Human Resource
Management Toolkit
By Lisette T. Jacobson, MPA, MA, PHR
University of Kansas School of Medicine – Wichita
2011 Kansas Public Health Association
Fall Conference
The HR Function in Organizations
• Workforce Planning and Employment
– Key legislation affecting employee rights (Title VII of the Civil
Rights Act (1964), Americans with Disabilities Act, Age
Discrimination in Employment Act, etc.)
– Harassment in the workplace
– Staffing, selection, and recruitment
– Records management
• Training and Development
– Talent management
– Succession planning
– Performance management
• Total Rewards
– Compensation
– Benefits
The HR Function in Organizations
• Employee and Labor Relations
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Key legislation (EEO laws)
Policies, procedures, and work rules
Discipline and complaint resolution
Labor relations and collective bargaining
• Risk Management
– Key legislation (Occupational Safety and Health Act (1970), Drug-Free
Workplace Act (1988), US Patriot Act (2001), Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2002),
Homeland Security Act (2002), etc.)
– Workplace safety, security, privacy, and ergonomics
– Employee health and employee assistance programs
• Strategic Management
– HR management functions
– Strategic planning: Aligning HR with organizational goals
– Legislative and regulatory environment
The HR Function in Organizations
What aspects of HR will we focus on today?
• Workforce Planning and Employment
– Job Description
– Selection and Recruitment – Interview Questions
• Training and Development
– Performance Management
• Employee and Labor Relations
– Progressive Disciplinary Policy
– Employee Grievance Procedure
Workforce Planning –
Job Description
What is a job description?
A job description summarizes the most
important features of a job including the job
specifications that list the qualifications
necessary for an individual to be able to
perform the job
What is so significant about a job
description?
Workforce Planning –
Job Description
• Elements of a job description –
– Summary – a short overview that summarizes the
purpose and objectives of the job including primary
responsibilities, expected results, and degree of
freedom (i.e. work independently or work under direct
supervision)
– Essential functions – tasks, duties, and
responsibilities of the job
– Nonessential functions – desirable aspects of the job
Workforce Planning –
Job Description
• Elements of a job description (cont’d) –
– Knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA’s) – specific competencies
required for the job
• Knowledge – body of information necessary for task
performance
• Skills – level of proficiency needed for task performance
• Abilities – capabilities necessary to perform the job
– Supervisory responsibilities
– Working conditions – environment in which job is performed
– Minimum qualifications – minimum knowledge, skills, and
abilities required for the job
Workforce Planning –
Job Description
Guidelines to write a job description –
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Give jobs realistic, descriptive titles
Identify the FLSA exempt or non-exempt status
Keep the summary brief
List only principal duties, tasks, or responsibilities
Identify the essential job functions (non-essential job functions
can be included but must be defined as “non-essential’)
Ensure that knowledge, skills, and abilities are job-related, NOT
related to the person holding the job
Secure approvals and dates from your superiors
Include disclaimers such as “other duties as assigned”
Do NOT include demeaning titles (i.e. “junior”)
Do NOT include gender-specific or generic titles (i.e. “salesman”
or “coordinator”)
Do NOT include percentages
Workforce Employment –
Selection & Recruitment
Analyzing the application form •
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Compare applicant’s qualifications to job’s requirements
Review education requirements
Review work history
Credentials/Licensure
Red flags to watch for on the application
– Insufficient education or experience
– Gaps in employment
– Downward spiral of jobs with less and less responsibility and
authority
– Clearly over-qualified for the position at hand
– Incomplete application
Workforce Employment –
Selection & Recruitment
• Review the job description and job
specifications
• Identify the duties, requirements, tasks,
qualifications, licensures, and education
• Review KSA’s needed for the job
• Know the salary range of the job
• Hire “great” individuals
Workforce Employment –
Selection & Recruitment
“An organization is no better than the
individuals in it…”
(Joe Pisciotte, Hugo Wall School of Urban and Public
Affairs, Wichita State University, 2006)
“the right people are our most important
assets”
(Collins,J. (2001). Good to Great. New York, NY:
HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.)
Workforce Employment –
Selection & Recruitment
Interview preparation
• Types of interviews – Prescreening interviews – conducted by HR when there
is a high volume of applicants for a job
– In-depth interviews
• Structured interview – interviewer asks every applicant the
same set of questions, ensures similar information gathered from
each applicant
• Stress interview – interviewer evaluates how an applicant
responds to stressful situations, used in law enforcement
• Directive interview – interviewer poses specific questions and
keeps control, is highly structured
Workforce Employment –
Selection & Recruitment
Interview preparation (cont’d)
• Nondirective interview – interviewer asks open-ended questions,
provides general direction, allows applicant to guide the process,
difficult to maintain job-relatedness of questions
• Behavioral interview – focus is on how the applicant handled
situations previously, based on real experiences of past performance,
intent is to predict future behavior
• Situational interview – interviewer asks questions designed to elicit
stories and examples that demonstrate the applicant’s skills and
qualifications, intent is to predict future behavior based on
hypothetical situations
• Group interview – also called panel interviews or team interviews,
used for positions that rely on team cooperation, can be threatening to
applicant
Workforce Employment –
Selection & Recruitment
Interview preparation (cont’d)
• Develop interview guide
• Ask the same questions of every
candidate
• Appropriate location to conduct interviews
• Establish interview times/schedules
• Review application and resume prior to
interview
Workforce Employment –
Selection & Recruitment
Successful Interviews
• Greeting the Candidate:
»Introduce yourself and
shake hands.
»Ensure seating is
conducive to talking, and
be sure the candidate will
not see your notes
»Initiate small talk to build
rapport and put candidate
at ease
• Open the Interview:
»Describe the position and
provide job description
»Define KSA’s of the job
»Emphasize the answers are
not “right” or “wrong”
»Mention notes will be taken
Never take notes on the
application – This is a legal
document!!!
»Mention the opportunity to
ask questions at the end of the
interview
Workforce Employment –
Selection & Recruitment
Successful Interviews (cont’d)
• Conduct Interview:
»Stick to the prepared questions
(KSA’s)
»Ask open-ended questions that
are job related
»Probe for behavioral examples
»Look for abilities: training, skills,
and experience
»Look at characteristics: work
approach, working with others,
oral communication skills,
reliability, and consistency
»Make decisions based on
occupational qualifications
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Close the Interview:
»Answer candidate’s questions
»Provide clarifications regarding
the interview process
»End the discussion on a positive
note
»Establish next steps in process
»Thank the candidate for a
productive interview
Workforce Employment –
Selection & Recruitment
Examples of Behavioral Questions
• What were your key job objectives during the past year and how
well did you perform against them?
• Suppose you are in a situation where deadlines and priorities
change frequently. How would you handle it?
• Describe a situation where you failed to reach a goal. What would
you do next time?
• It’s 4:30 on a Friday afternoon. Your supervisor gives you an
assignment that needs to be finished by 8:00 the following Monday
morning. You have already made plans to be away the entire
weekend. What would you do?
Workforce Employment –
Selection & Recruitment
Examples of Situational Scenarios
• Real situations that the candidate must deal with
in a new job.
• Hypothetical situations that are designed to
simulate a real problem the candidate is likely to
encounter in the job.
• Actual situations that the candidate has
encountered in past jobs that resemble those
that will be encountered in the new job.
Workforce Employment –
Selection & Recruitment
Legality of Questions
• If question is job-related, probably legal.
• Not job-related, be CAREFUL!
• Questions that involve race, creed, gender,
national origin, marital status, number of
children, disability, and so on are illegal. Such
questions should be avoided in interviews!
• Become familiar with questions you may ask,
and those you may not ask.
Workforce Employment –
Selection & Recruitment
Common Interview Biases
• Stereotyping:
Forming generalized
opinions about how
people of a given gender,
religion, or race appear,
think, act, feel or respond
(for example, presuming
that a woman would
prefer a desk job over
working outdoors
constitutes stereotyping)
• Inconsistency in
Questions:
Asking different questions
of candidates (an
example is asking a
Caucasian male
candidate to describe his
successes on previous
jobs, but not asking the
same question of a
Caucasian female)
Workforce Employment –
Selection & Recruitment
Common Interview Biases (cont’d)
• First Impression Error:
The Interviewer makes
snap judgments and lets
his/her first impression
cloud the entire interview
(for example, the fact that
the candidate graduated
from the interviewer’s
alma mater is given more
credence than the
applicant’s knowledge,
skills, or abilities)
• Negative Emphasis:
Rejecting a candidate on
the basis of a small
amount of negative
information (this could
happen when subjective
factors like dress or
nonverbal communication
taint the interviewer’s
judgment)
Workforce Employment –
Selection & Recruitment
Reminders
• Stay focused on the job and its requirements,
not on any preconceived assumptions about
what the applicant can or cannot do.
• “Sell” the job and the department/organization
while keeping your pitch realistic. Unrealistic
expectations will generally lead to employee
dissatisfaction and higher turnover.
• Make sure you elicit questions or provide
information which will help clear up any
unanswered questions or doubts that may be
lingering in the applicant’s mind.
Workforce Employment –
Selection & Recruitment
Reminders (cont’d)
• Verify professional experience and educational
credentials
• Verify licensing requirements
• End the interview on a friendly note, and if possible,
apprise the candidate of the next step and time frame for
a decision.
• Conduct reference checks
• Make a fair and unbiased recommendation or decision
based on the job-related qualifications of the applicant
• Interviewing practice and techniques will help you recruit
and retain “great” people
Training and Development –
Performance Management
• Employee Performance Evaluation
• Performance Evaluation Checklist
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Be prepared
Time and place
Conducting the interview
Conclusion
Follow-up
• Use on-going coaching throughout performance year
• Focus on performance, not the person!!!
Training and Development –
Performance Management
More Common Interview Biases
• Negative Emphasis/Nonverbal Bias:
Allowing recent, below average performance on a specific task
to color the overall course of the performance evaluation.
Negative emphasis often happens when subjective factors like
dress or nonverbal communication taint the interviewer’s
judgment.
• Contrast Effect:
Strong performers who interview after weak ones may appear
even more qualified than they actually are because of the
contrast.
• Similar-to-Me Error: Based on personal characteristics that
employees share with the interviewer rather than job-related
criteria.
Training and Development –
Performance Management
Interview Biases (cont’d)
• Halo/horn effect:
The interviewer allows one strong area of
performance that he or she values highly to
overshadow all other information.
When this works in the employee’s favor, it is
called the halo effect. When it works in the
opposite direction and the interviewer judges the
employee unfavorably in all areas on the basis of
one trait, it is called the horn effect.
Employee & Labor Relations –
Progressive Discipline
• Before disciplining an employee, ensure a Progressive
Disciplinary Policy is in place
• Policy should contain –
– General statement on employee’s responsibility toward
job and job expectations including those of supervisors,
managers, and directors
– Discipline is generally either verbal or written
– A verbal warning must be documented in writing
– Use designated forms to record warnings
– Documentation must be signed by both employee and
supervisor
Employee & Labor Relations –
Progressive Discipline
– If employee refuses to sign, note this on form
– “Progressive” is what it means –
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Warning #1 – Verbal
Warning #2 – Written
Warning #3 – Suspension
Warning #4 – Termination
– Group offenses into clusters – see example policy
– Timeline
• Flexibility in administering discipline exists, but largely
depends on precedence and consistency
Employee & Labor Relations –
Progressive Discipline
• Be consistent and fair
• When in doubt, consult with your health department
administrator/HR professional!
• Before terminating an employee, ALWAYS consult with
your health department administrator/HR professional
and/or legal counsel!!!
• What recourse does an employee have who enters the
disciplinary process?
– Employee Grievance Procedure
Where is personnel related
documentation located?
• In an individual personnel file folder
located in your Human Resources area
• Personnel files are confidential and should
never be kept anywhere else!!!
Useful HR Books
• Human Resource Essentials:Your Guide to
Starting and Running the HR Function (2010)
By Lin Grensing-Pophal
$38.25 (amazon.com)
• The Essential Guide to Federal Employment
Laws (2009)
By Lisa Guerin & Amy DelPo
$29.69 (amazon.com)
Questions?
Thank you!!