Questions like "Do you own a car?" and "Are you able to work Overtime?" seem like good questions right? Wrong.
Are you asking questions that can set your company up for a legal battle? Are your managers?
Worse yet, do you even know what your managers are asking in an interview?
Interviewing has become a game of legal word play these days with many job candidates taking aim at well meaning, unsuspecting organizations.
When you develop interview questions, think about what kind of answers you may receive when asking each question. Avoid questions that have more to do with personal lifestyles than job experience. Phrase the question so that the answer will describe on-the-job qualities instead of personal qualities, and if the question is not related to performance on the job, it has no place in the interview process.
This will keep you out of legal trouble and on the path to hiring a skilled associate, which in turn will reduce turnover!
For more on the interview process, interviewing skills, behavioral based questions and legally acceptable questions contact us today. We will design a training program tailored to the needs of your organization and skill set of your management.
Spotlight on Religious Accommodation - Wisconsin Given the approaching religious holidays, you may have already received a request or two for time off to observe these holidays. Employers must reasonably accommodate associates' sincerely held religious beliefs or practices unless doing so would impose an undue hardship on the employer. A reasonable religious accommodation is any adjustment to the work environment that will allow the employee to practice his religion. Flexible scheduling, voluntary substitutions or swaps, job reassignments and lateral transfers and modifying workplace practices, policies and/or procedures are examples of how an employer might accommodate an associate's religious beliefs.
EEO-1 Report Updates
The EEO-1 Report is a government form requiring many employers to provide a count of their employees by job category and then by ethnicity, race and gender. The EEO-1 report is submitted to both the EEOC and the Dept. of Labor, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP).
You must complete an EEO-1 Report if either of the following describes your organization:
Employer with federal government contacts of $50,000 or more and 50 or more employees
Employers who do not have a federal government contract but have 100 or more employees
EEO-1 Reports are due each year on September 30th.
Several changes have been made and will be effective for the report due September 2008. They are detailed below:
A number of changes are being made to the race and ethnic categories.
adds a new category titled "Two or more races"
divides "Asian or Pacific Islander" into two separate categories: "Asian" and "Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander"
renames "Black" as "Black or African American"
renames "Hispanic" as "Hispanic or Latino"
strongly endorses self-identification of race and ethnic categories, as opposed to visual identification by employers
The current category of "Officials and Managers" will be divided into two levels based on responsibility and influence within the organization.
These two levels will be:
- Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers (plan, direct and formulate policy, set strategy and provide overall direction; in larger organizations, within two reporting levels of CEO)
- First/Mid-Level Officials and Managers (direct implementation or operations within specific parameters set by Executive/Senior Level Officials and Managers; oversee day-to-day operations)
- The revised EEO-1 also will move business and financial occupations from the Officials and Managers category to the Professionals category (to improve data for analyzing trends in mobility of minorities and women within Officials and Managers).
Information provided by the EEOC (2007).
(Disclaimer: The recommendations and opinions provided are based on general human resource management fundamentals, practices and principles, and are not legal opinions or guaranteed outcomes. We strongly recommend, as part of a team approach to management, that you consult with your legal counsel address legal concerns related to human resource issues and legal contracts).