I just returned from the Cornell HR in Hospitality Conference in Las Vegas with my partner Carolyn Richmond. I participated in the Executive Summit and shared ideas with some of the most progressive minds in the hospitality industry. Here is my top ten list of take-aways:
- Once a year performance reviews are backwards looking, and millennials (soon to be 50% of the workforce) want consistent feedback. As one panelist put it “you can’t drive looking through a rear view mirror.” It is time to re-think how you provide feedback.
- Similarly, once a year employee engagement surveys can have limited value, especially when the management team has learned how to manipulate results (such as by scheduling the employee appreciation party right before the survey goes out). Plus, if you aren’t going to fix the issues identified in the survey, conducting one can do more harm than good.
- While California law still allows employers to terminate (or not hire) for a positive marijuana test – be careful – if the drug is taken for a disability, the applicant/employee could assert a disability claim. Do you want to be the test case? Most employers do not.
- Do not assume your paystubs are compliant; paystub class actions are here to stay so audit them in each jurisdiction.
- When negotiating vendor agreements (an issue I have blogged about before), add a provision about ACA compliance and make the vendor take full responsibility for it. Plus, specify that you are not joint employers, and the vendor will indemnify you for any assertions of joint employment status.
- Scrutinize your background check vendor, and carefully weigh the risks of getting the process wrong versus the risk of a negligent hiring claim. Some jobs and industries warrant (or require) background checks, but many do not.
- Do not assume that pay equity exists just because employees with the same job title are in the same “salary band.” If all women are at the bottom of the band, then you will need to justify why or rectify. Moreover, the rationale that the men were better negotiators upon hire is not a viable defense to a pay equity claim.
- Be careful before you offer to pay a departing employee’s Cobra as part of a separation agreement; you could inadvertently mess up their ability to get coverage on the exchange.
- When hiring part-timers (who may not work enough hours to get health coverage), specify in the offer letter that they will be working “variable hours.”
- While documentation of performance deficiencies is still critical to defending claims, often it makes sense to move people out quickly and pre-empt a retaliation claim; as a presenter put it “be slow to hire but quick to fire.”