This Halloween season, employers would be wise to beware of these scary situations:
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Tricking applicants and employees: Recruiting is hard work, and it hurts to lose good candidates. But tricking people into accepting a job with you is a poison pill for employee retention. Be transparent about job requirements, expectations, and culture to retain the right hires.
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Treating employees differently: Exceptions and inconsistent practices invite claims of bias, discrimination, and unfair practices. Employers that pick and choose which employees they reward based on whom they like, personally identify with, or other non-legitimate business criteria conjure up serious trouble.
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Masquerading employees: Misclassifying employees as exempt when they do not meet both the salary basis and the duties tests invites painfully invasive audits and penalties from multiple agencies. Beware of costuming an employee as an independent contractor to avoid unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation expenses and compliance issues, or you may soon become acquainted with government investigators.
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Ghosting applicants: Finding the right talent is tough and will continue to be challenging. Employers that mistreat and ignore applicants in their recruiting and selection processes are sowing the seeds of their own doom.
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Monstrous hires: An applicant is on their best behavior during an interview, but do you know what skeletons lurk in their past? Pre-employment screening is a wise investment to prevent regrettable vampire hires who drain the life from your workplace.
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Closing your eyes to Form I-9 compliance: Employers must maintain an accurately completed Form I-9 on file for all employees. Prone to errors, I-9s are frequently targeted for government audits, and hidden mistakes can create costly problems. Periodic self-audit limits the damage.
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Hiding from employment laws: Adopting an attitude of “You always get a warning,” “My business is too small to get in trouble,” or “How do I avoid this law?” can lead to ghoulish consequences. Government agencies may impose serious penalties on employers, and even individuals, who willfully ignore compliance or deny employee entitlements.
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Scary manager behaviors: More than any other employee, manager behaviors impact daily work in positive and negative ways. Employees will quit or stay based on how their managers treat them daily at work. Being rude, intolerant, and temperamental are all foul behaviors that kill employee engagement, spike turnover, and may encourage claims of illegal discrimination and harassment. Provide managers with personal development training to build self-awareness and control their inner demons.
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Torturous HR processes: Bureaucratic practices shackle employees, slow down organizations, and weaken their ability to survive ruthless marketplace pressures. Innovate, streamline, and align with organizational objectives.
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Zombie mindsets: Leaders, managers, and HR professionals who resist change and ignore the opportunities of megatrends like remote work and artificial intelligence are mindlessly stumbling around the shadows of the past, unable to effectively manage challenges in the world of the living.
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Playing dead on workplace culture: Employee expectations are rapidly evolving. They expect much more from their employers to support their personal well-being and that of their communities. HR must lead the way in creating workplace cultures that both meet employee needs and align with leadership objectives. Employers Council’s workplace culture guide can help.
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Burying employee complaints: As tempting as it may be to avoid confrontation and problems that come to your attention, you must listen to and follow up on employee complaints. Harassment claims are not always immediately apparent; an employee may not use the words that trigger red flags. Pay attention, ask questions, document, and seek help with workplace investigations.
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Ignoring toxicity: Abusive leaders, ineffective managers, bullying behaviors, and microaggressions are all workplace maladies that often go ignored, possibly leading to illegal behaviors. To combat workplace toxicity, consult with our team of HR professionals, provide training to improve interpersonal skills, and access Executive Coaching or other toxicity-busting workplace interventions.