Episode 235 - Practical Tips for New HR Professionals

Welcome to the Workplace, a podcast by Cal Chamber. I'm Matthew Roberts, Associate General Counsel with the California Chamber of Commerce. Hello, listeners. Human resources, along with workforce management are interdisciplinary professions that require several skills in order to be effective. For newer HR and management personnel, it can be really daunting. Exacerbating this is that HR and workforce management are some of the most dynamic professions as laws are regulations and even just employer best practices that form the basis of their work change and evolve rapidly. So to discuss some top tips for newer HR professionals, as well as maybe offering a nugget of wisdom or two to all of us, we welcome back Erica Barbera, Cal Chambers Senior Employment Law Council, and Vanessa Green, Cal Chambers, Employment Law Subject matter expert. Thank you both for being here. Erica and Vanessa, Thanks, Matt.

Happy to be here to talk about this with you today.

Thanks, Matt. It's great to be here.

All right, Vanessa, so we'll kick off with you today. We've discovered, you know, one of the more fundamental questions that all HR personnel should really ask themselves and provide an answer for is what issues or problems should HR handle and what issues or problems should others in the organization handle?

I love this question, Matt. HR often becomes the go to for any issues that arise in the workplace, I think because they're seen as problem solvers. Right. Which is a good thing in some ways. But that doesn't mean that HR should have to fix every single issue that comes up. No one person or one department in an organization can do this. So I think it's important for HR to work with leadership to define what falls within HR scope. So things like employee relations and policy enforcement and compliance. Right. Those are going to fall under HR and then to define what doesn't. So, for example, a maintenance issue or an IT outage, people shouldn't be coming to HR first for those types of issues. So how can companies do this? Well, they really want to train all of their employees so that they know where to go for different types of issues. Right. Which departments handle what. And then I think the other really important piece of this is that companies should make sure they're sued. Supervisors are trained well and are equipped to manage their teams because having strong frontline leadership can really prevent a lot of problems from landing in HR's lap in the first place.

Yeah, Vanessa, I think that's a really important first step for, you know, new HR personnel or HR personnel who's coming into a new role for somebody who is taking over HR duties for the first time is, you know, working with the rest of the Leadership to set boundaries for the organization that really helps allow human resources to focus on the tasks that should be handled by human resources. And as we know, there are already a lot of those. Right. So one of the primary administrative tasks human resources is responsible for is really setting up and maintaining those personnel files. There's a lot that goes into personnel files. There's a lot of importance around the personnel files, but there's really no standard operating procedure or manual for setting up your files. So, Erica, can you help walk through what we think about in maintaining the best set of personnel files?

Yeah, you're right, Matt. There really is no manual for setting up your files. But having a policy around personnel files and what should be included can be helpful to make sure that your files are complete and that you're keeping consistent files for all employees. Generally, your personnel files should include records of an employee's hire, such as their application resume, new hire documents, performance records, things like performance reviews, if there are disciplinary actions like counseling documents, write ups, performance improvement plans, records of education and trainings that the employee completes, attendance records, and if they've been terminated, documents about their termination. But we also need to keep some separate files for documents that should not go into an employee's personnel file. So having a separate file for all of Your employees form I9S is a best practice. So instead of keeping them in separate personnel files, you pull them out and keep them in one master file. That's going to help you tremendously if you need to respond to a notice of inspection from the USCIS or from ice and then also setting up confidential files. So if you have any confidential employee information that could be things like medical information in connection with the leaves of absence or workers comp records, we need to set up a confidential file for those particular documents. And then speaking of privacy, really, all personnel records are going to be subject to privacy rights for individual employees. So we need to make sure that the way that we're keeping them and maintaining them, that we're securing them and making sure that they're accessible only to those people within the organization who have a reason to access them. Now, you can keep your personnel records in paper form, in paper folders and files, or you can keep them electronically. But either way, you've got to make sure that you're limiting access to the records, whether that's by keeping your paper files in a locked drawer in your locked office, or by saving electronic documents in a way that's going to limit access to the files. And why is all of this important? Well, a Couple reasons. One, all of your current and former employees have the right to inspect or copy their personnel records. And once you receive a request like that, you only have 30 days to respond or you can be subject to fines. So a well maintained file is going to help you promptly respond to those kinds of requests. And two, a well documented personnel file is going to help support employment decisions that you and management make, such as disciplinary decisions or termination decisions, and then can really function as your first line of defense against claims that a decision that was made was either unfair or unlawful.

All right, and moving to communication, Vanessa, as we know, you mentioned employee relations and communicating between departments and employees is a really important part of human resources. But I want to take a different tactic. Communication. Because something that I hear often on the labor law helpline where we help our members, you know, answer employment law questions, is I have this information and leadership is asking for an opinion from me. How do I communicate this to them in a way where they understand the severity of the situation or they understand what's at stake or the risks, and what do I do when they're not really listening to me? Right, Vanessa. So how can HR effectively communicate with leadership in this respect?

Yeah, this can be really frustrating for hr, especially those new to hr, when leadership asks for input and then it feels like they don't take the advice. So I think it's really important for HR to focus on the why behind their guidance. For example, is there a legal requirement involved? Is there a compliance risk? Is something a best practice across the industry? When you explain not just what you recommend, but why you recommend it, those conversations with leadership become more productive. And HR's role is really to make sure that leadership has the full picture and understands the risks and the benefits before they make a decision. But at the end of the day, those new to HR also need to understand that leadership is the ultimate decision maker. And they often have multiple priorities to balance or juggle or when they're trying to make these decisions, things like business operations and budget. So that could mean that not every decision will perfectly align with HR's preferences. So HR folks out there, those of you who are new and struggling with this, just remember that even if your recommendation isn't taken every time, you're still doing your job by being a thoughtful, well informed advisor to leadership.

Yeah, and I think that's great because I like to say that just knowing the rules is one thing, right? When we do our seminars and our webinars, we talk a lot about the rules, but it's another thing to take those rules and know how to apply them to situations. One area, Erica, where just knowing the rules often isn't enough is with leaves of absence. Right. Like, this just feels like a totally different universe of HR responsibility than anything else because of how difficult it can be to administer leaves. So, Erica, do you have some good tips for new HR personnel on how to just kind of start wrapping their heads around administering leaves here in California?

Yeah. I'll start by saying managing leaves is not an easy task. So if you're feeling challenged by it, you're not alone. This is very difficult for HR folks at every different level. And that's because we have a number of different leaves that can apply to our employees in California. And all those leave laws are different in terms of how they work, including which employers are covered, how much time employees can take, when employees are eligible, and and what legal requirements employers have to provide the leave. So, for example, if you have a pregnant employee needing leave, they may be eligible for leave under three different leave laws, all of which have different requirements. So you've got to understand and know what those requirements are and how they interact with each other. And then add to that the fact that some employers may also offer discretionary leaves to employees, such as personal leaves, which can then open the employer up to having to create practices that they may then need to apply to the whole workforce. So a best practice for dealing with leaves is to first make sure that you know all the leaves that apply to your company and your employees, both under state and federal law and also under company policy. CAL Chamber members can use our laws that apply to your organization chart to figure out which laws apply, depending on the number of employees that you have. And once you know what leaves are at play, you can create a cheat sheet for yourself of those leaves, including their requirements and what the leave laws provide. And then you can use that cheat sheet as a reference when an employee comes to you requesting leave. And it can help you figure out what you may need to provide to the employee, what they may be eligible for. You can also have leave policies in your employee handbook, which can be helpful not just to you, but also to the employees to know what leaves are available. And then another good tool is a checklist. So leaves are very document intensive, and you want to make sure that you're providing all the required notices and paperwork and that you're consistent in your documentation practices for all employees. And checklists are vital for achieving that.

Yeah, so this sounds like new HR personnel can really use a good treasure trove of resources not only just to help build these cheat sheets and checklists, but for other things down the road that may be a little bit more difficult for them to manage. As we know, HR manages so many tasks. So, Vanessa, I'll end with you. What kind of resource recommendations do you have for HR personnel, whether new or experienced, who might be struggling to get the resources that they need that they'd be able to fall back on?

I agree with you, Matt. I think staying informed is critical, especially with how fast the laws change here in California. So one simple resource is subscribing to reliable email alerts, and we actually have one here at Cal Chamber. We have our HR watchdog blog that keeps employers up to date on legal changes and practical HR guidance. And it's free to subscribe to. And there are plenty of other reputable email alerts out there too. I think the key is just having that information pushed to you so you're not scrambling to catch up later. And then another thing HR personnel can do is build their network by getting involved in local or national HR associations and groups. These groups can be a really great place to network and exchange ideas, ask questions, and learn from others who have dealt with similar challenges in the HR space. And then lastly, this is really important. Make sure you're staying tuned into your local governments where your employees work. Because in California there are city and county ordinances that add extra layer of requirements. So really knowing what those local governments are up to are going to help HR form better policies. And at Cal Chamber, we offer our members a lot of resources related to local ordinances. So folks with the Cal Chamber membership, be sure and check those out.

All right, well thank you Erica and Vanessa for joining today to help new HR personnel establish some basic best practices within their organization and to help our veterans out there just fine tune any practices that they might have existing currently.

Thanks Matt. Pleasure to be here.

Thanks Matt. This was a great conversation and thank.

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