Business Information for Entrepreneurs by an Entrepreneur

Hiring for Attitude

Many business books will give this advice: "Hire for attitude, and you can always train someone for the job."

This is sound advice as a good attitude is an attribute that cannot be taught, yet it is as valuable as any other skill.

Contagious

A good attitude can be contagious among your employees. The same is also true for a bad attitude.

It is very difficult to manage someone with a bad attitude and trying to do so will take more of your time and energy than you will want to give.

Go with your Gut

A small business owner in Maine was conducting interviews for a new office manager.

One applicant had an impeccable resume and loads of experience. During the interview, however, she came off a little condescending.

The business owner didn't want to have to spend a lot of time training someone, so she went for the applicant with the experience - and the bad attitude.

"I sort of had to ignore her attitude in order to make the decision to hire her," said the business owner. "It turned out to be a mistake."

The employee talked down to everyone in the office and acted as if she was doing everyone a favor just by showing up.

Counseling did not correct the situation, and after about a year the office manager was let go.

"I should have listened to my gut," said the business owner.

Back at Square One

The business owner was back at square one, taking out ads and spending time conducting interviews. Had she hired someone with less experience, but a great attitude, it would have meant a bit more time training her in the beginning, but it would have paid off in the end.

Remember - when hiring employees, attitude really is important.

Employment Discrimination and Your Small Business

Some may think that employment discrimination applies only to race. This is not true as it also applies to age, gender, religion, national origin and sexual orientation.

Laws

There are a number of laws on the book that prohibit such discrimination. The most cited is the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

This law applies to businesses that have at least 15 employees. This law makes it illegal to fire, refuse training, pay less, discipline or refuse to hire someone based
on the above factors.

Equal Pay

The Equal Pay Act mandates that employers cannot pay a woman less for doing the same job that a man earns a higher wage for doing.

Age

The Age Discrimination in Employment Act offers protection to employees over the age of 40 and applies to employers with at least 20 employees.

Disability

The Americans with Disability Act prohibits discrimination by employers with at least 15 employees.

Additionally, the law mandates that employers must make "reasonable accommodations" for the disabled person.

This could include installing special seating or providing equipment, such as a TDD telephone, that would enable the disabled employee to do his or her job.

In addition to the federal laws, some of which were mentioned above, some states, cities and towns have their own regulations.

Obviously, discrimination is wrong, but it is also illegal. Participating in discriminatory hiring practices can result in lawsuits that can be very costly to your business.

Get to know the laws and do whatever you have to do to institute fair hiring and employment practices.

David Meerman Scott, the author who wrote The New Rules of Marketing and PR which I blogged about over a year ago, is coming out with a new book, World Wide Rave, next month.  To promote it, he wrote an ebook, Lose Control of your Marketing! Why marketing ROI measures lead to failure that excerpts portions of the print version.

This is highly recommended reading, not because it features MailerMailer as a case study on how to generate a lot of publicity and goodwill by giving away very useful content for free, but because of all of the other examples he uses as well.  And he has lots!

David Meerman Scott shows you how to build an online publicity engine that propels your reach way passed those who are still caught up in the declining world of traditional print media. Read this book, or bury your head in the sand at your own risk.