Month: July 2019

Employee Background Screening

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Since 1993, Onicra has been pioneering the cause of rendering a creditable and secure financial profile and a commercially credible identity to the widely expanding consumer base. It offers valuable industry-oriented service, directed towards locating, assessing and polishing the best personnel and employee resources in India. Onicra offers credible statistical and analytical input, structures valuable research and development programs and act as industry-specific consultants to leading companies throughout India. Onicra also offers industry-specific rating solutions to premier companies, facilitating optimum management and industrial output. Today, Onicra has extended its services to pioneering concerns like Mahindra & Mahindra, Volkswagen, HDFC Bank and Genpact.

Onicra has incorporated industry-leading processes like the PRTS (Performance Rating and Tracking System) to ensure maximum efficiency for its clients. Corporate consultancy is an extremely resourceful and popular service among a pack of detailed commercial and corporate services provided by Onicra. One of the primary features of this service is the Employee Background Screening options, which enable employers to ascertain and evaluate the personal and corporate potential of a future employee. Pre employment checks have been carried by corporate agencies for many years, and have been yielding credible results in the west. It enables the employer concerns to verify an applicant”s potential, industrial aptitude and personal skills.

Onicra prepares an extensive and exhaustive database on the employment applicants, which demonstrate their job-worthiness and efficiency before they are employed. By ensuring that every significant employee meets the detailed and rigorous standards of Onicra”s pre employment screening, the client concerns select a workforce with optimal possible efficiency and tremendous potential for growth. For every employee, Onicra meticulously researches the respective records, associations and affiliations that might affect his/her efficiency, skills and productivity. This arrangement also facilitates effective decentralization of resources, as delegating the pre employment checks takes considerable workload of the human resources departments of companies and commercial institutions.

Onicra combines actual professional, personal and scholastic records and incorporates empirical results of extensive research to arrive at an accurate rating after pre employment screenings. In its detailed pre employment verification records, Onicra includes exhaustive data from the following checks. Onicra performs a comprehensive employment check, reviewing collated and screened data pertaining to earlier employment details like previous designations, entitled salaries and employment tenure. It also reviews the stated educational degrees with actual educational qualifications, verifying the applicant”s academic career in his/her respective universities/ educational institutions. A thorough validation is also obtained from the legal enforcement authorities testifying in favor of the applicant against possible criminal records. Onicra”s employment background screening service also includes comprehensive reference verification, analyzing the relationship of the applicant with the furnished references.

An almost glitch-proof system of employee background screening allows Onicra to amass inferential data about an employment applicant, which might be used to predict his/her efficiency levels fairly accurately. The screening procedure also includes extensive data from Criminal Database checks for possible matches, narcotics and substance abuse diagnostics, examinations of judicial and legal records and personal identity checks. These checks are absolutely essential to substantiate the employee”s identity as that of a responsible national citizen who possesses valid documentation like PAN cards, professional licenses (like Chartered Accountants), Driving licenses, passports and voter I.D cards. Checks are carried on for an employee”s personal and familial health records as discrepancies might adversely affect the employee”s individual performance.

Unlike in developed, industrial countries, background checks in India are a fairly new concept. Onicra appropriates the examination and screening procedure according to the Indian lifestyle, ensuring maximum local relevance. The validity of these checks is ensured by Infinity Screening procedures, which facilitate random, detailed checks during the employment tenure for consequential anomalies in earlier data. The extensive background screening process employed by Onicra has helped numerous companies make efficient, rewarding decisions regarding human resources development and management.

Barriers For Women In The Workforce

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Our mothers challenged many stereotypes in the 70s and were still doing it today, particularly in the workplace. We really are still dusting off the residue of career stereotypes that were entrenched in our parents era. Whilst there has been some blurring towards non-gender specific occupations there are many that are genderised. Just naming a few occupations such as landscapers, housecleaners, electricians, nannies, babysitters and interior designers still has us categorising them in either a male or female occupation.

The fact is, many females are moving into male dominated careers and some males are finding the more feminine careers to their liking. But theres a long way to go before weve reached equality. Women still have many barriers to overcome when it comes to career choice, employment opportunity and equitable wages.

The necessity to focus on employment issues for women and towards developing female friendly policy has largely been driven by the high entry of women into the labour market. Not only are females today more career driven, but also the economic necessity of our times places a financial pressure on mothers to contribute to the familys weekly income.

Women now make up over 45% of the Australian workforce and the proportion of both parents working fulltime has also risen to over 62%. In light of this, it could be argued that women bear the heaviest burden of family care and that the Australian workplace environment is moving far too slowly to address the inequities and needs faced by the working woman.

When it comes to career choice, not only are there the normal non-gender specific barriers such as personal fit, skills, experience and knowledge but also a woman can face other issues that have a cyclical nature, feeding off the other , such as:

Stereotyping Even now we have many occupations that can still be categorised as either male or female. This can limit the apparent choice for females. A nanny is seen as generally a female occupation whilst a plumber is viewed as predominantly male. A text by P Tully, titled Counselling Issues for Women in Non-traditional Careers found that these feminine occupations can have a lower wage and a lower prestige. Tully argued that within these occupations it has been found that there are fewer opportunities and that female personnel are treated as transient and easily replaceable members of staff.

Discrimination: Hand in hand with stereotyping comes discrimination. The discrimination and stereotyping of female career choices can be harshly perpetuated through family values, a mangers attitude or even a career counsellors belief system. Tully believed that there was a real need for society to overcome some long held and false beliefs about women in the workforce. Initially those beliefs included the idea that women would take away the jobs from men. Employers may hold the assumption that the cost of training a female is wasted because they do not stay in employment as long as their male counterpart. On top of that an employer has some legal obligation to pay some means of maternity support when a female staff member has time away from work to have a baby.

Poor Self-Efficacy: A persons efficacy relates to their power of effectiveness, their virtue, energy, potency or efficiency. Some academics such as, Herr and Cramer who wrote Career Development and Counselling of Special Populations (1992) highlighted the fundamental differences between men and women in terms of their own self- efficacy beliefs. They found that women tend to lack strong expectations of their personal efficacy and therefore fail to fully realise their talents and capabilities. To compound this issue, women appear to have fewer opportunities to demonstrate successes in task accomplishments and therefore are unable to raise their self-efficacy. Women also lack the number of same-sex role models as men, which could, in turn, break this cycle.

Pioneer Versus Homemaker: Institutional practice by employers has limited womens choices. Women are placed in a difficult position over the conflict between choosing the role of homemaker or career woman. The lack of childcare available to working mums as well as the economic need to enter the workforce has seen women channelled into low-paying and low prestige positions, usually on a part-time or casual basis. This therefore perpetuates the false beliefs and stereotypes about women in the workforce.

The limiting factors of not having a flexible workplace environment for women who choose to have a family, also impacts on her choice of career and the timing associated with leaving the workforce to have a baby. The many issues faced by women in a once traditionally male workforce have constrained her choice of career, achievement in her career and her personal fulfilment. The demands and needs placed on her by societal expectation, family, husband/partner, financial necessity and her own need for personal fulfilment can lead a woman to feeling incapable of fully succeeding in her many roles that she takes on day to day. She carries with her a sense of guilt for not fully succeeding in any of those areas of her life. With our unemployment rate at an all time low, there has never been a better time than now to reform our stereotypes, remove career choice barriers and create more female friendly workplaces.

Austin Insurance Done Right!

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Whether you are looking for business insurance, home or car insurance you need to have a trusted resource to help you navigate the maize of options in the market today. You can’t turnaround without being bombarded with ads about how a Gecko or Caveman or groovy waitress-looking chicks are telling you that all you have to do is call them and you will save $487. Or switch to xyz insurance company and save 15%. Are all of these ads right? Are they all the lowest cost solutions? How can this be? Who can I believe? Something just isn’t adding up!

Take a peak here to get an insider’s look at the insurance industry Insurance companies price their policies on a multitude of factors ranging from their overall underwriting profit (or combined ratio), their expense ratios, returns on their investment income and the competitive landscape.

It has been our experience in the Austin insurance market that carriers go through cycles in their pricing structure. A big reason for this is their loss history for a given market segment as well as the company overall. If an insurance company experiences lower than normal claims and makes more of an underwriting profit, they typically get more aggressive in the insurance discounts they offer.

One of the keys to managing your business and home insurance programs is to test the waters with other insurance companies at least every other year to make sure you are taking advantage of the carriers who are in an aggressive rate cycle. Yes this sounds like a very time consuming and frustrating process, but if you get with a knowledgeable and reputable independent insurance agent they can do most of the work for you and typically save you significant dollars.

Up-front premiums, however are only one part of the equation in securing an optimal insurance program. Today there are so many different types of carriers and types of insurance coverages that it is literally a full time job understanding all of the issues involved. Don’t assume that since an agent is merely licensed that they are truly qualified.

Make sure your insurance agent has advanced certifications such as a Certified Insurance Counselor (CIC) or a Certified Property & Casualty Underwriter (CPCU). A Certified Insurance Counselor can not only help you find the optimal price, can help you diagnose and then prescribe the proper coverage. Having a lower premium becomes quickly irrelevant if you have an uncovered claim!

Here Is A Brief Synopsis Of Some Of The Types Of Coverage You Need To Evaluate For Your Austin Business Insurance:

Austin General Liability Insurance

A broad commercial policy that covers liability exposures of a business that are not specifically excluded. Coverage typically includes product liability, completed operations, premises and operations, and personal and advertising injury. It is recommended that all businesses operating have general liability coverage in place.

Business Owners Policy

An Austin business insurance policy that combines property, liability and business interruption coverages for small to medium-sized businesses. Coverage is generally cheaper than if purchased through separate insurance policies. A Business Owners policy is typically available to businesses and industries that are typically viewed as having relatively low liability exposures.

Austin Workers Comp & Employers Liability

This coverage pays for medical care and physical rehabilitation of employees injured at work and helps to replace lost wages while they are unable to work. Additionally this coverage protects an employer from being sued by an injured worker in most cases. A commonly overlooked exposure for companies who employ mostly office workers is the potential injury to employees while driving their own vehicles on company business. This could be as simple as an employee driving to a sales call, the bank or office supply store. If you have employees it is critical that you secure this important coverage.

Professional Liability Insurance Austin

E&O insurance covers professionals for negligence and errors or omissions that injure their clients. In addition to covering licensed professionals such as accountants, attorneys, insurance agents, architect and engineers to name a few, technology companies frequently have a professional liability exposure. This typically arises from the fact that the general liability policy excludes damage to data. Technology E&O can protect your company in the event that your negligence, error, or omission causes damage to a third party’s data. It is recommended that all professional and technology companies have E&O coverage. Contact an Agent today for more information business insurance.

Austin Umbrella Insurance

This Cedar Park business insurance policy provides coverage for losses above the limit of an underlying policy or policies such as General Liability, Employers Liability and Automobile Liability. While it applies to losses over the dollar amount in the underlying policies, terms of coverage are sometimes broader than those of underlying policies. Due to the unpredictable nature of jury awards, it is recommended that your business insurance program have this coverage.

Austin Employment Practices Liability Insurance

Employment Practices Liability Insurance for employers that covers employment related liabilities other than on the job injuries. EPLI will cover legal fees and damages for suits such as wrongful termination, discrimination, sexual harassment, and other alleged violations of employees’ legal rights. Although only three percent of Employment Practices lawsuits go in favor of the plaintiff, the average cost to defend yourself in one of these is well over $200,000.

Austin Commercial Auto Policy

This Texas business insurance policy provides coverage for bodily injury liability and property damage, for injuries/damage the policyholder causes to someone else. Medical payments or Personal Injury Protection (PIP) for treatment of injuries to the driver and passengers of the policyholder’s car are also offered. Optional property coverages for damage to the insureds vehicles are also available in the form of collision, for damage to the policyholder’s car from a collision and comprehensive, for damage to the policyholder’s car not involving a collision with another car (including damage from fire, explosions, earthquakes, floods, and riots), and theft. Uninsured motorists’ coverage, for costs resulting from an accident involving a hit-and-run driver or a driver who does not have insurance is also recommended.

These are just a few of the Cedar Park Insurance coverages for businesses. If you have questions, feel free to contact Inspire Insurance solutions, your one-stop solution for all your Austin Insurance needs.

How To Change An Existing Employment Contract

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If you want to change an employee’s terms and conditions of employment, you will need to get their agreement first. Otherwise, the employee may be entitled to sue for breach of contract, or resign and claim constructive dismissal. You must tell the employee in writing about any changes no later than one month after you have made the change. Do changes have to be in writing? Agreed changes don’t necessarily have to be in writing. However if they alter the terms in your ‘written statement of employment particulars’,

Your employer must give you another written statement showing what has changed within a month of the change. Employee Enforcement of the Right Employees have certain rights. These rights are enforceable by law: The right of fair treatment regardless of age, race, religion, gender, disabilities, or sexual preferences The right to equal treatment, also with regard to wages The right no be dismissed without proper cause and the correct procedures The right not to get fired for giving birth to a child Employees also have the right to a proper written notice time for termination of their work agreement in relation to the period employed Employees have the right for compensation when they are retrenched Safe workplace Terminating the Employment ContractBoth employer and employee can terminate the employment contract according to the terms contained within it. Either side can make a complaint against the other.

Breach-of-Contract Claims Both employers and employees can be in breach of a contract of employment. A breach of contract happens when either employee or your employer breaks one of the terms. If an employee continues to work under these changes without objecting, they may be regarded as having accepted the changes. Not all the terms of a contract are written down. A breach may be of a verbally agreed term, a written term, or an ‘implied’ term of a contract. Employer would normally use a county court for a breach of contract claim. The only way an employer would be able to make an application to an Employment Tribunal is in response to a breach of contract claim that an employee has made. The most common breaches of contract by an employee are when they quit without giving (or working) proper notice, or when they go to work for a competitor when their contract doesn’t allow it. Our Employment Law DocumentsAvailable documents include employment contract templates, as well as a director contract template and a range of employment policies. Our documents are designed for use in England and Wales. Our Contract of Employment Template is easy to customize to your business’ requirements.

They provide comprehensive legal protection, whilst avoiding excessive legal jargon. They have been designed with ease-of-use in mind. To this end, they include guidance notes. They are excellent value and available for immediate download. All the templates have been drafted by a team of Solicitors and Barristers who are expert in the field of employment.

If you want to change an employee’s terms and conditions of employment, you will need to get their agreement first. Otherwise, the employee may be entitled to sue for breach of contract, or resign and claim constructive dismissal. You must tell the employee in writing about any changes no later than one month after you have made the change. Do changes have to be in writing? Agreed changes don’t necessarily have to be in writing. However if they alter the terms in your ‘written statement of employment particulars’,

Your employer must give you another written statement showing what has changed within a month of the change. Employee Enforcement of the Right Employees have certain rights. These rights are enforceable by law: The right of fair treatment regardless of age, race, religion, gender, disabilities, or sexual preferences The right to equal treatment, also with regard to wages The right no be dismissed without proper cause and the correct procedures The right not to get fired for giving birth to a child Employees also have the right to a proper written notice time for termination of their work agreement in relation to the period employed Employees have the right for compensation when they are retrenched Safe workplace Terminating the Employment ContractBoth employer and employee can terminate the employment contract according to the terms contained within it. Either side can make a complaint against the other.

Breach-of-Contract Claims Both employers and employees can be in breach of a contract of employment. A breach of contract happens when either employee or your employer breaks one of the terms. If an employee continues to work under these changes without objecting, they may be regarded as having accepted the changes. Not all the terms of a contract are written down. A breach may be of a verbally agreed term, a written term, or an ‘implied’ term of a contract. Employer would normally use a county court for a breach of contract claim. The only way an employer would be able to make an application to an Employment Tribunal is in response to a breach of contract claim that an employee has made. The most common breaches of contract by an employee are when they quit without giving (or working) proper notice, or when they go to work for a competitor when their contract doesn’t allow it. Our Employment Law DocumentsAvailable documents include employment contract templates, as well as a director contract template and a range of employment policies.

Vehicle Tracking And Employee Rights.

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Many companies operating fleet who introduce a vehicle tracking system for the first time would, of course, be concerned in the impact on their employees when installing mobile workforce tracking or a GPS vehicle tracking across their entire operation.

The rise of commercial vehicle tracking across the relevant industries dependent on running the most cost-effective and efficient fleet they possibly can has meant many changes of working practice, not least for the vehicle drivers.

Introducing change of an employees working conditions, obviously requires great care to be taken, not least from a legal point of view and how it affects their individual contracts of employment.

Essentially, there are two key differences to be determined when instigating mobile workforce solutions:

Business use only or – Business and Personal use.

Business Use …

Fitting a vehicle tracker into a vehicle to be used only for day-to-day, strictly work related business, e.g. delivery van, it is recommended that employees driving the vehicle should be informed not only that the system will be fitted, but also why it is being fitted, how it works and exactly the nature of the data to be collected and what its use will be and how it is intended to benefit everyone at the company.

It is important that employees fully understand and appreciate all the objective reasons for wishing to obtain the information that will be provided from the system and why it is needed to help with business efficiency and improvement. Concerns and objections raised by employees obviously need to be discussed to reach agreement on fitting the system but legal advice should be sought if agreement cannot be reached.

Business and Personal use…

Essentially, the same considerations as in business use only but with the addition of taking into account that the system will provide data on the vehicles movements outside working time. Concern may be raised by employees that this data could be used to obtain information about their private lives and if so, could be seen as an infringement of their human rights.

Once again, it is strongly advised and to be made absolutely clear that the data collected by the system will only be accessed for data relating to working hours only, unless the vehicle is stolen or in an accident. Employees need to know as to who will have access to the data and its use for business.

Company contracts of employment should be redrawn so there should be clause which allows for the fitting and/or use of the system in any vehicles provide for company/personal use.