Have you started to Hire Yet?

   As I travel around the country, I see many signs of good economic recovery!  I was in the South the past 3 weeks and there were lots of help wanted signs up.  Here in Montana, I continue to see help wanted signs up all over Billings, our biggest city.  I talked with a business owner the other day and he told me there is a significant need for truck drivers with commercial drivers licenses (CDL).  One of the reasons for the need for CDL drivers is the demand in Western North Dakota for workers in the oil field.  
   With the summer season rapidly approaching us, you may wish to review your needs for summer help.  A local country club manager told me the other day that he only had to hire about 3 summer staff, most of his other folks elected to stay with him this year.  He was excited that he did not have to hire any more- the folks that stayed knew the business and did not require significant retraining.
    If you decide to add staff, insure that your employee manual is up to date.  Insure that your procedures manual has been reviewed.  This is a good time to review your manual if you have not already done so.  Be sure that the new employees read and understand all of the material contained in the employee manual.  This is also a good time to review the manual in general, to see what material may have changed, what additions or deletions you may need to make.  Be sure that you have your new employees read and review the manual during their first week of service.  Insure that each new employee signs a document acknowledging that he/she has received and read the document, understands all of the material contained therein and acknowledges compliance with the manual.  The employee should receive a copy of this acknowledgement as well as having a copy placed in the employee personnel folder.
   Hiring new staff is not a challenge if you approach the matter in a straight forward manner.  Having a gameplan developed on what and how you wish to hire will insure that you will not only gain the right employee, but have an employee who hopefully will be both productive and positive.