Friday Five

This Memorial Day weekend and you may be looking for some fresh ideas to give your business a jump-start. Whether its hiring the right person or striking the right balance between salary and performance, let our 5 top most visited social links shed some light into how you can make your workplace a productive place for success. 

 

7 Characteristics of Highly Creative People

Looking to hire for creativity? Research says you should look for these traits — but be warned, not all of them make someone easy to work with. Observation shows that fresh ideas come more easily to some people than to others. If you’re in the market for individuals to drive innovation at your business, learn how can you hire these naturally creative folks. Find out if these seven characteristics will lead you to your dream candidate. 

 

Five Reasons Your Employees Like it When You Stay Home 

Maybe you have a case of the Mondays, or today is that workshop you’ve been dreading. Perhaps your new refrigerator is being delivered … sometime between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Whatever the reason, you’re not coming into work today. When your employees heard the news, they popped their heads over their cubes, gave each other a “high five” and began grinning ear to ear. That’s because they like it better when you stay home. Find out if your employees feel this way about you.  

 

 

Wages, Salaries & Overtime: 4 Myths about employee pay 

The federal law governing workers’ wages and hours of employment is among the oldest legislation on the books. It is also perhaps the one least complied with by employers. According to National Economic Research Associates, employers spent $467 million settling wage and hour lawsuits at both the state and federal level in 2012. That’s nearly half a billion dollars on lawsuits related to wages and salaries and overtime. Is your company one of them?

 

 

3 Super-Cheap Marketing Tactics 

If you’re an entrepreneur running a bootstrapped company, marketing may be at the top of your to-do list. Bootstrapped companies are by definition lean, so founders don’t usually spend much on formal marketing. After all, great products sell themselves, so why bother? Unfortunately, if you’re not doing much marketing, you’re missing a huge opportunity to scale your business.

 

The One Word That Shouldn’t Exist in an Entrepreneur’s Vocabulary 

Employees should not be afraid to ask for what they want. If there is one word that entrepreneur’s don’t accept it’s, “No!” Any great sales person will ask you at the end of the meeting, “So, how’d I do? Who else have you spoken with? How do I stack up? What do I need to convince you of to get an offer? What is the next step in the process?” Great sales people are trained to “ask for the order.” If you interview a sales person and they don’t ask for the order, should you be worried. 

Why Hours are the New Currency in Your Service-Industry Business

And How a Multi-Location Scheduling System Keeps You From Breaking the Bank

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What do your employees really want at work? It’s not bonuses, more time off or a pat on the back … they want you to give a shift. A lot more of them, actually.



According to the latest US Bureau of Labor statistics, the percentage of involuntary part-time retail workers (as a share of all workers) increased 167 percent from 2006 to 2012. And that number’s only going to rise as businesses build out their part-time workforces — and cut back hours for full-time employees — in preparation for health care reform. As it does, for the millions of Americans trying to make a full-time living off of part-time wage, hours are gold.



If hours are gold for employees, how can employers keep team members happy without breaking the bank? Using an online scheduling system with multi-location features gives you and your employees more control and flexibility, even when you can’t give them more than 30 hours each week. Here’s how:



Cross Department and Location Scheduling
In your industry, schedules rarely go as planned. No-shows, sick employees and last-minute shift changes can leave you empty-handed when you need coverage the most. With an online schedule maker system like PeopleMatter SCHEDULE™, you can share and borrow available employees across departments and locations. You’ll be able to see who’s available, when, so you can find someone to fill your shifts fast.



Additionally, multi-location scheduling features can add up an employee’s total hours and costs across all their locations. This level of company-wide visibility helps you control labor costs, prevent overtime and, if you need to, keep team members under 30 hours a month.



Company-Wide Employee Availability
Your team members are busy and are likely juggling a lot of different responsibilities and even jobs. A scheduling system with multi-location capabilities allows you to view an employee’s work availability across all jobs and locations they’re working at your company, without logging into separate systems or different locations. 



With company-wide availability info accessible when creating and managing weekly schedules, managers are more productive, schedules are more accurate and employees are happier, because they’re not having to make a lot of changes. 



Real-time Alerts and Notifications
A multi-location scheduling system can alert you when something’s not quite right with the schedule and can let your employees know when something’s changed. If managers try to add someone to a shift who’s requested that time off, is approaching overtime or is working that shift at another location, an online system will let you know before you publish the schedule. With SCHEDULE, if there’s an issue, the team member or shift is highlighted in red, the manager will receive a warning alert both when scheduling the conflict and before publishing the schedule.



Real-time schedule accessibility and alerts keep team members in the loop, even when they’re not in the office. Everyone wastes less time calling in and correcting conflicts, and more accurate schedules give employees more predictability and better overall work-life balance.



Platform Integration
Lastly, a multi-location scheduling system with Platform integration — one that also connects to your hiring and training systems — increases company-wide compliance. Employees are happier because the availability information they enter on their online applications automatically syncs with your scheduling system, so managers know exactly when they can and can’t work … without having to ask again and again.



Additionally, you can set requirements and pre-requisites that connect across all of your people management systems. This prevents managers from scheduling employees who haven’t completed required paperwork or specific training courses; employees feel prepared before they’re on the hook, managers know employees have the right training before serving customers, and everyone is HR-compliant.



As health care reform approaches, the competition is getting tighter for team members and workforce scheduling is getting more complex for businesses. To control labor costs, while still keeping your team members happy, service-industry businesses need to adopt a multi-location scheduling system that can increase their compliance, visibility and efficiency. Using one gives you the visibility to see your scheduling impact and costs company wide; it also gives you the flexibility to borrow and share employees across locations, helping give them more hours, while providing more accurate, consistent schedules from week to week.



To learn more about our online schedule maker and how its multi-location capabilities can help your company, register for our May 23 ‘Online Scheduling’ webinar now. Industry experts Marc Hinson, Director of Human Resources for The Palm Restaurant Group, and DeAnn Scheeler, Director of Human Resources for Bobby and Steve’s Auto World, share the benefits of an online scheduling system, why you really need one to stay on top of health care reform and how easy it is with SCHEDULE.

Friday Five

Friday is upon us and there are a few tips that you ought to see. Things like how to hire the right employee, how to let go of people that are taking advantage of your company and simplifying your business to function profitably. Success is not easy to figure out. When you don’t have a discipline or methodology in place, it can be harder to find the blueprint. Check out our top 5 most visited social links to see how they can help your business get a jump-start. 
Admit it, you all know people that come in late, leave early and don’t take their work seriously. They are the ones that complain about everything and everyone. If you have a bad attitude and are unwilling to do the job, should you continue to be employed? Find out the list of employees that you may want to fire sooner than later.  
Your company’s mission statement is a reflection of its culture. A company’s mission statement is a constant reminder to its employees of why the company exists and what the founders envisioned when they put their fame and fortune at risk to breathe life into their dreams. Check out valuable mission statements, and some that may not be good for your company. 
Real success takes discipline and methodology. Most people want to be successful, but not everyone is willing to do the hard work to get there. Often opportunities present themselves but people are distracted and miss them or give up on them before things fully develop. Truly successful people don’t leave much to chance. They are disciplined and focused. Check and see if you have these eight traits.
You have an opening and you do your recruiting. You find the candidate and they are great. As you go down the checklist, you think that you are lucky to have hired the right candidate — until you realize that you may have acted too fast. 
You can forget the business cards. Don’t spend your time hunting contacts — humans can sense a predator. Instead, Chiarella advises you to be interested in the world around you and the people there. His advice is, “When you meet someone, meet them: Give a proper handshakes with these five qualities. Square your shoulders, make eye contact, use a proper grip, leave your elbow at a right angle, and smile. A little graciousness will go a long way.”

Be Tron and Fight for Your Users

Author: Sean Ryan, Senior Interaction Designer at PeopleMatter

Being Tron

This probably both dates me and marks me as a bit of a nerd, but I like the 80s movie “Tron.” If you have not seen it, the movie is about a guy who gets transported from our world to inside the software world of a computer.

From the perspective of the real world, Tron is a security program written to block malicious programs from accessing and stealing data. Inside the computer system, Tron is personified and is a hero. Why? Because, as he puts it, he “fights for the users!”

As one of the people who designs the user experiences found in the PeopleMatter Platform, my job is to put the user first. I approach any change or new feature by asking, “How will this impact our users?” I strive to think, not about how I would use our website, but how the user would. My personal goal is to be Tron and fight for our users as we continue to build the Platform.

In the design world, we have many tools to help us stay focused on our audience — though none of them are quite as cool as the light cycles and discs from Tron. The user experience of a website parallels the customer experience of guests in the service industry. With this in mind, it is possible for you to take some of the tools we use to keep ourselves focused on the users and turn them into tools you can use to help your team provide great experiences in the real world for your customers.

Storyboarding

Storyboards are an excellent way to walk through how users will use our product and identify their motivations. Rather than just writing it out in words, you draw it. You start by defining the problem, then identify the solution and recap the benefits. Even drawing a simple stick figure goes a long way to help visualize a problem and solution.

Storyboards are also an excellent opportunity for training your team members. If a picture is worth a thousand words, you could easily transform your text-heavy, new-hire training manual into something visual. This has the added bonus of being easily referenced on the go.

If you are worried about having to draw things yourself, then have your team do it. Not only are your employees more likely to retain the information after drawing a storyboard, but it will help you to quickly identify potential misunderstandings long before they make their way to your customers.

Usability Tests

Once we have a feature close to ready, it is incredibly helpful to take it and put it in front of people for them to test drive. While watching someone use one of your designs for the first time can be very humbling, it is an absolutely fantastic learning experience. One of the interesting things about usability testing is that you do not necessarily need an actual user. Someone who has not seen the feature — like a new hire — can stand in just as easily.

You can take the idea of usability testing and apply it to the service industry by putting your teams in role-playing situations. This is a great way to have both new and experienced team members work through different customer scenarios. Just like with usability testing, your team can role-play with each other, with one person standing in for the customer. This gives the added bonus of both people having the opportunity to learn from the role-play experience.

Fighting For Your Customers

Nothing is more powerful for your business than customers who walk away feeling great about the experience your team provides. To do so, you need team members who can handle both the good and the bad with confidence. The tools discussed in this post can help take great hires and turn them into great employees. Employees that will be your very own Trons — fighting for your customers.

Connect with Sean on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Photo credit.

Friday Five

Mother’s Day is about helping moms feel appreciated for all they do. Mothers play a lot of different roles in our lives. As you reflect the admiration and respect you have for the many hats they wear — from caretaker to bodyguard or best friend — take a look at our five popular posts of this week to see how your work life can strike that sweet balance too. Whether you are getting ready for a Monday job interview or having a hard time with an employee, check out some tools and ideas our experts are sharing with the rest of you. 
Real success takes discipline and methodology. Here are eight things the most successful people are meticulous about getting right. Most people claim to want success. But not everyone is willing to do the hard work and dedication that one needs to get there. Often opportunities present themselves and because people are distracted, they miss them or give up on them before things fully develop. Don’t be left out of what it may feel like to wear the smile of success.  
Do not mistake mere manners for graciousness. Manners are rules. Helpful, yes. But graciousness reflects a state of being; it emanates from your inventory of self. Start with what you already possess. You, for instance, have a job. Live up to that. Your have a family, share the joy of being in relationships with your loved ones. Check out why being graciousness is also good for your career.  
The Charleston Digital Corridor created a video about the growth in the tech scene and knowledge economy in Charleston. With a focus on PeopleMatter and the success our company has had a startup in the area. Listen to Nate DaPore talk about why PeopleMatter is located in Charleston and how it’s been a part of our company’s success.
Job interviews have become a pretty predictable experience — the standard questions are delivered, and at the end of the ordeal, it’s general procedure to open up the floor to see if the interviewee has any of their own questions on their mind.Typically, they’ll bring up a few: “When will you have made your decision by? What is your company’s culture like? What can I expect on a daily basis?” These are all common questions that an interviewee is expected to ask, but more than likely, these aren’t the only questions on their mind. Out of fear of making a poor first impression, or being considered more of a liability than an asset, many candidates will hold their tongue when it comes to asking things that they really want to know. Find out how you can get into the mind of your candidate by asking these types of questions.  
I’m sure this is familiar. You have a great employee, who does strong work, and is ready for more responsibility. So you make him or her a supervisor, manager, or leader of others, and you’re happy you did. “Congratulations, you’re now a manager,” you say, with all sincerity. Before you make that ever important decision, check out what the experts have to say about the “good worker to manager transition.”

What HR Can Learn From Amazing Retail Service!

Author: Cat Carlos, Client Relations Manager PeopleClues Division of PeopleMatter

Most of us have shopped at places that have amazing customer service. The stores that you go in, they have your “file”, know what you like to buy, what size you were, and know you by name. Why do we go back to those stores? Because it’s easy, we feel important, and we truly value the attention they give to each customer. It makes us spend more money. So what does it take for stores like that to thrive and build their loyal customer base? Attention to detail. Spending the extra money on sending gift cards on your birthday and emailing you when you haven’t shopped in a while.
This day and age we can easily do this with social media. If you knew your favorite employee was working, would you be more enticed to shop there? What if they tweeted you to let you know your favorite brand was on sale, or new arrivals just came in! These are the things that make stores one of a kind.
Your customers are hanging out on social media… just like your employees are. Why not merge the two and allow employees to interact with their customers. This will increase employee engagement and improve loyal customer base.
PacSun launched a social commerce campaign to increase sales and customer engagement. This campaign developed over time and proved that customers were responding to the outreach. PacSun built a custom Facebook application to launch new styles and had over 25,000 fans visiting their website and over 90% were shopping from their desktop.
We can transform this idea into employees communicating with each other, building out the company brand, and keeping customers engaged. This is a win win for everyone. If employees are able to use social media to benefit the company, they learn what customers want and can bring ideas to management for future improvements.
Join us this week on #peoplechat as we discuss trends in retail and how social can impact your employees and customers!
Here are the questions:
What is one thing your favorite retail store does right?
How can we learn from customer service in retail and transition to HR?
What do you think is retail’s biggest weakness?
Would interacting via social media with a retail store keep you engaged?
Connect with Cat on LinkedIn and Twitter.
**Blog post from PeopleClues Blog, PeopleViews

Getting to the Golden Core of Engagement

Author: Julie Moreland, SVP PeopleClues Division of PeopleMatter

At our core, humans need to contribute and feel valued.

We hear a lot about employee engagement these days. It’s a consistent theme as we go through another human resource cycle of what we feel is the “latest issue” to be resolved or understood by business leaders everywhere. And Gallup’s Engagement at Work study presents the “latest issue” about engagement, which is definitely huge. 

Gallup did an extensive study of the effect of high employee engagement in 2012. They looked at almost 50,000 businesses that included roughly one and a half million employees in 34 countries — and discovered that organizations that scored in the top half of employee engagement double the odds of success over those in the bottom half. Not only that, but those at the 99th percentile of engagement have four times the success rate.
But what is actually at the core of engagement?
 
We have a core emotional need to contribute value and to feel valued. It continually drives our decision-making, emotions and our level of engagement up or down.
 
For example, why do we get that little feeling of satisfaction of seeing the ‘Likes’ on a Facebook posting or our Klout score bumping up a few points … what is that about really? What about that feeling of having worked really hard on a project and not being mentioned when a project lead is sharing what a great job everyone did? How many times have we watched in horror as an Oscar winner forgot to mention their spouse or supporting actors and actresses around them? Those are the people that helped create the scenes that were powerful due to the energy of the actors emotionally playing off each other. As the camera moves to show the individual in the audience who was forgotten, don’t our hearts sink a little and we think, “wow, that must be awkward.”
 
That core human need to contribute ‘value’ and then be appreciated for that value is at the root of those responses. Today, we are using other terms, such as “Influencer” and “Social Relevancy.” There is a term called “Impressions,” where the number of times something is mentioned or a particular hash tag is used. We are using the phrase “thought leader” a great deal as well, and at the core of all of this is the need to bring value and be valued.
 
It’s even gone too far in some cases. Some individuals complain that newer generations of kids get trophy’s regardless of whether they actually played well — or played at all — at a game or school event. Does this ‘over-praise’ then devalue the praise that comes later for something that really stood out?
 
Leaders and organizations that strike a great balance between acknowledging workers individually for their value and not overdoing it can drive tremendous returns on investment like those mentioned in the Gallup study. This is like “gold” to an organization, which is also desperately trying to drive value to its customers and market. The leaders who connect the value of individuals to the organization’s overall value will reap the rewards.  
 
Connect with Julie on LinkedIn and Twitter.

PeopleMatter does the Harlem Shake.

Do You Need Beyoncé To Wait Your Tables?

Why Every Hire Should Be A Brand Ambassador

<--break->Author: Smiley Guy, The “Smile” Behind PeopleMatter
Connect with Smiley Guy on Twitter.

It is a growing trend today for companies to hire celebrities as brand ambassadors. Linking your business to a famous face is seen as a way to increase visibility and develop an association with someone who has a pre-existing, noticeable brand. The more major the player the bigger the draw.
Beyonce has a $50 million deal with Pepsi, Taylor Swift is with Diet Coke and Justin Timberlake is the new Creative Director of Bud Light Platinum. But beverage companies aren’t alone in rolling out the big bucks for a little star sparkle. On the restaurant side, Carl’s Jr. has made a splash with flashy female brand ambassadors like Paris Hilton, Heidi Klum, Kim Kardashian and Kate Upton. But does it really take a famous face to push your brand to the top?
 
No. Brand is more than how the service-industry manages image and marketing. Putting Will Ferrell in commercials won’t define a company’s culture or increase employee engagement. A strong brand encompasses everything a company does. It’s about values and the people that make up the company — from the CEO to the person behind the cash register.
 
When it comes down to building a lasting brand, your wait staff, stockers or managers are far more important than having a multi-million dollar face being associated with your company. Having people who are passionate about your culture and provide great service will inspire loyalty in your customers.
 
True brand ambassadors are the team members that deliver a flawless experience for your customers. Not every company focuses on developing their talent as a key aspect of their brand. However, people are the secret to a company’s “X” factor. The only way to deliver on a brand is by providing the service promised. If you hire and build teams that have the attitude, skills and motivation to represent your company in the best light — your brand will be associated a superior experience. 
 
Companies that have already caught on to this are seeing success by hiring applicants that are the right fit and focusing on developing that talent. One example is Whole Foods and the company’s Declaration of Interdependence, which says, “Our success is also dependent upon the collective energy and intelligence of all our Team Members.”
 
The next question is — how do you hire brand ambassadors?
Pre-employment screening helps ensure applicants have the basic experience, service-focus and background necessary. Using personality assessments can help determine if they have the type of attitude that can be successful in the service industry. Not everyone is able to handle the frustrations of customer service while maintaining a smile and can-do outlook. 
 
Using assessments, behavioral interviews or 360-degree surveys, companies can measure counter-productive behaviors that might affect applicants’ ability to productive employees. Assessments also look for things such as skills and job fit. Screening can measure the level of commitment between the applicant and their most recent job and employer. 
 
Once a company starts hiring its own rock stars, the need to pay for “star quality” brand ambassadors diminishes. More importantly, when companies are hiring the right people turnover decreases, employee engagement improves and customer satisfaction reaches new levels.
 
So take the time to understand your brand image. Identify the traits applicants should have to represent your company. Then screen your applicants for that “X” factor that will make them exceptional employees who develop strong customer connections. 
 
t doesn’t take Beyoncé working for your company to get a a little brand recognition. All it takes is a little planning and pre-screening to find the right people for the job. 

The Perfect Hamburger

Author: Ryan Glushkoff
Connect with Ryan on LinkedIn and Twitter.

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Getting The Best HR Management Software On Your Grill

I am a red meat eater and my wife isn’t.  So, as a good husband, that means I have learned to live with a little less red meat in my diet. That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a good hamburger. In fact, by eating fewer hamburgers, it means I have become more of a burger aficionado.

There are some key traits of the perfect hamburger.

  1. Quality ingredients. If you aren’t using quality ingredients, you shouldn’t be making hamburgers.
  2. Structure. The hamburger should be proportional to the bun — that is, once cooked, it should be one-third bun, one-third meat and one-third bun. And as you eat it, each bite should be equally composed of one-third bun, one-third meat and one-third bun to have maximum and uniform taste.
  3. The right condiments. I’m talking more than just mustard, relish and ketchup — in the age of the gourmet burger, the bar is set high.

By now, you’re wondering what the perfect hamburger has to do with software. Well, think about how awesome the perfect hamburger tastes. Now think about how great a squirt of ketchup tastes by itself — not very good right? How about a leaf of green lettuce? It might be good if you’re a rabbit — but you’re not a rabbit. If you’re a proud red-meat-eater like myself, the satisfaction of eating the perfect hamburger comes from the meat, the bun and the condiments working together to create the perfect party in your mouth.

You need to take the same approach with software.

Quality Programming, Structure and Functions

The purpose of software is to automate business functions. There are some software systems that perform a single business function, and others that perform multiple functions. The return on investment of a software system is derived from the number of related business functions that the software automates and the impact of those software systems to the business. You’ll notice that I’ve italicized the word “related” – that’s because there are synergies to be gained when the functions have something to do with one another – such as HR functions like recruiting and employee onboarding or operational functions like scheduling and inventory control.

Having multiple software systems is also costly in terms of your time, treasure and talent. Not only do you have to manage multiple vendors, but entering data also takes up valuable time and you run the risk of fat fingering. Fat fingering data can be costly too because, at some point down the road, you are going to use that data to make business decisions. You need to be confident that the assumptions you are basing your decisions on are right.

What’s On Your Grill?

The more related business functions you can incorporate into software — and the more that software can use one set of data and processes — the better your return. 

That’s why you need an HR management platform. It’s the most efficient and delicious answer to your hiring, training and scheduling problems. Do your business a favor today and find out what the perfect HR “hamburger” looks like for your business.

*For more on how to “Beef Up Your Bottom Line,” register for our April 25 webinar at 2 p.m. EST and find out how Carl’s Jr. franchise, Star of the High Desert, saved time, money and its brand by switching from multiple systems to an all-in-one people management platform. 

**Photo credit: The Cooking Lab, LLC

On Cows and Clouds

Author: Mark Deaton
Connect with Mark on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Field with cows

Once upon a time, in our early days here on Earth, we relied exclusively on the land to support us — providing fuel for the plants and animals we needed to survive. Then, since we are a species with fairly big brains, we quickly realized that we could use those raw materials and turn them into something shiny, new and helpful. Rocks became tools and arrowheads, cowhide became saddles and shoes. We had the “goods” to make us more efficient and effective. But, why stop there? Bam! Another new neural pathway was forged and we realized that we didn’t have to keep those pretty things all to ourselves. Instead we could make the goods shinier, bigger and better and trade them for cool stuff that other humans had made. Finally, never satisfied with status quo, we (clunk!) had a V-8 and realized we could improve on how we served or delivered those goods; once again setting us apart from the crowd and making us rock stars and superheroes. 

Joseph Pine, in his book, The Experience Economy, tells this story of our economic evolution. He also points out that, in today’s economy, the Internet and “cloud computing” have catalyzed an interesting evolutionary shift: what once were goods are now sold as services. And according to Pine, this shift requires us to reach for a new level of economic value where we are not just serving our customers, but actually delivering memorable customer experiences as part of the product itself.

Think about your business for a moment and what differentiates you from your competitors. Is it price? Is it quality? Is it availability? Those are all important, but they’re also easy to copy. The experience you create for your customers, however, comes from your culture and your people. Those are hard to copy, and in an increasingly competitive marketplace — where more and more products are commoditized — it’s the only way to maintain a long-term competitive edge.

How do these insights impact your business? What role does social media play; and how are you delivering best-of-class experiences to your customers? In today’s world, it matters!

Shoot me an email at Mark.Deaton@peoplematter.com and give me your thoughts. 

Mark Deaton is the Senior Vice President for Customer Care at PeopleMatter. 

Changes in the I-9 Atmosphere — Expect ICE Storms

Author: Ashley McManus

When it comes to I-9 verification in the service industry, meeting state and federal regulations falls somewhere between herding cats and walking a tight rope. From using the right color ink to learning the ins and outs of a new I-9 form (download the 2013 I-9 form released on March 8 by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services), compliance can become a paperwork nightmare.

The service industry relies on younger workers and immigrant employees — and operates with a primary hourly workforce. The high turnover and rapid hiring practices common in restaurants, convenience stores and retail business make them easy targets for the United States Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

In the last five years audits have increased 1,100 percent. More importantly, the businesses being targeted are changing. According to Claire Xidis Torres, immigration attorney at Torres Law Firm, 50 percent of audits in the second half 2009 were businesses that employ less than 25 people. Smaller service industry businesses are increasingly at risk of being audited. And the repercussions for noncompliance are severe.*

Unlike at the end of the Bush administration, ICE is no longer just deporting non-compliant employees. Of the people criminally arrested in 2012, 240 were restaurant owners, managers or HR leaders. Now, anyone proven to have knowledge of illegal hiring practices can face criminal charges. “Having knowledge” can be as simple as not responding to a letter requesting information from immigration services. It’s critical that the people involved in hiring understand I-9 verification and follow compliance guidelines. 

 

Top 5 Ways You Can Avoid I-9 Fines, Penalties and Brand Damage*

PeopleMatter recently hosted a webinar on best practices in employee verification. In the webinar, Torres joined Anna Turner, PeopleMatter Product Owner, to give the top five ways to avoid I-9 non-compliance. The list covers the importance of being aware of I-9 instructions as well as how to avoid getting “ICE’d.” 

The top five I-9 tips are:

1.     Assume your business will be an ICE target
2.     Train your HR staff
3.     Good record keeping (and destroying)
4.     Maintain a state of audit readiness
5.     Don’t wait until ICE is knocking at your door
(For an in-depth breakdown, listen to the recording of our I-9 compliance webinar.)

Service-industry operators and HR professionals need to be aware of the changes to the Employment Eligibility Verification Form (I-9). Businesses managing HR processes with paper practices should already be using the 2013 I-9 form. Companies that are using software programs have until May 7 to make the change.

It’s important to keep up-to-date on HR practices. If a business is using paper practices, they should be training every person involved in hiring each year. An easier way to ensure accurate, compliant hiring is to invest in hiring software. HR software can keep businesses compliant, with features like automatic I-9 form completion, task reminders, continual updates and step-by-step I-9 instructions. The prescribed workflows in most programs guarantee that HR managers correctly complete each step in compliant hiring. See an example of PeopleMatter’s prescribed workflow below.

When it comes to managing the I-9 process, the best way to avoid “ICE-y” weather is to be proactive. Train your team, use all the tools that are available to you and handle the process in the most efficient manner for your business. Don’t get caught in the storm.

* To hear more from immigration attorney Claire Xidis Torres, listen to PeopleMatter’s webinar, Top 5 Ways You Can Avoid I-9 Fines, Penalties and Brand Damage.