Do’s and Don’ts of Interviewing

Posted on May 30, 2008 by admin

As a general rule of thumb, all of your interview questions should be directly related to the job in question and the job duties the applicant would be required to perform if hired. While it would be impossible to create an exhaustive list of “no-no” questions, the following should give you an idea of what to avoid:

DON’T Ask

Age related questions: How old are you? What year were you born?
Do you have any disabilities?
Are you married, single, or divorced?
How many children do you have?
Are you planning on starting a family?
What is your sexual orientation?
How many sick days did you use last year?
What is your stance on unions?
Have you ever filed a workers’ compensation claim?
Do you own your own home?
What Clubs or Organizations do you belong to?
Which Church do you attend?
Were you born in the United States? Where are you from?

DO Ask:

Are you able to perform the essential functions of the job? (Provide applicants with a job description at the beginning of the interview)
Are you legally authorized to work in the United States on a full-time basis?
Is your spouse employed by our company? (If your company has a nepotism policy)
What can you tell me about your organization? What are some reasons you are seeking employment with us?
Why did you leave your last position?
If you could have changed things in your last job, what would you have changed?
What were your responsibilities in your previous position?
What was the most difficult situation you ever faced in your previous job and how did you solve it?
What do you consider your overall strengths and weaknesses?
Do you prefer to work as a team or individual contributor?
With your prior approval, if I contacted your previous managers and/or co-workers for references, what would they say about you?
What makes you the best candidate for the position?

Employment Laws are a critical piece of the interviewing process. It is always good business practice to review them with your employees. HRSentry makes it easy for you to train your staff on Employment Laws with a PowerPoint presentation ready for your use just by going directly to our HR-Related Training Programs Library:

Additional interviewing related documents are available by using HRSentry’s Search tool and typing in the word Interview. Here you will discover a Pre-Interview Checklist, Interview Questions for Technical Positions, and more. By utilizing HRSentry tools, you empower your staff to maintain legal compliance and improve risk management for your organization.

Workplace Incident Report

Posted on May 29, 2008 by admin

Every year the United States Department of Labor releases a report on workplace safety that includes injury and illness rates. Knowing what your industries injury rate is and what tools can be used to reduce your risk can save thousands of unnecessary dollars in fines and lawsuits.

Industry 2006 annual average employment(in thousands)/Incidence Rate2005/2006

Nonclay refractory manufacturing 6.3 / – / 16.9
Motor home manufacturing 21.1 / – / 16.8
Iron foundries 58.4/ 17.1 / 15.1
Light truck and utility vehicle manufacturing 69.3 / 17.8 / 14.6
Prefabricated wood building manufacturing 27.2 / 14.3 / 14.3
Truck trailer manufacturing 38.5 / 16.8 / 13.9
Manufactured home (mobile home) manufacturing 49.1 / 12.9 / 13.2
Skiing facilities 34.0 / – / 13.2
Travel trailer and camper manufacturing 48.7 / 14.1 / 13.1
Sports teams and clubs 63.2 / – / 12.8
Animal (except poultry) slaughtering 146.3 / 12.6 / 12.5
Steel foundries (except investment) 20.9 / 10.7 / 12.1
Aluminum foundries (except die-casting) 22.5 / 13.3 / 12.1
Metal tank (heavy gauge) manufacturing 27.1 / – / 11.9
Motor vehicle body manufacturing 66.9 / 8.3 / 11.8
Beet sugar manufacturing 6.1 / 18.3 / 11.7
Amusement and theme parks 137.0 / – / 11.7
Couriers 528.0 / 12.4 / 11.0
Ambulance services 127.3 / – 11.0
Iron and steel forging 27.0 / 13.3 / 10.9
Heavy duty truck manufacturing 37.6 / 13.1 / 10.9
Scheduled passenger air transportation 426.8 / – / 10.8
Ship building and repairing 91.7 / 10.9 / 10.7
Soft drink manufacturing 79.7 10.4 10.6
Household furniture (except wood/metal) manufacturing 6.5 / – / 10.6
Private industry 111,273.1 / 4.6 / 4.4

Visit the Department of Labor homepage to see more stats on workplace incidents reports. For more information on risk management solutions, visit the HRSentry Homepage.

Personal Data Security Breaches

Posted on May 28, 2008 by admin

With computers becoming more and more the standard tool for employee and consumer information management, it is important to realize the risks that are associated with this. Currently 43 states as well as the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, have enacted legislation requiring that victims of security breaches which include personal information be notified upon learning of the breach. Unfortunately the liability that the organizations holding the information have has not been definitively worked out by the courts at this point, however many states have legislation pending that would give more rights to these victims.

According to CRMBuyer.com, The federal Privacy Act allows individuals to sue the government for failure to adequately protect personal data, but there is no counterpart applicable to the private sector. Companies can be held liable in a broader context — as opposed to an individual lawsuit — in two ways: via the Federal Trade Commission and through consumer class actions brought by private parties or state attorneys general.

Since 2004, the FTC has expanded its enforcement activities. The agency now claims that a company’s failure to take reasonable measures to protect customers’ personal information is itself an unfair practice in violation of the FTC Act. In the past two years, the FTC has brought more than a dozen enforcement actions under this theory, with settlements requiring tighter data security measures and payment of fines, as well as the FTC’s legal expenses.

Consumers often wish to enforce their rights through private litigation, where they can potentially receive financial awards generally not available through FTC settlements. In the past several years, consumers have flooded the courts with lawsuits — primarily class actions — often following FTC action. Many of these cases are still pending in various courts throughout the nation.

Ideally, she said, an employer will provide the following information and services to workers believed to be affected by such a breach:

• A description of the information that was exposed.

• A description of steps the employer is taking to ensure the incident doesn’t happen again.

• Information on how to order a credit report.

• A live person to help explain to affected workers what has happened and what they need to do next.

A recent survey by security vendors confirms the inadequacy of many organizations’ data breach notices. In a survey released in April 2008, by the Michigan-based Ponemon Institute:

63 percent of respondents said notification letters they received offered no direction on the steps consumers should take to protect their personal information.

About half of respondents rated the timeliness, clarity and quality of the notification as either fair or poor.

Two percent of respondents that had been notified of a data breach experienced identity theft as a result of the breach.

64 percent were unsure if they were a victim of identity theft.

For more information on these surveys visit Data Breach Message Not Always Reaching Consumers.

Insurance meets Academia

Posted on May 27, 2008 by admin

No where is the struggle between the insurance and academic world more apparent than at colleges and universities where student coverage plans dictate the type of campus activities and events allowed. Academics support the growth of the future through pushing boundaries and open minds, while the insurance world attempts to categorize and put price on everything with a focus on risk management. These very different schools of thought are forced together to create the complicated world of student and employee health and compensation plans.

Most colleges and universities offer a health plan on some level to its students. The trick is to evaluate the plan and decide whether it really is cost effective and comparable to industry norms. According to Business Week, six out of 10 universities recommend a plan for students and three out of 10 require students to enroll in specific plans. Some colleges negotiate a standard student plan and some then automatically bill students for the plan unless they or their families opt out of the coverage. Mark Rukavina, executive director of the Access Project, said that college administrators are often unfamiliar with the insurance industry and do not negotiate the best deals. Over half of these plans recommended by colleges include payout limits of $30,000 or less. Providing student coverage can be extremely lucrative for insurance companies as on average large insurers spend about 80% of premiums on care and keep the remaining 20% for administrative costs and profit, whereas a Business Week analysis found that several college-recommended plans spend “well below” 70% of premiums on care (Elgin/Silver-Greenberg, Business Week, 5/8). This has to do mainly with the good health most college aged students enjoy.

Over the past decade many of the countries colleges and universities have been forced to switch to new health and compensation plans in order to compete with rising costs. Many of the new plans, such as the one recently outlined at the University of Virginia, stress compensation in relation to performance and market rates as opposed to the traditional structured leveled compensation plan. This change has left many of the employees at these academic institutions concerned for their future. Many employees at these institutions are concerned that once workers are locked into the new plan, the colleges and universities will begin to slowly roll back benefits, leave and possibly pay. The new UVA restructuring plan can be viewed at their human resources website. Two of the biggest points of concern with many of these plans is where funding is coming from and who it applies to. Most plans, including the UVA restructuring, specify a date that if you were hired after you are automatically enlisted in the new plan, while older employees have the option to switch or be bought out.

For more information on basic student health coverage visit University Health Plans or for information on college or university salary comparisons visit Salary Expert

2008 Vermont Business Expo Recap

Posted on May 23, 2008 by admin

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the HRSentry booth during this years Vermont Business and Industry Expo. The two day event saw one of their biggest crowds yet this year on day one, as well as a strong second day showing. We had a number of people stop by and take a look at our service and I would to encourage anyone with additional questions to contact us via email at support@hrsentry.com or by phone at (802) 523-2564. I would also like to thank the Vermont Chamber of Commerce for putting on the event, its a great opportunity for local businesses to get network and get their brand out in the community. The winner of our $50 staples gift certificate raffle will be announced early next week so stay posted!