NOTE: These aren't presented in order of importance. Your school may have already attended to some or most of these (if you have, kudos to you and your administrators!). Or, you may need to tackle all 12 of them … eventually (if so, don't lose heart—remember, "Rome wasn't built in a day," as they say!). So, the priorities will vary for each school.
As a reminder, here were the first six tips from last month:- Item #1: Upgrading Your (Sexual) Harassment Policies
- Item #2: Establish a Relationship with an Employment Attorney
- Item #3: Meet With Insurance Broker to Address Reform Requirements
- Item #4: Review Your Employment Contract Wording
- Item #5: Provide Interviewing Training in Advance of Next Year's Hiring Season
- Item #6: Update Your Employee Handbook, Part 1 ("consider your target audience")
Item #7: Get Sexual Harassment Training Into the In-Service Plan for Next Year
Once you've made sure to expand your harassment policy to include all forms of illegal harassment (including racial, ethnic, other protected-class harassment—i.e., not just sexual harassment), the next objective is to train all managers … and then employees. The main issue is to gain the Head's agreement that this is a critical risk management issue—you need their support to make sure proper time (and emphasis) is allotted for this training.
One way to do this is carve out 60—90 minutes to train management (i.e., the school's leadership/administrative team) at a scheduled meeting/planning session—either as part of the getting-back-to school meetings in August or during an in-service session during the school year. You can either contract with a local vendor to provide the training—or, if you are confident in the material, provide the training yourself. This can include:
- 30-minute presentation on harassment—i.e., cover pertinent legal issues, discuss your school's policy, and review management responsibilities
- 30-minute DVD to bring harassment issues to life (there are innumerable harassment dvds available via training vendors—Google "harassment training DVDs")
- A role-play-based wrap-up discussion to help managers get practice identifying and addressing harassment-related issues
** California, Connecticut, and Maine have more extensive requirements. See your employment attorney for details.
Item #8: Update Your Employee Handbook, Part 2 ("include legal updates")
As painstaking as it may seem (and yes, even for the detail-oriented, it is tedious process), it is vital to review your Employee Handbook each summer to:
- Make sure that the written policies still reflect the school's actual practices
- Make any legal updates you may have missed in the past (such as recent updates to FMLA or new protected classes in your state)
- Make certain policies (particularly time-off policies) more complete, to answer common questions from employees. For example, if your sick time policy doesn't indicate whether accrued but unused sick time is paid out at termination, it should (this is something employees will be interested in when they are leaving the school)
- Make arrangements for a brief review by your attorney, for compliance purposes (note: do this AFTER you've upgraded the document and wording as best you can—no need to pay an expensive labor attorney to do "wordsmithing" that you are able to do for yourself).
Item #9: Review the Exempt/Non-Exempt Status of All Positions
Are you certain that all of your non-exempt employees are completing timesheets appropriately—or, at all? Are there are few positions that you've always been unsure whether they should be exempt or non-exempt (such as, possibly, entry-level professional positions in the development or marketing or admission functions)? It would be money well-spent to contract with a local compensation specialist (or your employment attorney) to pass judgment on the exempt/non-exempt status of all borderline positions in the school. If any changes are necessary after the review, meet with your employment attorney to establish a plan (he/she will help you determine whether it is best to try to rectify past FLSA mistakes or to just clean things up from this point forward).
The Department of Labor continues to put out press releases touting their increased enforcement activity regarding wage-and-hour (exempt/non-exempt) issues—they aren't kidding and must be taken seriously (or risk very costly penalties and fines).
Item #10: Establish a Social Media Policy
Have you been hearing about Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, etc. from students (or your own children) 'til you want to scream? Or, perhaps, are you a Facebook denizen yourself (as a way to enjoy after-hours interaction with online friends)? Either way, the increasing impact of social media on our work and personal lives can't be denied. With this ongoing surge in social media usage comes concurrent risks to the school. Are you sure that faculty aren't interacting online with parents—or students—in ways that are inappropriate? Are staff members or administrators inadvertently releasing sensitive information online about the school (including logos, photos, or marketing plans)? Do you have a teacher who seems to be continually posting blog messages that directly or indirectly question school policy—and if so, is this a problem?
If you have questions about any or all of these issues, you need to initiate discussions about implementing a social media policy in your school. ISM has a Sample Social Media Policy for Faculty and Staff that we are happy to share with you, for your use as a point of reference when developing your own policy. Please contact Michael Brisciana, ISM's HR Consultant, to request a copy of the sample policy.
Note: Please don't copy social media policies from companies or even other nonprofits. The role model nature of faculty/staff enables the school to establish more parameters (if it chooses) regarding employees' online activities—parameters that aren't supportable in for-profit employers due to privacy and related restrictions.
Item #11: Communicate, Communicate, Communicate (about pending benefits changes)
Is your school actively planning to switch to an HRA (Health Reimbursement Account) approach to employee benefits in the next year or so? (This is also commonly known as a high deductible plan). If so, it is our experience that communication is the key factor in whether you will successfully roll-out such a plan or not. It is not too much to consider a full-year communication plan, such as:
- Introduce the idea at a faculty/staff meeting in the fall.
- Provide optional information meetings to provide more detail later in the fall (once employees have started to get acclimated to the idea)
- Once the details are more established, plan a mid-winter mandatory meeting with all employees.
- Invite spouses to the meeting, so that all family-related questions can be answered directly.
- This gives employees a few months to reflect on the details before committing themselves—thereby reducing angst and issues once the HRA plan goes into effect.
Item #12: Invest in HR Professional Development for Myself
Are you someone who naturally looks to take care of everyone's interests before your own? While commendable, taken to the extreme this can be damaging to both yourself and the school. Everyone needs time for professional growth and reflection—INCLUDING YOU! Make sure you take time to establish a growth plan for yourself. This may include seeking out HR (or Business Office) workshops that interest you, or attending a national or regional HR conference (that covers a wide range of HR topics), or taking the time to study for and take the PHR exam (this is the Professional in Human Resources certification—information is available at: www.hrci.org). No matter what you decide to do … DOING SOMETHING is what is important!
Have a wonderful summer!
