Stay at Home or Go to Work?

Did we ever think that the day would come when employees would become fearful of calling in sick, when they are really sick? Well, that time is here. Almost ½ the employees who responded to a recent SHRM poll said they went to work sick because ‘they felt they had to’.

With our economy in it’s current states. Most Companies have had to layoff employees or offer early retirement. These layoffs and early retirements affect us all, especially those of us who are left to pick up extra workload. When employees are sick I encourage them to take the time off they need to improve their health.

Why? Because you will find that employees who are at work sick are less productive and spread their germs.I’d prefer to have one employee off for a couple days rather then three. In recent times with the H1N1 ‘swine flu’ pandemic, everyone is taking precaution. However, we are still finding our that people are still reporting to work with the ‘flu’ like symptoms.

Many organizations try to discourage working while sick they feel it’s a distraction. It is best for sick workers to stay away.Can you imagine if a corporation had to close down like the recent school closings? If a company had to close down for one day over someone reporting to work ignoring they are sick and have the ‘swine flu’ H1N1 like symptoms. Do you know the loss the corporation would incur? Anywhere from thousands to millions of dollars, in these economic times no corporation can afford that kind of a loss.

I have held several training classes developing managers to mean what they say. If you have a policy, enforce it, starting with yourself. You first must be a follower in order for others to follow. The session is a three-hour course that includes roll plays and reenactments of pass issues a manager may have faced. This course has increased employee morale and motivation, along with, employee and manager relationships. More now than ever before, companies should begin looking into developing policies or a plan to cope with widespread employee illnesses according to CCH.

Why? Disasters can put employees out of work anywhere for at least 2 weeks.But as the H1N1 “swine flu” virus spreads, it becomes even more critical. Outbreak occurs over a period of time up to one year and can affect different geographic areas. Organizations do not want to have to deal with a disaster and limited or lack of resources to perform tasks.HR Professionals get your pens and papers out and map out a strategic plan, streamlined to assist in keeping your organization afloat during crisis, pandemics or disasters.

For those employees who still insist on coming to work sick follow these rules to minimize spreading your germs.

• Cover your mouth and nose during coughing and sneezing.
• Wash your hands often with soap and warm water.
• Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
• Stay home when you are sick. (not allergy symptoms)

HR here are few things you can do:

• Offer a flu-vaccination program (be sure to keep up with all the recalls)
• Encourage fellow employees who have sore throats, fevers, or other flu symptoms to go home.
• Offer 'live well' incentives. (Discounted gym memberships, health fairs, etc).

Diversity

Diversity is the combination of qualities, experiences and work styles that make individuals unique—age, race, religion, disabilities, ethnicity, etc.—as well as how organizations can leverage those qualities in support of business objectives. Organizations with greater diversity have at their disposable full range of ideas, perspectives, definitions and approaches.

All organizations leadership should be trained in diversity, not one, not twice but annually. Diversity is key in flourishing and expanding business. If you ever lookup the word Diversity you will find many definitions. In simple forms diversity is the similarities and differences between people.

Which include but are not limited to the following:

• Age
• Color
• Disability
• Education
• Ethnicity
• Family Status
• Gender
• Generation
• Language
• Backgrounds
• Life Experiences
• Organizational function and level
• Lifestyle
• Physical characteristics
• Race
• Religion, belief and spirituality
• Sexual orientation
• Thought patterns

Diversity is the potential for greater innovation and creativity. Organizations have realized over time that this is a business benefit. People from diverse backgrounds come together to communicate and work, and understand each others’ needs and perspectives.

Let’s not forget about the EEO laws and regulations. In the US the legal framework for EEO began in the 1960s with the Equal Pay Act of 1963, then the Civil Rights Act of 1964. EEO concerns fairness and equality of treatment for specific designated protected classes as defined by law. EEO means that the employer gives equal consideration for a job and in terms and conditions of employment to all individuals, and that the employer does not discriminate based on race, color, religion, age, marital status, national origin, disability or sex.

EEO is primarily matters of legal compliance, although it does help to create a workplace that is more supportive of all people and more diverse in terms of the specific included dimensions of diversity. Diversity and inclusion are aimed at realizing competitive advantage and business opportunity more so than following legal requirements and regulations.

Diversity relates to factors like sales, market share, profitability, corporate social responsibility and reputation. Effective diversity initiatives require starting, planning, speaking and acting solely from key business priorities. Increase your diversity efforts.

HR Talk

This forum is for you to comment and share your thoughts.

1. How do you feel about President Obama's health care reform?
2. How is the COBRA stimulus plan working for your organization?

Minimum Wage Increase

The federal minimum wage for covered nonexempt employees is $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009. The federal minimum wage provisions are contained in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and can be found at http://www.dol.gov/.dol.gov/.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) prescribes standards for the basic minimum wage and overtime pay, affects most private and public employment. It requires employers to pay covered employees who are not otherwise exempt at least the federal minimum wage and overtime pay of one-and-one-half-times the regular rate of pay. Many states also have minimum wage laws. In cases where an employee is subject to both the state and federal minimum wage laws, the employee is entitled to the higher of the two minimum wages.

With this change, employees who are covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act will be entitled to be paid no less than $7.25 per hour. This increase is the last of three provided by the enactment of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. Every employer of employees subject to the Fair Labor Standard Act’s minimum wage provisions must post, and keep posted, a notice explaining the Act in a conspicuous place in all of their establishments so as to permit employees to readily read it.

Click the link below to download your poster http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/regs/compliance/posters/minwage.pdf

Hiring the Best Candidate

The best people to hire are those who will position a company to profit as it moves into the future. New hires not only should possess the immediate skill sets that you are looking for but those that the company will need in the future. Of course, we as HR must first be clear about the organizations strategic direction for the future, so that we can hire talent to help the company to achieve their goals.

Understand the Job That You Are Hiring For. If you do that finding the right people to hire will be much easier. Analyze the job by asking yourself, what kinds of people perform well at this job? Ask those who already work in the position? Speak with the manager and learn of his/her needs. Observe the behaviors of those in the position and ask them questions. This will drive your selection standards. You will find that your hiring process will go smoother and yield you the best match.

Be Legal. If you cannot remember EEOC, Title VII, Title I, Title V, Equal Pay Act, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, please, please, please take a moment and review them by logging onto the EEOC website. If the interviewee feels that they have been denied because of discrimination, they can file a lawsuit. This can cause your organization a bad name, compensatory damages, and possibly punitive damages.
Build a Standardized Hiring Process and Use It. This if by far the best advice anyone can give to HR. Your standardized hiring process should include criteria-based screening of an adequate number of candidates, a background check, standardized assessments and structured interviews. The more important the position, the more rigorous the hiring process should be. But do not go overboard.

Hire Top Talent Get More Profit. The right person will make contributions to your company’s productivity and profitability that far exceed salary cost. But the wrong person can cost plenty.

A Bad Hire Is Worse Than You Think. According to the Harvard Business Review, 80 percent of turnover is caused by bad hiring decisions. These are costly mistakes. The U.S. Department of Labor calculates that it costs one-third of a new hire’s annual salary to replace him. These figures include money spent on recruitment, selection and training plus costs due to decreased productivity as other employees fill in to take up the slack.

But these numbers don’t reflect the intangible damages an exiting employee can have such as lost customers and low employee morale across the rest of the organization. And, turnover costs climb even higher as you move up the organization: mid- and upper–level managers can cost over twice their annual salary to replace.

Interviewing Alone Doesn’t Work. Traditional interviews don’t help you select top talent. I always look for something extra. If candidates performed special projects or task in college, do they have a blog or website that I can review, have them bring samples of their work to the interview and explain the process.

The Most Neglected Aspect of Hiring is a Job Analysis. Doing this helped me cut down the number of people I needed to interview. A job analysis, the most neglected aspect of hiring. If performed correctly, a job analysis provides a list of the personal attributes required to work effectively in the role. This list of attributes is identified first by breaking down a person's job into logical parts.

Once a business knows what the position requires, the hiring process is faster and more effective because job candidates are evaluated on a common set of criteria. When you know exactly what talents are required—you know what to look for and what to test for. Remember turnover is reduced when the person fits the job. It is what it is: people love their jobs when the position matches their personality, attitudes, and skills.

Matching People to Jobs. Candidate screening, personality and skill assessments, performance-based interviews and behavioral based interviews all help identify top candidates. No single technique is the best, so use multiple techniques this will give you the best employee(s). Hiring people or the best person for the job does not need to cost a lot or take a long time.

SIfting through the Resumes

How do we as HR professionals sift through the hundreds of resumes that we receive for job postings? I remember at my previous job posting a resume for a mailroom clerk. I received over 300 resumes for this posting. People who were overly qualified, people in between and people with no work experience.

How did I sift through it all? It took me a couple days. I had piles and piles of resumes all over my credenza and the floor. I could have looked at this with many bad thoughts. Instead I took this as an opportunity to build our candidacy pool. I had the data entry clerk enter those who would most likely be qualified for positions within our company.

That took it down to about 145 resumes. Then I went through and reviewed resumes with receptionist experience, or anyone with 2 or more years of mailing, copying and ordering experience. That of course dropped the qualified down to 15. I ended up with only 3 qualified persons in the end. We did hire someone out the three.

However, over the next couple months I never had to post a job because I was able to find and hire qualified applicants from the resumes that were acquired through the mailroom clerk posting. Out of 7 postings I only had to post for two. Not only did I save myself and the company time but also money. Sometimes, the many resumes that we receive can help us out in the long run.

Open Enrollment: Benefit Options & Changes

It may seem a bit early to be talking about open enrollment. Actually this is around the time to really start reviewing your organizations goals and objectives. Why? to give you time to shop and compare the best benefit options to offer your employees. Our economy is struggling to make a positive comeback, but we cannot deny the fact that it is struggling. As a HR professionals it is our job to make sure we stay competitive in the market and to inform and encourage our employees to take an active role in selecting their benefits. Here are some things you can communicate to your employees.


Although the time varies, for most companies the that time of year again is approaching us swiftly... time to review and renew your insurance open enrollment health plan packet. All too often though, most don't take much time to really review what they need from their health plan enrollment packet so unfortunately, they don't always get the best coverage and cost out of their open enrollment health plan packet. It is very important to take some time during your insurance open enrollment window to make the right choices since it will determine the type of health care you will receive for the next year and how much you will pay for those choices.

Making the Right Choice During Your Insurance Open Enrollment Window is Crucial
If you don't make the right decision during your insurance open enrollment time, then for the most part you are stuck with your choices for the next year. Everyone's heath needs change regularly and therefore the health care choices should reflect those changes. Take for instance that you know you will have more prescription health costs this year than last. You may want to change your open enrollment health plan options to cover more prescription costs. Or, what if you are ready for a different doctor? You may want to make a change in your open enrollment health plan packet that enables you to use a wider variety of doctors.


Why Now is the Time
These choices are important not just because they will give you better health care in the coming year, but it is very important that you take the time during your insurance open enrollment window to make these choices since for the most part, you cannot change your health care plan after that window (most plans will only let you change your choices if you have a dramatic personal life change such as the birth of a child or divorce).


Changes to Look for and Things to Consider in Your Insurance Open Enrollment Packet
Now that you know it is important to take some extra time in planning your health care decisions in your insurance open enrollment packet, take the time to look at the following list of changes that you may see in your insurance open enrollment packet and some things you may want to consider when making your insurance open enrollment choices:

Changes You May See this Year in Your Insurance Open Enrollment Packet:

• Increase in Premiums
• Increase in Deductibles
• Increase in Co-Payment
• Addition of a Health Savings Account (HSA) or Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
• Savings from Participation in a Health Survey (you agree to answer questions on your lifestyle and undergo various medical tests such as cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes, and HIV screenings and for your participation you would get a small discount on your health insurance premiums)
• Co-Insurance for Prescription Drugs
• More Coverages for Preventative Health Care Costs (preventative health care is considered seeing your doctor on a regular basis and getting regular screeings for you and your choidren such as immunizations)
• Lower Premium Costs for Non-Smokers

5 Things You May Want to Consider When Making Your Insurance Open Enrollment Changes:
1. Determine if you want a plan that gives you a wide variety of choices in doctors. The more choices you have, usually the more expensive it is but for some, having a variety of doctors to work with is worth the extra cost.
2. Decide if you want to have to go through your primary doctor to see a specialist or if you want the freedom to go directly to a specialist. Again, more freedom means more costs.
3. Try to figure out what your prescription costs may be in the coming year. Health care choices in your insurance open enrollment packet will probably come with different prescription drug coverage options.
4. If you decide using a HSA or FSA is best for you, try to estimate what your health care costs will be for your whole family. Remember, non-prescription items such as pain relievers can also count towards your HSA.
5. Do you really need to lower your insurance costs? Then choose a choice in your insurance open enrollment packet that provides a higher co-pay and/or co-insurance. This is what you pay out-of-pocket. Only choose this option if you can afford the out-of-pocket amount without it being a hardship on your finances.