Hauling Out the Holly: Happy or Headache for HR?

There are experts aplenty who will opine that the holidays are a stressful time for everyone. While these days can create anxious moments for each one of us, it should be a time of joy, gathering with family and friends, and hope for the future. I, for one, embrace these days and endeavor to find the good associated with the holidays.

Unfortunately, some people experience extremely difficult issues during the holidays. This creates unique challenges to the HR professional in many forms. I’m not talking about the simple part of whether an employee is paid for the holidays.

The holidays are about our organizational culture. Whether organizations like it or not, employees look to the company leadership during this time with anticipation, concern and sometimes plain fear. I believe there is an important role for HR to play in making this time meaningful and yes, enjoyable. Allow me to explain:

First, bring your HR staff together and allow the team to discuss some potential problem areas that could arise for your employees and their family members. Share these thoughts with your management staff. Perhaps there are some employees and their families that may need assistance. If the firm has an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), encourage your employees to use it. Remember, being a good corporate citizen is not about bragging about your actions, rather, it is how we handle our actions.

Next, using your corporate policy handbook, determine if there are certain nonprofit service organizations your firm can assist during this time. There are many wonderful groups out there providing great support for our citizens so it would be a great opportunity to work with your employees to find the right groups to assist. Obviously, ensure that you have buy-in from executive-level leadership and legal counsel for an outreach campaign within the community.

The question also arises as to the religious nature of the holidays and whether the company even celebrates the holidays, including the holidays of others. These are questions best answered by your executive leadership and general counsel. Our business leaders should always appropriately understand and appreciate the viewpoints of all of our employees.

Should we or should we not pay a holiday bonus? This column is not of sufficient space to adequately address this much-debated topic. The evidence may not be empirical but little doubt exists that if you started a traditional of giving some cash for the holidays but decide this year to stop the practice – be prepared for the employee backlash.

Ah… what about decorating the office? Doesn’t it make your employees feel great when they see the office is outfitted with a holiday tree, or ornaments or cards? I know it makes me feel good to see it. You can bet that the vast majority of staff love the decorations and even take part in the activities. But, let’s again remember the need to be sensitive to others who may not celebrate this holiday season. Above all, create an atmosphere of inclusion in the festivities, not isolation for those who may differ in their beliefs.

It is said that this is a time for giving. Employees may want to swap gifts with each through name exchanges or random drawings. They ask, “Do I buy a gift for my employees? Should I gift my boss or her boss? How much do we pay for a gift for a co-worker? What if the employee doesn’t want to give or, worse yet, cannot afford to give others a gift? How do we handle the pressure of gift giving to each other?”

Remind employees there is no requirement from the company that an employee participate in a gift exchange during the holidays. This is a personal choice and not sanctioned by the company. As an HR practitioner, one has plenty of work pressures anyway so it should not be placed as the arbiter of gift exchanges at work. The policy should be that gift exchanges are neither encouraged nor mandated.

The Holiday Party – should we or shouldn’t we? On the heels of the tragic act in California, many will question whether these events are necessary anymore. This is a decision left to executives and your general counsel. In my opinion, these events are good for morale, especially if it take places at work where employees get an opportunity to see their fellow employees differently than what they see them doing at work every day. If the company has sponsored them in the past, then I encourage it to consider a party going forward. The best holiday events are the ones at the workplace.

Lastly, drinking at any of these events must be disallowed. There are simply far more chances of injury that can occur at the parties where alcohol is served. The events should be enjoyable to everyone but there is absolutely no reason to allow alcohol to enter the event. This protects the employee and employer. Too many cases and laws exist, which place employers at peril should they endorse the use of alcohol at any company function. Seek counsel to craft the appropriate message for employees, and this message should be generated at the chief executive levels and provided to all of your employees.

Hope these tips help, and to everyone, have a safe and happy holiday season.

P.S. Holiday pay is usually awarded when the employee works their last scheduled workday before the holiday, and their next scheduled workday after the holiday. TIP: Remember, some employees take vacation days before and after holidays, so this must be factored into the pay scenario.

Article by Larry Baldwin, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, MBA – Director of the Human Resource Institute at Culverhouse College of Commerce in The University of Alabama. A former HR Management executive and professional with over 30 years extensive experience management experience.

Get a Safety, Health, and Environmental Expert on your HR Team

The work of Human Resource professionals is complex and diverse. Hey, one of the most fun parts of our work is the unique challenges we face daily! Often we are tasked with responsibilities that are not discussed front and center in textbooks, our trade publications, or even by consultants and experts. Today, let’s talk about one of those subjects; environmental safety and health at work.

One field of work that is not glamorous, but is very important and overseen by many HR professionals is the safety and health of the workforce and the environment.  In this role, we are tasked to ensure our employees are safe from workplace hazards, injury, violence at work, and last, but certainly not least, environmental hazards.

Couple this responsibility with the dynamic need to comply with federal and state worker’s compensation laws and need to provide insurance to protect the employee and organization, and you have a task that deserves laser-focused attention. If you do not believe that safety or worker’s compensation is critical to your work, just have one or more employee accidents or illnesses at work. Seeing employees facing time off from work due to surgery or other complications changes everyone’s mindset. Accidents and illnesses change work dynamics. Plus, there is the impact on your mod rates in the worker’s compensation insurance space.

So, how does one accomplish this role while overseeing all of the other assigned duties? Get the best partners in that field of work on your HR team. By the way, it is important for the HR professional to understand that your whole team may not necessarily be on your staff or payroll. Your HR team may include of Third Party Administrators (TPA) rendering services to you and your employees.  A safety and health or environmental partner can be critical in delivery of HR services to your employees.

Advice on environmental compliance or protection is not something HR professionals receive regular training on in their daily work. Ignorance of these matters in a manufacturing, production, health facility, or school can prove costly.  My reason for writing about this subject is because I spoke recently with an expert in Environmental Compliance from The University of Alabama’s UASafeState Environmental Services program. As a result of this discussion, he opened my eyes and made me realize that this is an area of expertise HR practitioners need.  I encourage fellow HR practitioners to look into this.

With active government auditors and inspectors expanding regulation of the workplace, HR practitioners need to understand the requirements for air and water pollution, hazardous and solid waste, storage tank specs, environmental reporting requirements, storm water management; as well as, illness abatement, and accident prevention in the work environment. Take advantage of conferences and seminars offered by Safe State or other similar organizations and programs. In October 24-26, 2016 UASafeState will host the Alabama Environmental Conference at Perdido Beach Resort in Orange Beach Alabama. The conference goal is to increase the overall understanding of environmental compliance and sustainable environmental management.

Embrace the challenge. Be a learner in whatever HR directive you are asked to oversee, but add the best and brightest partner on your team who can be a contributor. Understand that this is not necessarily your area of expertise. Adding an environmental and safety expert is good HR business.

Article by Larry Baldwin, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, MBA – Director of the Human Resource Institute at Culverhouse College of Commerce in The University of Alabama. A former HR Management executive and professional with over 30 years extensive experience management experience.

Would they Back Out of the Job Offer?

So, say you’re a recruiter or HR manager for your organization. You just closed a job search for a Systems Engineer role in Minot, North Dakota. The candidate met every qualification the hiring manager wanted, plus the team really liked the candidate. They believe he will be a great addition to the team. He accepted the verbal offer and will begin work in three weeks. It’s been a 75-day recruiting search, and the team is ready to move on to other talent searches.

Fast forward, and now you’re five days away from the arrival date of the candidate and the organization is prepared. The team has his office set up with a new computer and an email address has been assigned. The only remaining concern in your mind is that he has not sent back the written offer letter you mailed him and there has been no communication. Are you worried?

Later, when you return from lunch, you check your voice mails, and there is one message from the Systems Engineer candidate. In the voice mail, he begins by saying that he really appreciates the opportunities offered by your company, and the time everyone spent with him, but his tone seems somber. Then, he drops a bombshell. He is declining your offer and says he is staying with his current firm. He explains that they not only matched your offer, but also gave him a 5 percent higher salary and other incentives. Your worry now turns to abject frustration. It is needless to return his call. The day’s gone from great to terrible!

This may seem somewhat far-fetched, but it happens every day in the tough business of talent acquisition. Hiring proven talent away from other firms is often risky when you don’t necessarily know all of the motives of the prospective candidate. To be fair, a job candidate has the absolute right to accept or reject a job offer. A company should be prepared to be jilted at the altar. If you are a recruiter or Human Resource Manager or Hiring Manager, you have probably experienced a similar situation. So, how do you avoid this in the future?  Here are some tips to consider:

• Have a total plan in place regardless of the acceptance of the verbal offer:

After a tough job search, exuberance is a fair response when the prospective candidate accepts a job offer. But, be mindful that there are many variables at play in the mind of the job searcher. Never assume the search is over. Take a cautious approach before sending out those, “Thanks, but no thanks,” letters to candidates who weren’t given the offer. At a minimum, the recruiter should continue communicating with the department to establish a fair evaluation of the remaining candidates should the candidate decline the offer. Why?  These candidates may be next up in the hiring process.

• Always stay in contact with the candidate who accepted the verbal offer:

Avoid the trap of going silent with a candidate after verbal acceptance has been given to you. Have the candidate provide best methods and times to communicate with them during this transition period. Build a working relationship with the person through the waiting period between offer and arrival. Do not wait until the person walks through the door. Quickly send out a written job offer and get this offer in the hands of the candidate ASAP. Use an overnight service and follow-up with an email or phone call to ensure receipt of the documents. Require the written job offer to be accepted and returned to your organization no more than seven days from the verbal offer date. Call the candidate at a minimum of two times each week to find out if they have any questions or concerns. Provide a newcomers website where candidates can learn about the company and find out what they can do to prepare for joining the company in advance of their arrival. Talk with the candidate to determine if they have any questions about the special arrival website or general questions about the new job. Respond promptly to questions and do not be afraid to show the candidate your interest in their arrival. Be active, but not overpowering. Remember, you are investing in this person and want them to be a part of your organization. Build on this relationship. It is a business necessity to build up the relationship before the first day of employment.

• Never assume anything in the world of talent acquisition:

Changing jobs or leaving a company for a new job can be very difficult for many candidates. In recruiting, one should never assume this process is simply a choice of saying yes or no. Safety and security are important to many. Be sensitive to these concerns. Motive is very difficult to establish for every candidate. It is fair game to ask a candidate how they would respond if their current company makes a counteroffer.

“If offered a job by our organization, what will be your response if your present company counters our offer to you?” A possible follow-up comment to the candidate could be, “What makes you worth more today than yesterday to your current company, other than our offer?”

When making an offer of employment to a candidate, ask the tough questions as it relates to their decision to leave their current organization. Your organization is investing time and money in this selection. Never assume anything in the recruitment process.

Talent acquisition requires creative sourcing; sharp interviewing skills; plans for success or possible failure; tough negotiating skills; and the ability to sell and close the deal with the prospective candidates. Once the deal is made, it is important to follow the Sales model of building and developing a customer relationship with the candidate to get them in the door. Excite the candidates about the organization and the job. Show them how important they are to the organization’s growth. Don’t think the talent acquisition process ends simply because the candidate gave a verbal “yes” to your offer. Keep working the deal in a patient and forward thinking manner. How do you handle your job offer process?

To learn more about human resources and talent acquisition, register for the 61st HRM conference, on October 6-7, 2015. The conference will take place at The Club in Birmingham Alabama. More information on our website.

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Article by Larry Baldwin, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, MBA – Director of the Human Resource Institute at Culverhouse College of Commerce in The University of Alabama. A former HR Management executive and professional with over 30 years extensive experience management experience.

Succession Planning: It’s Not Just Needed at the Top!

Some managers think of succession planning like they do writing their wills or purchasing their cemetery plots. They know they should be thinking about it at some point. But they would really rather not do it now. It is just too depressing.  And it is easy to rationalize putting it off amid dealing with daily crises and firefighting.  Additionally, in these days of everybody-for-themselves career planning, some managers actually worry that they might plan themselves out of their jobs if they do too well in identifying and grooming their successors.  Still other managers’ reason that they shouldn’t worry about succession issues, since that is something only the CEO and other senior-level leaders should be concerned about.

But succession planning is no longer a topic that should be put off until a rainy day. It needs to be done now. It needs to be done for all levels in the organization, from CEO down to shop floor worker.  And it needs to be done in small and medium-sized businesses just as much as it needs to be done in big business.

Why has succession planning emerged as such a hot topic? There are at least five major reasons.

• First, the 1996 crash in Bosnia of the plane carrying U.S. Secretary Ron Brown and over 30 senior executives from major U.S. corporations made succession planning a front-burner topic. That plane crash was a wake up call to corporate boards, CEOs, and Vice Presidents of Human Resources around the globe.  It galvanized attention and led many corporations, government agencies, and even nonprofit enterprises to resuscitate otherwise dormant succession planning programs.
• Second, it is common knowledge in small business that inadequate succession plans are a common cause of small business failure when founding entrepreneurs retire or pass away. In fact, an entire industry has sprung up to offer financial, legal or management advice to small business owners about how to hand down their legacies to their heirs who may have ample cause for concern about inheritance taxes that can eat up their life work. Even worse, some entrepreneurs cannot find replacements to manage the business when family members are not interested.  They may be forced to sell—or go out of business.
• Third, the downsizing craze of the late 1980s and 1990s has taken its toll. Middle managers, more than any other group, saw their ranks dramatically thinned during a continuing parade of cost-saving measures that were variously called by such euphemistic terms as reductions in force, downsizings, layoffs, smartsizings, early outs, early retirements, and buyout programs. While those programs looked good to investors on quarterly balance sheets, raised stock prices, and often enhanced earnings for the short-term, they also reduced the ranks of middle managers being prepared for promotion to the senior executive level.  While that would have worked effectively for a few organizations, widespread downsizing depleted the middle management ranks almost everywhere–making traditional modes of recruitment such as headhunting less effective than ever before.  Was it no longer always possible to rely on luring talent away from others when needed desperately–and usually on short notice? And, as immigration rules were tightened in the U.S., the old trick of finding talent from abroad became a proverbial rabbit that was tougher to pull out of the proverbial hat.
• Fourth, demographic trends point toward leaner times for recruiters and increased importance of making investments to grow talent from within. Between 1996 and 2006, those aged 55 to 64 in the U. S. will increase by 54%, while traditional entry-level employees aged 25 to 34 will experience a net decrease of 8.8% below traditional levels before that.  This demographic trend has prompted doomsayers to predict that over 20% of all senior executives in large corporations will be at risk of retirement in just a few years.
• Fifth and finally, record employment levels make worker retention a key cause for concern. With national unemployment rates below 4% at this writing, employers who don’t invest in the development of their employees as a retention tool will find themselves in deep trouble fast.  In some locales (where unemployment rates have dipped below 2%), it is not uncommon to place a job vacancy advertisement in the newspaper and get no responses for a year.  In this market, employers who can give their employees development for the future will find, based on research, that investments in training or succession planning efforts are actually retention strategies that can preserve existing talent.  What is more, employers are becoming more willing to tell people when they are successors for key positions–something that only one-fourth of U.S. employers did just a few years ago–because the hope of future advancement can keep workers from jumping from employer to employer for wage increases ranging from small to very large.

Taken together, these trends point toward the growing importance of succession planning as a daily activity to be undertaken at all levels. It is not just a cause for concern for the CEO. It is, and should be, the concern of any manager who wants to retain, attract, and develop a first-rate staff now and in the future. This trend will not just go away. To learn more about succession planning, register for our course on January 12-13, 2016 at the AIDT Center in Birmingham. More information on our website.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google + , LinkedIn or visit our website for more info and news about Professional Development, Human Resources and how to improve your professional profile.

Article by Robert K. Prescott, Ph.D. SPHR and William J. Rothwell, Ph.D. SPHR. Robert Prescott and William Rothwell are the instructors for the succession planning course offered by Bama At Work.

         

What is The Name of my Game?

Every day our organizational management is confronted with the rush to Big Data and its impacts on organizational metrics. However this rush is failing to understand one critical factor in making a decision. Consider this scenario. It is a dreary, overcast day and so you decide to go to the mall to do some shopping. As you enter your favorite big box store, you see an 18-year-old blonde blue-eyed girl head directly to a particular display. I am not trying to create a stereotype but rather to demonstrate the basis of Big Data.

Marketing has spent large sums of money to create an experience based on Big Data to create a vision of the why that 18-year-old would head to that particular display. Their models extensively study the correlation behind the demographics and desires of certain population groups and how they result in purchases by these groups. In the readings on the implications of Big Data in HR one article suggested the use of a tool called predictive analysis. The example they provided was that Big Data had told an organization that every time a certain manager interviewed a candidate for an open position the hire resulted in a failed hire. The extended logic was that if this hiring manager was the next manager up for an opening, the odds were that the hire would not last. Correlation is great for certain aspects of the organization, but HR needs to see if the causality of the human capital management issues are clearly understood.

Return to our predictive analysis example we discussed above. It is critical that when we have a problem with a process, it is almost never a people problem. If this is correct then the fact that a particular manager is interviewing failed hires is not the grounds for a valid correlation but rather a sign that something is something is wrong with the process. Is the reason that the hires fail due to the wrong cultural fit? Is the reason the hires fail due to the wrong skills for the position? The use of the continual process improvement methodology provides you with the tools to discover the root causes of the process problems that a concentration on correlations does not and cannot.

When we determine that in order to correct the obstacles to the hiring process, we need to find a driven method to empower change in our organizations. The use of the cause and effect determination is a method to drive that change. The TLS Continuum (Theory of Constraints-Lean-Six Sigma) provides a roadmap to discover the causes of the process problems.

We are not suggesting that Big Data does not have a place within our organizations. It certainly does in areas like sales or marketing. But when the success of our organizations is dependent on knowing why we are experiencing process errors, there is a better route to go with the TLS Continuum and the Continuous Process Improvement tools. To learn more about big data and the influence on HR, register for the 61st HRM conference, on October 6-7, 2015. The conference will take place at The Club in Birmingham Alabama. More information on our website.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google + , LinkedIn or visit our website for more info and news about Professional Development, Human Resources and how to improve your professional profile.

Article by Daniel T. Bloom SPHR, Six Sigma Black Belt, SCRP. Daniel is the CEO and Managing Consultant for Daniel Bloom and Associate, Inc and will be a speaker at the 61st Annual HRM conference.