In a previous blog, I talked about the effects of stress on the workplace and how it was reduced in one company. At HR Compliance 101, our goal is “workplaces that work for everyone.” This blog addresses some ways that HR Compliance 101 helps companies ensure that outcome and prevent stress, with its negative effect on teamwork, productivity and communication.

1. Write job descriptions and an Employee Handbook. When information is available in writing to everyone, stress levels fall. In the case of disputes, the facts are laid out objectively in the job description and Employee Handbook. Make sure your employees sign both after reading to prevent any “nobody told me” excuses. The job descriptions and Employee Handbook also help ensure fairness in handling special requests.
2. Conduct stay interviews. Exit interviews are held when an employee has already determined to leave; stay interviews tell you why your best employees are willing to stay and what would prevent them from leaving. With that information, you can reduce turnover, encourage careers, promote team work, hire individuals with similar attitudes and rectify problems before they lead to stress.
3. Organize your own time as a business owner. Stress for a business owner often comes from the need to be everywhere, doing everything all the time. Personal life disappears, vacations are a myth and everyone’s problems land on the business owner’s desk.
4. Institute training. One of the barriers to delegation is that idea that “no one can do the job as well as I can.” Training enables delegation; and delegation not only reduces stress, it also ensures continuity if an employee, manager or business owner is sidelined.
5. Hire the right people. Few things are more stressful than finding out that the individual you just hired hasn’t the skills you expected, is unable to fit into the company culture, resists training and refuses to communicate. Advertisements, job postings, interview methods and the on-boarding process all need to act in concert to ensure the best applicants for the company are hired.

HR Compliance 101 writes job descriptions, develops Employee Handbooks, conducts stay (and exit) interviews, offers individualized and customized training on time management, prepares managers and business owners to train employees, helps to find the right employees—and offers many other services to create and maintain a stress-free environment. Contact us today.