NOTE: These are not 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. Keep in mind, "Rome wasn't built in a day."). So, the "priorities" will vary for each school.
Item #1: Upgrading Your (Sexual) Harassment Policies
The first thing here is to make sure that you have a sexual harassment policy in your employee handbook. The next thing is to expand this policy to address all forms of illegal harassment (i.e., racial, ethnic, religious, etc.)—including harassment/discrimination prohibited under federal and state law.
One additional consideration: Ensure that your policy permits employees multiple reporting options. For example, the policy shouldn't require an employee to report harassment claims solely to the School Head (i.e., what if the School Head is the alleged harasser?). Make sure that the employee has two or more options to report allegations to (and even better if the options include both male and female administrators).
Item #2: Establish a Relationship With an Employment Attorney
Do you get free "informal" legal advice from a Board member? Is that Board member a real estate or general attorney? Do you have the phone number of an employment attorney—but you don't call unless you receive an angry letter from an ex-employee threatening an ugly lawsuit? All of these situations are common in private-independent schools—and none of them are desirable.
First, it is important to work with an attorney who specializes in employment law (also known as a labor attorney). And, it is important to have a formal client-attorney (i.e., paying) relationship with that individual. Moreover, for that attorney to give you the best legal advice—i.e., advice that aligns with your school's culture and values—he or she needs to know your school's culture and values. That is only possible by establishing at least some measure of a relationship prior to an emergency erupting. Take the time to take an employment attorney to lunch this summer (who knows—he/she may pick up the check!) and help he/she get to know your school. It will pay off immeasurably in the future.
Item #3: Meet With Your Insurance Broker(s) to Address Health Care Reform Requirements
After researching what health care reform requirements are coming into place in 2010-2011, schedule a meeting with your insurance broker. Draw on the agent's expertise to walk through your benefits plans, plan by plan, and make changes where necessary (such as to the dependent age coverage limitations, which are increasing to age 26). Be sure that the broker and insurance carrier work together to present you with revised plan documents, as necessary.
Item #4: Review Your Employment Contract Wording
Be sure to tie up any "loose ends" that exist in your faculty/staff contract's verbiage. For example, the most critical issue to address in writing is, "How much pay is owed to the employee if he/she are terminated mid-contract (such as in February)?" There could be a variety of answers to this question, including: "Pay ends as of the last day worked," or "the employee will receive 10 days pay," or "30 days pay," or "he/she will receive pay through the end of the contract." Any of these answers is valid; the important thing is that there is an explicit answer given in the contract. If there is not, a court will most likely interpret the contract to mean that pay must be provided through the end of the contract.
Item #5: Provide Interviewing Training in Advance of Next Year's Hiring Season
Many Business Managers have "HR Manager" as one of the many hats that they wear. As such, you may not have much (or any) involvement in your school's hiring process. This is dangerous for several reasons—the primary reason being, as the HR/Risk Manager, you need to ensure that the school's hiring process is legally compliant (e.g., that you are not asking illegal questions during the interview process).
One way of ensuring compliance is training all administrators, faculty, and staff who are involved in the interviewing process. Start working now to position this training in your Head and administrators' minds—e.g., "I'll develop a 60-minute training session that we need to require for all interviewers in January, before we begin the next hiring season."
Item #6: Update Your Employee Handbook (Part 1—consider your target audience)
Does your handbook say "Faculty Manual" on the cover—and does it leave out policies that don't pertain to faculty (like vacation)? If so, revise your document to apply to all employees—and relaunch it as the "Employee Handbook" (all inclusive). And negotiate for an appropriate time slot to present changes and upgrades to policies/procedures during the all-employee orientation meetings at the end of the summer.
