During the pre-hiring stage, employers and HR managers need to reach all forms of top talent. Whether or not a company is a federal contractor or subcontractor, it’s a best practice to stay within OFCCP regulations; therefore talent managers are required to take certain precautionary measures to ensure a diverse, safe work environment and help manage risks.
HR and talent managers should consider the following for better risk management within an organization.
1. Document Outreach and Responses
Avoid audits and adhere to federal regulations by documenting all recruiting outreach efforts and candidate responses to ensure that the company is properly sourcing its employees from a variety of backgrounds and demographics. Accessing a wide range of diverse candidates through use of an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) can help to automate the distribution and documentation of job advertising. Another way to simplify outreach documentation is by guiding potential candidates through a uniform application process. This will also help to reduce errors and ensure consistency in the application process.
2. Survey All Applicants
During the application process, offer a voluntary survey to document race and ethnicity, as well as veteran and disability status. This is a necessary step to discover which efforts are effective and which ones aren’t, in terms of job distribution. It’s a best practice to offer this survey at the beginning of the process and for each and every applicant. Then it’s their choice whether they disclose the information and not a matter of the company not asking or having an inconsistent survey procedure.
3. Create an Applicant Log
As the candidate pool shrinks and interviews are conducted, it becomes important that an organization has a reliable system in place to record the stage each candidate progressed to and the reasoning for eliminating job applicants. These reasons are called “dispositioning” a candidate. Disposition reasons examples could be; Not Qualified – Does Not Meet Basic Qualifications, Candidate Withdrew due to Salary or Not Selected – Another Candidate Hired.
Where applicant logging becomes important, is when there is an open position to fill. HR managers can sift through a pool of previous job applicants and view previously recorded information to hire quickly. Applicant logging entails documenting all applicants’ information, including job applied for, what stages the applicant went through and the reason for not being hired.
4. Offer On-Job Related Topics and Maintain a Safe Work Environment
As a part of the onboarding process, new hires should be exposed to job-related topics including safety training, sexual harassment prevention and diversity awareness to promote a comfortable and healthy working environment. Along with these preventative measures, maintaining a safe work environment can also be done with random drug testing. Avoid on-site injuries and promote a safe working environment with an automated system that will record/process compliance and safety training and completion of other policy or regulatory documents.
5. Create a Consistent Review Process
Who are a company’s best employees and how does a hiring manager know this? To measure the success and productivity of employees, HR and hiring managers should develop a performance management strategy that allows for frequent and open conversation and evaluation. Although annual performance reviews are very common, only 26 percent of employees and managers believe that the traditional annual performance review is effective. HR managers should consider a more flexible and frequent evaluation method to motivate employees. Additionally, offering training modules to employees who demonstrate room for improvement will close skill gaps and improve overall performance quality.
6. Identify High Potentials and Employees Who Need Improvement
Spotting employees who are in need of further development and training can prevent a team from experiencing any risks or accidents. Companies that react quickly to employees’ need for additional training take the precautionary steps necessary to reduce the risk associated with on-site accidents or injuries.
Talent managers can better manage risks by making safety a portion of the company’s culture. Developing an open-door policy for employees will promote conversation between employees and their superiors and encourage employees to discuss safety issues/concerns.
