{"id":147,"date":"2011-07-24T20:59:46","date_gmt":"2011-07-25T00:59:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/?p=147"},"modified":"2011-07-28T20:22:40","modified_gmt":"2011-07-29T00:22:40","slug":"hiring-series-making-a-written-job-offer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chiefcookandbottlewasher.biz\/?p=147","title":{"rendered":"Hiring Series: Making a Written Job Offer"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ll tell you a secret:\u00a0 no matter how wonderful their staff is, all Small Business owners complain about\u00a0employees behind closed doors.<\/strong>\u00a0 In\u00a0my twelve years of being in the inner circle,\u00a0 I have never once encountered another business owner who didn’t vent about employees given the chance.\u00a0\u00a0Rarely\u00a0the complaints are serious, like the time my friend Ann, who owns a bakery, shocked me by casually remarking that she just assumes that every employee, yes every employee<\/em>, will steal cash from her.\u00a0 Sometimes the sounding-off is akin to how one may jokingly diss their spouse among good friends: complaints of the rolling the toothpaste vs. squeezing variety.\u00a0 But usually, what I\u00a0hear is frustration on the part of the employer that the employee is not doing what is expected of him or her.\u00a0 This is frequently\u00a0due to a lack of communication to the employee of these expectations.\u00a0\u00a0Many of these miscommunications can be avoided\u00a0with a strongly-worded written job offer at the time of hire.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Small Businesses, especially those with several family members involved, and non-profits can be particularly vulnerable\u00a0to employee\/employer misunderstandings because of the pervading atmosphere of trust that permeates them.\u00a0<\/strong> Some individuals tend to feel that insisting upon a comprehensive and specific written job offer is not consistent with a good faith offer and sets up a relationship based on distrust.\u00a0 I disagree with this philosophy.\u00a0 An effectively-written job offer\u00a0communicates to the potential employee what is expected of him or her and <\/em>what can be expected from the employer.\u00a0 It creates security for the recruit and reminds the employer of their responsibilities to the employee.<\/strong>\u00a0 It also assists a prospective employee in determining if a job meets their needs and goals.\u00a0 Additionally, it can be used as\u00a0an objective reminder to employees who are not fulfilling the requirements of their position.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

An especially disastrous instance of an employment-gone-bad due to a lack of a well-written job offer occurred a few years ago at a non-profit organization with which I was involved.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong> We were looking for\u00a0a second-in-command executive.\u00a0 Looking back, there were several mistakes we made in the hiring process, but the biggest was a very loosely-worded job offer.\u00a0\u00a0 The description of the full-time position was the job title and a vague\u00a0listing of the areas of oversight; the compensation was noted as the salary; benefits were noted as full.\u00a0 Our candidate, whom I’ll call Nick, was perfect; he was our first choice.\u00a0 He was enthusiastic, ideally qualified, and couldn’t wait to start.\u00a0 It was a nasty affair almost from the beginning.\u00a0 Nick is European, and apparently what is considered “full time” in his country is not quite exactly the same as what Americans consider “full time.”\u00a0 This began to cause some resentment among co-workers, who felt he was slacking on the job, and individuals whom the non-profit served, who felt Nick was not always available to address their needs.\u00a0 When\u00a0this was brought up\u00a0with Nick, he was confused.\u00a0 He was <\/em>working full time!\u00a0 What did we expect?\u00a0 It also turned out that “full” benefits in the States are not quite up to par with “full” benefits in jolly old England.\u00a0 He couldn’t believe that he actually had to pay $10 every time <\/em>he went to the doctor.\u00a0 (Never mind what happened when his wife had twins!)\u00a0 That caused resentment on his<\/em> part, as Nick felt his compensation had been over-stated.\u00a0 The conflicts went on and on.\u00a0\u00a0In the end, Nick returned to London, not even on speaking terms with his former boss, under the cloud of a threatened lawsuit.\u00a0 The non-profit lost many of its supporters, plunging it into financial distress.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Now, years after Nick has returned to Europe,\u00a0vitriolic words are still expressed when the issue is brought up and many\u00a0relationships are\u00a0irreparably damaged.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 All of this could\u00a0have so easily been avoided, if only the hiring team hadn’t wanted to\u00a0seem distrusting.\u00a0 And the ironic thing of it all is, Nick was great at his job.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bottle Washer and I haven’t always used written job offers.\u00a0 Bottle Washer is a seat-of-the-pants type of guy.\u00a0 \u00a0I think this is asking for trouble.\u00a0\u00a0Bottle Washer thinks it allows for more flexibility.\u00a0 I, on the other hand, am a planner.\u00a0 Specifically I am a planner for everything that can go wrong.\u00a0 Bottle Washer thinks this is paranoia.\u00a0 I think it is warding off potential problems.\u00a0\u00a0 But,\u00a0Bottle Washer has\u00a0to admit that my “paranoia” has helped us to avoid some pretty sticky situations, and now we always present any job offer, no matter for what position, in writing.<\/p>\n

These are the things Bottle Washer and I\u00a0include in a written job offer:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 State the compensation\u00a0<\/strong>amount and whether it is salary or hourly.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

2. Specify any vacation time being offered, <\/strong>including the following details:\u00a0<\/p>\n