Author: Charlene Solomon

Safety abroad always is a top priority. But personal security for American expatriates, international business travelers, and foreign expats working for American firms catapulted to the top of the list for global HR managers on September 11.

Of course, you can hire a security firm to help you create an entire program with complete crisis management planning and evacuation assistance, but if you don’t have the budget and need to take steps today, you can still do a lot to protect your international assignees and business travelers.

What you can do today
Find out where all of your expats are right now. This may sound simplistic, but you’d be surprised to discover how many HR managers and security directors don’t know exactly where everyone is. Once you know where they are, you need to create a system to continually update that information.

Next, everyone needs to know who they will contact-either a specific person or a dedicated crisis team-to report their whereabouts during times of tension. When an incident triggers an alert (and the organization should establish what those triggering events are), each person also should know who they need to contact to report on their location and safety.

Make sure your assignees know how to conduct themselves. “Give them simple, common-sense advice, says Elaine Carey, senior vice president of Washington DC-based Control Risks Group. “Tell them not to advertise that they’re American or from an American company. Don’t wear Nike or Reebok or some such symbol emblazoned on everything. Dress down, don’t wear a lot of jewelry, and don’t look like you have a lot of money.”

Employees should take a good look at their routine and use common sense. For example, if they hear some noise or disturbance somewhere, oftentimes expats are curious and want to take a look. But it is wiser to remember that an American in a foreign location these days isn’t always safe. Instead, go the other way. Move to a distance away from the disturbance, to a safe place, until it is possible to ask someone who understands the local culture and indicates that it is safe.

Furthermore, tell your employees to be sure that someone knows where they are at all times, especially in locations that are potentially volatile. Be sure that managers know where employees are staying (if in a hotel), what office they’re working out of on a particular day, and what clients they’re seeing each day.

Use government resources. The United States Department of State Bureau of Consular Affairs issues a variety of warnings and travel information all the time. Be sure your program managers and expats know about the service, and consult it frequently.

Create a phone tree. Unfortunately, this isn’t the time to fully rely on the U.S. Embassy. Usually, it is a good source of assistance, but have your assignees create alternatives just in case the governmental agencies cannot perform the kinds of duties they usually do. If you can, try to help them construct a phone tree within the community where everyone has a few people to call in case of an emergency.

Next steps to take
Find out what other companies are doing. New York-based KPMG conducted a Web-based survey of global employers starting September 28, to get an idea of what international companies are doing and thinking. Over 60 organizations participated. “We were getting many nervous calls from our clients asking what other companies were doing…people are conscious of overreacting, but they don’t want to under-react either,” says Timothy Dwyer, national director of KPMG’s International HR Consulting Services.

The most surprising thing, he says, is that companies do not know what they should do in a crisis. In fact, only 12 percent of the participants had specific emergency plans in place for locations where they have expat employees. This is surprising because three years ago, when there was instability in Indonesia, many global HR leaders viewed it as a time when their procedures were shown to be lacking. As now, many then didn’t know how many people they had living in the location, nor how many were there on business trips. They expressed a desire to improve their preparedness. But apparently, that desire wasn’t carried out.

“If I were a program manager, one of the first things to do would be to contact other companies in the area and figure out what they are doing,” says Dwyer. “One of the lessons from Indonesia was to make use of others’ networks in the event of an emergency.” For example, if a large company has chartered a plane to evacuate their people, a smaller company might buy a seat or two on it for their employees.

How to find which other companies are in your region? Ask the expats. The expat community is very small, and they will know a large percentage of the firms that are operating in the countries where they’re located. In addition, you can ask your tax-consulting firm.

Become familiar with places to which you’re sending people. Program managers need to be informed about these regions, countries and cities. The more expertise you have, the better off your employees are. It’s easy. Use governmental information sources such as the State Department resources listed below, travel and educational Web sites including Lonely Planet and Infoplease, and general media outlets. These can lead you to other expert resources to deepen your knowledge about the countries’ cultures.

You can also begin by buying a map. Don’t laugh, but many managers don’t know where-specifically-the expats live in a given territory or city. For example, what is the proximity of expat community to the American Embassy or consulate? Where are the American schools and clubs? Where is the airport? Are there areas of risk nearby?

One of the anomalies of this current crisis is that normally very safe locations, such as London and Paris, also carry a degree of risk for Americans. Currently, American Embassies or American Cultural Institute are just not very safe places to be hanging out these days. Post the map, and mark the locations of your people, your facilities, and key American institutions with push pins.

Create a crisis team and a crisis plan. “If organizations have expatriates, they should have a crisis team,” says Ray O’Hara, VP of the Western Region of Pinkerton Security. “This team becomes the eyes and ears and should be able to make sound business decisions regarding the movement of people.” The team consists of senior managers, including HR, legal, security, PR, but not the CEO or president because in a crisis, the team needs to be making decisions about expats and not be distracted by other strategic issues.

The team should meet to create a crisis plan about what to do in the event of a disaster. The team must then discuss scenarios with what-ifs. They should play out the contingencies. For example, what if you need to evacuate people? What airport would you use? What alternatives ways are there to get the people out of the country? Where will they go to be relatively safe if you cannot get them out? What type of communication will you use? What if the telephones don’t work?

This team should also be part of the group that is involved in knowing where people are traveling. They will be the first to know if there is trouble brewing and if there is a reason that employees should not be sent to the location.

Take advantage of security information. Currently, Control Risks Group’s Web site offers a lot of free information and specific guidelines about high-risk locations. You also can subscribe to information services from Control Risks, Kroll, and Pinkerton that will track activity in a variety of locations. They can update you on which neighborhoods or specific locations to avoid during particular periods. For example, there might be the anniversary of an uprising and that’s when there are demonstrations that could turn into riots.

Security firms offer policy development and consulting. They also offer 24-hour-a-day crisis intervention that supplies employees with whatever they need to get to safety.

Dale Pratt doesn’t share an office with her team members. She’s not even in thesame building or zip code. Pratt, director of HR for Nortel Networks Corporation,works at company headquarters in Ontario, Canada. But as a member of a virtualteam, she has colleagues as far away as Europe and China.

    The company creates Internet technologies, and has 80,000 employees locatedin 150 countries. It is one of the dramatically increasing number of organizationsnow conducting business 24 hours a day, seven days a week with people on differentcontinents and in different time zones. As businesses become more interconnectedand more global, they must learn to make faster and smarter strategic decisions,and to take advantage of technological advancements.

    “We have to work in real time across the globe, really fast, and our employeeshave to be where our customers are,” Pratt says. “For us, workingwith our virtual team is the same as other companies where people might sittogether under a centralized roof. We simply use different tools to do our jobevery day.”

    Virtual teams may be composed of full-time or part-time employees. They mighthave a global reach, or involve combinations of local telecommuting membersand more traditional in-house workers. A senior executive might be on one planningcommittee for a product release, for example, another for identifying minorityvendors, another to study relocating a plant, and another to evaluate softwaretracking. He may deal with key players who not only are out of the country butalso are working for another company, or perhaps as suppliers who are on thevirtual team to add information and technical support.

    Virtual teams offer tremendous opportunities, and tribulations. Electroniccommunication allows companies to recruit talent without the constraints oflocation, and to offer more scheduling flexibility such as telecommuting andworking at home offices. It also creates the potential for follow-the-sun, 24-hourworkdays and the ability to maintain close contact with customers throughoutthe world.

    On the other hand, it is difficult to manage people who must work collaborativelyand interactively but may not ever actually lay eyes on one another. The complexitiesand subtleties of dealing with widely different personalities, cultures, andlanguages make communication far more difficult among virtual team members.

    These new challenges require diverse management skills, such as the abilityto determine the best technology to facilitate communication, and the abilityto engender trust and productivity among team members even when there is nodirect supervision. Companies that have successful virtual teams have managerswho understand the unique characteristics of electronic communication. Theyare able to create a sense of communal experience so that interaction yieldscreativity and knowledge sharing. They are aware of the arsenal of tools attheir disposal and have learned to use the appropriate technology to communicateand collaborate so that individual team members feel connected to one another.

Tips for Successful Virtual Teams

Select people who are self-starters, strong communicators, and have other good virtual-team skills. Keep projects task-focused so team members will be able to gauge their progress and know if they are on target. Keep team interactions upbeat and action-oriented. Standardize common protocols. Create clear goals. Celebrate reaching targets. Create shared space — a virtual water cooler — where people can interact beyond the scope of work. Identify barriers to collaboration that you want to overcome. Identify what people should do when a crisis occurs. Whom should they contact? What is that decision-making hierarchy?

The proper technology for communication
    Managers of virtual teams have a huge array of technology tools at their disposalto create an integrated collaborative environment. The trick is to know whatto use and when to use it. “The more you can interact by voice, text, andaudio, the more you’re able to overcome the barriers of time, distance, andculture,” says Waldir Arevoelo, research analyst at Gartner, Inc., in Stamford,Connecticut.

    A thorough understanding of e-mail, teleconferencing, and videoconferencingis vital. Knowledge of other tools such as Webcasts, meeting managers, whiteboards, bulletin boards, and data sharing helps managers develop digital environmentsthat foster ingenuity and innovation.

    At Nortel, Pratt trained her virtual team of 60 finance and legal employeeson deal-making skills. Since they were located throughout the world, Pratt chosean assortment of technology tools. One was a group meeting technology, MeetingManager. Virtual participants were on individual PCs and also on a teleconferenceline, so they could talk and listen to one another. She prepared charts thatteam members could view on their screens, and provided an electronic white boardfor random ideas and scribbling.

    The meeting took place — in real time — from team members’ desktops at theirvarious locations around the world. The meeting had been scheduled on the company’sintranet calendar, and participants were invited by e-mail. Pratt secured chartsfrom the meeting presenters and uploaded them onto the company’s Meeting Manager,which allowed for group viewing.

    As chairman, she was able to control the order of the meeting and the viewingof the charts. Participants posted questions on the white board, which Prattcould see. She was then able to address or answer the questions on the computerscreen, or pose and take questions on the phone.

     Nortel Networks relies heavily on Meeting Manager, Web Meeting, and teleconferencing.When visual cues are especially important, the company uses videoconferencing,Webcasts for mass audience viewing, and very regular updates on the company’sintranet so that everyone on the team has the same information. “Thereare as many applications with technology as there are creative minds,”she says.

    It is, of course, a daunting task to communicate with people who have nevermet each other but have to share information constantly. New York-based Deloitte& Touche LLP faces this conundrum all the time. The company has 90,000 employeesin 130 countries, and its far-flung clients need virtual work teams so thataccurate information is available to everyone at all times.

    To address the issue of globally shared data, the firm created a Web-basedtracking system that enables anyone anywhere in the world to check the statusof company projects. The system operates like a file that contains all policydocuments necessary to serve the clients, including appropriate practice toolsthat were developed at different locations around the world. If, for example,there is a tax decision that affects a specific region or client, it is putin the system.

    “One of the virtues of these Web-based systems is that the informationis always available for anyone,” says Lou Mitas, partner in charge of EastRegion International Assignment Services. “The work may be done in NewYork and a question may arise in Sydney or Hong Kong. The question gets postedon the Web and gets answered quickly. The answer resides on the Web and is availablefor everyone, so the question only needs to be asked once.

    “If, for example, we’re having problems in Kuala Lumpur and a client callsme asking for the status, I can look it up from my office or from my bedroom.I will be able to know the status of any project at any time.”

    Still, Mitas knows that technology cannot replace relationships. There mustbe face-to-face interactions and live phone conversations, too. At Deloitte& Touche, practice leaders and client service partners meet in person severaltimes a year at conferences to assure understanding, establish new goals, andfurther develop relationships.

Understanding the needs of the team
    Effective managers of virtual teams understand critical non-technological skills.”Trust is a very important component of virtual teams,” says LynnNewman, an associate professor of organizational studies at the California Schoolof Professional Psychology in Los Angeles. “Managers have to trust thatpeople will perform when they’re away from direct supervision. Individual teammembers need to develop trust across different media, such as e-mail and telephone,which may be difficult to do.”

    One of the reasons developing trust is so crucial is that teams are formedto create knowledge. Problems often arise when people work across cultures andhave different perceptions of projects. They have to be able to trust each otherand the leader if they are going to get the job done effectively.

    Developing a productive virtual team begins with selecting the right people.A successful team member is self-motivated and doesn’t need a lot of detailedinstructions or structure. Ideally, he or she is a strong communicator, a qualitythat helps counter-balance the anonymous nature of technology. In addition,Newman recommends people who are adaptable, technically self-sufficient, andresults-oriented.

Creating a sense of shared space
    Teams need tools — as well as leaders — to create shared knowledge or sharedvision. When a team has a meeting, whether a teleconference, videoconference,or face-to-face encounter, the leader must be explicit about goals. “Peoplemay have gone off on tangents, and it is at this point that the facilitatorkeeps the team aligned in terms of the goals and continues to recognize theknowledge sharing,” Newman says. Knowledge creation is building a new productor process around information people already have.

    “When people are creating knowledge, keeping people up-to-date on wherethe group is at the moment is key. You need shared understanding of how farthey’ve come and what the group knows as a whole.”

    Managers should set up regular virtual meetings to share expectations and de-briefings.It is their task to frame the team’s objectives so members clearly understandtheir roles. They emphasize the consequences of team decisions, and provideongoing monitoring and honest feedback about how the team is doing.

    Andy Esparza, vice president of human resources/operations at Dell Computer,says that using shared information between his virtual team members saves enormousamounts of time. His global team uses software called HR Direct, an intranet-basedtool that allows him to stay connected with other managers on his team. Usingshared data on compensation programs for Dell’s 40,000 employees worldwide,the team is now able to create reports in 30 days for the senior executive teamon tools and compensation program design such as base pay, stock options, bonuses,and profit sharing. The process used to take two months.

    One of the other advantages of the system is the sense of shared space. Whilethe virtual team managers are the point people at various locations around theworld, they have access to the same material whether they’re at corporate headquartersin Texas or at a manufacturing facility in Malaysia.

    Virtual teams offer an opportunity to work with the best talent throughoutan organization. But to accomplish this, managers must actively work to createa sense of connectedness and shared space, to use technology effectively, andto know when to forgo technology for personal communication.

Workforce, June 2001, pp. 60-64 — Subscribe Now!

Companies that use virtual teams say they save money, result in more productive and effective use of workers’ time, and ultimately generate better products because of the collaborative nature of the teams. Though data is hard to come by, HR managers whose firms have virtual teams say there is no question about the value.

   Nortel Networks has a vast voice and video network to connect its teams. In 2000, the company held 44,000 hours of video conferencing in their 240 video-conference facilities and held 17,000 teleconferences per month. Though they don’t have any specific cost-savings figures, company officials are quick to say that virtual teams save a tremendous amount of money.

Virtual teams allow employees to be fast and competitive in disseminating information. In addition, they reduce travel expenses. “There’s a phenomenal cost savings for people not having to meet face-to-face,” says HR director Pratt, whose IS department has studied travel savings. Travel is expensive not only in airfare and hotels but also in lost work time. Cutting travel budgets is a matter of cost savings and efficiency. Pratt suggests the following ways to gauge specific business needs:

1. Assess the work that has to be accomplished. Is it just information sharing? Is it creative brainstorming? Is it work that teams have to build relationships or develop new skills? This information helps you to determine the type of electronic approach you will use. Teleconferencing, for example, can be used for brainstorming so people can introduce new ideas and conduct open exchanges. If the need is for information sharing, a company may want to add some sort of meeting manager so that team members can view and manipulate charts on a screen. If the need is to dispense information to a mass audience, a Webcast might be used.

2. Identify the interpersonal relationships. Ask questions such as: Who needs to be on the team? Where do they work, and what are their relationships? If they already know each other, teleconference and Meeting Manager work fine. If they don’t, a video conference might be helpful.

3. Consider the cost. It isn’t cost-effective to buy a whole video conference system if you’re going to use it only a few times a year. Build phone relationships instead. Because technology is so expensive, conduct a cost-benefit analysis.

Workforce, June 2001, p. 62 — Subscribe Now!

Doug Merritt, CEO of Icarian, leans forward in his chair as he focuses intensely on the team’s ideas. Abundantly energetic, he smiles and launches passionately into the business opportunities ahead, into the central role of the people who work at his company.

He should know. Having started in 1998 with its first worker, Icarian now has 200-plus employees. These individuals, and the new ones to come, are constantly on Merritt’s mind. He is keenly aware that the growth, the very survival of his company, which creates workforce management software and service solutions, depends on its employees. He also knows that it takes creativity and dedication to staff an organization today.

While it almost requires wizardry to create a work environment that attracts and retains workers in this high-tech mecca of Sunnyvale, California, Merritt’s challenges are the same ones faced by virtually all HR professionals confronted with a 4 percent unemployment rate.

“An organization can have all the right ideas and capital in the world, but without the right people to make things happen, it will fail,” states the Icarian Web site, broadcasting Merritt’s viewpoint to the world. But talk is cheap. And even the best talk these days is not nearly enough to garner and keep good talent. Best-of-class companies are moving beyond gimmicks and fast fixes to longer-term practices that require constant innovation and attention in order to staff their organizations.

Use inspired, easy-to-use recruiting methods

Ask Craig Collins, director of recruiting at New York-based DoubleClick, a rapid-growth global Internet advertising firm, how he handles the company’s enormous needs. He’ll tell you that DoubleClick’s largest source of new hires is its own employee base. Ranging around 30 percent in 1999, the company’s internal referrals were up to 43 percent in the first quarter of 2000.

“We set up a way for people who want to refer someone to go to the Web site and submit the referral right there. The resume gets captured, is sent to an administrator who looks at it and is able to distribute it to the appropriate recruiters,” says Collins. The capture system also records the employee’s name because whoever has the most referrals hired wins a prize. There are East Coast, West Coast, and international quarterly winners, and an annual winner who receives a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Two motorcycles are displayed in the reception areas, with the words “Wanted: internal referrals — win prizes.”

Moreover, DoubleClick, known for its fast-paced, innovative corporate culture, streamlines the more traditional recruiting methods as well. The firm posts all jobs on the company’s intranet, as well as on Internet job boards.

The company also has a mechanism that allows a recruiter to click a button and access the vendor manager, who sends the posting to contingency search firms and other places, depending on the recruiter’s desires. The job description is posted on a recruiter management system that triggers a slew of postings, according to where the recruiter wants the listing to appear. For example, click the box that indicates Web site or intranet or vendor manager, and the postings are automatically relayed to the target location.

Think this is only for Web-savvy firms like DoubleClick? Not at all. While specific customizations may be in order, this service is offered by a variety of Internet referral companies that provide products to aid recruiters at their desktops.

Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., one of Fortune Magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For and recipient of the 2000 Catalyst Award, also boasts a 30 percent employee referral rate. Headquartered in San Francisco but located in various full-employment cities around the world, the company pays serious attention to being connected and recruiting from the local communities.

One event that the company promotes is a “Suitcase Social,” where workers bring in friends and introduce them to recruiters. There are raffles in which people win trips, thus the name. This event not only is an effective activity but also provides a chance to widely publicize the internal referral program throughout the organization.

The company also attracts intellectual capital through Workforce Development Programs. High school students who are interested in careers in the financial world can work at Schwab during the school year, not just during the summer. In addition, the firm has intern programs for high schoolers, undergrads, and graduate students.

“Think of it as a ladder, where we start out at high school and have programs that hit every level,” says Ruth Ross, vice president of human resources, policies, and practices. “It is a wonderful feeder pool for us, a great way for these kids to really learn a lot about business, and a great way to get them attracted and retained with Schwab, and we give them economic incentives to continue to come back and work for us.”

These incentives come in the form of bonuses and stocks, depending on the level and program. For example, there is one summer program in which people receive stock that vests if the individuals come back to work.

“We clearly have a goal of being a “best place to work,'” says Ross, “and our culture defines who we are and what makes Schwab such a great place to work.”

True enough. You can recruit all you like, but you have to have a place where people want to be. “A lot of times, you win or lose on the recruiting front based on the product you are selling,” says DoubleClick’s Collins. “In my case, I am fortunate enough to run a recruiting team that is selling a tremendous product. You have to take advantage of that fact.”

Create a corporate culture that sells itself

Knowing what’s important to workers is what sells them and keeps them. To some, it’s on-site child care or fitness centers; to others, it’s sabbaticals, flexible work arrangements, or training. To all, it is the collection of compensation, programs, and benefits that demonstrate that employees are valued. Again, these aren’t quick-and-dirty solutions.

“Given that human capital is our scarcest resource right now, making sure that you spend on people for their care and feeding makes a lot of sense,” says Merritt. “We are trying to build a good wholesome, well-balanced holistic corporate culture and still be highly successful in the business world.”

This philosophy underwrites the snacks, the drinks, the weekly masseuse and chiropractor available for employees; it generates the corporate culture that supports alternative work arrangements so that individuals who face grueling two- and three-hour commutes have the same kind of flexibility as people who need time for their families. It breeds innovation.

Employees receive “Icarian dollars” with each paycheck. Ranging from $50 to $200, this money can be used for anything that will enhance a feeling of personal responsibility to and connection with Icarian. The concept was initiated by senior management’s desire to empower individuals and to promote collaboration across departments. Employees have pooled dollars and spent their money for activities ranging from pool and skiing to funding charity events such as cancer marathons.

“The whole concept is that you have a personal responsibility to make this the kind of place where you want to work,” says Gretchen Allarcon, Icarian’s workforce operations manager (i.e., director of HR). “We want people to pool or save their money and spend it on whatever would make this place feel like a good place to be.”

The idea is taking hold. In June, some interns who were working at the company and staying in a hotel were robbed. In three days, employees raised almost $3,000 Icarian dollars to help replace their lost items and find them a better place to live. When a flood ravaged the hometown of an employee from India, Icarian workers sent money to help with reconstruction.

Another innovation is Web-based 360-degree performance reviews and feedback mechanisms. This format offers a collection of devices for continual review of people from above, around, and below. Instead of huge annual reviews, there will be more frequent (possibly monthly) reviews. This creates an ongoing dialogue, but with enough structure so that the information can be captured, sorted, and analyzed. Then, in this collaborative mode, management can also react to it more effectively. There are monthly “Dinners with Doug,” to which anyone is invited, as well as monthly group meetings with other company leaders.

Charles Schwab, which has a turnover rate of 12 percent (non-bank financial industry average is 15 percent and high tech is 19 percent), believes that one crucial aspect of continuing a healthy, productive corporate culture is to listen to employees. Annual surveys and frequent “pulse” polls offer management feedback about employee attitudes.

“When you open yourself up to listening to what people have to say, you’re really showing them that they have a voice in the company,” says Ross. Case in point: The firm was considering a subsidy program to offset the costs of transportation. There were two different ways to allow employees to end up with more money in their pockets.

One was to offer cash reimbursements; the other was a governmental program to put aside money on a pre-tax basis to offset transit costs for employees. The latter is far less costly to the company but gives employees a little less cash. Schwab took a vote of the employees. They voted for the pre-tax program. Why? Because, they said, they would still receive a benefit, but it was also better for the company.

Effective cultures engender retention

A corporate culture that sells itself also retains its talent. The best companies know that retention is what counts.

“In the final analysis, attracting good talent is insufficient,” says Jim Wall, national managing partner of human resources for Deloitte & Touche, LLC. What really counts is retaining people, he says.

Wall knows what he’s talking about. Boasting one of the first Optimas Awards, as well as the 1995 Catalyst Award, and top slots on the Fortune and Working Mother magazine “Best Places to Work” lists, Deloitte & Touche is renowned for its friendliness to women and dedication to retention.

“Retention is an outcome,” says Wall. “You get to retain the best people by providing the most challenging environment and the most supportive, compatible culture.” At Deloitte & Touche, training and compensation play a big role in demonstrating the value they place on individuals. “You actually get to keep your very best people by preparing them to leave you,” he says.

This paradox, he explains, goes directly to investing more money, time, and effort into career enhancement, mentoring, access to information, formal and informal learning programs, and all types of training to the very best people.

Creating a learning culture and an environment where people are intellectually stimulated is crucial when you are in a business that vies for intellect. “You’ve got to build the intellect and show the value of that intellect,” Wall says.

It requires compensating people well, and sometimes in creative ways. Deloitte & Touche is a partnership, not a publicly traded firm. Consequently, it cannot offer stock options. The firm will begin a new program in which certain employees (about 15,000 of the 25,000 workers) receive units they can invest in the stock market. While certain rules will prevail because of legal limitations in dealing with clients, the company will publish a list of funds that will be appropriate for portfolios.

For example, one employee might receive 10,000 units in 2000. In 2003, those units, which were invested, will have appreciated or not, and the employee will be vested. It allows individuals to participate in the firm’s success and gives them incentive to stay.

Staffing is one of the toughest, most complicated aspects of HR’s job today. Encompassing the full cycle of employee life, it goes to the heart of a company and determines the success — or failure — of the business.

“HR folks can’t do everything overnight, and expectations are very high,”warns Schwab’s Ross. “You want to plant seeds and watch them grow. In other words, it is about listening to your employees and responding to that. Are they satisfied? Is productivity going up? Do we have repeat business? Those are the kinds of really important messages we’ve learned.”

Effective communication is the central lifeline of any organization. It’sthe vehicle for driving change, shaping expectations and rallying workers arounda core purpose and common message. When managing a geographically diverseworkforce, one that spans the world and crosses cultures, a strategiccommunication program can strengthen the organization and support its success,the lack of one can be the linchpin of organizational demise.

“Communication is the life blood of any organization today,” saysLee Hornick, president of New York City-based Business Communications Worldwideand program director of corporate communications conference planning for TheConference Board, also in New York City. “Today, you have to develop aproactive relationship. The ‘de-layering’ of the organization means thatfewer employees are responsible for more things. They need to know more, whetherthey’re out in the field or in a pharmaceutical plant, employees need to knowmore to do their jobs.”

In addition, many people can be working on the same project from differentlocations — you can have a team in London, one in New York and another inTokyo. You also have employees working at home. “Today’s organization isone without walls,” says Hornick. “Communication is even moreimportant when you’re at different locations. Everyone must have the sameorganizational and project goals.”

HR and communications experts must be aware of the role that culture plays incommunications. In other words, given all these interwoven elements, you mustensure that the messages employees receive are interpreted as intended. Mythsand misunderstood tales threaten to take your organization off course — a paththat’s especially dangerous for global organizations because culturaldifferences and technology can distort the process. Careful planning andeffective cross-cultural awareness are crucial to the bottom line. And at a timewhen rampant change happens quickly — and can affect different parts of aglobal business in different ways — you have to begin with a strategy.

Bad things happen if communications go awry
Carol Kinsey Goman, president of Berkeley, California-based KinseyConsulting Services, says no matter what your strategic message is or howskillfully your plan is constructed, stories through the grapevine createpowerful symbols that should underscore — not undercut — the corporatemessage.

For example, one German company needed to cut costs. Managers believed thecommunications regarding the rationale were adequate. However, in theircost-cutting mode, they decided not to replace an old company bus that shuttledemployees from the lowest level of a huge parking lot up to headquarters. At thesame time, executives were receiving their new cars. In Europe, executive carsare very important status symbols, and each one received a Mercedes.

“Everything else that happened around the cost-cutting — articles,speeches about ‘being in it together’ — was useless,” says Goman.”All employees remembered was that the cost-cutting hit them (their bus wasdiscontinued) and the executives got their cars. Morale (and employee supportfor cost containment) sank.”

However, there are also positive examples of corporate storytelling. When thehead of British Airlines took over a few years ago, one of the first things hedid was to go to the airport and take a flight. The first-class area was full,and the reservations staff was going to bump someone from first class.

He said, “No, no. These are people that have paid for tickets. Give mewhatever’s available.” And the only available seat was in the last rowthat didn’t even recline. He took it. This was totally different from anythingthe former CEO would ever have done. He got on board and the flight attendantwith the magazines came rushing back and said, “Well, we’ve got a fewmagazines.” He said, “Give it to the paying customers first. If there’sanything left, I’ll take it at the end.” Of course, there was nothingleft.

Says Goman, “That story went through the company in seconds. It wasrecounted over and over as if it had happened last week. What kind of messagedoes that give? Obviously, that the customer comes first.” This accentuatedall of the communications the company was doing.

While this may sound folksy and not particularly strategic, messages likethese exist in every company. You always want them to harmonize with yourstrategic goals, and if they don’t emerge naturally, solicit them. People makelegends out of this stuff, and a savvy communications or HR pro can take thesestories and weave them to fit with the plan. Just be sure senior managementactually behaves in a way that’s consistent with the vision the companyasserts.

The lesson learned here is that good planning and effective communicationstart at the top. It’s not a hard sell. More and more managers areincreasingly aware that communication is a crucial business tool. Theyunderstand that there’s value in keeping the workforce informed, and moresupport for end results when decision making takes place at every level — andthese managers want to help make that happen.

Start with a strategy
Of course, simply recounting the same information to everyone isn’tadequate. Today’s global organization demands the ability to communicate withstakeholders who have multiple business and cultural perspectives. And not onlyis the message itself important, but the tools used to communicate the messagealso call for careful consideration — and the options increase almost weekly.

More and more communicators recognize this challenge. Earlier this year,Watson Wyatt Worldwide, the International Association of Business Communicators(IABC) and the IABC Research Foundation conducted a study of more than 900organizations that represent a variety of industries, and found that:

• 51% of high-performing organizations say they have a well-defined communication strategy.
• 52% of senior managers support the importance of corporate communications to achieve business success.
• 71% of senior managers actively integrate communications into overall business strategy.
• 68% create a communications strategy to explain new programs.

According to this study, senior managers now appreciate that communicatingcorporate parables has become more critical than ever before. As companiesbecome more competitive, it becomes obvious that effective communication is anadvantage in a wide variety of areas, ranging from loyalty to buildingcredibility with the changing workforce.

“Being strategic about your communication is actually guaranteeing thatyou’re going to have some results,” says Hornick. Indeed, it isn’t agood idea simply to blast communications through the organization without beingvery focused. You need a business reason to communicate to your audience, anduse your communications as an alignment tool with the overall business plan forthe organization. What messages are important to convey? What themes do you wantto recount time after time? What vehicle do you want to use? How often?

Most organizations meet quarterly or annually to assess their communicationplans and create new ones. Individuals at the table should include senior-levelindividuals who deal with communications: the head of HR, corporatecommunications, marketing, MIS, finance, senior operations people, and otherswith perspectives that reflect all regions of the company, so you can get inputabout the viability of the plan.

Once you have the group assembled, but before you begin a particularcampaign, conduct an audit. Look for the strengths and weaknesses of yourexisting communication program and the opportunities and threats facing them.Then align that strategy with business goals.

“Make a list with statistics from a facilitated discussion with thesenior people responsible for constructing the plan. You may also want toinclude senior plant managers or business unit managers, as well asclients,” says Angela Sinickas, senior communication consultant at theOrange County office of William M. Mercer Inc. An expert in research measurementand strategy, she looks at how well the messages are getting through, howeffective the channels are, how well the needs of various stakeholders are beingmet, and how effectively the infrastructure is used to reach the stakeholders.

Areas in which information is lacking are the places where you’ll want tostart doing more formal research. “It really does help to get across-section of input as to the current level of awareness of companycommunications before you develop the plan. You have to get it approved by thesepeople because you’ll need their support down the road.”

Next is the quantifiable research. For example, alignment with company goalsis the most important aspect of a communication plan. You can calculate yourplan’s effectiveness by creating another list that takes the mission statementor company goals, and count how much content in the key channels ofcommunication were linked to those organizational values. Measure the number ofpages or variety of methods used to give the issue or item visibility. See whichareas receive the most press, and you’ll discover which organizationalobjectives you’re supporting and which ones you’re ignoring. When you seesomething that’s been given limited attention, you can intentionally increasecoverage.

Using this process, one large insurance firm discovered that it had donenothing regarding its actuarial group for a year. Since this group was key tothe organization, the communications-planning team decided they needed a fewstories to highlight the important role actuarials played in the firm.”This gives you a chance to provide a balanced picture of what theorganization is about,” explains Sinickas. Knowing the stories you want toconvey is the first challenge. Identifying if the individuals in yourorganization’s offices around the world will understand and make use of thosemessages is the second.

Cultural implications can make or break effectiveness
In a global environment, where you must reach people across various languagesand cultures, there are infinite possibilities as to the channels you use tocommunicate corporate information. “A good strategic plan takes intoconsideration what medium you use to deliver the message,” says DouglasStuart, director of training and client services at Northbrook, Illinois-basedIOR, a global, cross-cultural management firm. “Is it written? Is itverbal? Is it going to be face-to-face?” Also, the typical methods tocommunicate (face to face, print, video, telephone, intranet, Internet ande-mail) take on added meaning when you’re deciding how to deliver a messageglobally. One issue is infrastructure, and another is culture.

Some cultures respond more positively to technology and written messages thanothers. For example, says Stuart, Asian and Latin cultures regard relationshipsvery highly. They respond much more favorably to personal forms ofcommunication. Therefore, personal ways of relating information — such asmeetings, gatherings and personal phone calls — are preferable when you’recommunicating to those cultures. When that’s not possible, it’s best to tryto use front-line managers to field questions and maintain a sense of personalconnectedness.

However, speed often is the determinant. “A huge issue that globalcompanies face is they don’t want one part of the firm to feel like theyreceive communication after-the-fact.” Says Goman of Kinsey Consulting.”There’s a great deal of thought, for example, about when to break thework about a merger or downsizing. Timing is key.” Technology has allowedus to get the word to 5,000 people around the world instantaneously — but howare you sure that the worker in Singapore receives the message the same way as aworker in Chicago?

For starters, it’s important to retain a local communication supervisor whocan help translate (literally and culturally) the meaning and nuance of thecontact. In addition, local HR people are crucial sources of information andsupport.

“For example, if you are communicating an initiative that stronglyimpacts a particular country, HR in that country has a big stake in whatever ishappening,” says Shirley Fishman, principal and director of internationalhuman resources at the Toronto office of Arthur Anderson LLP. “Therelationships that are in place prior to a massive communications program willhelp you identify stakeholders and their perceptions of the issues you’retrying to communicate.”

Using as many communication tools as possible will heighten the likelihood ofunderstanding. “If you’re not communicating adequately with youremployees in a consistent manner,” says Fishman, “they’ll make uptheir own stuff.” To prevent this, some companies have a rumor-mill site ontheir intranet to flush out what’s being said. They try to correct it withaccurate information.

Roll out the plan
Schneider Electric is a global firm based in France, with North Americanheadquarters in Palatine, Illinois. It takes a strong, proactive stance onstrategic communications. “It’s important, especially in a globalcorporate culture, to be able to align resources with corporate strategy,”says Peggy Gann, vice president, human resources and administration atSchneider. “The message has to be consistent from the CEO to HR tocorporate communications to front-line supervisors. If you don’t have thatkind of communication, you’ll have local strategies that will continue and maywell be juxtaposed to the overall plan. It can delay new products to market,delay execution and distribution. You’ll confuse the customer because localunits will retain their spin.”

Once Schneider has the plan in place, the company then focuses on worldwidedistribution through the typical variety of channels to reach its 61,000employees. The firm uses print media in the form of newsletters and magazines,face-to-face communication — sessions in which the CEO meets with large groupsof employees — video broadcasts, fax broadcasts, direct-mail pieces, e-mail andthe company intranet site.

Their struggle with infrastructure was no different from other global firms,where local units and different countries have different kinds of technology.”You really have to create an infrastructure link of technology that allowsall of you to talk with one another,” says Gann. They chose to purchase24,000 copies of Lotus Notes® as the standard technology software for thecompany. “It was a huge investment, but we knew we had to be sure we couldtalk to our people all over the world,” says Gann.

One of the first things Schneider Electric does when it rolls out its designis to work with senior management. They talk through the messages they want tosend to employees, decide which audiences match what type of delivery mechanism.”We decide which messages we want our employees and customers to be awareof, then we develop the format and put together an annual plan that reflects themessage — where it will be delivered, when, and how it will bereinforced.”

The company also puts together “talking points” for line managersand supervisors who’ll be asked many of the questions regarding both thestrategic and tactical issues. For example, these points may focus onemployee-retention issues. Managers could learn that the company had the lowestturnover it’s had in three years; that it had trained 8,000 people theprevious year or spent 2 percent of the sales dollars in training. These pointsallow managers to talk with groups of people in a more knowledgeable way.

The front-line worker is much more knowledgeable than ever before because ofthese communications tools. And front-line supervisors actually have morecredibility than other people within the organization because they work withtheir teams. The better informed they are about certain issues, the morecredibility they have when they communicate to their direct reports.

Assess the delivery’s success
Schneider Electric is also conscientious about assessing its success. Thecompany conducts an annual employee-satisfaction survey, in which it asksseveral questions about corporate communication. The poll drives the annualcommunications plan because they use the results to determine what tactics needto be applied to get the messages across.

The organization also holds forums, in which team executives meet withemployees to discuss and flesh out some of the issues identified in the poll.They conduct the surveys in January, which gives time to analyze them and usethe information in the budgeting process, which flows into the communicationplanning process.

Another way to appraise if stakeholders are receiving the right message is toconstruct teams as Goman suggests. Create a communication-advisory team whosesole purpose is to comment on communications. In a global organization, shecreates a group with a few representatives from each country. Find out who theinformal decision makers are, and put them on your team. Each time the companybegins a major communication, such as a speech or special initiative, she sendsout an e-mail to solicit their reactions.

The workforce has changed, and consequently, communications have changed,too. Stories that circulate must be consistent with your corporate culture andvision if communication efforts are to succeed. Global organizations have towork especially hard to develop a strategy that’ll deliver the right messageto other regions of the world. If you don’t understand how to communicate witha diverse group of employees, they won’t understand what you’re trying totell them.

Workforce, November 1999, Vol. 78, No. 11, pp.50-56 — Subscribenow!

There’s no mystery to it. It’s the way we all respond to aging. We denythat it’s going to happen — to us or to our loved ones. We dismiss the needto talk about it, so we remain private and isolated.

And that’s exactly how we respond to elder-care issues in the workplace. Noone talks about it, no one plans for it, and no one wants it to happen.

But the numbers won’t let us remain complacent for long. Within the nextfive years, 37 percent of U.S. workers will be more concerned about caring foran elderly relative than a child. Already, the disruption to employees’ livescan be devastating. While those with child-care woes may occasionally come towork late or leave early, those responsible for adult care may not be able toget to work at all because these situations are so difficult to anticipate andmanage.

“Elder care is already a big issue and a problem that will growdramatically in the coming decades,” says Diane Piktialis, vice presidentat Boston-based Ceridian Performance Partners, a leading employee-benefits firm.”One of the problems is that it isn’t the kind of issue employees talkabout much in the workplace. As a society, we don’t plan for aging. And aslong as our parents are healthy, we deny that we’re ever going to face theproblem, so they take on crisis proportions.”

It’s important for HR to understand employees’ needs, and provideresources to help them through these painful times. With the right planning andresources in place, employees will be better prepared to handle elder-careresponsibilities.

No one plans for these crises. Indeed, lost productivity due to elder-careresponsibilities costs companies over $11.4 billion per year, according to TheConference Board, a company based in New York City. In fact, the University ofPennsylvania calculated the loss to business at a whopping $33 billion — forAlzheimer’s Disease alone. It’s a problem that will only become more severe.Today, there are more than 40 million Americans over the age of 65, and thosenumbers will increase dramatically by 2010, as American baby boomers (bornbetween the years of 1946 and 1962) reach 65 years old, according to theAmerican Association of Retired People.

Anguish causes loss of productivity
Elder care can have more devastating effects than child care on an employee’sability to contribute fully. Employers are aware of that, with 94 percent ofthem believing that the impact of caregiving will be increasingly important overthe next five years, according to The Conference Board’s study, “Jugglingthe Demands of Dependent Care.” Despite that, only 30 percent offer anyelder-care programs (according to Work/Life Benefits, an Orange County,California-based consulting firm).

The concerns are different than child care; the issues are more complicated.Interruptions for aging parents are more sudden, more stressful and moreemergency-driven. Child-care interruptions, even if they’re emergencies, maynot have the same impact. “It’s the difference between the babysitter notbeing available, and your parent having a stroke,” points out DeborahParkinson, research associate for The Conference Board, and author of TheConference Board’s report. Moreover, there are such different elder-careneeds, ranging from simply having to help parents with the groceries, toactively helping them recover from a serious illness.

One Tuscon, Arizona-based employee shares her story:

I was working for General Dynamics (which is now Raytheon, a Missile SystemsCompany based in Tucson, Arizona). I had a newborn baby, a 10-year-old daughterand a 13-year-old stepdaughter when my father-in-law died and my mother-in-lawplunged into a dark depression. The incident kicked off what was later diagnosedas Alzheimer’s disease. It was 1985, and she came to live with us.

During the first year, she was going to an adult day-care center in theopposite direction of work. I would wake up at 4:30 so I could be at work by7:30 a.m.

There were days after the disease progressed when I had to feed her and batheher. In the morning, I’d get her ready, and lots of times, she would tear offher diaper and get back into her pajamas, and we’d have to start all overagain. I was a nervous wreck by the time I got to work. It would take me over anhour just to settle down and stop thinking about it.

At that time, General Dynamics didn’t offer any dependent-care services toemployees. Services existed that we never knew about. I spent lots of timetrying to ferret out what was available.

Elder care is not like child care. Your situation can change from day to day,and you don’t know what to expect. We got no guidance and we made seriousfinancial mistakes. I spent a lot of time on the phone during work hours becausethat’s when the agencies are open. Then I had to take a day off work to gether enrolled in the new place. I had to spend more time off work to meet withsocial services people just to get information.

There came a point when I became clinically depressed.

Anne Serra
Segment Administrator
Work and Family Strategies
Raytheon Missile Systems Co. Tucson, Arizona

Anne Serra’s emotional state and loss of productivity are not unusualcharacteristics of the onset of elder care. What is unusual is her response. Atthe time of these personal events, she was corporate manager of specialprojects, charged with investigating employee needs. Elder care became one ofthem. Her anguish taught her firsthand the advantages of being prepared for anypossibility. Her pain showed her that elder-care programs are critical.

Instead of succumbing to depression, Serra turned her energy towarddeveloping programs for her employee population. Now, as segment adviser forwork and family strategies at Raytheon, she’s in charge of programs thataffect 40,000 individuals. She says, “I focus on education because younever know what things are going to pop up. If you’re prepared, you won’thave to make a decision in a crisis that will haunt you for years.”

Raytheon offers a wide range of programs now: resources and referrals(R&R) through Westport, Connecticut-based Dependent Care Connections (DCC),a seminar series, and a videotaped seminar series for people who can’t attendthe seminars. The R&R helped Serra create a family resource library thatincludes books, videos and other resources on diseases that affect the aged,care giving, finances and myriad other areas. Serra also started the Elder-CareAgency Fair, where agencies from around the community talk to employees aboutthe services they provide.

According to DCC, the cost for running an elder-care program depends on thecompany size and the services provided. For example, a program that includesresource kits, a resource library, and dependent-care fairs, can run as low as$1 to $2 per employee per month.

Though Serra doesn’t have to be convinced, she tracks figures for return oninvestment (ROI) for the referral program. In 1997, Raytheon had 12 percent useof the service, which saved the company more than $300,000 because employees whoused these services enhanced their productivity and were less distracted. (Andthat doesn’t take into account the ROI of enhanced recruitment or saving moneyby averting attrition.)

“If I’d had a service like the agencies we have in place now,”says Serra, “I wouldn’t have made so many mistakes. We would have had allher papers in order when we came in the first time instead of having to comeback countless times because we didn’t have this or that. We would have knownwhat to expect. It would have made my life so much easier.”

Services enhance employee empowerment
To complicate the elder-care situation further, our society is mobile andmany children don’t live near their parents. Seven million Americans providecare to someone whom lives at least one hour away, according to the NationalCouncil on Aging. Care giving, whether from near or far, can be exhausting andoverwhelming. Organizations that decipher their employees’ needs and provideservices to help their employees address these crucial issues enable workers tobe active on their own behalf and tackle the situation when it hits them.

An East Coast executive explains how she got support:

In November 1996, my father was found wandering outside one morning. He waseventually diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. My parents and three sisters live inBuffalo, but everyone (including my mother) works. (I have two young childrenand a husband who is a lawyer and works long hours.) We wanted to keep [father]at home and care for him there. It was very emotional, and I didn’t want toaccept the situation.

We didn’t know very much about the disease. The doctors had told my momthat she should begin to think about looking at their situation for long-termneeds, in case he needed to go into a nursing home at some point. They said theydidn’t need it yet, but that she should start to prepare and maybe contact alawyer to be sure everything was in order.

It’s hard to see your parents with any form of illness. It’s difficult toaccept that they’re getting older, so I spent a lot of time trying to figureout what I could do. How could I help? Since I live in New Jersey, I had tofigure out what I could do to help from a distance.

I knew that we had a resource-and-referral service at Coach [through New YorkCity-based Harris Rothenberg, International], and they were able to give me someof the information I needed. I told them about our situation, and they providedme with information about support groups, attorneys, what type of information Ishould be going to an attorney for, and what else our family could do to copewith the disease. They would also follow up and contact me to see if there wasanything else they could do, and to be sure the information they sent me wassatisfactory. I had one contact person, so whenever I had questions, I wouldcall and ask that person.

I put together a checklist of things that we needed to do, and I sent e-mailsto my sisters and brother about what was left to do. I felt as if I was able tohelp my family learn about the disease and begin to cope with it — even thoughI wasn’t living there.

Cherena Walker
President
James/Walker International
(an executive search firm)
Passaic Park, New Jersey

Cherena Walker was one of the lucky ones. Her former company (where she wasdirector of recruiting and diversity), Coach Leatherware, is a division ofChicago-based Sara Lee Corporation, a recognized leader in the area of dependentcare, and a company listed on the Working Mother “100 Best Companies forWorking Mothers” list. Sara Lee is a decentralized organization thatincludes more than 30 other brands such as Playtex, Hanes, and Hillshire Farm.The company attempts to offer its divisions best practices companywide.

Each division conducts a needs assessment to determine the specificrequirements of its group and then tries to implement it. On an ongoing basis,all the divisions do opinion surveys, which incorporate many questions relatedto work and family and other diversity topics. This is one way they can assessthe specific needs of the locations.

For example, one division in North Carolina has put together its owncompendium of community resources for elder care because its population hasexpressed that need. On the other hand, Sara Lee’s corporate office indowntown Chicago provides sick child care because its constituents haveexpressed the need for that. Most divisions have referral services, but withdifferent emphases. “These initiatives are driven from the top — from theChairman,” says Laurie David, executive director, management planning anddevelopment for Sara Lee Corporation. “They are part of empowering theworkforce and allowing them to balance work and family life. It allows people tobe able to contribute at their maximum talent level.”

Flexibility and manager support lessen employees’ struggles
Again, because most people think of their parents as vital people — and theones who took care of them — they aren’t prepared for the reality of takingcare of them. Yet the average amount of time devoted to care giving by thesealready-employed individuals is about 20 hours a week. This is apparent inemployee survey after employee survey, in which individuals request flexiblehours for elder-care issues and supervisory training that helps managers allowemployees to take advantage of the flexibility.

The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) is meant to provide somerelief, but allows only 12 weeks per calendar year of unpaid leave for care ofan immediate family member (parent child or spouse) with a serious healthcondition.

An Arizona supervisor talks about the importance of a supportive manager:

My mother has been living by herself since my father died in 1987. Then shehad a stroke that left her with some impairments. I’m an only child, so there’sno one else to deal with this.

When she was released from the hospital, I contacted ourresource-and-referral provider [Tempe, Arizona-based Summa Associates].Theyhelped me set up meals-on-wheels as well as in-home care. Everything had beenfine until recently, when her when problems became more severe. She got sick andwas dizzy all the time. It became clear to me that she shouldn’t live alone.

Summa Associates gave me the names of five nursing facilities. They also toldme where I could take her for a full evaluation of her needs. I moved my motherinto one of the homes because the people were very good. Unfortunately, mymother bolted after two weeks and refused to stay there any longer. She wouldn’tlisten to me, or anyone else.

I would find one situation that seemed to work and then after a little whileit would become unacceptable for my mother.

I was lucky because my supervisor was understanding. He is an only son whohad dealt with a sick parent for a while. He understood when I said that Ineeded to take care of something; that I was taking advantage of the city’sflexible policies to help me minimize the time I was going to have to be awayfrom work.

Mel Ruska
City of Mesa, Arizona
Operations Supervisor for Mesa Community Conference Center

Clearly, manager support is important. To ensure that, managers need trainingto see the bottom-line value of providing employees with flexibility andservices to meet their needs. If you talk with people who have elder-careresponsibilities, you see that what really helps is the flexibility in theirschedules, whether it’s so they can wait at home until the home aide arrives,or whether it’s to be able to drop off the parent at an adult day-careprogram. Extending flexibility to encompass these duties is very important.

It’s also helpful if managers can recognize when an employee is strugglingwith an elder-care problem. If employees won’t bring it up, managers can helpalleviate some of the stress by opening up discussion about some of thework-related behavior they might have noticed. This could be decreasedproductivity, absenteeism, an increased need for personal time off, etc. A feworganizations are considering formal training, but most do it informally,encouraging managers about the benefits.

Helping employees be aware of flex-time reduces unexpected absences and lostproductivity. “Any time you get into the dependent-care arena, managementsays, ‘Tell me about the bottom line — what am I going to get out of it,’”says Jody Topping, employee-benefits supervisor for the City of Mesa.”Studies have shown that when you offer these types of programs, youremployees are more productive and happier.”

Topping’s experience at the City of Mesa underscores that statement. Theexistence of these programs — and supervisors’ acceptance of them — allowflexibility so people can attend to critical family responsibilities during thework day, which makes for a happier, more productive employee. Indeed, the Cityhas a very low turnover rate of 3 percent.

Communication assures use of programs
While flexibility may be the most far-reaching single initiative anorganization can provide, other activities are also important — such as lettingemployees know what information is available, having people come into theworkplace to speak about elder-care options, offering phone consultations withgerontologists, or surveying employees to find out what they think their needswill be in the future. However, these support tools are only helpful ifemployees know assistance is available.

A Michigan-based bank employee talks about finding in-home care:

My grandfather passed away two years ago, so my parents took my grandmotherin. She’s 84. We kept her for two years at my parents’ house. They bothwork, and I work and have children, and nobody understood her disease [Alzheimer’s].I didn’t know what to do. I have seen my parents falling apart, and it wasn’thelping Grandma that they couldn’t handle her situation.

I had received information about my company’s resource-and-referralprogram, and called them for help. They helped me follow up on all kinds ofthings, like what to look for if you have a private person come in, and how tointerview them. Now we have someone who comes into the home and takes care ofher during the day, while my parents are working. There were all types ofoptions to choose from. The company also has a service that showed what kind ofbenefits my insurance offers to help toward this. It sent a list of differentgroups I could choose from, and how much the insurance covered on each group.

My grandmother will have to go into a nursing home very soon. She reallyneeds to be watched. Some days she is as normal as you and I — other days aremore difficult. On several occasions, she got up and put a coffee filter in thetoaster and caught it on fire. She does things like that right out of the blue.

I got involved [with my grandmother’s care] because I knew services wereavailable through my company. Something had to be done, and nobody was doinganything, so I had to take that step. I had to look out for my parents. I didn’tknow where else to turn. My parents were going through a nightmare.

Donna Fulgenti
Savings Counselor
Standard Federal Bank
(subsidiary of ABN AMRO Group)

Troy, Michigan

Donna Fulgenti is certainly not alone. Elder care has become amultigenerational concern. “I tell all of my managers when we talk aboutwork/life issues and flexibility, ‘If you don’t think elder-care issues aregoing to affect you, think again,’” says Kathy Short, vice president anddirector of work/life programs for Chicago-based ABN AMRO Group. She’s theindividual who oversees the programs Fulgenti uses. “Your employees aregoing to have to deal with these issues. They don’t believe they’re evergoing to be responsible for elder care. They’re in major denial. [When ourparents die,] we hope they’ll die in their sleep. But the likelihood is greatthat we will all have some level of elder care to do.”

Ask Short and she’ll tell you that communication of programs is uppermoston her mind. She and her associates create formal and informal communicationopportunities. She also writes a bimonthly newsletter in which they highlightsuccess stories of flexible work arrangements and DCC, the company’sresource-and-referral agency. They discuss current research, discounts atchildcare centers, and other important information regarding work/life balance.

In addition, they request employees to send them e-mail questions regardingany work/life issue. The bank also rents out Great America Amusement Park once ayear as a work/life-marketing day, where they distribute wallet-sized cards ofthe resource-and-referral provider as well as their EAP.

“It’s really so much of raising awareness,” Short says. “Itis more than just a nice thing to do, it is a business issue.”

Her advice: “Be ready to talk about how it helps the organization andthe individual, and keep talking about it. People are afraid to talk about it.So the company should talk about it, then write articles about it. Offerprograms and let people know it’s OK if you have the situation. Tell us so wecan help you.”

Workforce, October 1999, Vol. 78, No. 10, pp. 58-67— Subscribenow!

Fortunately, in response to the rapidly growing problem of elder care, avariety of options are available through local agencies and privateorganizations. Gone are the days of nursing homes for all but the most seriouslyimpaired. HR should know the alternatives.

• Resource and referral services (offered through employers) providethorough education to callers about options, finances, legal issues, as wellas names of screened agencies and providers.
• Home health care providers offer skilled help in the home.
• As an employer, you may be able to offer a reduced rent at selected seniorhousing communities.
• Assisted living complexes are apartments for healthy seniors who needmoderate assistance.
• Continuing-care retirement communities (CCRCs) can provide a variety oflevels of aid to elderly.

Some organizations even employ geriatric-care managers, who supervise thecaregiver’s situation if he or she is too far away. It’s all simply a matterof discovering elder-care options, and then assessing which ones work best.

Workforce, October 1999, Vol. 78, No. 10, p. 61— Subscribenow!

An important element in your efforts to ease stress at your organization is the employee assistance provider. To help you narrow down your search for a qualified EAP service, here are things to look for when choosing an EAP:

• Be sure the EAP vendor is both experienced and qualified.

• Check for a track record that the vendor provides services to companies of similar size and scope.

• Research the client company references every way you can to ensure that the EAP service provides timely, high-level, quality intervention.

• Make sure that individual practitioners are highly qualified.

• Demand that the EAP provider report back to you without breaching confidentiality issues – the firm can provide information such as usage and trends.

• Be sure the organization offers a consultative approach to working with the HR professionals about how to best improve the program over time to meet the specific needs of that client company.

• Make sure there is a regular review process.

• Require the EAP provider to meet the unique culture and needs of your organization. (An EAP for a software company is going to be very different from that of a staid insurance firm, for example.)

Source: Chicago-based ComPsych Corporation

Workforce, September 1999, Vol 78, No 9, p. 52

To help prevent stress for employees, you have to know what to look for. The following are signs of a stressful environment. 

The Design of Tasks

Heavy workload, infrequent rest breaks, long work hours and shiftwork; hectic and routine tasks that have little inherent meaning, do not use workers’ skills, and provide little sense of control.

Management Style 

Lack of participation by workers in decision making, poor communication in the organization, lack of family-friendly policies.

Interpersonal Relationships

Poor social environment and lack of support or help from co-workers and supervisors.

Work Roles 

Conflicting or uncertain job expectations, too much responsibility, too many “hats to wear.”

Career Concerns

Job insecurity and lack of opportunity for growth, advancement, or promotion; rapid changes for which workers are unprepared.

Environmental Conditions

Unpleasant or dangerous physical conditions such as crowding, noise, air pollution, or ergonomic problems.

Source: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health

Workforce, September 1999, Vol 78, No 9, p. 50  Subscribe Now!