Preparing your employees for their next career step

Often a manager will have an employee that they value for their hard work and contributions to the organization and want to reward the employee with an increase or a bonus in recognition of their contributions. This is well received in the moment and is also a very short lived acknowledgement of their value to the organization. It’s important to recognize and reward these employees for their efforts and maybe you should consider investing your time in addition to money to their development. Consider providing your employee with stretch opportunities until their reach their full potential.

Here are some examples of how you can prepare employees for future opportunities.

Ask your employee for their opinion or recommendation. Give them an opportunity to share their ideas and perspectives on areas outside of their normal realm of responsibility.

Help your employee build relationships. Give your employee an opportunity to work with people in other parts of the organization. This can happen by working on team projects, sharing resources when there is a business need, etc. This will give the employee a chance to learn about other parts of the business, interact with other business leaders, and expand their knowledge base.

Nominate your employee to take the lead of a project. Encouraging an employee to take the lead in a project gives them the opportunity to lead people, processes and resources. Part of becoming and being an effective leader is showing people that you can successfully lead. This can be the first step in proving that they have leadership capabilities that may open up doors for them as a future leader in the organization.

Financial literacy. Provide your employee with the chance to develop their knowledge of financial literacy. Having the chance to review and be taught how your organization runs a project, how to read, help forecast and eventually be responsible for some part of the financials is critical to all future leaders.

Opportunities to shadow. Allowing and encouraging an employee to shadow you or another manager to learn about a new project or process. Having them sit in on project meetings to see how a meeting is run or to brainstorm a new idea or initiative for the organization. You never know what their perspectives and ideas may bring to take the company to the next level!

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New Hire Reporting

Federal law requires employers to report basic information on new and rehired employees within 20 days of hire to the state where the new employees work. Some states require it sooner. The information is maintained in the National Directory of New Hires, which child support agencies use to locate and issue an income withholding order for parents who owe child support.

What information must an employer report?

Federal law requires you to collect and report these seven data elements:

1. Employee’s name
2. Employee's address
3. Social Security number (SSN)
4. Date of hire (the date the employee first performs services for pay)
5. Employer’s name
6. Employer's address
7. Federal Employer Identification number (FEIN)

Some states require additional data, check your state’s reporting requirements.

Where and how does an employer report new hires?

You must report new hires to the state where your new employees work. The state forwards the information to the National Directory of New Hires. Federal agencies report new hires directly to the National Directory of New Hires.

Below are the specifics on our surrounding state for submitting new hire information:

Delaware

• Delaware New Hire Reporting
• Phone: (302) 577-7171
• Fax: (302) 577-4848
• Web site: http://www.dhss.delaware.gov/dcse/nhr.html

District of Columbia

• District of Columbia Directory of New Hires
• Phone toll-free: (877) 846-9523
• Fax toll-free: (877) 892-6388
• Web site: www.DC-NewHire.com

Maryland

• Maryland New Hire Registry
• Phone: (410) 281-6000
• Phone toll-free: (888) 634-4737
• Fax: (410) 281-6004
• Fax toll-free: (888) 657-3534
• Web site: www.MDNewHire.com

New Jersey

• New Jersey New Hire Directory
• Phone toll-free: (877) 654-4737
• Fax toll-free: (800) 304-4901
• Web site: http://newhire-reporting.com/NJ-Newhire/default.aspx

New York

• New York New Hire Reporting
• Phone: (518) 438-3152
• Phone toll-free: (800) 972-1233
• Fax: (518) 438-3715
• Web site: http://www.tax.state.ny.us/wt/newhire.htm

Pennsylvania

• Pennsylvania New Hire Reporting
• Phone toll-free: (888) 724-4737
• Fax: (717) 657-4473)
• Web site: www.panewhires.com

West Virginia

• West Virginia New Hire Reporting Center
• Phone: (304) 346-9513
• Phone toll-free: (877) 625-4669
• Fax: (304) 346-9518
• Fax toll-free: (877) 625-4675
• Web site: www.WV-NewHire.com

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Employee Handbooks

A properly drafted employee handbook relays valuable information about the organization and its policies. It helps management promote non-arbitrary, consistent application of its policies and practices. However, lawsuits based on language contained in employee handbooks and other written employment policies are common. Because improperly drafted employee handbooks and policy and procedure manuals can appear to be contractual, potential problems arise for employers.

Employers should continuously review their handbooks and policy and procedure manuals to determine whether they contain language that can lead to a wrongful discharge suit or other employment claim. They should also be reviewed to ensure that the handbooks are current with new legislation or revised legislation that is ever-changing.

Lastly, when distributing a handbook or policy and procedure manual to employees, it should always follow the specific terms and conditions of employment described in the document and ensure your exposure to litigation is minimized.

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Time is Running Out to Meet Training Requirements

The new Delaware law specifically addresses the prohibition against sexual harassment under the Delaware Discrimination in Employment Act (DDEA), sets an affirmative defense for employers, imposes mandatory notice distribution on employers with at least four employees within the state, and provides anti-sexual harassment training requirements for employers with at least 50 employees in the state. The new law became effective on January 1, 2019.

What should employers do?

• Delaware employers should review their policies to ensure their sexual harassment prevention policies are consistent with the new law.
• Employers must be distributing the Department of Labor’s Notice to each new employee and have distributed the notice to all employee by July 1, 2019. A copy of the Information Sheet is available on www.hrstrategies.org.

This is a great time for employers to update their training programs to meet the new Delaware law’s interactive training requirements and to schedule training to ensure they are meeting the law’s training compliance dates. HR Strategies, LLC is available to assist in customizing and presenting interactive training programs consistent with Delaware’s training requirements. Since the new regulation became effective, we have trained over 3000 employees and managers in harassment prevention. We further are able to review and update workplace policies, including an employer’s sexual harassment prevention policy.

Mandatory Sexual Harassment Training Required:

Employers with at least 50 employees in Delaware must provide “interactive training and education to employees regarding the prevention of sexual harassment.” Training must be completed by 12/31/19 and include all of the following elements:

1. The illegality of sexual harassment;
2. The definition of sexual harassment using examples;
3. The legal remedies and complaint process available to the employee;
4. Directions on how to contact the Department of Labor; and the EEOC
5. The legal prohibition against retaliation.

In addition, the interactive training for the supervisors must further include the specific responsibilities of a supervisor regarding the prevention and correction of sexual harassment; and the legal prohibition against retaliation.

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New Online Training Option

HR Strategies, LLC is now offering the option of state specific online interactive Anti-harassment Prevention training. We provide the mandated training requirements and options for the following states: California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine and New York. This new service will provide your organization with ten individual training sessions to be used within twelve months. This new training feature can be used for new hires that did not attend your organization’s group training session, or for a newly hired or promoted supervisor that that did not complete your company’s manager training. The ten sessions can be used in any combination of manager or employee training to suit your needs.

In addition to providing you with the flexibility to assign the mandated training to your employees or supervisors, you will receive access to run reports for your organization. This will provide you with the ability to determine how long an individual took to complete the training session, how well they scored on their test, and print out their certificate for your training records.

Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have or for pricing on the ten session program.

Talent Acquisition Support

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If your organization has job openings and needs assistance in filling those open positions, contact HR Strategies’ staff for support. We can focus on your recruiting needs so that you can focus on your business needs.

Contact HR Strategies staff at 302.376.8595 or info@hrstrategies.org if you would like support or would like to learn more about the items in this newsletter. Please contact us if you would like to be added our "Monthly Strategies" email distribution list.