Author: Brenda Sunoo

Ann Lang, 50, is a nurse in LaCrosse, Wisconsin. Her retirement dream includes volunteering in her community, creating scrapbooks for her grandchildren, marveling at the Parthenon and building a cabin. Cheryl Finley, 33, is a New York City-based art appraiser. She’s determined to work until the day she dies. Lang was born about the time Dr. Benjamin Spock wrote the now-classic “Baby and Child Care.” Finley was born when the Beatles were becoming a global phenomenon. By definition, both women are baby boomers. Although each may differ in her retirement goals and level of preparation, both of them represent the largest single generation ever to rock the American workplace.

By the year 2011, the first of the baby boomers will turn 65. According to the “1997 Retirement Confidence Survey”—released by Washington, D.C.-based Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI)—among others, the Golden Years already may be tarnished. Many boomers, they say, dream of early retirement but have accumulated little in the way of savings and have done even less planning to make that retirement happen. In fact, 54 percent of boomers aged 34 to 44 and 38 percent of boomers aged 45 to 52 want to retire by age 55 or younger. Yet, only approximately one-fourth have saved for it. And, only 27 percent of working Americans have any idea of what they will need to accumulate in order to retire when and how they want.

With such false optimism right now—call it denial—large numbers of boomers may opt to retire at or before age 65. The implications of this for companies are huge. Being that boomers right now represent 52 percent of the working population, employers could face a mass exodus of employees, including their experienced managers. You can avoid a staffing disaster by providing ongoing training, phased retirement and realistic financial planning education to sustain their productivity and loyalty—while they’re still on the job.

First, assess your boomer workforce.
Michael McDaniel is an associate professor in the department of psychology at Silver Lake, Ohio-based University of Akron. A 43-year-old baby boomer, he specializes in industrial gerontology—what he describes as a cross between the study of older workers and industrial psychology. He points out that the history of retirement isn’t that long. “People didn’t retire before 1900,” says McDaniel. “They worked until they died.” Only with the growing wealth of society this century, and extended mortality, did the American worker begin dreaming and planning for retirement as it’s known today.

Of course, it’s too soon to tell whether the majority of baby boomers will or won’t retire in their 60s. But for every boomer that does, you need to assess the business impact. Start by conducting a demographic study of your current workforce.

Based on the demographics of the workforce, you can stabilize your company accordingly. For example, if early boomers (those in their 50s) make up a large proportion of your workforce, you needn’t cut their umbilical cords prematurely. Consider their assets. Boomers, for the most part, still embrace their parents’ work ethic of company loyalty. They also possess experience, good judgment, high commitment to quality, low turnover and regular attendance—attributes highly valued by employers when making decisions on hiring, promotion, job assignment and retention. Moreover, they’re far more technologically knowledgeable than their parents. And they can serve as inspiring mentors—provided the channels are created to pass on their professional and life lessons. “Remember, it takes two busters (Generation Xers) to fill the shoes of one boomer because the Xers don’t share the boomers’ ethic to work as long or as much,” says Marilyn Moats Kennedy, managing partner of Career Strategies, a management consulting firm based in Wilmette, Illinois.

Kennedy advises HR to negotiate some form of legal contract with early boomers—now. Such contracts, she says, can stipulate what kinds of benefits would be offered for one to two years of extended employment. Boomers are a gold mine in terms of their skills leading and adapting to various organizations. “It’s the first generation that hasn’t had to live with the notion that what you’re trained to do, you do for the rest of your life,” adds Marc J. Wallace, founding partner of Center for Workforce Effectiveness in Northbrook, Illinois.

On the other hand, aging boomers inevitably will face increased memory loss, impaired hearing and vision, heart diseases—and yes, even loss of confidence. To maintain your boomers’ confidence to meet tomorrow’s business challenges, you also will need to reexamine training practices.

Help aging boomers set new training goals.

The nature of employee training increasingly will be driven by boomers’ demographics. Because the number of people aged 50 to 65 will increase, HR professionals must develop, preserve and renew the skills of these aging workers.

According to the Alexandria, Virginia-based International Personnel Management Association, older employees may be less likely than younger employees to learn new skills. At least, that’s the way it has been in the past. Although baby boomers exhibit a more insatiable thirst for knowledge, skills and experience than their parents, they may still require the HR staff’s sensitive encouragement. Aging employees may ask themselves:

• Is this training worth the time and trouble it will take?
• Can I master the new skills?
• Will I be the oldest person in the class?
• If I successfully complete the training, how will I be rewarded?
• Will I be eligible for a promotion?

Such insecurities can be overcome by explaining why training is necessary, linking training to valued rewards and helping boomers extend their sense of self-responsibility for their own training needs. Your objective is to create a win-win situation, whereby HR personnel and employees agree that training or retraining pays off for both individual employees and the company.

By asking probing questions, HR staff members can help aging employees determine their training goals and objectives while not telling them what to do. Good questions can help them think through a problem—and possibly lay a foundation for future vocational interests down the road. Be a nonthreatening coach—and your company’s employees will maintain the confidence to master a new skill, face their approaching retirement with dignity and become more valuable to the company while they’re still on the job.

Consider phased and partial retirement programs.
As baby boomers request retirement, employers will reconfigure the 40-hour-week schedules so as to keep some of them at least part time. Workers increasingly want flexibility. One step in this direction is the use of phased, partial, gradual, tapered or flexible retirements.

Under such arrangements, workers prepare for retirement by scaling back their work schedules at a certain age, according to Bethesda, Maryland-based Watson Wyatt Worldwide, which conducted a survey of 500 client companies last April. But such arrangements aren’t yet commonplace—even though the idea isn’t new.

Long ago, workers, whether they were peasants or craftsmen, retired in stages as their physical strength and stamina gradually diminished. Retirement amounted to a progressive downsizing of the workload. Industrialization and factory regulations changed that, and retirement came to a halt. Today, the pendulum is slowly swinging back to retirement’s original beginnings.

Phased retirements, according to the Watson Wyatt survey, are a poor cousin to other alternative work arrangements, such as part-time (permanent or temporary), work-at-home and job sharing. However, that standing may change. The largest concentration of phased retirement arrangements today is in companies with 5,000 or more employees—11 percent of these companies have employees in phased retirement schedules. Employees in these programs work an average of 20 to 29 hours per week.

Clearly, HR staffing managers may want to consider such alternative options. You can encourage aging boomers with valuable skills, experience and knowledge to extend their work lives, thereby mitigating a staffing disaster. Some of the other benefits include re-energizing older workers suffering from burnout, utilizing boomers as mentors for Generation Xers and decreasing the likelihood of age-discrimination lawsuits.

Ultimately, HR will have to determine whether alternative employment options are right for the organization. But the assessment is well worth the effort. In reaction to “Workforce 2000” projections, a number of private-sector companies already have begun to introduce flexible retirement options. Among them: Aetna, Levi Strauss, Polaroid and Towle Silversmiths. Use these companies as benchmarks—they’re leading the way into the next century.

And as boomers demand more work flexibility, they’ll also expect flexibility in terms of their retirement benefits. Some companies, therefore, have already begun to change the nature of their pension programs. Here’s why.

Redesign pension benefits for portability.
At Princeton, New Jersey-based Rhone Poulenc—a chemical manufacturing company—the majority of its 7,000 U.S.-based workers are baby boomers. “The average age is 44,” says Diane Audette, manager of employee benefits, financial and regulatory services. The company recently redesigned its salary, pension and medical plans to meet the needs of the future workforce. “Boomers are an important population. They’re key employees, so we didn’t want to do anything that would adversely impact them,” says Audette.

One major concern of boomers and others is the fate of Social Security. Social Security, which today pays retirement, disability and survivor benefits to 48 million people and collects payroll taxes from 144 million workers and employers, is anticipating a financial crunch when baby boomers begin to retire in approximately 2010. Soon after, the system is expected to be paying out more money than it takes in. Policy-makers, some analysts say, may be forced to raise taxes, reduce benefits paid out or completely revamp the system.

At some point, employers such as Rhone Poulenc will have to consider how much of the burden they’re willing to absorb. Who’s going to pick up the slack? Will employees be encouraged to collect additional savings to make up the difference? Or will the burden fall on employers?

Meanwhile, Rhone Poulenc’s human resources staff is reducing its employees’ anxieties by redesigning the pension plans. “During the course of their careers, they can accrue a meaningful benefit. And we’re paying the benefits out in a lump sum, which is quite a big change,” says Audette. If an individual gave Rhone Poulenc the best 15 years of his or her career and left at age 50, the individual could take a lump sum upon departure. Employees, she says, are attuned to portability, and they also want to control the management of their assets.

You can assist your company’s employees by continually providing them with financial training and other useful information about pensions, savings and investments. For example, your employees may find it helpful to think of the retirement income system as a three-legged stool (so described by many financial planners): Social Security, personal savings and employer-sponsored pensions each representing a leg. As the stool destabilizes because of demographic shifts, Social Security facing long-term funding problems and increasing pressures toward employer-sponsored plans, boomers will need to bolster what they can to prop up their retirement stools. Because some studies contend that baby boomers will retire with only one-third of what it would take to achieve a comparable level to their preretirement standard of living, employees should be encouraged to save. One Watson Wyatt Worldwide report concludes the best approach is to expect the worse, save until it hurts and be pleasantly surprised if things turn out to be better than expected.

So whatever form your company’s financial training takes, HR’s main goal is to educate and evaluate, not just communicate, says Jim Sullivan, of Arthur Andersen Performance & Learning Center in St. Charles, Illinois. Given the dollars invested in such programs, your company should see some return on investment. Properly designed retirement planning education should give your employees the tools to plan, not tell them what to do. By helping boomers plan for retirement, your company is more likely to manage productive and creative workers—while they’re still on the payroll.

Workforce, December 1997, Vol. 76, No. 12, pp. 48-53.

Doris Drucker believes it’s never too late to start one’s own business. As an eighty-something inventor and co-founder of Claremont, California-based RSQ LLC, the wife of management scholar Peter Drucker is a former employee turned entrepreneur. She and Obie O’Brien formed their company in order to market Visivox, a portable battery-operated device that helps public speakers determine their voice projections. Without any previous management and ownership experience, Drucker has paved new ground in her mature years. She appreciates the value of perseverance, good health and goal-setting. HR can get a glimpse of her entrepreneurial mindset and encourage some retiring employees along a similar path.

Q: In your earlier career days, what did you do?
A: I obtained an advanced degree in physics while my children were in school. Afterward, I thought I would go for a doctorate. But then I realized that at age 50, there was no chance of getting an interesting job as a woman. The only field I could see myself in then was teaching. But temperamentally, I’m unsuited for it. Then I saw an ad in the paper for a patent attorney who wanted someone with a math or science degree to write patent applications. I did that for five years.

Q: What skills did you acquire in that occupation?
A: The job requires writing very concisely and paying great attention to what the various parts of a product are called. If a part is misnamed, it could be a fatal error because someone might pounce on it and contest the patent. So the job taught me to be very precise.

Q: How did you eventually become an inventor?
A: After I looked at some of the inventions of other people, I thought, “My gosh, I can invent too.” One of my ideas was a product that would quickly heat food. But by the time I had developed the design, the microwave oven already had come out. Then, because my husband gave so many speeches and I’d sit in the back of the room and shout out when his voice couldn’t be heard, I thought there must be a better way to let him know. And then I thought of [the idea that has become] Visivox. [The device monitors a speaker’s voice and flashes light signals showing the speaker immediately whether he or she is being heard.]

Q: What has been the most difficult part of running your business?
A: Inventing is easy. I get lots of ideas through serendipity — in the morning. Somewhere between sleep and wake, the ideas just come. It’s the marketing that’s hard. Inventors have to find a distributor for their products. I’m looking for distributors in rehab facilities, universities and [companies in] industries that do a lot of speaking and training. Selling is a hard point because you have to get others to see they need your product. That’s hard.

Q: What kinds of attributes are necessary to be an entrepreneur?
A: That’s a difficult question. Everyone has different gifts and talents. But one of the important attributes [of an entrepreneur] is perseverance. Being an inventor can be very discouraging. Very often, you’re alone. You also have to be in good health. I work out by playing tennis three times a week, if I can. I also go to the health club and work out, do track walking, run and mountain climb in the summer. I’m in good shape physically.

Q: Should HR professionals encourage baby boomers to own businesses after retirement?
A: It depends on one’s financial situation. Many people who’ve been downsized can’t start a business. They have to eat. You can’t be an entrepreneur without some financial security. You have to make sure your cost of living is paid. During the first year or two, you won’t make any money. You’re lucky if you come out even. And if you’re a single person, I’d say it’s very risky .

Q: What role can HR play in helping employees think like or become entrepreneurs?
A: People often say they want to find something that interests and engages them. But the idea doesn’t go anywhere. So HR [professionals] can encourage those people to focus their interests in very specific areas by asking specific questions related to their interests.

Workforce, December 1997, Vol. 76, No. 12, p. 57.

Earlier this year, Kathleen Brown, an executive vice president at San Francisco-based Bank of America (BOA), spoke before 500 women at a seminar entitled “Women, Money and Power.” BOA organized the free public seminar as part of its Women’s Financial Initiative—an effort launched in April to demystify financial planning and money management for women. The goal is important because women tend to outlive men by seven years. Women on average also earn lower salaries and accumulate fewer pension benefits because they leave the job market more often. In fact, women account for only 22 percent of those over 65 who are receiving pensions at all, according to the U.S. Bureau of Census in 1991.

Such pitiful statistics may change as the next century approaches, however. Employers increasingly are seeking ways to retain valuable employees. As women learn more about financial and retirement planning, they’re more likely to maintain control over their lives and remain in the workforce. Employers, therefore, won’t have to face the imminent attrition of retiring boomers with panic. HR can fill the staffing gaps—including managerial positions—with high-potential female candidates. But the incentive for women to stay and move up begins with HR providing financial education. “Employees are more productive when they feel their employer cares about them,” says Bill Chapman, president of Chicago-based Kemper Retirement Plans.

 

Provide legislative updates.
Key to encouraging proactive retirement planning is keeping employees abreast of legislation that affects retirement-savings plans. One of the recent bills being considered by Congress is the Women’s Investment and Saving Equity Act. It would allow women to make catch-up contributions to a 401(k) plan that would cover the time spent at home on maternity or paternity leave. Women who left the workforce to care for a child could also use this catch-up provision to cover the years, up to a maximum of 18, when no contribution was made.

Sounds good on the surface. But Chapman cautions the bill could introduce a new set of retirement-related problems for women. “The bill’s spousal consent provision relies on the outdated notion that men work and women don’t,” he says. If spousal consent is required for 401(k) distributions, he adds, a working woman abandoned by her husband couldn’t receive her retirement benefits until her husband had first given his permission.

Clearly, HR should provide their employees with legislative updates on such bills. These updates can be posted, circulated, or read on the Internet or a corporate intranet. Also, human resources managers can keep up-to-date on the bills because they may change the way HR manages benefits in the future. For example, employers may have to do more record keeping and matching contributions, but such requirements are well worth the effort to retain good employees, says Chapman. “As long as pension programs are structured reasonably, employers won’t have a problem. Meeting the needs of female employees makes good business sense.” (To view a “Pension Checklist for Women,” visit American Savings Education Council in Washington, D.C.)

 

Promote attendance at local investment conferences.
Since the 1980s, the number of woman-headed households has risen approximately 240 percent. It’s estimated that 90 percent of all women will have sole control of their finances at some point in their lives. With that responsibility comes the need to chart an investment course—rather than just to rely on Social Security. Mary Jayne Fabian Barnett, vice president of Fabian Financial Services in Huntington Beach, California, speaks from experience. “Ten years ago, I decided to teach myself to be an investment counselor,” says Barnett, who spoke at InterShow’s The Money Show—a conference for investors held annually in several U.S. cities.

Thousands of women are increasing the attendance at such events, according to Charles Githler, chairman and founder of Sarasota, Florida-based InterShow—an investor convention and cruise producer. They’re also demanding that seminars be tailored to their specific needs.

The most important thing to remember is that female baby boomers are more sophisticated and proactive than their older counterparts. Provide financial information in a variety of ways—and watch them stay.

 

Workforce, December 1997, Vol. 76, No. 12, p. 51.

Two months ago, President Bill Clinton was fitted for two hearing aids. By overcoming his reluctance to admit hearing loss, he set a positive tone for aging baby boomers.

Indeed, many worry that memory loss, failing eyesight and gray hair will make them appear older or less effective than they are. And being effective is of great concern to baby boomers — especially as they age. The good news is that they’re accomplishing this effectiveness by working hard. The bad news is that these accomplishments come at the expense of their health. “Everybody knows how to work harder and develop new skills. But we’re not taught how to take care of ourselves,” says Tatsuo Hirano, a doctor of oriental medicine and a licensed acupuncturist in Glendale, California. He increasingly has treated boomers for problems such as carpal tunnel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, Epstein-Barr Virus and fibromyalgia. Boomers also face heart disease. According to the American Heart Association, heart disease is the No. 1 killer in the United States, accounting for 41 percent of all deaths.

Because poor health of aging boomers translates to both decreased productivity and increased health-care costs, it’s important for HR professionals to pay attention to prevention. According to New York City-based William M. Mercer Inc., employers nationwide devote approximately 95 percent of health-benefits expenses to treating illnesses. Expenses could be significantly decreased by shifting more resources to preventive care and health-promotion.

To be truly effective, such efforts should go beyond focusing solely on physical health. According to Dr. Bill Hettler, co-founder of the Stevens Point, Wisconsin-based National Wellness Institute, a nonprofit organization assisting professionals working in the health-promotion industry, wellness embraces six dimensions: social, occupational, spiritual, physical, intellectual and emotional.

The employer benefit speaks for itself. Just take a look at the examples cited by the Omaha, Nebraska-based Wellness Councils of America:

• Providence General Hospital in Everett, Washington, saved an estimated $1.5 million, or a cost-benefit ratio of 1 to 4.24, over the three years of an outcomes-based employee health-benefits program. By offering financial incentives to employees who demonstrate responsibility for their health and fitness based on set criteria, the program showed reduced use of health benefits, lower medical claims and less absenteeism.
• The Stay Alive & Well program at Las Vegas-based Reynolds Electrical & Engineering Co. reported more than 50 percent participation out of 1,600 employees. The cost per employee was $76.24, and the resulting savings were $127.89 per participant with a benefit to cost ratio of 1.68 to 1.

And the benefits go beyond just cost savings. The bottom line is that by promoting wellness, companies can expect greater productivity and company loyalty from aging boomers. “People who put wellness in a box and only expect absolute cost savings are shortsighted,” says Jeff Rubleski, chief operating officer of Omaha, Nebraska-based Wellness Councils of America.

Workforce, December 1997, Vol. 76, No. 12, p. 52.

Devising strategies for keeping the workforce motivated is a primary role of HR. Nowhere is this more important than in a company at which the business itself is all about motivation. Weight Watchers International Inc. is just such a business. The 34-year-old organization relies on well-trained leaders to motivate and encourage millions of customers to change their eating habits and become healthier human beings. Brian Powers, general manager of Weight Watchers, explains below how HR fulfills this role.

What’s your background?
My background originally is in education, in which I obtained an undergraduate degree. But I fell upon a recruiting assignment through a recruiting firm and ultimately ended up in HR, doing recruitment and working my way up through the ranks. Then I went for my master’s degree in labor industrial relations. And here I am. That’s the short version.

Over the years, I’ve gained a lot of experience in all areas of HR: recruitment, employee relations, compensation and benefits. I’ve done it all.

What’s the unique aspect of HR at Weight Watchers?
All of our field personnel have been on the program. They’re lifetime members. That fact, however, creates some challenges for us in terms of recruitment and selection-to have former members want to share their success with others and become part of the Weight Watchers organization. In fact, some members don’t realize our leaders actually get paid to do what they do because they’re sharing their success and motivating them by saying, “I’ve done it. You can do it, too.” That passion about wanting to help others succeed is what we have.

So what strategies have you created to successfully recruit?
As soon as people become lifetime members, we send them a recruitment brochure. We have our staff talk to them and ask if they want to be part of the business and become part of the experience to help others succeed. We try to get that message out to those people. We identify those who are dynamic at speaking. Our leaders and receptionists become friends of these people. They can identify the dynamic people. We approach them in writing or just ask them, “Would you consider a position with Weight Watchers?” We put them through a complete training program to learn how to deliver our message and motivate others to do as they did.

How is human resources organized in your company?
We’re probably no different from HR at other companies. We’ve gone through many changes within this group. We’re a division of H.J. Heinz Co. So we’re able to reap some of the rewards of its enhanced benefits programs. It’s a $7 billion company. We have a good benefits package, which we wouldn’t be able to have on our own because we’re a smaller company. We provide full comprehensive medical benefits, dental, vision, life insurance and tuition reimbursement for some groups of employees.

What’s your breakdown of employees in North America?
Our full-time, salaried employees include 550 people: all our administrative office personnel, field management staff, trainers and finance people. The part-timers are the 5,500 people who work between two meetings a week to 15 to 17 meetings per week. It runs the gamut. There are some leaders who are professionals in their own right and they want to share their success with others by working part time about two nights a week. Our leaders and receptionists are on the front line. They’re the most important piece here.

How would you describe your customer base?
About 98 percent are women. I don’t know if there’s an average age. Our target age is between 25 and 55. Our service providers match the same profile and percentage -98 percent are women. Now, speaking from experience, I think men are more the self-help type—they’re not as much in favor of a group-support experience. But we do have some very successful men on the program and many who are leaders.

Have you been through the Weight Watchers program?
I’ve been to meetings. I understand the program, but I lost all my weight before Weight Watchers. I feel that having lost weight was an advantage I had over other qualified candidates. When you deal with the field personnel, there’s something to the fact that you’ve also struggled with weight loss. If I had been skinny throughout my life and never had a weight problem, I’d have less credibility. But I’ve lost 50 pounds—on my own. When people hear that, they can identify with me more. It’s a matter of establishing that credibility issue. It’s something to break the ice with.

The company has recently undergone a downsizing. What impact has that had on staffing and customer service?
We’ve had different kinds of downsizings. One was administrative. HR, at one time in the early ’90s, employed 14 people. But with five HR people today, we still service the same number of employees. We’ve been challenged with the same edicts as other companies: How do you reduce costs and still provide a quality HR function? It’s been quite an experience, but I think we’ve evolved into a streamlined and effective HR department.

Within the Heinz world, we shifted some of our administrative burden—benefits administration, for example—to corporate headquarters. So we didn’t need the same staff as before. We have also centralized our payroll functions. We used to have five regional field offices that processed accounting and payroll. Now we have three. We’ve taken all of that into corporate headquarters as well. That was a lot of it—centralizing and systematizing things for efficiency.

Can you describe the culture of your organization?
Our total culture is one of empathy. We really care about what we do here. We’re not making widgets and manufacturing something that’s purchased and you never hear about it again. The nice thing about this business is that when people are successful, you’ve actually impacted their lives.

For example, our trainers really help our leaders deliver the program: the leaders learn presentation skills, how to use the tools to open up and create an atmosphere that’s motivating. That’s the key —- how to be motivating. People who come to Weight Watchers are looking for support. They need someone who understands where they’re coming from. That’s what the training programs try to teach our leaders and receptionists. Most have been there themselves. That’s half the battle because our service providers have lived the program and are in the same situation.

Why and how did Weight Watchers choose the Duchess of Windsor as its spokesperson?
She shares the same public relations agency—Rubenstein and Associates. Howard Rubenstein was talking to her one time and learned she’d gone to Weight Watchers and asked her if she’d like to work with us. He put it together. And it’s been a great relationship.

Workforce, July 1997, Vol. 76, No. 7, pp. 27-28.

Human resources professionals are challenged enough with their duties. Imagine adding to the mix the daily worry about whether you’ll walk away from your job alive. HR professionals at the California Department of Corrections not only must do their job well, but live with the possibility that mayhem can occur at any moment.

James E. Libonati, assistant deputy director in the Office of Personnel Management for the California Department of Corrections, has turned a two-month temporary job into a 12-year career at this state agency devoted to public safety and public service. Below, he describes a unique situation in which 75 percent of the 550 HR staff work inside the prisons.

What is your range of responsibilities?
I’m responsible for a great portion of the HR management program in the Office of Personnel Management. It entails hiring, which includes testing for all of our entry-level, nonpeace-officer classifications. Then, there’s the testing for promotions of everybody in the department. In addition, I have responsibility for the classification and pay program for the department and its disciplinary processes.

How is human resources set up in the state agency?
We’re somewhat splintered. In the state of California, there’s a central department called the Department of Personnel Administration. It handles the more generic activities for state employees. For example, it’s responsible for benefits administration for all state departments. State agencies like ours, therefore, don’t need to worry about negotiating contracts with health providers.

Now, within the California Department of Corrections’ Office of Personnel Management, the human resources function is structured in a way that reflects the rapid growth we’ve experienced within the last 15 years. We have a special branch called Selection and Standards, whose sole function is the recruitment, selection and hiring of all entry-level peace officers. This classification refers to all prison-custody personnel, parole agents and special law-enforcement staff. Approximately two-thirds of our 42,000 employees are peace officers who must go through our academy, the Richard A. McGee Correctional Training Center in Sacramento.

How did you land your current job at the agency?
That’s an interesting story. In the early 1980s, I worked as the personnel officer for the California Department of Water Resources. There was a vacancy in the Department of Corrections for the personnel officer job. It was a two-month, temporary position. I thought, “Why not?” For me, it was quite a promotion. Then this two-month appointment turned into 12 years plus.

How has the job changed over those years?
One of the biggest changes—not because of me, personally—was centralizing the hiring process. Some years ago, most of the responsibility for hiring and firing rested at the institution level. In the mid-’80s, California had 12 penal institutions. Each institution had its own unique way of handling things. Standards were slightly different; procedures were different. There was no one way of handling things. Then the agency centralized all of the entry-level peace-officer hirings into one place. That created a more efficient pipeline.

How do you look at growth?
Growth is a challenge. I’ve never worked in an organization as big as this. In 1985, we had 12 prisons. Today, we have 32. Back in 1985, we had 14,000 employees. Now, we have 42,000. Our new prison program was legislatively mandated, obviously. It was the will of the people as expressed to their elected representatives. They wanted more prisons to lock up more people who do bad things to society. I don’t have a problem with that. That’s what prisons are for. I support the department’s mission of public safety and public service.

Which jobs are the most dangerous —and why?
When you work in a prison, you assume some risk to yourself once you get inside the perimeter. This is one thing that’s different from any other agency. You don’t have the same type of security issues in more typical work settings. The danger factor here is going to be more prevalent among the custody staff inside. But there are also possible assaults on other staff, too—the medical personnel and culinary staff—even HR. You can’t predict what’s going to happen. Working in a prison is inherently dangerous at all levels.

As an HR manager, I’ve visited every single prison. I don’t feel threatened by going inside the prison walls. You get used to it. Once you go inside, however, you take responsibility for your own safety. You have to be constantly vigilant about what’s going on around you.

How do you go about recruiting for some of the tougher jobs?
We actually have no problem recruiting the correctional officers who comprise the majority of our peace-officer staff. Their turnover rate is approximately 7 percent, which is very good. The State offers good salaries and benefits structures. Recruitment isn’t an issue for those classifications. But we have difficulty hiring medical staff for some locations. And that’s not just doctors, but psychiatrists, psychologists and psychiatric social workers. It’s quite a responsibility for the department to assume [comprehensive] medical care for all of our inmates. And it’s even more difficult to recruit for some of our more remote or rural areas, such as Crescent City, located near the Oregon border. So [the only leverage we have] is the salary to attract the right person. The State has some flexibility, but not a tremendous amount.

Are inmates who work managed under HR?
No. We don’t consider inmate workers as employees. They’re considered a separate group—not state employees. They typically work to reduce their sentences. Many of them provide public service by cleaning parks, fighting fires or making prison products. Inmates who work typically report to their first-line supervisors who are non-inmates.

How many HR professionals actually work at the prisons?
Our department is pretty decentralized. Approximately 75 percent of our 550-member HR staff is working inside the prisons.

Does that make it hard to recruit qualified HR candidates?
A little difficult. We have to compete with the salaries of our custody personnel. We’ve even seen some of our HR staff take the entry-level custody-personnel exam because of the better salary.

Does HR staff receive special training to work in a prison?
The department provides an orientation for all new employees, which includes information about the department’s mission, how to work in a prison setting and what HR staff can and can’t do in this setting. For example, employees can’t become involved in a relationship with an inmate—however innocent. You can’t hold an inmate’s money or have any business affair with an inmate.

What are the main HR issues facing the department today?
We’ve been growing so quickly over the years that we’ve needed to hire and train new people. But there doesn’t seem to be enough time to prepare those who will become the new supervisors.

Because we have a diverse inmate population and workforce, communication skills need to be addressed in any kind of supervisory training component. So we’re spending more time examining ways to improve the personal treatment of our staff and improve our supervisors’ communication skills.

We also want to improve the quality of our supervisory staff by increasing the time it takes to get to the next pay level.

If there’s a prison disturbance, how does it impact HR?
We have minor problems almost every day, such as inmates fighting with each other. When we face a larger disturbance, our line custody staff are the ones responsible for quelling them. Our prison staff calms down the inmates, breaks up the combatants or helps the injured parties. Other than handling workers’ compensation claims, human resources doesn’t play much of a role. Ours is a service role—after the fact.

What’s the most common misperception the public has of the California Department of Corrections?
Many people think [criminals] should be put in prison with the key thrown away. But the Department of Corrections doesn’t have that kind of discretion. The prison’s role is to track the sentences of all inmates. When it’s time to release an inmate, he or she is released—regardless of how we feel personally.

How have you changed your perception of prisons in the last 12 years?
I have a greater understanding and respect for the prison environment—especially for those who are responsible for the day-to-day operations, such as the warden. This is one of the most difficult jobs in the world. Not only is a warden responsible for thousands of inmates, but thousands of employees, physical plant issues and local community concerns.

What was the most frightening experience you’ve ever had?
I was down at one of Southern California’s institutions leading a tour of officials from another governmental jurisdiction. We went into the receiving and release area, where new inmates come when they initially arrive at the prison. Well, we got locked up in a room with two different busloads of inmates—many of whom got into a fistfight. Everything worked out in the end.

Seriously though, a prison is a prison —it’s not a country club. It’s not a very nice place to be.

Workforce, June 1997, Vol. 76, No. 6, pp. 115-119.

People are the most important asset, making HR the most important function — no matter what the business. Find out the unique challenges faced by his HR leader — and some strategies for handling universal HR issues

 Most of us only dream of an ideal job in an ideal setting. If we can get one of the two, we consider ourselves lucky. As human resources director at Pebble Beach Co. in Northern California, Susan Merfeld has found both. She enjoys applying her people skills at the renowned golf resort area.

What is your HR background?
I’ve always been in the resort industries. I was previously with Northstar Resort at Tahoe in Lake Tahoe, California as its director of HR. Northstar is a year-round destination resort on the north shore of Lake Tahoe. But my formal education is in elementary education; I studied to be a kindergarten teacher. When my husband took a part-time job as the editor of a local paper in Tahoe, we moved to that area. But teaching positions at that time were scarce. First I landed a job at Northstar as a payroll clerk. As the company added staff, I joined HR and have been in the field ever since.

How did you end up with this particular job?
I’ve been with the company for eight years. How it came about is that my husband was on a golfing vacation with his buddies at Pebble Beach. He saw a job posting and told me about it when he got home. I wasn’t looking for a job then, but I made one phone call, and one thing led to another.

I first joined the company as its employee relations manager. Then I was given the opportunity to be promoted to employment manager, then human resources manager and most recently, as director of HR.

What are the biggest challenges of your industry?
Presently, for me, it’s hiring and selection—although harnessing technology is a close second. Overall, we’re very fortunate because our turnover is very low for the industry—around 18 percent. I would like to see it get even lower. My philosophy is that right hiring is the key to a company’s success. It’s important to hire individuals with the passion and energy to be in the hospitality, resort industry. Pebble Beach Co.’s jobs are pretty diverse in that we have employees in our two hotels, retail stores, restaurants, ecology department and forestry areas.

How is human resources viewed in your organization?
When I first joined the company, the department was very much a record keeper. HRplanned the company picnics. The department has reached, thank goodness, to the point of reporting directly to the president, John Chadwell. He has given a lot of support to employee training and development. He was a former Disney Co. executive and strongly believes in training. So advocating training and development is a battle I didn’t have to fight. In fact, Pebble Beach Co. was fortunate to receive an Employment Training Program (ETP) grant from the state of California. It’s a generous program that supports and funds training for private employers. The company received a grant of more than a half-million dollars. It allowed HR to open Pebble Beach University (PBU) and focus on skills training and competencies, and develop future jobs.

Can you tell me more about PBU?
The university provides an opportunity for managers and hourly employees to receive training. All managers, for example, go through a core leadership program. They’re given a chance to select electives that enhance their skills, developing them for future opportunities. Hourly employees also can take a variety of classes on topics such as company culture, values and traditions, team-building, conflict resolution and computer training. This training component is one in which we’re still growing.

In fact, our company has a training manager and, at times, we use outside consultants. But the organization has so much in-house expertise, HR taps that talent as well.

What’s unique about HR at Pebble Beach Co.?
What’s unique is being part of a team that’s recognized worldwide. Also, the oceanside surroundings we work in are incredible. I have other HR professionals who come here and say, “You’re getting paid for doing this job?” But I really believe in our people-management formula: That in order to hire the best, you have to train, communicate and take care of your employees.

Our managers have very high expectations of our employees. HR and other managers have to reward them for their hard efforts. So we have a rewards program called Whatever It Takes (WIT). Our company uses our seven values as the criteria: constant improvement, guest service, fulfilled employees, teamwork, taking care of the environment, being a good neighbor and building financial value.

Employees have a voice in the recognition process and can nominate each other, based on deeds that embody these company values. Teams and individuals can be nominated. The program was introduced six months ago and is a major success. Our old recognition program was basically ‘employee of the month.’

One front-desk clerk received a WIT award for helping a guest buy some candy for her child. The employee, who had already changed out of her uniform, ran downstairs to the employees’ vending machine and bought candy with her own money and gave it to the child. Well, the guest told that story to the front-desk employee because she had never experienced such customer service.

In addition, HR awarded the WIT to one of our teams that implemented a major computer software conversion for the company.

What’s in store for the future?
The main company goal is to build more financial value by maintaining the company’s competitive edge—not resting on our laurels. Our executive committee, which comprises Chadwell and our division vice presidents, is working on a three-year plan. The company also has a Vision 21 Team that’s been in place the last 18 months. We’re planning a new 24-room spa at The Lodge, and we’re in the permit process for a fifth golf course.

The demand for golf has far exceeded the organization’s inventory. So we’re working with the county, the coastal commission and local entities for developing this other golf course.

Is your customer base changing?
Yes. Spanish Bay, which is the most recent hotel (nine years old), was built to attract group business. And today, more than 60 percent of its business is for conferences and meetings. Some global companies, such as Volvo, will pay for space at the hotel for a month.The Lodge attracts smaller groups, such as executive recruiters or CEO groups. The resort has been attracting people from all over the country and more internationally.

Is Tiger Woods a frequent player at Pebble Beach?
Yes. He played in the AT&T Pro-Am tournament earlier this year and paired with Kevin Costner. There were record crowds and people were following him everywhere. He has stayed here at our resorts. At 21, he’s got quite a future ahead of him. I feel a little sorry for him, though, because he has to deal with the pressure of fans. But what a gentleman.

Workforce, May 1997, Vol. 76, No. 5, pp. 93-94.

With ship names such as Song of Norway, Legend of the Seas and Sun Viking, who could possibly resist the idea of a luxury cruise? While it promises sunshine, relaxation and dancing for guests, it means work for 8,000 shipboard employees of Miami-based Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. Managing an international pool of land and predominantly shipboard employees is unique, according to Tom Murrill, vice president of HR. Unlike land-based operations, however, those on a ship must serve clientele 24 hours a day, seven days a week—without any physical separation from the guests for days at a time. Here are some of Murrill’s HR insights on his unique job.

How did you end up with this particular job in this industry?
I’ve been in the service business for 20 years. I started in California with Burlington Air Express—a cargo express company. I was the senior vice president and general counsel as well as the one responsible for human resources. I’ve always focused predominantly on the HR area. Then I worked for Ecolab—a provider of cleaning and sanitation products. This was also in the service industry. Then I was recruited from Columbus, Ohio, where I was working for an Ecolab division, to work for Royal Caribbean. That was two years ago.

What are the biggest challenges of your industry?
The biggest challenge is managing the growth in our industry. We’re adding two new ships this year and another one in 1998. With the growth, it means we have to continue to find, train and develop the best employees in the vacation industry. One of the complexities is that as [global] economies improve, foreign nationals find more job opportunities in their own home countries.

So we reengineered our recruitment process two years ago when I came. We developed a network of 20 staffing partners around the world and identified job profiles for all the positions we require. We also have an onsite training and orientation process with the hiring partners to screen all employees and make them fully aware of our job expectations.

What are some of the stresses for shipboard employees?
The biggest stress factor is that shipboard employees are away from home. Some may come from India or Europe—and end up sailing on a ship cruising to the Caribbean or Asia. That’s the main change for most individuals. Most people work in their own communities. On a ship, they move to a new community. So one of our challenges is to welcome and make them comfortable and ensure they’ll be successful on the cruise ship.

Shipboard employees have a rotating schedule, so depending on their schedule, they can get from a half to a full day off in the various ports. But of course, the majority of their time is working to service the guests.

We also have a medical staff with physicians on every ship. And our captain and his staff (staff captain, hotel manager and chief engineer) are the four senior positions on the ship. They spend a great deal of time providing mentoring, leadership and assistance to our employees.

What’s unique about the customer service required for ship guests?
When guests are on a ship, they never go home. Customer service has to be provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Unlike a hotel, where guests spend many hours away from the site, we have cruise guests seven to 14 days, 24 hours a day. This is why we have a high ratio of 1 employee for every 2.7 guests; we have to provide world-class service on a 24-hour basis.

Is retention an issue?
Like all service businesses, retention is an issue. Since our employees are away from home, some [prospective] staff think they’d like being shipboard but later decide it’s not for them. So we try to address these issues through such programs as our Royal Recognition Club, through mentoring and compassionate leaves for those with family emergencies. I think the vacation industry recognizes the need for flexibility in order to manage change.

We also have a wonderful cruise program for our shipboard and shoreside employees. After one year, all employees receive one free familiarization cruise. Now, for shipboard employees, that’s only appealing when they can bring their families. Family members get significantly discounted, almost free cruises. And for more distant family members, we even provide discount cruise options. This is a strong benefit that shipboard and shoreside employees enjoy.

How is HR viewed at Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.?
Shoreside, human resources is one of the seven pillars of our company’s strategic plan. We have a high profile and commitment to the training and development of our employees.

Shipboard, HR comes about in many ways. The purser’s office is there to address such concerns. The crew relations purser [employees] are those who handle things behind the scenes, such as administrative and financial matters. And the captain has regular meetings with the staff and employees to update them on what the company is doing.

Are all of your captains male?
Currently, all of our captains are male. The majority are Norwegian and Swedish. Overall, however, we have a broad diversity not only in terms of nationality, but in gender as well with men and women in all other positions. But the marine side has traditionally been a male-dominated culture. And we’re cracking that. One of our targets is to broaden our diversity.

Is your customer base changing?
Yes. The cruise industry is experiencing a shift from the traditionally [older, retired] cruiser toward families and younger, first-time cruisers who see cruises as a viable vacation option. We’re competing against Las Vegas, resort hotels and entertainment theme parks. One of the biggest changes in the industry is in the design of our ships and the amenities. On one ship, we even provide 18 rounds of miniature golf. Cruising is one of the best pampering experiences one can have.

How would you define the culture of your organization?
Our corporate culture is one of high customer satisfaction and one that promotes diversity. Shoreside, for example, 53 percent of our employees are Hispanic and 57 percent are women.

Moreover, all of our employees must speak English because there are strong international safety standards. But many of our employees are bilingual. On each ship, we have a cruise director and an international host/hostess who are multilingual. If our non-English-speaking guests require services, there’s always somebody on ship who speaks the language of the guest. We have bilingual staff from many countries.

Do you get to travel very much?
I don’t get to cruise that often. But when I go on a ship for training, I must admit, it’s certainly nice to be visiting ships in beautiful waters of the world.

Workforce, April 1997, Vol. 76, No. 4, pp. 91-92.

 

T

homas W. Hirons, industrial sociologist, in Mansfield, Ohio, says:
“Before any organization makes a decision to use pre-employment testing, I recommend HR first examine the risks of violating the ADA, FMLA, Drug Free Workplace Act, EEO and Affirmative Action. Next, consider the reliability of the test itself, test administrator and testing vendor. Lastly, check into the real reason your organization has turned to testing. Are you concerned about group consensus or appeasing a demanding supervisor? These are extremely important considerations in the basic hiring process.

“I’ve had no problem with basic-skill pre-employment testing. Can an applicant add, subtract and spell? Is he or she PCliterate? Pre-employment testing in terms of an applicant’s character, however, is risky.

“I’ve seen groups and committees make hiring decisions solely based on pre-employment testing. In other words, group and committee dynamics were in such turmoil that members couldn’t trust their own instincts and took the easy way out in making important hiring decisions. The hiring process of any organization is a vital indicator of the organization’s decision-making process and learning ability.

“If an organization wants to make pre-employment testing just one of the tools, that’s OK. But our culture is very test-biased and testing dependent, so keeping pre-employment testing in check often is difficult. We test every type of human behavior imaginable starting from first grade. Employment hiring and workplace human behavior vary in different professional settings. Organizations that hire based on sound human resources practices that have developed over time within the organizations are much better off in the long run than with any form of pre-employment testing.”

Greg Marvel, human resources director for Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, in Oakland, California, says:
“Pre-employment testing is one of the most valuable HR tools available today. The reality is that most employers can ill afford to make the wrong choice in an employment selection, as the costs of training and investing in a new employee have skyrocketed.

“Every professional human resources position I’ve held during the last 20 years has utilized pre-employment testing to help narrow large applicant pools and differentiate between levels of knowledge and skills among candidates. As HR practitioners, we must not forget the ultimate purpose of any pre-employment test is to serve as a predictor of success on the job and provide the best candidates for our client departments.

“I always have managed recruitments with the attitude that applicants who got through one of our tests had received our ‘seal of quality,’ and that our customers (the department or work site with the vacancy) could reasonably expect final applicants could do the job.

“Of course, those of us who do pre-employment testing (whether written, oral or performance) must always remember that there must be a nexus between the duties of the job and the tests given to determine knowledge, skills and abilities.

“As the modern human resources department migrates to a strategic business partnership with its internal customers, the bottom line becomes ever more important. Some might argue that pre-employment testing is an expensive luxury that organizations can’t afford. I disagree. Each hiring decision will ultimately cost tens of thousands of dollars in salary, training and benefits. The cost of pre-employment testing is small when viewed in this light, and a successful program will ultimately bolster the bottom line of any organization.”

Workforce, March 1997, Vol. 76, No. 3, p. 125.