Higher Talent capabilities are in providing professional human resources consulting services. Our core service areas are as follows:
An HR Plan is a strategic document that outlines an organization’s HR objectives such as reducing turnover by 7%, or to increase employee engagement by 10%; or transforming an organization’s culture over the next three years.
The plan outlines tactics and action items to achieve each objective.
It is important to have a people plan as otherwise, you may not obtain the maximum return on investment for the dollars you spend on your people and HR-related programs and activities.
Recruitment specialists typically have databases that help to store and track candidate information and applications and network with candidates as well. They also have established relationships with a wide and diverse network of professionals and job seekers from which they can use to find your company a great fit for a role.
Recruiters external to your organization are also better able to act as a liaison between your company and competition companies to seek for currently employed candidates who may be interested in a change of job.
It is worth using their services if you do not have time to locate a candidate, or the hire is a particularly critical role to the success of your organization.
Generally, small to medium size businesses should, at minimum, have:
- Confidentiality Policy
- Employee Conduct Policy
- Harassment Prevention
- Health and Safety Policy
- Attendance Management
- Leave of Absence Policy
- Termination Policy
Professional human resources consulting services involve staying current on HR trends, evolving labour legislation, and how it fits with the overall business strategy.
A good HR practitioner will invest regular time and money to keep their professional development current; and it is a requirement to submit a summary of PD activities for potential audit by the HR Association to maintain the Certified Human Resources Designation every three years.
It is recommended that the employee’s direct supervisor and an HR representative are present during a termination meeting. Optimally, the meeting will be held in a private setting to ensure the confidentiality of the sensitive discussion.
Even seating should be planned such that the employee is not in a position where he/she can block the exit if they become irate. Details of the termination should be established in advance (e.g. reason for termination, effective date, policy for giving references, whom to contact about further issues).
The meeting should be kept brief and the employee should be treated respectfully; and given a chance to ask their questions and voice their concerns/thoughts.
It is important that any severance package or termination letter be clearly documented and provided to the employee during the termination meeting.
Whether you should run a criminal reference check on a new hire prior to extending a job offer depends on whether you have a job related reason for doing so.
For example, if the employee is working with cash or with vulnerable persons you may want to perform background checks. Also ensure that relevant laws and regulations in your jurisdiction allow such a check to be performed.
As always, document your procedure and be sure your policy is defensible and not used only for select employee groups to avoid human right complaints.
Employers with ten or more employees must establish and maintain a written health and safety program. Employers with less than ten employees must establish and maintain a written health and safety policy.
It is a best practice to have an HR Policy manual as soon as you hire your first employee. As soon as you have five or more employees, it is a must-have to reduce your people risk.
Job descriptions are often used not only for recruitment and selection, but also for setting compensation, conducting performance appraisals, and determining training, development, and career management objectives.
Ensuring a job description is accurate and up to date allows both the employee/candidate and the employer to have a shared common understanding of what it is the employee is responsible for in their position. It also protects the employers by ensuring compliance with human rights, occupational health and safety regulations, and general legal compliance in all Canadian jurisdictions.
When duties or qualifications no longer apply or need to be added or revised, this can result in inaccurate training decisions, an unfair performance appraisal, mislead employees and higher turnover, and even legal repercussions.
For these reasons, your company should review existing job descriptions on a periodic schedule to ensure they are accurate and kept up to date as roles change or evolve.