Starting from recruitment till retirement an HR handles numerous issues associated with employees. With so many requirements in the organization, there are certain areas which an HR must never overlook. If overlooked, on the higher side it can lead to huge damages and fines and on the lower side it can adversely affect the employee’s morale and productivity. Whether you are a fresher or an experienced HR you must always take note of the following points for a better culture and productivity of the organization.

#1 Documentation and Record Keeping

It is not necessary to have proper documentation and maintain correct records just, to aid the management but, it is also mandatory as per our government’s labor laws. There are certain statutory documents which an organization must keep religiously based on under which section of Labor Laws your organization falls.

What you can do?

• Know which documents are required and how long to maintain them.
• Maintain a separate file of individual employees containing their employment documents, medical history, warnings (if any), performance evaluation reports, transfers, promotions, training, etc.

Such practices can serve you with fructuous employment decisions in a long shot reducing the risk of business litigation.

#2 Discrimination and Harassment

Discrimination based on age, gender, color, complexion, religion, nationality, disability or any other characteristic is prohibited by our Indian constitution. You must never hire/reject a candidate or terminate an employee, or even be partial with him/her in promotions or increments based on these characteristics unless required by the job specifications. For instance, Airline companies require Air Hostesses of age at least 18 years, height of 155 cm or above and weight in proportion to the height.

Apart from such scenarios, it’s an offense to discriminate candidates/employees and may lead to litigation against the organization. In addition to this, Discrimination and Harassment also kill the company’s work culture, disturbs employee’s state of mind, disturbs his/her happiness and also kills his motivation. HR must be cautious towards such issues in the organization.

Employees are happy and work more when they feel safe and valued!

What you can do?

• Implementation and enforcement of the strong written policy on the prevention of discrimination and harassment at the workplace. It must be communicated to all employees in the workplace.
• In addition to the above, Have a regular employee engagement and know their opinions or any issues if they are facing.
• Appoint multiple trustworthy supervisors, HR officers or other managers whom employees can approach to with the complaint.
• After that, train these points of contacts on how to identify and respond to such violations.
• Take these complaints seriously and investigate them.
• If found true, take immediate appropriate actions on it and prevent it from occurring again.

HR professionals are the absolute front line of defense for a company to make sure it treats people fairly, legally and keeps the business out of danger.
David Miller
Attorney, Bryant Miller Olive

#3 Conflict Resolution         

Often there are observed some interpersonal clashes among employees of the organization. However, there are times when the leaders/ managers feel unable to resolve those clashes.

What you can do?

• Communicate with both the parties separately and later if required jointly.
• Mediate the situation to help the departments function together effectively.

Communication gaps and stress are seen to be the 2 common reasons for workplace conflicts. 

#4 Background Checks

Smaller organizations or startups generally overlook the background verifications of new joiners in the organization probably thinking of the expenses and time it may consume. However, it is worth spending a dime and your time for background checks than to unknowingly hire a bad fish and pollute the entire sea.     

What you can do?

• If you don’t want to invest much amount in background checks then you can simply try to get in touch with the employee’s previous organizations and get feedback from them.
• There are some external agencies who could do the job for you. These agencies do the whole 360 Degree background check including the employment verification, criminal records, identity check, drug usage and a lot more, saving your time.                                                   

HR professionals may not be an expert in all the HR and business functions but, they are quintessential in identifying the issues within the organization and forthcoming with the effective solutions.