When a company hires or promotes someone to a management role, it likely reflects that person’s skills, knowledge, and training in a particular area. However, management is about more than being skilled or performing better than others in that one area in which they have worked. It is also a role that comes with important responsibilities, such as addressing employment matters in accordance with the law.
Managers are often the people to whom employees go with questions or complaints; therefore, it is imperative that managers have the training necessary to handle these matters. It is often a manager’s poor response–caused by a lack of training in matters of discrimination and retaliation–that is at the root of employment law litigation.
What types of issues should a manager be able to address?
In general, managers should be trained to identify and respond to issues related to:
- Protected Classes
- Discrimination
- Sexual harassment
- Accidents in the workplace
- Wage or hour disputes
What kind of training should managers receive?
Specifics regarding training will be contingent upon numerous details about the company, the workers, and the management role. However, in general, managers can benefit from training in:
- Human Resources policies
- State and federal employment laws
- Communication
- Required forms
- Performance Reviews and Documentation
- Personnel Files, required content
- Responding to emotional situations and people
- Conflict resolution
What can happen when managers are untrained?
As a recent article from the Society for Human Resource Management discusses, there are consequences for a company when a manager is untrained in employment law matters.
The manager’s actions could make the situation more contentious; a response (or lack of a response) could lead to more serious charges against the employer; the manager could wind up promising a result that he or she is not in a position to offer. Each of these could lead to bigger problems that are more expensive and complicated to resolve.
Employers can save considerable time, energy and financial resources when their managers have the necessary training. Keep in mind that employers can ultimately face the consequences for rights violations in the workplace; taking steps to ensure employers, managers, and employees are all on the same page can be crucial in minimizing conflict, damages, and penalties.