How to Prevent 3 Common HR Compliance Pitfalls at Your Private Practice
If there’s one issue that should be on every physician’s radar, it’s HR compliance.
Human resources mistakes impact one in four employers every year at an average cost of $250,000. From discrimination and sexual harassment lawsuits to a lack of proper training, risks can lurk in all kinds of corners of your office.
The good news? This is one area where a little knowledge goes a long way. And with the latest advancement in HR compliance technology, the most important work can often be automated.
Here are three common HR compliance pitfalls all private physicians face — and tips your staff can use to fix them fast.
Pitfall #1: No employee handbook
Does your office have an up-to-date handbook for employees? If not, it should. The lack of an employee handbook is one of the highest risk areas for small businesses.
Your organization’s handbook doesn’t just serve as a roadmap for employees. It helps reduce your risk, too. In addition to ensuring your business complies with applicable federal, state and local laws, a good handbook can help protect your business against wrongful termination, harassment, and discrimination claims.
But before you search for a template to copy, it’s important to understand that creating a handbook is just the start. You’ll need to update it, too. Laws and regulations change frequently, and your handbook will need to reflect all the latest requirements.
So, what’s the best way to start?
You could outsource the work or ask an employee to take it on. But that would require time-consuming research and updates, not to mention the risk of manual errors and omissions.
A better option lies in HR compliance technology. For example, with omo’s HR compliance platform, members can use the Smart Handbook tool to create a complete handbook in minutes. Simply fill out a short questionnaire to generate a legally-vetted handbook for immediate download. Then, when laws and regulations change, applicable policies are automatically updated. Your only job is to distribute it to staff.
Pitfall #2: Poorly documented job descriptions
When you have a vacancy to fill, timing is everything. But in the rush to hire, many private practices end up with poor hires. Each one costs an average of $14,900, along with a 36% drop in productivity. Studies also show that the wrong employee can damage patient relationships and cause a 32% drop in staff morale.
The best way to ensure you hire the right person? Create a strong job posting. These can also help protect your practice if it’s involved in litigation.
Job descriptions are some of the first documents requested by a plaintiff’s attorney. In addition to containing language required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), well-written job descriptions help employers identify whether an applicant will be able to perform the essential tasks required of a particular position with reasonable accommodation — a factor that can be important when defending a claim of disability discrimination.
Not sure where to start or what to include? That’s where our the job description builder comes in. With omo’s HR compliance platform, you can choose from a full library of customizable job description templates to review, tweak, save and download within minutes.
Pitfall #3: No HR training
Hospitals and large healthcare systems aren’t the only ones coming under scrutiny for a lack of HR training. Plenty of private practices also face claims related to harassment and discrimination each year.
For this reason, it’s critical to ensure your employees understand various laws, regulations, and requirements — and how they apply at your workplace.
For example, does your staff know how to:
- Prevent workplace harassment?
- Help foster a culture of diversity and inclusion?
- Keep credit and debit card transactions secure?
- Minimize potential safety hazards?
These are just a few examples of the dozens of HR compliance risks employees face every day — often without even realizing it. If you haven’t addressed important HR topics with employees, don’t delay. omo’s HR compliance platform includes a ready-made learning management system that allows you to assign and track courses on these and other important issues. You can also help expand your employees’ knowledge with access to hundreds of articles, videos, and guides.
Looking for more HR compliance tips? The three pitfalls above are important, but they’re far from the only ones. Join our Dos & Don’ts of HR Compliance webinar for a crash course on several others including:
- Categorizing non-exempts as exempts
- Failure to pay overtime correctly
- Retaliating against employees who make complaints
- And more
Not an omo member? Sign up today for instant access to our HR compliance tools — plus other benefits like vaccine discounts, group purchasing, and a lot more.