Employment-related claims can be costly, time-consuming, and a detriment to employee morale and culture. Great cities and towns are made with great employees and management. Retain good employees and reduce employment claims with these seven tips.

• Utilize our pre-litigation program. RMSA can give recommendations and, depending on the situation, connect you with attorneys to provide guidance regarding many employment-related issues.
• Follow the RMSA Member Standards on employment practices. See RMSA Member Standards in the lefthand column below for more details on the required standards.
• Review and update your employee manual and personnel policies, not when you’re in a complicated and time-sensitive employment situation, but before! This can help prevent complicated situations. Make sure to have your city attorney review any revisions.
  • RMSA Advisory Standard 1 – Personnel policy review: We recommend having a specialized employment attorney review personnel policies around every five years. Any revisions should be communicated to all employees.
• Attend AWC’s Labor Relations Institute. Labor Relations Institute is one of the best ways to keep up to date on public sector HR topics and updates. Learn about current trends, the legal landscape, and how to tackle unique issues as well as employee-management relations. Not sure you have the budget to attend? Apply for an RMSA scholarship to help cut costs!
• Zywave can help. This is a free HR resource as an RMSA Member! Zywave has variety of “how to” guides, podcasts, videos, flyers, and articles, attorney help hotline, job description builder, total compensation builder, policy development tools and more!
• Invest in staff to change your workplace culture. With proper training and processes in place, a culture of risk management and compliance can greatly help keep ethics, training, and risk avoidance a top priority.
• Apply for an RMSA Loss Prevention Grant. There are a number of HR/employment related grant ideas:
  • Consult with HR professionals to do HR surveys or audits.
  • Set up your Council with a specialized session on Robert’s Rules of Order.
  • Have a specialized HR attorney review your personnel policies
  • Professional team building and employment practices training for staff and elected officials.
  • HR software to document and track performance, evaluation, and discipline.

Questions?

As always, contact RMSA staff, we’re happy to help!