In this day and age, businesses face a wide variety of risks. They have to worry about being sued by their clients, while simultaneously making sure their workers are looked after. As a small business owner, it is your duty to make sure that your employees are protected for the duration that they remain with your company. And of course, there are numerous steps that can be taken to protect your employees. Within this guide, you will learn about some of these necessities.
Workers’ Compensation
First and foremost, it is absolutely pertinent to make sure that you protect your employees with an adequate workers’ compensation policy. This is even more vital, if your workers are put in risky situations, where they could wind up getting injured. If you run a small construction company, your workers will be required to work physically and this can result in an abundance of unique risks. Workers’ compensation will be able to protect your workers, by providing them with medical benefits and wages, while they’re unable to work.
Proper Training
It is also vital to remember that your workers will need to be trained effectively. If your workers have not been trained, there is a greater risk that they’ll wind up getting injured. Even worse is the fact that they’ll be much more likely to sue your company. You can prevent both of these problems by putting effective and adequate training protocols in place. Make sure that your workers know how to protect themselves when lifting heavy objects. All employees should be required to go through training courses on a regular basis to decrease the risks of injuries and lawsuits.
Have An Open Door Policy
While you’re at it, you’ll also want to establish an open-door policy with yourself and your employees. Be sure that your employees feel comfortable coming to you about problems in the workplace, such as harassment and bullying. If you’re able to put an end to harassment quickly, you may be able to stop the problem from escalating, while simultaneously reducing your company’s liability. Be ready and willing to listen to each and every complaint your workers have no matter how minute.
Health Care Benefits
With the government mandates, all employers that hire full-time workers are enforced to provide them with health care benefits. With this said, other employees will also follow in suit, by offering their workers the option of health care benefits or a higher hourly wage. Whatever the case may be, it is crucial for business owners to provide their workers with a decent health care plan, one with prescreening prevention coverage, such as flu shots, colonoscopies, mammograms and cancer testing.
Many business owners do not give much thought to Medicare fraud. While this is rare for businesses to face such incidents, it is crucial to become familiar with it.
Sexual Harrassment
Every employer should protect all of their employees from sexual harrassment. A great way to do this is with a solid anti-harassement policy. Just let your employers know that you will not tolerate such behavior. Nipping it in the bud before it occurs will reduce the risks of it happening in your business.
