Bernie Erven, The Ohio State University, 2009 Pork Management Conference, May 6-8, 2009, Fort Myers, Florida.

1. Hiring and Firing Employees
Dr. Bernie Erven
Professor Emeritus
Ohio State University
& Erven HR Services

2. A new setting for hiring and firing
 High unemployment by recent standards
 Employees willing to sacrifice to keep their
jobs
 Good people looking for jobs
 Less attention to labor because of bigger
problems
 Emphasis on today rather than today AND
the future

3. Facing labor challenges not
known in recent years
 Increased importance of keeping employees
informed
 Taking care of employees in bad times to
increase chances of keeping them in the good
times
 Opportunity to hire higher quality employees
 Dealing forcefully (and fairly) with problem
employees to make room for better people

4. But the importance of the
basics has not changed
 Reputation as a place to work
 Hiring
 Training
 Motivation as an employer/employee
partnership
 Communication
 Fairness in compensation

5. Reputation as a place to work
 The good news  Employers own their
reputation as a place to work
 Good reputation in the community is
most powerful hiring tool
 Following 14 guidelines can provide a
checklist for gauging one’s reputation

6. Guidelines
1. Like, enjoy and appreciate employees
2. Use written job descriptions
3. Provide more orientation and training
than is expected
4. Show trust
5. Catch people doing things right

7. More guidelines
6. Celebrate successes
7. Communicate clearly and often
8. Compensate fairly
9. Provide exceptional non-monetary
benefits
10. Provide extraordinary informal
benefits

8. More guidelines
11. Promote from within
12. Build pride in your business
13. Make the business family-friendly
14. Be proud of advancing employees

9. Hiring starts with building a
pool of applicants
 Take advantage of your good
reputation
 Walk-ins
 Internet
 Referrals
 Creative help wanted ads in right places

10. Another method -- Offer
incentives to current employees
For example:
 $200 for being first to recommend a
person who is hired
 $200 more if the person stays at least
six months
 $100 more if the person stays a full
year

11. Interviewing
 By far most common selection method
 Other selection tools and tests can be
used to complement interviews
 Applicants may have much more
experience than interviewer – “I will say
and be whatever it takes to get the
job.”

12. Three steps for interviewing
success
1. Preparation
2. Conducting the interview
3. Follow up after the interview

13. Preparation requires answers
to these questions:
1. Who will be on the interview team?
2. Where to conduct the interviews?
3. Questions to ask?
4. How to use the interview time?
5. How to summarize & report evaluations?

14. But just one minute please!
What is legal?
Questions directly related to the job and
the ability of any person to do the job

15. Questions to ask
 Have more questions ready that you will use
 Avoid yes/no questions
 Ask questions that encourage applicants to
use their own words
 Cover a variety of topics
 Focus on what an applicant has done in
previous jobs (behavioral interviewing) not
what he/she promises

16. Use three types of questions
 Past behavior  ”How did you resolve
conflicts between co-workers when you were
a barn manager?”
 Job knowledge  “How do you know
when hot weather is affecting production?”
 What if  “What would you do if we asked
you to do something you don’t know how to
do?”

17. Questions that waste interview
time
 “What are your goals and aspirations?”
 “What do you think about . . . ?”
 “How would you describe yourself?”
 “Is a family-like workplace important to
you?”
 “Are you a hard worker?”
 “Do you come to work on time?”

18. Sample questions
1. Describe a sow-related problem you
have solved in the last year. How did
you go about solving it?
2. What has been your most important
accomplishment in your current job?
3. Describe your favorite co-worker.
4. What has been your most important
accomplishment outside of work?

19. Some unusual questions
1. What is the most difficult challenge you
have ever faced? How did you handle it?
2. Describe the person you would most like to
have as your supervisor.
3. What is your best friend from high school
doing now?
4. What is the one question you are most
afraid I will ask you?
5. Why should I hire you?

20. How to use the interview
time?
 Have a plan
 Go into the interview feeling organized
and confident
 Give applicants all the time promised
them – Don’t cut interviews short!

21. Sample schedule for 30
minute interview
1. Relax applicant (2-3 minutes)
2. Accurately explain the job (3-5)
3. Check any problems in the application
form (4-7)
4. Ask set of structured questions
(10-15)
5. Encourage questions from applicant
(2-5)

22. Sample schedule for 30
minute interview (Continued)
6. Summarize business’ mission, goals
and values (2-4)
7. Summarize opportunity of the position
(2-4)
8. Encourage more questions from
applicant (2-10)
9. Close (2-4)

23. Most important interviewing
guidelines
1. Maintain control of the interview
2. Listen intently and observe carefully
3. Be mindful of your own personal biases
4. Be patient, encouraging and interested
5. Avoid quick judgments
6. Allow interruptions only for emergencies

24. Checking references
 Be aware of legal advice not to respond
 Telephone works better than mailing a
form
 Ask same questions of all references
 Pay attention to tone of responses
 Pay attention to what is not said
 Use a form to record responses

25. Written offer
 Put job offer and employment in writing with
simple, clear language
 Include at least:
 Name and address of employee
 Job title and summary of duties
 Starting date, times and other employment terms
 Compensation and benefits
 Work schedule
 Supervisor

26. Firing
 There are no winners in a firing!!
 When a firing is best, attention turns to:
 How do to do it fairly
 How to minimize negative impacts on other
employees’ morale
 Minimizing chances of a wrongful discharge

27. Critical legal questions in a
discharge?
1. Was the employment at-will?
2. Was it a wrongful discharge?
3. Was there just cause?
4. Was there due process?
5. Was there constructive discharge even
though the employee resigned?

28. Legal and defensible firing
 Builds on preventive actions taken before the
firing:
 Orientation and training
 Clear expectations, job descriptions and work
rules
 Progressive discipline
 Paper trail is clearly established
 Incorporates careful answers to following
seven key questions

29. Seven key questions
1. Solid case?
2. Who will fire?
3. Where?
4. When?
5. Participants in termination meeting?
6. Content of termination meeting?
7. Immediately afterwards?

30. Take home message
 Much different labor situation from two years
ago -> Need to make some adjustments
 Success in hiring and firing requires planning
and disciplined follow through
 The alternative is lost opportunities, lost
applicants, costly turnover and preventable
litigation

31. Contact information
Dr. Bernie Erven
erven.1@osu.edu
614-888-9953