HR Core Responsibilities

HR’s core responsibility is to give you the peace of mind that your business is compliant with both state and federal employment law, as well as ensuring that HR best practices are followed.  It is important to understand the difference between compliance matters and HR best practices, and even more important to make sure you are following both within your business.

Compliance issues are legal requirements as set by the state or federal government.  These employment laws must be followed or you risk fines, prosecution and even possibly civil litigation.  For example, in California, you are legally required to pay overtime wages to hourly employees working more than 8 hours in a day AND more than 40 hours in a given workweek.  You must also comply with the federal immigration regulations and verify each new hire’s eligibility to work in the U.S.A. within the first three days of employment.  A professional HR Consultant will make sure you comply with all of the necessary regulations, alleviating the stress of potential legal action for violations.

Best Practice issues are not legally required, but they prepare and protect you in the event of possible litigation.  For example, it is an HR best practice to create a log of all applicants for a given position.  Should one of the declined applicants accuse you of discrimination on any basis, you will be able to provide evidence that their claim has no reasonable basis.

Following HR best practices also increases employee performance and productivity because it strengthens the employee/employer relationship.  Well managed performance evaluations provide consistency, ensures quality and gives your employees clear guidelines for success.  You are not legally required to conduct performance evaluations, but businesses that do so tend to experience better performance and greater loyalty from their employees.

Do you know a business owner getting ready to hire their first employee?  Please give them our contact information and we can help make sure they are both compliant and following HR best practices as they grow their company!