These human resource compliance incentives will keep your janitorial workforce and your reputation safe.
Your brand rests on your ability to deliver high-quality service and deliver on your promises. Because of this, you likely have high standards for your janitorial staff. But human resource compliance gets overlooked a lot.
Failure to comply with OSHA guidelines can cost your business thousands of dollars in fines. Furthermore, consistent disregard for HR compliance can sow malcontent throughout your office while decreasing your employees’ productivity.
Ensuring human resource compliance can be tricky. However, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Take some time to assess your business’s guidelines and build a system of incentives designed to keep your office running smoothly and efficiently.
Use Janitorial Manager to manage employees, strengthen employee retention, document critical employee information, and so much more. Check out a free consultation to see these features and other valuable tools to manage your cleaning operation!
What you need to know about human resource compliance to keep your commercial cleaning business running smoothly
Your human resources department takes care of your employees on a baseline level. Staff members oversee employee payments, hiring practices, and inner-office disputes. You can rely on your HR department to establish the behavioral guidelines for your staff and enforce them.
Your HR department can do this through a few different means, including thorough employee training. The employees you hire have varying levels of experience within the janitorial industry. As such, they’ll all benefit from in-office and on-the-job training.
While you’re onboarding new employees, make sure to have HR members clarify your expectations for employee behavior while also spending time covering your industry’s OSHA guidelines.If you can establish these guidelines and reinforce them over time, you’re likely to encourage greater human resource compliance from your employees.
Once your HR department develops your business’s handbook—OSHA guidelines and all—it’s up to your staff to encourage guideline compliance. That is simultaneously more and less difficult than it seems. To start, your HR department has to create an environment that promotes positive interaction within the guidelines. If one employee slips up and gets a pass, reinstating the importance of said guidelines can be an uphill battle.
To make this easier, encourage your HR department to rely on incentives. Intangible and tangible incentives alike can help you create an environment that promotes not only safety but your staff’s commitment to a job well done. What’s more, you can also replace the carrot with the stick if you need to, and remind employees that failure to comply with your company’s rule book can result in write-ups, reduced hours, and even dismissal.
Be aware, however, that kind word here and there does more for employee compliance than you might think. If you notice employees taking particular care with HR guidelines, be sure to thank them. You can do this in front of a crowd or individually, as both practices have their benefits. If you share your approval in front of other employees, they may better understand your expectations for their behavior. If you compliment a person individually, you may push that party to monitor their peers for similar behavior more closely.
While these intangible incentives are great at inspiring compliance via social gain, there’s one thing that most employees love: the bonus. If you’re struggling to encourage HR compliance throughout your business, take a look at your budget. If you have the room, consider offering financial incentives to those parties who make a point to abide by your HR department’s expectations. For the most potent effect, advertise your intent to reward compliant employees. The potential to take home more money at the end of the day tends to be a great force behind a staff’s behavioral transformation.
What to do when compliance goes wrong
For every carrot in your business, there needs to be a stick. Because failed HR compliance can be so costly, your employees need to know how severe code violations can be. Write-ups after minor violations can make an employee feel as though they need to be on their best behavior. More substantial violations may warrant a suspension from work with or without pay.
You don’t want to jump straight to employee termination unless something goes wrong. Ideally, let your employees know that you have the groundwork in place to react both positively and negatively to their behavior based on their guideline compliance. That way, you can act appropriately should something go wrong, and your employees can better recognize the example you’re setting.
The guidelines your HR department sets forth should also protect your employees’ rights. They encourage positive interactions with clients and their property while also ensuring that your team is as effective as possible. Teaching your staff to abide by these guidelines, however, takes time.
If you want to increase human resource compliance, consider what kind of behavioral incentives you can establish for your team. Work with your staff to assess your existing guidelines at least once a year. When you take a flexible approach to staff interactions, you can more readily develop internal operations that promote the most significant outward growth.
If you are ready to bring your leadership to the next level, take advantage of a free call with Janitorial Manager to see how our software can make you a more successful, more profitable janitorial business owner.