Human Resources
The employee lifecycle
Human resources runs from job analysis to job description, recruitment, selection, orientation, training, supervision and evaluation, discipline, and separation. Job analysis produces the description and minimum qualifications; selection must be job-related and applied consistently to every candidate. Volunteers and seasonal staff need the same policy coverage - safety, conduct, harassment, reporting - even though their pay status differs.
Concepts to know
FLSA exempt versus non-exempt status (determined by duties and salary tests, not job title); employee versus independent contractor (degree of control over schedule, tools, and supervision); progressive discipline from verbal through written warning, suspension, and termination; performance appraisal tied to documented expectations; background checks and mandated reporting where youth are served; supervision ratios; staff development, retention, and succession; collective bargaining agreements and grievance steps.
Traps
Questions favor the exempt-title trap and the contractor trap: labeling someone a contractor does not make them one. Others include assuming volunteers fall outside policy, saving documentation until the day of termination, framing discipline as punishment rather than correction, and confusing appraisal (development) with discipline (conduct).
Rule of thumb
Document in real time, not retroactively: date, observed behavior, the expectation, the employee's response, and the corrective step - and give the employee a genuine chance to improve.
Worked example
A lifeguard arrives late three times in a month. The first step is a documented conversation restating the attendance expectation and the consequence, not immediate termination and not silence. Repeat conduct escalates one step; a single serious safety violation may justify skipping steps.