When you own a business, it’s important for you to do everything that you can to avoid a lawsuit later on down the road. Many business owners don’t realize that they have to establish a human relation protocol for their business, no matter how large or small it is. If someone were to have a human relations incident occur that was not handled properly, it could lead to you facing a major lawsuit.
It’s best to take the time to do everything to protect your business form a human relations lawsuit from the very start. The guide that follows walks you through a few tips to use to ensure that you are prepared for any and everything human relations related that could happen within your business.
Create Strict Human Relations Policies for Your Business
The first thing you need to do is sit down and create policies that your staff has to follow. You need to be sure that the policies list what is and is not acceptable to your company and what the repercussions will be for violating the policies that are going to be put into place.
It’s important to be reasonable when creating the policies. You want to be sure that no one can be sexually harassed while they are at work, but also want to be able to have a lighthearted environment where everyone feels safe and comfortable at all times.
When creating the policies that you want to put into place, be sure to meet with an attorney to find out if the policies you want to use are legal. There are times when you may think that it’s legal to require your staff to do something when really it isn’t. It’s best to check with the attorney before explaining the policies to any of your staff so that you do not get into any trouble for doing something that you aren’t supposed to be doing.
Educate Your Staff on What the Policies Are
Once you know that you are legally allowed to require your staff to follow the policies you want them to follow, you have to educate them on what the policies are. It’s best to work in small groups so that people can feel free to ask questions along the way so that no one is confused about what is and is not allowed at your establishment.
Working in small groups can also allow people to feel more at ease when they are at the meeting to ensure that they feel comfortable enough to report any issues that they have seen already or so that they can clarify to ensure that they don’t accidentally break one of the policies.
It’s best to have a pamphlet or handbook created that lets your staff know what the expectations are. You want them to be able to refer to it at any time so that they can never say that they didn’t know they weren’t allowed to do something.
Create a Reporting System for Your Business
In order for your policies to work as well as they possibly can, you need to be able to be informed when someone is breaking them. Most people will not feel comfortable coming up to their boss to turn in one of their fellow employees for poor behavior. Having an anonymous reporting system put into place allows people to be able to express issues that arise without having to be worried about receiving any retaliation. It can also be helpful because you will have written confirmation that something happened that was inappropriate in case the person who is violating someone else ever gets fired for his actions.
Do Background Checks on All Employees
When you hire people to work for your business, it’s best to have them submit to a background check before you hire them. This is to find out if the person you are interviewing has a propensity to steal or a short temper that could cause a fight to break out at your business. You want to be sure that you only hire people to work for you who can do their job well and not put other employees at risk.
Monitor Your Employees on a Regular Basis
Many business owners make the mistake of assuming that their employees are always doing the right thing if they don’t hear complaints from other members of the staff. It’s important for you to pay attention to what is going on in your business at all times so that you can get someone help when they need it.
You can set up surveillance cameras throughout your business that you can use to minority your employee activities while you are physically at the business and when you are away.
Having a successful business requires you to create an environment where people can thrive and feel safe. You don’t want anyone to ever feel that there is a chance they could be sexually harassed when they go to work and putting these elements into place should keep you from having any human relation issues later on down the road within your business.