I am taking the liberty of copying Shilpa.u's posting in this CiteHR to possibly answer your quesion on how best you can make your workplace a better place! Just go through it and think how you can take up as much as you can from her precepts!
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1: Master the art of Metrics: Metrics are a critical business component in many parts of a company.
2: Delight Employees with the Unexpected: When it comes to measuring employee satisfaction, statistics show (and you probably know) that happy employees stay longer and are more productive. So what makes employees happy? Benefits, compensation, and work/life balance are the most important factors in overall job satisfaction.
3 Keep the Lid on Healthcare Costs: You know what a challenge it can be to balance healthcare that both your company and employees can afford and appreciate.
Disease management is another area that engages employees and ultimately benefits the company by reducing costs and preventing catastrophic claims.
Prevent Healthcare Fraud and Related Costs
Dental benefits
Wellness programs
Audit Coverage: make sure the healthcare policy is only covering those who are eligible.
Talk to your Provider: Make sure you’re both aware of the warning signs of healthcare fraud
Reward Whistleblowers: Offer incentives to employees covered by your healthcare plan. It’s in their best interest to prevent fraud because it helps keep their healthcare costs down
4: Create a Safe Workplace
It sounds like a simple concept, but it may be more of a challenge than you think. Look at the potentials for danger to you and your employees, and you’ll see that safety has many meanings
Prevent Workplace Accidents
• Establish Management Leadership and Employee Involvement
• Create Safety Committees
• Conduct a Worksite Analysis
• Conduct Safety Training
Preventing Violence in the Workplace: This is a safety issue that many companies don’t really take into consideration, but violence in the workplace is a growing problem.
• Post a policy
• Form a dedicated management team
• Track incidents
• Act consistently
• Conduct Violence Prevention Training
• Plan your Response
Preventing Domestic Violence: Thousands of domestic violence incidents spill into the workplace each year and can affect employee morale, productivity, and performance — and can put other employees at risk as well. See how other companies are handling this issue. Techniques include:
• Educate employees about domestic violence and provide resources
• Train managers to recognize the warning signs of domestic abuse
• Implement security measures to protect employees
• Refer victims to your employee assistance program (EAP). If you don’t have one, consider developing one.
If an employee has been the target of domestic violence and their performance is suffering, consider alternatives to termination, such a flex time or a leave of absence.
5: Hire Right
You know that hiring the right person is essential to the success of your business.
Develop a Hiring Strategy: Don’t wait until the day an employee gives notice to decide what/how/who you need to fill that position. A tight labor market means you need to be ready.
Match your strategy to your company: Does your company have the time and money to train an employee from the entry level, or do you need a fully qualified person to jump in and hit the ground running?
Determine what you’re looking for in a candidate: What makes a person a good candidate for a job in your company? Go beyond the basic job description and make a list of the background and characteristics that would help a person best fit each job. Just be careful that you don't develop a profile that could be construed as discriminatory.
Develop a Budget: Work with management to set a budget for hiring. Take into consideration the hiring tools you will likely need, and the projected cost of each.
Choose your Hiring Tools: Which sources work best for you: newspapers? Web? Placement agencies? You’ll have to consider:
• Cost
• Time constraints
• Availability of qualified applicants
6: Create an Ethical Workplace:
It’s not just the right thing to do, it’s also the legal thing to do. You can help your company on both fronts by taking some key steps:
Establish a Code of Ethics: It sounds like a daunting task to some, but a code of ethics puts your company, your employees, and your clients on the same page so everyone knows what to expect.
Develop the Code: Look at who you are as a company, and how you approach your business. Write it down. Ask employees for their input. Look at what other companies have done. After you have a draft in place, print it up and have everyone look at it. Can everyone live up to the promise?
Promote the Code: Once you have the code in place, make an event of it. Unveil the final version at a staff meeting. Place the code prominently throughout the company. Ask employees to sign an agreement to follow the code. Make it part of your company’s culture.
Review the Code: Businesses change; and in time, so may your code. Review it annually to make sure it’s still a good fit.
7: Conquer Your Compliance Challenges
It’s a moving target: HR management laws are always changing — sometimes in small ways, sometimes in more complicated ways. You need to stay on top of those changes. Make sure you’re up to speed on:
• USERRA regulations regarding employment, reemployment, benefits, and more
• FLSA and new overtime regulations
• HIPAA guidelines for security
• FTC rules on disposing of confidential consumer report
8: Make Your Policies and Practices
“State of the Art”: Your company needs to keep pace with current technology, and decide how to address the use of different technologies on the job
Internet Use, Cell Phones, Camera Phones, Blogging, Identity Theft
9: Prepare for the Worst
It may be a local storm, or a nationwide emergency that affects the operation of your business. Whether the emergency is small or large, the key to keeping things running smoothly is planning. As an HR manager, you need to think about:
• Compensation: Will you pay staffers who can’t work because of the emergency? If so, will you modify their pay?
• Benefits: Do your vendors have disaster plans?
• Work/Life: Are your employees prepared for a disaster? Will you be able to reach everyone in an emergency?
10: Strive for the Best
HR managers are becoming key players in the success of their companies. You can play a valuable role in your company's future:
Align the HR Agenda with Your Company’s Needs: Listen to what your management is saying, and work together to make sure you're giving your company what it really needs.
Build Credibility and Influence: If you have a strong understanding of your company's culture, you can ask the challenging questions to help your company stay productive. And don't be afraid to suggest innovative solutions to longstanding problems. Your vision can lead the company forward.
Sell the HR function: Your company has customers, and so do you. Your customers are your company's leaders. Make sure they know what HR really does, what you have to offer, and how managers and employees can use HR resources to their best advantage.
Think like a Strategic Partner: The more you approach HR as an internal business, the more successful you are likely to be. And that success can only benefit your company.
Be a key Player
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Jeroo