Expanding Your Workforce

• Recruiting and Hiring
• Finding Qualified Employees
• Business Tools for Recruiting and Hiring
• Workers' Compensation: Avoiding Legal Pitfalls
• Tax Credits, Incentives, and Services
• Business Tools for New Hire Tax Reporting
• Hiring Foreign Workers
• Business Tools for Verifying Employment Eligibility

Recruiting and Hiring Top
No matter the size of your business or whether you've been around for 20 years or just getting started, finding and hiring qualified employees represents one of the most important parts of any long-term growth strategy. When you hire people, you're investing time, money, training, and trust. If done properly, business booms. If done incorrectly, you lose your investment and potentially much more.

Here are a few points to consider as you start the recruitment and hiring process:

1. Should you hire someone? Before adding to the payroll roster, it's important to determine whether you'll need the extra help for the foreseeable future. You may be able to meet your needs by using independent contractors, temporary help, leased employees, and for the small- to medium-sized business (SMB), even family members.
2. What legal responsibilities will you be exposed to? At a minimum when hiring employees, you'll need to keep extensive payroll records and withhold taxes. As you add employees, the regulations also increase. 
3. What do you need done? Once you've determined which staffing solution works best for you, take a look at exactly which tasks and duties you want your new employees to perform. Using detailed job descriptions can help here. 
4. How do you let people know that you have a job opening? Once you've determined what you need done and what types of workers you need, it's time to spread the word. 
5.  How do you gather information from applicants and check backgrounds? You need to determine whether you want applications, resumes, or both. Will you require additional testing? And to avoid negligent hiring claims and to protect your business, make sure to thoroughly check references, credentials, and maybe even run a credit check

Finding Qualified Employees Top
Oklahoma's 1.5 million workers are widely recognized for their strong work ethic and are consistently ranked among the nation's most productive. Absenteeism, work stoppages, and turnover levels are well below national averages, and Oklahoma is a Right to Work state.

Career Readiness - a nationwide system of skill assessment and certification designed to help you find qualified employees with documented skills based on the "real world" of any work place. You can match the Career Readiness levels of certified candidates against skill requirements for thousands of profiled occupations.

To use Career Readiness Certificates as a job requirement, rather than a preference, you need to go beyond the pre-defined profiles and get a profile individually customized to your company. Job profiles can sometimes be completed at no cost for certain high-demand well-paying jobs. For more information, contact Susan Kuzmic at 405-809-3582.

Oklahoma Job Link -- a free job match and workplace information service for employers -- can help plug you into this skilled labor pipeline. Offered through the Workforce Network of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Job Link lets employers post jobs, search for qualified employees, research career information, receive automatic e-mail notification when new job seekers post resumes that match their job openings, and much more.

The U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration (DOLETA) provides free services and resources to employers looking for qualified employees.

For wage-specific labor market information, check out the Oklahoma Wage Network.

Online Professional Licensing Services allows you to check the validity of licenses for workers in state-licensed occupations. Workers in those occupations can also use the site to renew licenses and, in some cases, to obtain a license. Licensed workers include accountants, alcoholic beverage workers, health care workers, home inspectors, insurance agents, and real estate agents, among others.

Drug testing of employees is allowed under Oklahoma law as a condition for hiring, on a random basis, as part of routine physical exams, following a suspected drug- or alcohol-related accident or under certain other conditions that are part of a written and uniformly-applied policy backed up by an evaluation and treatment program. The law exempts aviation, trucking and other workers covered by federal transportation regulations.

Oklahoma's Child Labor Law limits working hours for 14- and 15-year olds and restricts the type of work allowed for those up to age 17. 

Oklahoma Wage Law sets certain requirements for paying workers and settling disputes. The Wage and Hour Unit provides free required posters and enforces wage claims.

Business Tools for Recruiting and Hiring Top

Writing job descriptions: Oklahoma SkillsNet, a free service provided by the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission (OESC), can help human resources professionals with large organizations or small business owners quickly build company specific job descriptions and create employee training and learning plans. You can access these descriptions and plans at any time and modify them online as the nature of the work changes. You can also transfer common job information to Oklahoma Job Link (See Finding Qualified Employees).

Employee hiring package: When hiring new employees, employers must take steps to protect themselves from charges of discriminatory hiring practices. You must ensure that a job offer doesn't imply a "contract of employment." The U.S. Chamber of Commerce provides a variety of business tools and resources designed to help employers through this process.

The Chamber's Employee Hiring Package, for example, includes four documents: (1) an application template to ensure you have all the relevant information at hand to pick the best applicants; (2) a waiver form to protect you from unintentionally creating an employment contract during the hiring process; (3) a form to help document your hiring selection process to show that you're not engaging in discriminatory practices; and (4) a post-employment information form for your employee records. The forms are Microsoft Word 6.0 forms and can be easily customized.

Documentation is crucial to managing workers' compensation claims. By taking affirmative steps to keep on top of the situation, you can minimize your exposure to unwarranted claims and expenses. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce provides a comprehensive checklist for handling workers' compensation claims. This list highlights a number of common indications that a worker's claim might be fraudulent. Although only a small fraction of claims are fraudulent, the cases that do occur are expensive, can reduce productivity, and can send your insurance premiums through the roof.

Tax Credits, Incentives, and Services Top

A variety of state and federal tax credits, incentives, and services exist to help employers hire people from underemployed groups, including people with disabilities, former recipients of long-term family assistance, and people who have been convicted of crimes and have served their prison sentences.

Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC)--a tax credit offered to employers who hire members of targeted groups that have traditionally faced significant barriers to employment. Eligible workers include certain individuals in the following categories:

• Title IV-A recipient
• Veteran
• Ex-felon
• Designated community resident
• Vocational rehabilitation recipient
• Summer youth
• Food stamp recipient
• SSI recipient
• Long-term family assistance recipien

Comprehensive overview of the WOTC and application forms

Hiring workers with disabilities: There are three major tax incentives available to help employers offset the costs of accommodations for employees with disabilities and make your businesses more accessible to customers with disabilities.

More on these tax credits

Business Tools for New Hire Tax Reporting Top

Through the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission's (OESC), employers can now report new hire tax information online. Free Online Tax Service

Hiring Foreign Workers Top

Foreign labor certification programs permit U.S. employers to hire foreign workers on a temporary or permanent basis to fill jobs essential to the economy. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, foreign labor certification programs help ensure that the admission of foreign workers into the country on a permanent or temporary basis won't adversely affect the job opportunities, wages, and working conditions of U.S. workers. The Department of Labor issues labor certifications for permanent and temporary employment under the following programs:

• Permanent Labor Certification 
• H-1B Specialty (Professional) Workers 
• HIC Nurses in Disadvantaged Areas 
• H-2A Temporary Labor Certification (Seasonal Agricultural) 
• H-2B Temporary Labor Certification (Non-Agricultural) 
• D-1 Crewmembers Certification 

Business Tools for Verifying Employment Eligibility Top

Under the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, all employers are required to verify the identity and eligibility to work in the United States of all employees hired after November 6, 1986. To do this, you must use an I-9 Form from the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Once completed, you don't send the information to the government but keep it on file in case an INS inspector ever requests it. I-9 Form   

Contact:
Terry Watson
405-815-5206
800-879-6552