Good employees are key to business success.

If you want your business to be successful, you must have loyal and hardworking employees — and you must work to keep them. Establish a deliberate method to hiring
workers. It is imperative that you select the right employees and avoid the pitfalls that come from hiring a bad employee. It is especially important for small businesses,
where each employee has a large share of responsibility for success of the company.

To streamline your hiring process, follow these steps:

Create an established recruitment process.
Make the benefits package easy to understand.
Train managers and supervisors in interviewing techniques.
Do multiple reference checks.
Conduct a new hire program.

Virginia offers a variety of work-force programs to help employers find quality workers and to train and develop their work force. Each program differs in eligibility, cost and services offered. The Virginia Department of Business Assistance offers a page of links to many of the programs available in the state at http://www.vdba.virginia.gov/workforce.

Virginia Jobs Investment Program

This program, run by the Virginia Department of Business Assistance, offers work-force assistance to qualified businesses. The program provides customized training and recruiting programs. It also provides consulting and funding to reduce upfront costs of the recruitment and training process. For-profit businesses eligible to apply for the program are manufacturing facilities, distribution centers, corporate headquarters, technology services, call centers and research and development facilities. http://www.vdba.virginia.gov/work-force/VJIP.asp

Virginia
Workforce
Network
A business of any size can use one of the Virginia Workforce Network’s Virginia

Workforce Centers located around the state. The network includes more than 40 one-stop

career centers and more than 30 satellite and informational centers.
Each center provides one-stop access to the work force, employment and training

programs of partner organizations. Local Workforce Invest­ment Boards run the centers,

which are required by federal legislation to meet the needs of the local community. To

find the closest one-stop center, visit http://www.vwn.virginia.gov.
Most of the Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) locations have been designated

as Virginia Workforce Centers. VEC employment services are available at one-stop

centers, as well state and local resources from departments of Social Services, the

Adult Education and Area Agency on Aging, the Virginia Department of Rehabilitative

Services and local community colleges, career and technical schools and higher

education institutions.

Virginia
Employment Commission
The VEC provides businesses hiring services free of charge. Employers can

easily post job vacancies to the VEC’s new Virginia Workforce Connection web site at

http://www.vaworkconnect.com. The site also allows employers to search through the list of job

candidates.
The VEC also provides detailed labor market data and census data on its

Virginia Electronic Labor Market Access (VELMA). The stats are located online at

http://www.vaworkconnect.com. Click on “Labor Market Information.” VELMA data include

employment and unemployment statistics, current economic indicators, area demographics

and industry and occupational wage data. The data are divided by regions, metropolitan

statistical areas, localities and work-force investment areas. This information can be

vital for employers in making hiring and wage decisions.

Department of Rehabilitative
Services
The department provides a variety of services to help people with disabilities

prepare, find and keep a job. Visit http://www.vadrs.org for more information.

Community colleges
The Virginia Community College System can be a great resource for employer’s

work-force training needs. Each of the system’s 23 colleges has a Workforce Development

Services division that can develop custom training programs for employers. The programs

can be held at local community college campuses or at the employer’s workplace.

A variety of training programs can be offered. Examples of skills programs can

focus on, include:

Computer skills
Customer service
Management and leadership
Manufacturing
Job-specific skills

Visit http://www.vccs.edu for more information on the Virginia’s community college

system or contact your local community college.
Four-year schools and career and technical skills can also offer recruitment

and work-force training possibilities. Visit your local schools for information on any

programs they offer.

Career Readiness Certificate

Since 2004, a variety of work-force training groups in the state have worked

together to offer a career readiness certificate — a statewide certification that

ensures employers that certificate-holders have an employer-recognized level of

work-force literacy, including reading and applied math.
The certificates are awarded at three levels — gold, silver and bronze —

depending on the score on the certificate exam. The certificate is especially useful

for areas of the commonwealth where skill levels of many members of the work force are

inadequate. The certificate allows employers to identify workers who are interested in

increasing their value for a company.
All Virginians are eligible to take the basic skills exams, which are

administered in a variety of settings, including One-Stop Career Development Centers,

community colleges and local Social Services departments.

Important federal labor and hiring laws

Labor laws
http://www.dol.gov

Occupational Safety and
Health Act of 1970
Requires employers to provide a safe working environment for their employees. The law also requires some businesses to keep a record of all job-related safety incidents.

Fair Labor Standards Act
This law requires that workers be paid the federal minimum wage for most businesses doing interstate commerce. The minimum wage increased to $5.85 per hour on July 24, 2007 and will increase to $6.55 per hour on July 24, 2008. The law also requires that overtime hours are paid one-and-a-half times the regular pay rate and prohibits employers from hiring children under the age of 16. The law includes many exemptions, so check with the U.S. Department of Labor for details.

Family and Medical Leave Act
Companies of 50 or more people are required to give employees 12 weeks of unpaid time off after child birth or adoption, to care for a seriously ill parent, spouse or child
or to take time off for a serious medical condition.

Equal Opportunity Laws
U.S. Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission
http://www.eeoc.gov

A number of laws governed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission prohibit most employers from discriminating against employees based on race, religion, sex,
national origin, age and disabilities. Under the Equal Pay Act of 1963, employers must provide similar pay to men and women who are in similar jobs.