Author: Jennifer Schu

Jeff, a senior systems developer, looks dapper in denim on page 28. Senior employment specialist Renee sports a fine gauge cardigan on page 39. On page 13, John in public affairs models Peruvian Pima.

They’re just a few of the “model employees” featured in the most recent Lands’ End Business Outfitters catalog. Since its inception, the catalog — which targets businesses interested in purchasing clothing and products bearing corporate logos — has used as models actual workers at companies across the United States. Featured firms have included Xerox, Cisco Systems, and Saturn Corporation, as well as smaller organizations like the Martha’s Vineyard Shipyard.

Each edition of the catalog tells a story about a different company. For Summer 2002, Lands’ End chose an employee-relations focus, says Jeff Sawyer, associate creative director, Lands’ End Business Outfitters. “We went looking for an organization that had distinguished itself with innovative human resources strategies.”

Their choice was SAS, a large software firm long recognized for its employee-friendly philosophies. “The company clearly believes that taking care of its customers begins with taking care of its people,” says Sawyer.

In offer to capture the true flavor of a company setting, Lands’ End does large photo shoots on-site. “Shoots tend to be fun for everyone involved,” says Sawyer. “People get a quick taste of the modeling life.”

The SAS shoot lasted three days, and over 25 employee models were chosen. There were no formal auditions held, according to SAS spokesperson John Dornan. “Most of the employees who appeared in the catalog just happened by during the several days that Lands’ End was here.”

The current catalog includes a case study about SAS on the first inside spread, with employee testimonials throughout the pages. For example, Danielle, a corporate affairs specialist, reveals, “As a single parent, I appreciate the flexibility to work from home when my child is sick,” she says. On another page, an employee’s small daughter is pictured at the SAS on-site daycare center.

Taken together, the testimonials add up to a compelling story that keeps catalog readers turning the pages — and ideally, making purchases, says Sawyer. “Business buyers tell us they find testimonials enjoyable and enlightening.”

Workforce Online, May 2002 — Register Now!

 The glut of school holidays can be the bane of a working parent’s existence. When schools are closed on regular business days, parents must devise backup child-care plans or — more often than not — use their vacation time to care for their kids. For companies, this means lost productivity and understaffed departments on days when parents of school-age children must stay at home.

Few employees today have doting grandparents living nearby who are able to baby-sit in a pinch. That’s where HR can help. Companies like The Vanguard Group, Verizon Communications, and DuPont have come up with solutions that improve employee attendance, productivity, and overall frame of mind during school holidays.

The Vanguard Group, based in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, offers Great Escapes for Vanguard Kids, a program that takes employees’ children on daylong field trips to local attractions — such as museums or historic sites — on school holidays. Vanguard partially subsidizes the trips so that the cost to parents is reduced; costs vary according to the nature and destination of the outing.

“One Less Distraction”
Verizon Communications offers Kids in the Workplace, a vacation and holiday care program for school-age children of working parents that is administered by Ceridian LifeWorks and customized for each work site according to the schedules of area schools. Kids in the Workplace is sponsored and funded by joint committees of Verizon and its unions (who got the money through bargaining). Typical days covered include Presidents’ Day, Good Friday, Spring Break, Columbus Day, the Christmas holiday week, and other times when schools are closed but companies are open, says Heidi Daly Guy, account executive for Ceridian LifeWorks.

Experienced licensed providers that operate in compliance with local and state regulations and codes provide care at the company — usually in an empty conference room or other large space. And while parents are working, their children are not just watching videos, Guy says. Kids in the Workplace “is a planned program with structured activities and a specific curriculum throughout the year. It is not meant to be just baby-sitting.”

Verizon is currently implementing Kids in the Workplace in 60 of its locations nationwide. “We’ve actually helped improve attendance, because parents know they have the support they need when schools are closed,” says Fred Jenkins, executive director of WorkLife Strategies for Verizon. “It’s one less distraction they have to deal with.”

The cost of Kids in the Workplace is $20,000 to $30,000 per work site for 20 to 24 children, covering up to 17 days a year. It is offered to Verizon employees as a free benefit.

Referral Groups
Another option is Just in Time Care, offered by The Family and Workplace Connection, a nonprofit dependent-care resource and referral organization based in Wilmington, Delaware. Just in Time Care can be used by employees on school holidays and whenever regular child-care arrangements are not available, including the few weeks in June when school has ended and summer camp has not yet begun — a period that many working parents have difficulty covering. Just in Time Care will contract with a day-care vendor to offer on-site holiday care at workplaces, or it will refer parents to several area day-care vendors that will accept kids on a “just in time” basis, e.g., on a school holiday.

Just in Time Care administers work-site programs similar to those of Kids in the Workplace for DuPont, Citibank, and AstraZeneca. The program is covered by employer subsidies, for which employers choose the level and cap. Most companies elect to subsidize 80 percent of backup-care costs — usually up to $300 per family per year, says Gerri Weagraff, vice president of marketing for The Family and Workplace Connection. The employees pay the remaining 20 percent on the day of the service. The cost of Just in Time Care is around $50 per day, though Weagraff says that “the employee usually only pays 10 to 20 percent of that, depending on the level of subsidy their company has chosen.”

School holiday child-care programs may not come cheap, but the payoff to employers can be huge, especially in terms of increased employee focus and productivity, says Verizon’s Jenkins. “Based on the feedback we’ve received, the program is a tremendous success. It offers peace of mind for parents — so they can be more focused while they’re at work.”

Imagine a solution to some of your company’s most annoying data exchange woes. XML (Extensible Markup Language) is a new computer standard that is being touted as just that. It allows disparate systems to seamlessly exchange data and information.

Many large corporations, such as Cisco, Ford, and Lockheed Martin, have already made XML a key component of their business strategies. As the next wave of enterprise-wide management, communications, and commerce takes hold, and seamless exchange of data and information become standard operating procedure, more companies are expected to embrace XML.

And now that Microsoft has launched its XML-supporting “BizTalk Server,” that’s bound to happen sooner than later. Experts predict that it won’t be long before XML becomes the primary standard for e-commerce and a key e-business enabler.

“The great integrator”
Yet what exactly does the emergence of XML mean for HR — and specifically, the HRIS?

“Standard XML vocabularies for HR will lower integration costs and enable e-business,” says Chuck Allen, director of the HR-XML Consortium, a non-profit standards group for HR data exchange.

Company HR systems and infrastructures usually hold a great deal of information contained within their boundaries. “XML can be the great integrator,” says John Matranga, chief technology officer of Omicron Consulting and director of XMLabs, which designs and develops XML solutions for corporations and independent software developers.

There are many possibilities of exchange of information with the HR area of a company, explains Matranga. They include:

• Organization of information for purchase, expense, and other approval cycles.

  
  

• Integration of 401(k) information into an employee self-service portal.

  
  

• Integration of personal information and certifications with a security system that allows access to valid certified resources.

  
  

• Integration of payroll applications like Ceridian and ADP with real-time employee self-service.

  
  

Easier recruiting
XML should also improve the recruiting process. With XML, barriers to data interchange are eliminated. “Instead of having to integrate separately with each job board or recruiting venue, an employer will be able to make a single connection via the HR-XML standards,” says Allen.

Resume builder tools that support the XML standard will allow the capture of rich Meta data about a job candidate’s skills and interests. This will make it easier to search, analyze and compare candidates’ qualifications, Allen explains.

With a common schema that can be adopted by the industry, the ability to exchange, search and manipulate resumes will be greatly enhanced, says Matranga.

“One example would be an internal recruiting system that could link to a marketplace, act on local resumes as well as remote resumes at the same time,” he says.

As a result, recruiters would be able to take advantage of this common schema to help in recruiting in both private and open marketplaces.

More advantages
One of the best aspects about standard XML vocabularies for HR is that they do not necessarily require vendors to change how information is stored, says Allen. “HR-XML provides a neutral message between systems.”

Systems are integrated through “loose coupling.” Standard Application Programming Interface Definitions for processing XML have been widely implemented across all major programming environments, including Java, C++ and Visual Basic. “Thus, it should be relatively trivial for most HR vendors to move SML data in and out of their systems,” he says.

More good news is that the XML learning curve is not too steep, according to Allen. “As one developer recently told me, ‘XML was frightening at first, but frighteningly easy when it came time to do our first implementation,’” he says.

It’s clear that XML expertise will soon become much in demand in corporate IT departments. XML is to data as HTML is to presentation for the Internet, says Matranga, who has authored several books on XML.

“If you believe that Internet and intranet technologies will be important, then knowledge of XML is just as important as fundamental understanding of HTML,” says Matranga.

For many companies, it’s farewell, free soda. Good-bye, beer and pizza. So long,special training. The economic slump is moving many companies to reduce — orentirely eliminate — nontraditional perks established in recent years to attractand retain workers, according to research firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas.But at the SAS Institute, the world’s largest privately held software company,the M&M’s are still flowing freely.

    Renowned for its employee benefits and winner of several “best place towork” honors over its 25-year history — including a Workforce OptimasAward for general excellence in 2000 — SAS is making headlines as one of thefew high-tech companies that aren’t laying people off.

    Unlike Hewlett-Packard, Cisco, and other big high-tech firms, SAS hasn’t handedout a single pink slip. “Like many companies, we have slowed down hiringrecently, but our approach has been a little bit different,” says SAS spokesmanJohn Dornan. “(CEO) Jim Goodnight has always tried to limit head-countgrowth to about 12 percent a year. That’s why the company — while it may nothave had the skyrocketing growth of some tech companies — has always averageddouble-digit revenue growth annually.”

    Nor has the company cut any of its celebrated employee perks. Its Cary, NorthCarolina, headquarters boasts four subsidized child-care centers, an on-sitehealth-care facility with a staff of 38, and a 55,000-square-foot fitness centerwith an indoor pool. Employees at other locations enjoy subsidized child-carebenefits at centers of their choosing, and the company picks up the tab fortheir fitness club memberships.

    Then there are the free refreshments. SAS is widely known for its “breakstations,” which are stocked with breakfast pastries, fruits, six varietiesof snack crackers, and soda, juice, coffee, and tea. Every floor also has freeM&M’s served in bowls that are replenished on Wednesdays. The company goesthrough an estimated 22 tons of M&M’s annually. The Cary headquarters alsooffers employee conveniences like on-site car detailing, massage, dry-cleaningpickup and delivery, and a hair salon.

    Even the simplest perk is part of a highly developed business strategy designedto attract and retain employees, and to reduce the cost of turnover. How canSAS afford all this largesse?

    “Knowledge-based companies need knowledge workers,” says CEO Goodnight.”Looking at … services that keep employees motivated, loyal, and doingtheir best work as merely an expense and not an investment is, I think, a littleshortsighted.”

    Stanford University researcher Jeffrey Pfeffer has studied SAS extensively.He estimates that the company saves over $70 million per year as a result ofits low turnover.

    “You can pay that money to employees in the form of benefits, or you canpay headhunters and corporate trainers to fund the revolving door of peoplecoming in and out,” Goodnight says. “To me, it’s a no-brainer.”

    At SAS, each benefit is studied and reviewed before it is implemented, to makesure it fits with the company’s culture and is cost-effective, Dornan says.

    The plan seems to be working. Sales at the 8,000-employee organization areup 10 percent this year. Goodnight expects they’ll reach $1.2 billion in 2001.That pays for a lot of M&M’s.

    “I think our history has shown that taking care of employees has made thedifference in how employees take care of our customers,” Goodnight says.”With that as our vision, the rest takes care of itself.”

Workforce, October 2001, p. 21 — Subscribe Now!

These days, company layoffs are painful for everyone involved, from the downsizedemployees to their managers to HR, which has the task of delivering the news.

But there are ways to ease the hurt. Companies likeCisco Systems are trying to ease the pain of necessary workforce reductionsby providing employees with “transition intranets.” These intranetsfeature everything from job leads, counseling services, and résumé-writingtips to severance documents and other information of interest to workers duringthe transition period. In return, employers avoid creating widespread alarmand, in many cases, are able to salvage relationships with departing employees.

Even if exact numbers or targets of layoffs have notyet been determined, a transition intranet can help promote a sense of calm.When Washington Mutual acquired Home Savings Bank of America at the end of 1999,the latter created a transition intranet that featured, among other things,daily updates on the merger and its implications.

“One thing you cannot have is any darkness, anyinterruption of communication,” says Alan Feuerstein, then Home SavingsBank communications specialist for information services. “The transitionintranet alleviated the panic.”

Cisco’s intranet, called Cisco Pathfinder, featuresjob listings from over 430 companies, including Cisco customers, partners, andvendors. Employees can set up their own job-seeker profiles that potential employerscan search. There’s also information on career networking events, résuméwriting, and interview preparation.

“People tell our human resources department thatit’s very helpful — a good source of information, tips, and guidance,”Cisco spokesperson Chris Peacock says.

For all the goodwill they can potentially create, transitionintranets are a relative bargain. If a company already has an employee intranet,they cost virtually nothing. At Home Savings, Feuerstein and the rest of theIT team simply leveraged the company’s existing intranet technology. Their onlyreal task was to change the content, all of which had to be approved by HR.

Instead of instructional information about Home SavingsBank products, the employee intranet began to feature severance documents andjob-search tools, including the capability to search the major Internet jobsites and job openings with the acquiring company, Washington Mutual.

“Employees have to know their rights in such asituation, and we published every document as it became available, includingcomplete severance-package information,” Feuerstein says. The Home SavingsBank intranet stayed in place for a year, throughout the entire transition period.The company even set up a full transition office in a small building in theparking lot. There, 20 computer terminals were installed — so that employeeswho didn’t have access to a computer on the job were able to access information.

In the end, transition intranets can serve emotionalas well as practical purposes. “The workforce-reduction process was a difficultone,” Peacock says, “but Cisco has tried to be open, respectful, andhelpful to the people affected.”

Workforce, July 2001, p. 15 — SubscribeNow!

Tough economic conditions can force many firms to lay off valued workers.Later, when times improve, you may want to contact and re-hire them. Yet theemployee contact information may be out of date, and there’s no way of knowingwhat new skill sets these workers may have acquired in the interim — making itdifficult to match them with open positions.

    An answer to this dilemma could be found in your applicant tracking system orHRMS. While the applicant tracking system is primarily designed for recruitingand tracking new hires, some can also be used to track layoffs and laid-offworkers. And an HRMS may also have this functionality.

    “In today’s labor market, companies are well advised to try and keep intouch with the employees they want to recall, so if the opportunity comes up,they can bring them in quickly,” says Jim Spoor, CEO of Spectrum.

From employee to candidate
    With some of Spectrum’s (and other) systems, Spoor says you can create customsnapshots of each laid-off employee, and also periodically send update lettersto former workers. These letters encourage them to keep you posted on newlyacquired skill sets, as well as where they’re currently employed. You can alsosend them passwords and user names so they can update their existing employeerecord themselves over the Web.

    Ceridian Source 500, an HRMS, tracks and runs reports on terminated employeesfor both reporting purposes as well as the possibility of eventual rehiring,says Tom Milliken, a Ceridian representative. Laid-off employees are designatedas “terminated” — as opposed to coding them as “active,””FMLA,” “Leave of Absence,” or other terms.

    Still, it is the applicant tracking system — both the traditional andWeb-based — that is probably best designed for layoff tracking. A commonscenario in many large organizations is laying off employees in one particulardepartment. Personic’s eRecruiter, for example, can determine if any of thoseworkers have skill sets that could match open job requisitions in other areas ofthe company. You can then easily reactivate the employee file as a candidatefile in the eRecruiter database. The candidate can apply for open positionsthrough the Personic’s eCandidate interface on the corporate Web site, or youcan simply add him or her to the workflow process for a particular requisition.

    Along the same lines is Cluen’s Encore Search Management Software, which usesan “attribute tracking” device to “tag” an individual whenhe or she is laid off. You can be as specific as you need to be with”tagging.”

    “For example, if you wanted to find all the HR vice presidents who dealtwith benefits and compensation who were laid off in the Topeka office, you cando so through running one simple report,” says Cluen spokesperson AaronO’Hanlon.

    Another system, called SonicRecruit, first identifies workers to be laid off,and tracks the status of a layoff notice. Then, it tracks the status of theemployees once they are officially let go. After the exit interview, thelaid-off worker can be rated on the likelihood of their returning to thecompany. When the firm goes back to hiring mode, the firm can recall allcandidates to whom they want to re-offer jobs.

Helping employees in their job search
    Even if your organization will not be re-hiring in the near future, you canstill maintain good relations with laid-off workers by utilizing your applicanttracking system to help them find new jobs.

    VirtualEdge’s E*TRACK System offers a “Transition Module” thatallows companies to work with outsourcing and staffing firms. Laid-off workerprofiles can be selected, approved and pushed to a central database, whichoutsourcing firms can access.

    Another system, Gemdrop Recruiter, lets employers identify laid-off employeesas “public,” which allows outside users to access and view thecandidate’s resume, contact information and credentials. It also features aproprietary built-in technology called “Shine” that allows jobcandidates to create online presentations that provide a more intensiveintroduction to their skills and experience.

    In the end, it’s smart to use your technology to help track and managelayoffs — because it can pay off in the future. Says Spoor: “When it’stime to re-hire, a former employee who already has a couple of years’ experiencewith your organization, who understands your culture and your products, isreally your safest bet.”

When Victoria’s Secret held its annual online lingerie fashion show last May,over two million viewers tuned in – most from their office PCs. The video Webcast gobbled up so much bandwidth that it tied up corporate networks, stealingspace needed for – gasp! – actual work activities.

    Just one employee streaming that particular Web cast was the equivalent ofdownloading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica onto his or her workplace network,says John Carrington, CEO of Websense, a provider of employee Internet managementsolutions.

    Few workers realize how their clandestine online activities can drasticallyslow down the company network. For example, if one employee is blissfully listeningto music online while another is trying to download a financial applicationfor her job, the latter’s task can take twice as long.

T-1 traffic taming
    Most businesses today invest in costly high-speed Internet connections knownas T1 lines. Since few employees have high-speed access at home, many visitstreaming media-laden Web sites on the job.

    Some companies combat the problem by periodically denying access to certainWeb sites overused by its employees. This can involve buying expensive Layer7 programmable switches, which must then be integrated with existing routersand servers. Such a task can take weeks.

    Other businesses try to relieve gridlock by purchasing expensive new T1 lineswith more bandwidth from their Internet Service Provider (ISP). Yet this approachbackfires, as employees quickly pick up on the faster pace of their Internetplayground and use it for even more bandwidth-consuming activities.

    “Ironically, companies that put in higher bandwidth are [just] going to getless productivity out of their employees,” says John Holobinko, CEO of AplionNetworks, a software developer.

Case study: Texaco
    A new solution is bandwidth prioritization, in which companies can prioritizeboth their Local Area Network (LAN) and Wide Area Network (WAN) traffic so thatbusiness-critical applications can get through the network first.

    Texaco needed to make sure its business-critical network traffic – includingits THP financial database, SNA mainframe, and People Soft human resources software- was not slowed down by less critical traffic such as Web surfing.

    The company turned to Lightspeed Systems’ QoS for E-Business, a network traffic-managementsolution that prioritizes network traffic not only by application, but in otherways as well, including by department and even by the calendar. For example,if the accounting department’s “crunch time” is at the end of each month, companiescan “set” the network so that accounting gets high bandwidth priority duringthat week. And key business partners accessing the company’s network resourcescan be prioritized over employees downloading music files.

    “The immediate savings was about $75,000 in hardware costs and approximately$3,000 in monthly circuit costs,” says Richard Goldberg, then a senior networkengineer at Texaco, and now with Aera Energy. “We didn’t have to go out andorder five new T1s for remote offices.”

    The savings of keeping data accurate and timely were also of great benefit,Goldberg says, as were the ability to “reach into the network” and identifywhich applications were most important.

    Goldberg is also using Lightspeed Systems’ QoS for E-Business in his currentjob. “The dollar crunching, business justification is twofold, limiting ‘RealPlayer’ traffic…and guaranteeing available bandwidth for SAP and Oracle,” hesays.

    “[Also], we go through a hard month end close financially which creates a buzzof network activity, database snapshots, backups, copies and queries, and wecan prioritize traffic during the close.”

More technologies that fight back
    Companies are just now realizing that adding bandwidth to solve network congestionis not a viable long-term solution, says Toby Velte, CEO of FireSummit.

    His company is coming out in March with a network traffic prioritization solutioncalled Viziq, which is currently being beta-tested the University of Wisconsin-Stout,the University of Minnesota’s ITS Institute, and three Fortune 1000 companies.

    One major benefit of Viziq, says Velte, is that it can easily be installedand employed by business IT people – not just engineers. The company ships theserver component with the product preloaded, which is similar to a browser plug-in.

    Viziq is also very smart, he says. It has an intelligence engine that can dynamicallychange priorities when two similarly ranked applications are fighting for networkspace. There’s also the issue of lunchtime surfing, which can tie a networkup considerably. If officials of the company are trying to have an Internet-basedconference during the middle of the day, the sound quality can be terrible.Viziq can be set to prioritize certain applications during this period, whenemployees are using their free time to surf yet can still harm the flow of business-criticalapplications.

    Many businesses overprovision their T1 lines because they have to, Velte says.With all the Web surfing and downloading of non-business-related files, theymust supply more bandwidth to keep the network congestion-free. If a companyis over provisioning its line by 20 to 30 percent, that’s very expensive. Viziqcan eliminate those extra costs.

    Another popular solution is Internet filtering software such as Websense, whichhelps businesses monitor, report and manage how their employees are using theInternet. Yet such monitoring can be embarrassing to employees – a situationmany companies want to avoid in a tight labor market.

    Finally, there’s Aplion Networks’ Network Virtuoso Soloist, another bandwidthprioritization solution, which works in the following fashion. If an employeeis loading a Shockwave game, and his colleague in the next cubicle is tryingto download work-related software, the Shockwave game will automatically shutdown, freeing the line for the productive worker.

    An added feature is that companies can create “a managed Internet,” so thatif an employee tries to access a forbidden Web site, the site will simply “timeout.” Unlike Websense, there’s no reporting on who tried to get onto the site- and no subsequent embarrassment. The employee will merely think it’s a technicalproblem at the Web site.

    Currently Network Virtuoso Soloist is sold only to ISPs as an add-on serviceto their business customers. Companies can ask their ISPs if they offer theproduct.

    In the end, bandwidth prioritization is more effective than Web usage monitoring,says Holobinko. “It’s the difference between just setting up a monitoring cameraon a highway – or shaping the traffic on the highway itself to everybody’s bestinterest.”

---

For more information:

• Lightspeed Systems
• FireSummit
• Aplion Networks

Bring on the huddled masses yearning for jobs in IT.

    Recruiters were given a boost last fall by new legislation that significantlyincreased the number of new visas available to foreign workers sought by theU.S. high-tech industry.

    Approved by a vote of 96-1 in the Senate, the measure raised the cap on H-1Bvisas, increasing to 195,000 from 115,000 the number of skilled foreign workersallowed to enter the U.S. on a temporary visa over each of the next three years.

    The measure provides H-1B workers more options to extend their status andwork longer in the U.S. There’s also a welcome new stipulation that requiresImmigration and Naturalization Services (INS) to reduce processing times for thevisas.

Tapping overseas talent
    Paul Wilson, HR director at FutureNet, an e-business consulting firm withFortune 1000 clients, says he must fill between 200 and 225 IT positions a year.Prior to the new legislation, Wilson found it difficult to tap foreign ITtalent. The allocation for visas was so low that most were already given out bymidsummer of each calendar year.

    “If [candidates] weren’t in the queue by July or August, [they]basically had to wait until the next year,” Wilson says. About sevenpercent of his hires are H-1B visa holders, and he now expects that number torise significantly.

    “We have a new market economy emerging that’s driven by IT, and it willgrow only as large as the employee base allows,” says Mary Musacchia,director of government relations for SAS Institute, a large privately heldsoftware developer located in North Carolina’s Research Triangle. “Ourindustry needs these skilled workers.”

    In the past, employers were sometimes reluctant to interview foreigncandidates in line for visas because of the time-consuming bureaucracy involved.

    “You had to get clearance from INS before you could hire them, whichcould be a three month process,” says Bruce Fram, CEO of Luminate, amanagement service provider located in Silicon Valley. “You never knew ifthey could start in a month or three months. With American citizens, you knewthey could start in two weeks.”

    As a result, while Fram says he hired many workers from overseas for contractpositions, he found it hard from a business standpoint to fill full-timepositions with H-1B workers.

    The new measure changes that. “We do have some permanent H-1B folks now,and we expect to have more, thanks to the new legislation,” he says..

The foreign worker’s perspective
    The new measure should be an improvement over the former H-1B visa lifestyle,which “greatly limited me both professionally and personally,” saysPrasad Aloni, a Philadelphia-based IT professional who emigrated from Indiaeight years ago.

    Bureaucratic rules and regulations made it tough for H-1B workers to changejobs, even if they felt unhappy or exploited. They are often at the mercy of IT”body shops” – staffing companies that imported foreign workers – andcouldn’t negotiate for salaries and working conditions equal to those of theirAmerican counterparts.

    Because they didn’t know how long they’d be allowed to stay in the U.S., theyoften hold off buying homes or cars and putting down roots. Fram has feltcompassion for his H-1B employees.

    “I know them, their kids, their families,” he says. “Itcreates a lot of consternation for them – can they stay? Can they buy ahouse?”

    Still, foreign IT workers prize H1-B visas, and the raised cap gives themmore hope. Pranav Patel, a senior development globalization specialist with SASInstitute’s national language division, says he has several family members inIndia who are waiting to come to the U.S. All have advanced degrees in technicalfields as well as training and experience in the software industry, thanks tothe plethora of IT training centers in his native country.

    “India has a large pool of untapped, educated people who can help us [inthe U.S.] maintain the economic growth which we enjoy,” Patel says.

    Aloni agrees. The new legislation “could potentially help some reallysmart people back home in India who want to come to this country to achieve agreater financial and professional standard.

Impact on U.S. workers
    Yet what does this new influx of IT talent from overseas mean for American ITprofessionals? Will they lose some employment advantage?

    Hiring companies claim jobs taken by H-1B workers are primarily ones thathigh-tech companies could not otherwise fill with qualified American workers. Inother words, visa holders will supplement the current workforce, not replace it.

    That’s because there’s not just a chronic shortage of IT workers, but of whatFram calls “A players” – those with the talent to play a major role ingetting a high tech product out the door, on schedule.

    He feels the new legislation won’t take anything away from American workersbecause there is constant demand for the best talent, regardless of country oforigin. And contrary to recent media reports about the industry as a whole, Framsays he doesn’t believe age-ism exists in IT – at least, not at his company. .

    “We have a lot of gray beards running around here, and they’re allrunning LANs (local area networks) in their houses,” he says. “That’snot age-related, that’s personality related. They’re [obviously] keeping theirskills up. We have to get to market, and if they’re an ‘A’ player, we wantthem.”

    The new measure should help the U.S. raise more homegrown IT talent, since itallocates funds for math, science and technology education in U.S. elementaryand high schools. And the $500 fee for each visa will generate funds forscholarships for 60,000 US students and training programs for 150,000 USworkers.

Conclusion
    The U.S is only protecting its own economic interests by raising the visacap, says Patel. “If the increase was not made, then the work would be sentto countries like India, and the U.S. would not benefit.”

    At SAS, Patel works with a group of H-1B workers from India, helping themtransition to the U.S. He says they are always surprised by how warmly they arewelcomed by their American neighbors.

    “They are used to all kinds of red tape to do even simple things inIndia. Here they have lots of freedom.”

    He thinks it’s also good for the U.S. economy as a whole. “The moneythat the H-1 B visa people earn stays here. They pay taxes, buy new cars, renthomes, and take vacations.”

For more information, try USLaw.com’s section on H1-B visas, or try theINS.

Over319,000 laptop computers were stolen in 1999 alone, reports a study by SafewareInsurance. Those are just the thefts that are reported as claims to insurancecompanies; many stolen notebooks aren’t insured.

In the office
    Four out of ten laptop thefts happen at the office. Employees have had theirnotebooks stolen after leaving them unattended on their desks for less than fiveminutes. They run out to the reception area to pay a pizza delivery person onlyto find their computers gone when they return. Sometimes the thieves are evenfellow employees. In one San Francisco PR firm, the IT manager was found guiltyof systematically stealing computers and selling them hot on the street.

    Laptop theft cost businesses a staggering $1.6 million dollars last year,reports Computer Security Institute, which annually surveys 500 to 600companies. Some of the problem is the fact that employees using company-ownednotebooks simply aren’t careful enough about keeping them secure.

    “There’s a prevailing attitude that, ‘If it’s stolen, the company will justpay for it,'” says Courtney Celi, computer security channel manager forKryptonite Corporation, a manfacturer of bicycle and computer locks.

Loss-preventiontechnology
    Most employees are not held liable for the cost involved in replacing a laptopif it is stolen, notes Scott Anderson, sales manager for Computer SecurityProducts, a reseller of high-tech anti-theft devices. “When it’s your ownmoney involved, you tend to take better care of things than if someone else isfooting the bill.”

    What’s ironic is that for as little as $40, laptop users can easily protect aninvestment worth thousands. Kryptonite,creator of the famous “U” bike lock, has come out with a line oflaptop security devices at prices starting at $39.99. Styles range from braidedsteel cable locks and motion sensor alarms, which are recommended for travelingprofessionals, to the KryptoVault ,which locks the laptop down to the surface where it’s used most.

    However, some employees are lazy about using such physical deterrents – despitethe fact that most can be applied in seconds.”The biggest problem of all is getting people to actually use asecurity device, even if they are given one,” notes Anderson.

    Once a laptop is stolen, recovering it is virtually impossible unless it isinstalled with a high-tech tracing system.One such solution is Absolute Software’s Computrace, which is acombination of software and a monitoring service. Another is Caveo Anti-Theft™,available in early 2001, which features a tiny “micro-machinedtilt-motion” sensor that enables location-awareness in computer hardware.

Howtheywork
    Computrace uses “invisible stealth technology” to recover stolennotebooks. After it is installed, it works like this:

• Thecomputer automatically logs into a “monitoring station” once aweek.
• Ifthe laptop is stolen, Computrace can track the physical address of where thecomputer is being kept through either a telephone line or an InternetProtocol address.
• Atheft recovery officer works with the local police authorities, usingtracking information to get your laptop back.

    Computrace’s recovery rate for stolen laptops is “higher than 95percent,” claims Anderson, whose firm sells the product. Often, it is theemployee himself who is the culprit. Oneman, not realizing that Computrace had been installed, reported to his boss thathis laptop had been stolen. The computer subsequently “called in” andrevealed its whereabouts – the employee’s home.

    One current client is 3Com Corporation, which has been using Computrace forthree years on the company’s more than 4000 laptop PCs. “The system is simple, affordable and very reliable. As the personresponsible for hundreds of thousands of dollars in PC inventory, I can’t affordnot to protect that investment — and I won’t trust anything but the best,”says Brad Minnis, 3Com director of business compliance/worldwide salesoperations.

    The other solution, Caveo Anti-Theft™,can actually distinguish between threatening and non-threatening situations,says Caveo vice president Gail Greenwald.

• Itis integrated into the computer, operates independently of the operatingsystem, and functions whether the computer is on or off.
• Theuser sets his or her “work zone,” which defines the range ofmotion that Caveo Anti-Theft interprets as “non-threatening.”
• Whenthe armed laptop is carried beyond that zone, the device sounds audiblewarning signals, which increase in intensity.
• Asit’s carried beyond the “theft perimeter” (set beforehand by theuser), the system goes into “alarm state.” This includes soundinga louder alarm, shutting down the system, preventing the computer from beingbooted up by the thief, and securing the keys to encrypted information, thusprotecting confidential information stored on the computer.

Protectingyour investment
    A full 57 percent of all companies suffered losses from laptop theft in 1999,reports Computer Security Institute. The loss of expensive computer hardware -as well as any intellectual property and confidential business informationstored on those laptops – can, over time, be devastating to a company’s bottomline. These high tech solutions can help.

Formore information

• ComputerSecurity Institute
• KryptoniteCorporation
• AbsoluteSoftware (developer ofComputrace)
• ComputerSecurity Products(reseller of Computrace)
• Caveo

When Ellen Ranalli received an e-mail informingher that a recent health study had shown that anti-perspirants could causebreast cancer, she was alarmed. She immediately forwarded it to all of herfemale relatives, friends and co-workers.

Likewise, when novice investor Scott Jamisonreceived an “insider tip” that a large Internet Services Provider wasabout to merge with a Pentium chip manufacturer — sent by an attorney, no less– he excitedly shared the news with his co-workers.

Both people (whose names have been changed)thought they were being helpful by sharing with their colleagues what theybelieved to be important information. Instead, they were helping to spread someof the Internet’s most notorious e-mail hoaxes.

Innocent-looking, yet virulent

E-mail scams come in all forms. What’s scary isthat many can sound completely believable:

• One heartfelt electronic missive offered thestory of little Jessica Mydek, a seven-year-old suffering from a rare caseof cerebral carcinoma. As part of her dying wish, she wanted to start achain letter to aid cancer research. For every new person that received thee-mail message, several unnamed corporate sponsors had offered to donatethree cents to the American Cancer Society.

• Another e-mail claimed to be from the founderof an upscale clothing retailer. If the recipient forwarded the message tofive people, he or she would receive a $25 gift certificate from thecompany.

• Finally, a message which purported to be froma marketing analyst for a large candy manufacturer asked recipients to passthe message on to five other people. Every time the message reached 2000 newnames (“our tracking device is calculating how many e-mails you sendout”), the original recipient would receive a free case of chocolate.

All are e-mail hoaxes — colossal time-wastersthat negatively impact businesses and their corporate networks. They spreadfalse information and waste valuable bandwidth.

“It’s annoying, it slows down the e-mailsystem, and a lot of it is fraudulent,” says

Jodie Bernstein, director of the Federal TradeCommission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

And even when users become experienced enough tobe able to tell a silly message when they see one, “anyone can get suckeredsometimes,” says Charles Hymes, an IT professional who operates anon-profit Web site, “Don’t Spread That Hoax!”

How to spot them

The number of commercial e-mails receivedannually by the average U.S. consumer will explode from 40 in 1999 to 1,600 in2005, reports research firm Jupiter Communications. The key is to learn tohandle spam now — before it overtakes your company.

Most e-mail chain letters and hoaxes containthree classic elements: a “hook,” — such as a story about a sickchild, or an offer of free merchandise — a threat, and a request. And liketraditional chain letters, some threaten bad luck to the recipient who fails toforward it to others.

Most e-mail hoaxes have forged headers; whenrecipients try to respond, they’ll get an immediate “bounced back”message that the address is not valid.

Some spam — such as dubious-soundingmoney-making opportunities or X-rated photographs — is easily recognizable. Butas spammers become more adept, spam is getting harder to recognize.

Some of the most nefarious include offers ofinvestment opportunities, cable descrambler kits and work-at-home employment.There are also health warnings, offers of free long distance phone cards, andvacation prize promotions.

Recipients should be especially wary if ane-mail contains “insider information” about an upcoming businessmerger. Not only does the release of such information violate Securities andExchange Commission laws, it also may be a forerunner of a pyramid schemedesigned to bilk people out of their money.

How do e-mail spammers and scammers get hold ofyour employees’ addresses in the first place? They “harvest” e-mailfrom all over the Internet — thanks to special software that can grab addressesfrom chat rooms, Usenet postings, Web sites and online bulletin boards. Evenonline auction sites are prime pickings for these harvesters. So encourage youremployees to stay off such sites during work hours — and to avoid giving outtheir corporate e-mail address.

Spam-stopping tips for employees

• Don’t respond to the spam. Ifyou do, the spammer will know that your e-mail address is active and can sellit to others. Better yet — don’t even open the e-mail if you know by thesubject line that it’s not legit.

• Guard your e-mail address.Don’t post it on any Internet bulletin boards or newsgroups. And if a Web siterequires that you give them your e-mail address, make sure they have a privacypolicy that protects it and other personal information you share. If you dolike to post on message and discussion boards, do not use your company e-mailaddress.

• Don’t forward questionable e-mail. Ifyou suspect that a message could be a scam, it probably is. Trust yourinstincts.

• Be wary of “health warnings.” Ifyou receive a notice claiming that certain products cause major diseases,don’t forward it. Instead, watch the nightly news or daily newspaper. If sucha health warning is true, the national media will be aware if it.

• Avoid “free offers.” Ifsomeone’s promising free silk underwear or a hundred candy bars in exchangefor your forwarding an e-mail, don’t believe it.

• Delete immediately. Ifyou get something in your e-mail box that you can instantly identify as ascam, get rid of it fast.

Related sites

• Hoaxkill
• Don’tSpread That Hoax!