisal. This process reduces the normal stress that comes with a “review” or an “appraisal”.
Instead both you and your employee together create a plan for improved employee performance and a plan for their development – a mutual performance and development plan. In fact, it makes it easier to talk with your people about how they are doing, because it is so clear about what needs to be done. Click Here to see a sample.
Technology does not have to be hard, but as with anything that is new and different, it is not always obvious what you have to do. At TalentValue we want to make this friendly and useful. We will walk you through each step of the way to be sure you know what you have to do.
If you want to view a sample of what a job description, learning checklist, and performance development plan looks like, please click here.
To log in for HR Out of the Box, please click here.
To signup for access to HR Out of the Box an the entire Job Description process, please click here.
Your Profiles Solutions
A full suite of employee assessments and hands-on guidance to help you build and develop an outstanding workforce.
Read More About Your Profiles Solutions »
In many organizations, personnel costs are among the largest budget line items. Given the top challenges facing CEO’s, organizations need their leaders, managers, and people aligned and working together at the highest levels of performance.
Employee assessments can give organizations and managers consistent, in-depth, and objective information about their people.
To see our assessments site, please click here »
Pathway Planner
Pathway Planner is an in depth planning and personal assessment you can use as an educational and career planning and coaching tool to help you discover what career possibilities best suit you. Research shows when you find the right career match, your probability for success and satisfaction increases dramatically.
ProfileXT® (PXT)
The PXT assessment measures how well an individual fits specific jobs in your organization. The “job matching” feature of the PXT is unique, enabling you to evaluate an individual relative to the qualities required to successfully perform in a specific job. It is used throughout the employee life cycle for selection, on-boarding, managing, and strategic workforce planning.
Step One Survey® (SOS)
The SOSII is a brief pre-hire assessment that measures an individual’s basic work-related values. It is used primarily as a screening tool early in the candidate selection process. This assessment provides valid insight into an applicant’s work ethic, reliability, integrity, propensity for substance abuse, and attitudes toward theft — including property, data, and time.
Checkpoint 360°® (CP360)
The CheckPoint Management System is a 360-degree assessment. It is used primarily to evaluate the effectiveness of your managers and leaders, and helps them identify and prioritize their own development opportunities.
Profiles Sales Assessment™ (PSA)
The Profiles Sales Assessment™ (PSA) measures how well a person fits specific sales jobs in your organization. It is used primarily for selecting, onboarding, and managing sales people and account managers. The “job modeling” feature of the PSA is unique, and can be customized by company, sales position, department, manager, geography, or any combination of these factors.
Customer Service Profile™ (CSP)
The Customer Service Profile™ (CSP) measures how well a person fits specific customer service jobs in your organization. It is used primarily for selecting, onboarding, and managing customer service employees. We have a general industry version of this assessment as well as vertical specialties in hospitality, healthcare, financial services, and retail.
Profiles Performance Indicator™ (PPI)
The Profiles Performance Indicator™ is a DISC-type assessment that reveals aspects of an individual’s personality that could impact their fit with their manager, coworkers, and team as well as their job performance. It is primarily used for motivating and coaching employees, and resolving post-hire conflict and performance issues.
Profiles Managerial Fit™ (PMF)
Profiles Managerial Fit™ (PMF) measures critical aspects of compatibility between a manager and their employees. This report offers an in-depth look at one’s approach to learning and six critical dimensions of compatibility with their manager: self-assurance, conformity, optimism, decisiveness, self-reliance, and objectivity.
Workplace Engagement Survey (WES)
Our Workplace Engagement Survey™ (WES) measures the degree to which your employees connect with their work and feel committed to the organization and its goals. This gives you and your management team a detailed view of what influences engagement across all of your workforce segments and how your employees compare statistically to the overall working population.
Profiles Skills Tests™ (PST)
We provide comprehensive assessments to measure essential knowledge and skills. Our skills assessments cover: information technology, software skills, computer literacy, clerical skills, call center skills, accounting and finance, medical, nursing, legal, industrial, retail, food services, staffing, and human resources.