Strategic Role of HR and the Legal Environment

Your first assignment with the company is to do a review of their current HR practices and describe to the owners how they stack up to current practices. Remember, this business started as a small business with very few employees. While the owners feel the need the for an HR manager, there is always the nagging issue of "could we have spent the money on another help desk person and gotten more bang for the buck?" These guys
are programmers and business owners, not managers. They need reassurance that hiring an HR person is the right thing to do.

Facts you need:
- The company has 25 employees
- There are 2 female employees, the rest are male
- Most workers are under the age of 35, but there are 4 employees between ages 40-49, and 2 employees over the age of 50
- Terminations are rare in this company, but they have happened. One employee was terminated for drug use and viewing pornography on company computers.
- The company has 3 company vehicles used for on-site services
- Hiring has been ad hoc, mostly by word of mouth.
- There is no employee manual and few formal policies and procedures.

Respond to the following questions:
1. Why do they need to worry about all of this HR stuff anyway?
2. What issues could occur if we just leave things the way they are?
3. What laws apply to them in their company?
4. What policies and procedures would be useful to the company?