Speaker Snapshot
Wendy Christie: Policies, Practices & Protection.
Does Your Handbook Have What It Takes?
Tuesday, October 17, 2023 | 9:45am – 10:45am
Taking care of the non-electrical side of business has challenged many an electrical contracting business owner over the years. With more than 25 years of experience guiding business owners on human resources issues, expert Wendy Christie brings valuable tips to attendees of her SPARK session.
“With such a tight labor market companies need to make sure they have their employee handbook up to date,” Wendy says. “State employment laws are constantly changing, and this class gives attendees the current trends in new state employment laws.”
In the SPARK session, Wendy addresses employment law in general and specifics in different states. She digs deep into development of clear workers’ compensation policies that protects worker and company alike. Wendy stresses the importance of this portion of the employee handbook as she believes a detailed workers’ compensation policy gives business owners the tool to reduce this cost significantly by helping bring employees back to work as soon as possible. She offers a recent example where having a good policy in place averted a major problem and resulted in cost savings for the company.
A client called me when they had an employee abusing a workers’ compensation claim,” Wendy explains. “We promptly instituted the comprehensive workers’ compensation policy and were able to use the policy to hold the employee accountable for their responsibilities. This moved the workers’ compensation claim along and saved the company time, money, and resources.”
Wendy says the first thing she always tell clients when discussing a handbook is that the handbook has to be based in reality.
“One of the worst things a client can do is put in place policies they don’t follow,” she elaborates. “If you cannot do a performance review once a month then do not say you will.”
She urges her clients to be truthful about what they will and won’t be able to do, ensure their handbooks follow their state laws, and if they have employees in different states, be sure each state is represented in the handbook. She also stresses that one of the most important things that a client needs to make sure to have in the handbook is an at-will employment policy.
“After attending my session, business owners will be able to recognize potential expensive employee relations problems and head them off before they become out of hand,” Wendy concludes. “This class will help attendees hold a discussion with fellow business owners about employee relations issues in their industry.”