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Issue #48 - 6.24.08
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Hiring Keys to Good Employment Relationships
An effective hiring practice establishes the employment relationship from inception to separation and beyond. There should be two major goals in the process, outside the objective of performance:
(1) Eliminating problem individuals as candidates, and
(2) Protecting the practice from unforeseeable events, perhaps still years down the road.
Documentation
Everything begins and ends with a document. Hiring is a process that must be documented and placed in a file. In that file you will put copies of any advertisements, all applications, records of all interviews, copies of rejection letters and your final offer and acceptance. Maintain the file at least two (2) years
Finding Candidates
If you advertise for staff positions, a couple of pointers are in order. First, stick to the basics and the needs of the practice. Use position descriptions—specific duties. Stay away from “catchy” phrases; these can often be misconstrued as ageist or otherwise biased. “Looking for energetic recent grad” might be considered as stereotyping that discourages older applicants.
Interviewing
Applications follow the advertisement. In our practice, the application is a multi-purpose document (to which we’ll return). Once you have identified potential hires from the applications, interviewing is absolutely necessary.
It is important to use a checklist that will keep you from straying into hazards. There are a number of questions you may not ask in today’s litigation environment. The interviewee may volunteer information, which is fine, but never ask about any medical problems, disabilities, medication usage, age, marital status or the number of children (and how the applicant would handle day care). Prior work-related injuries are also out of bounds.
Once you have reviewed the job duties, you may certainly ask if the applicant has any need of accommodation to fulfill the responsibilities. A “yes” answer then requires you to engage more fully in what specific accommodations may be needed. This area is beyond the scope of this piece, but the key point to remember is that any person with a disability must be able to perform essential functions of the job—with or without accommodations. Stick to the job duties, office procedures and the candidate’s educational and employment background, and you’ll be on safe ground. A written job description adds to your interviewing process, and can reduce the time necessary to conduct an interview. A copy must go into the hiring file, and should designate the essential functions of the position—including the need to be punctual. Your checklist should have a place in which the interviewer can jot down impressions of the interview, and document significant points of interest or concern.
Rejection and Offer Letters
Once you choose the best candidate, you should send rejection letters to each of the applicants you interviewed. This letter need only thank the applicant, but also inform him or her that you have decided on another candidate. Invite another application should a position come open. Copies of rejection letters should be stapled to the applicant’s application and kept in the hiring file.
Your offer letter to the top pick should (1) reference the job description, (2) state the salary, (3) state the start date and (4) make clear the offer is conditional upon satisfactory results of a background investigation and any other requirements you may have. If you require a physical examination and/or drug screen of all hires, you may include that requirement. The letter should have a place for the candidate to sign and return, and a date by which that must be done. If you send it by mail, include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.
Background Check
I recommend to all our clients that a background check be done on each new hire. There are companies we recommend that can accomplish the check in a quick turnaround for a modest cost. The check should include not only a criminal background screen, but credit history and direct contact with prior employers.
If you opt to do this, your offer letter will enclose an authorization/release for the check; you could also have the applicant sign one at the interview. We have such forms, or the company you choose to perform this check can supply them to you. This allows individuals with background issues to “self-select” themselves out of consideration or for employers to learn something from the background check that disqualifies a candidate from your consideration.
Should something in the financial aspect of the background screen be the disqualifying factor, federal law requires that you notify the applicant of it before you make a final decision, so that the applicant has the chance to correct the information.
The Application
We come back now to this important document. The application serves the function of not only obtaining information, but of obtaining commitments from the applicant should he or she be hired.
There are three key commitments.
- First, the document should contain an authorization and release: the authorization for you to obtain information from past employers, and the release of liability to those employers who do provide information to you. Most employers are reluctant to provide negative information without a release.
- Second, the applicant must acknowledge that if any information she puts down is false or misleading, she or he is subject to immediate termination.
- Third, the applicant must agree that she or he will bring any legal claim against the practice within 180 days of separation.
I strongly recommend that every practice have in place a mandatory binding arbitration policy for most employee-employer claims. Although that policy is a separate document, which you will provide to the new hire as part of the orientation process and have a separate acknowledgement signed, reference to it should be included in the application as well.
Conclusion
The employment relationship, if properly handled, will go a long way towards creating an enduring relationship.
Mike Moore is ranked among the best in employment law and named one of the top 10 lawyers in Ohio. As Director of McKenzie’s HRSolutions, Mike is the creator of the Employment Policy and Handbook, geared to providing dentists who are unsophisticated in the legal arena with a step-by-step policy manual.
Click here to hear Mike present “7 Elements of an Effective Employment Policy.” Email Mike at mike@thedentistsnetwork.net.
Interested in having Mike speak to your dental society or study club? Click Here