IT’S YOUR BUSINESS: Building a Safe Workforce for Your Future
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t’s summer, the peak tourism season in Oregon. Things are starting to look and feel a little more normal, but businesses are having to think differently about their future. Service industries are struggling to fill key positions just to stay open. A quick search of the internet provides dozens of news stories about hospitality businesses unable to find the employees they desperately need. Meeting the desires of today’s applicants is daunting. Most businesses do not have an unlimited budget to support highly competitive wages and benefits. If you are finding yourself in this situation, now is the time to get creative. There is a huge expense to hiring and re-hiring when the wrong candidate is selected, or when turnover continues in key positions. Make a list of ideas for your recruiting and hiring process to keep good employees and bolster your brand. Here are a few suggestions: • Have a health and safety plan in place and communicate those measures to job seekers. People want to feel safe, and they want an employer who cares about their well-being.
• Establish an identity on social media for your business. Think about developing a social media internship through a local community college or university if you need help getting started. • Host an open house for potential applicants. • Make sure job postings are accurate, concise and appealing. Would you be interested in applying after reading your own job posting or local reviews of your business? • Evaluate incentives carefully if retention is part of the goal. Performance should be considered along with time in the job.
bottom of the to-do list. The following best practices will weave workplace safety and employee training into the foundation of your business.
• Get creative with periodic perks and non-traditional benefits, and work with your accountant to determine if your ideas are taxable. The IRS Employer’s Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits also provides a list, IRS.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p15b.pdf. • Carefully evaluate your brand and reputation, and make improvements as needed. If the majority of your customers and employees are giving your business negative reviews, it will impact your hiring efforts. • Find ways to reconnect with civic and community groups and rebuild local relationships. Get involved with community service and fundraisers. A lot has changed in the last 15 months. • Brainstorm with your current supervisors and managers about benefits that would be highly valued by current and future employees. Prioritize the options based on budget and feasibility. • If you are looking for a competitive advantage in hiring, think about nontraditional benefits to attract the best candidates. This document provides a number of low-cost and no-cost ideas: bit.ly/100twh. Many businesses feel like they have been caught in a revolving door of employees, policies, procedures, and regulations since March of 2020. As owners and managers try to get back to a routine, it's easy to let important policies and employee training fall to the
• Make sure your safety policies are current and in writing. Give each employee (new or tenured) a copy of the policies. Let employees know you will be asking questions about the policies at each meeting to check for understanding and comprehension. • At every employee meeting or shift change, review one important safety policy and encourage questions. • Review a safety policy and a training topic regularly (daily, weekly, and monthly). • If you don’t have current safety policies, begin with Oregon OSHA’s Rules for All Workplaces and modify it to fit your workplace: OSHA.oregon.gov/ OSHARules/div1/437-001-0760.pdf. • Boost your HR knowledge and update key policies with some free education. SAIF’s eLearning modules are 5-10 minutes in length, and policyholders have access to supporting resources at SAIF.com/hr. • Don’t stress over finding new topics for your safety meetings. Use one of these one-page trainings or monthly safety topics: SAIF.com/safety-and-health/topics/ be-a-leader/safety-and-health-talks. • Do you have new managers, supervisors and lead workers? Review SAIF’s leadership resources to engage your management team and build key skills: SAIF.com/safety-and-health/topics/be-aleader/leadership-series. For more ways to provide a safe and healthy workplace, visit SAIF.com. SAIF CORPORATION
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