Author: Site Staff

Dear Madness but No Method:

There are several situations in which a company needs clear, accurate and business-focused information about employees’ roles. This information is necessary when:

1. Managers hire new people.
   
2. HR benchmarks salaries against those at similar companies.
   
3. A supervisor and employee discuss performance goals and expectations.
   

The information needed for each of these tasks is different and changes over time. That means someone has to figure out how to collect the needed data, ensure that it is used to the best advantage, and keep it up to date. Job descriptions and role profiles are just two of the templates companies may use for these purposes.

Basically, job descriptions are high-level overviews of basic skills a person needs to perform the role’s functions. The document typically lists various tasks to be done and the prior experience that the company believes is necessary for successful execution. It also includes information such as the title and reporting structure.

Job descriptions are most commonly used for hiring and salary benchmarking. The tasks and experience data outlined in a job description are comprehensive enough to give a candidate an idea about whether they are qualified. It also usually contains enough information for the compensation specialist trying to benchmark salaries to determine if a job is equivalent to one in another company that may have a different title.

Most job descriptions do not have enough detailed information to help a hiring team outline the specific role a new hire will fill. Nor can a manager use it to underscore the company strategy or the expectations they have of the incumbent.

The role profile, which is a more comprehensive instrument, provides some information not found in a basic job description. A role profile often contains an explanation of the company or group strategy. It also details the critical skills, accomplishments and competencies expected of a successful employee.

Crafting role-profile documents is a lot of work. So before investing the time, determine how they will be used in your organization and whether they will be valued. For instance, many companies use individual development plans or personal goal-setting documents to set employee expectations. In that case, a role profile document might be redundant.

Some companies require the hiring team to meet prior to interviews for any job. The hiring team documents tasks, skills and behaviors needed in the successful candidate. They also determine which interview questions each will ask and agree on a time to vet the candidates. In companies with such robust hiring reviews, a role profile would be unnecessary.

Finally, in many smaller companies, jobs are quite flexible. Roles may change often as the company evolves. Here, role profiles would need repeated rewrites or they would become outdated.

Both job descriptions and role profiles are valuable when used in the right way. To determine which tool to use, first understand the needs that you are trying to fill and which competing or overlapping processes are in place already.

SOURCE: Ellen Raim, Cascade Microtech Inc., Beaverton, Oregon

LEARN MORE: Please read the value that job descriptions can play in recruiting talented people.

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.

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Dear Workforce Newsletter

Dear At a Loss:

Training can be the bridge to world-class business results, especially during recession. Your training team needs a clear “line of sight” between training goals and business goals. Other considerations:

Be inclusive
A training program typically focuses on a variety of skills in technical areas, leadership development, sales enhancement and/or management. Some training programs have multiple tracks, while others focus on a single track, such as improving the performance of salespeople. If this is the case, the training team must have sales leaders who have “been there, done that” to guide development of courses and programs. It is equally important to include human resources professionals, especially those familiar with training disciplines.

In addition, having a senior executive on the training team demonstrates its importance and value. Finally, don’t forget to include any external partners that might be appropriate.

If the training program has multiple tracks beyond sales, it is essential to include additional experts. This could include people in marketing, information technology, finance, purchasing, and other groups.

Have a training game plan
It should include at least the following elements: mission, goals, alignment with business enterprise and culture, core competency assessment, internal versus external courses, blended learning, stretch assignments, principles for adult learning, individual versus group development plans, and face-to-face versus online courses. It typically takes six months to a year to get a quality training program up and running.

Set things in motion
As you begin putting the pieces in place, your training team will operate largely as an advisory body to human resources, especially in technical and subject-specific areas. In the beginning, your team should meet at least once a month, moving to a quarterly basis as the program develops. Make certain the team zeroes in on the competencies that your company deems pivotal to achieving its goals.

Monitor your progress
Don’t forget to have the training team closely examine the results. If training is for salespeople, this means examining participants’ course evaluations and their actual performance in the field. That will give you an idea of how people feel about the course topic, instructors, and other important areas. It also provides insight on ways you can improve things.

Don’t let up
The Japanese have a word for continuous improvement: kaizen. Again, this ties into the concept of consistently examining the outcome of your training efforts. Remember, a training program is only as good as the ability of your training team to provide leadership and guidance. That means the team must be nimble enough to make adjustments when needed.

An engaged and motivated training team isn’t easy to create, but the results are worth it. Bringing together committed individuals from various employee groups should help individuals grow professionally, helping to move your organization from being “just OK” to being great.

SOURCE: Dana E. Jarvis is an adjunct professor of business ethics and management at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.

LEARN MORE: On a related note, planning a curriculum to help people develop professionally also might be a consideration.

The information contained in this article is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, but should not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember that state laws may differ from the federal law.

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Dear Workforce Newsletter

Cleveland-based manufacturer Eaton Corp. said it’s laying off more than 5,000 people, or about 6 percent of its workforce, as a result of the global economic slowdown.

“We are reducing our global staffing level by about 5,200,” said Eaton spokeswoman Kelly Jasko. “This is a global impact, and the reason for it is to further align our cost structures with the weakening markets that we compete in.”

The layoffs will include about 60 employees at Eaton’s five locations in and around Cleveland, where the company employs about 800 people, Jasko said. Employees will be told in the next few weeks whether their jobs are being cut. Those affected will receive severance pay, the opportunity to continue their benefits and outplacement services, Jasko said.

Eaton makes hydraulic and other power management equipment and systems for a variety of markets, ranging from automotive to aerospace, all of which have been hit to varying degrees by the economic downturn. In all, Eaton employs about 80,000 people around the world. The company has 225 manufacturing facilities worldwide and sells products in more than 150 countries.

The recent cuts come on top of 3,400 layoffs Eaton announced in December, which also were spread around its operations worldwide. The announcement Tuesday comes less than a week before Eaton is set to release its quarterly and full-year financial results on January 26.

On December 16, Eaton announced it was lowering its guidance for fourth-quarter earnings. It told investors to expect earnings of between 90 cents and $1 per share, rather than the $1.70 to $1.80 per share that had been forecast previously by analysts.

Filed by Dan Shingler of Crain’s Cleveland Business, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

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Invoking work and entrepreneurship as symbols of the country’s strength, President Barack Obama in his inaugural address appealed to American employers and employees to nurture a willingness to compromise during this time of economic crisis.
 
Obama praised the private sector but also leveled criticism: Too often organizations act only within the confines of their narrow interests. His appeal for conciliation will likely be tested by employers bracing for pro-union legislation and health care reform.

As an example of sacrifice, Obama mentioned employees, such as those in local governments and at certain newspapers, who have accepted pay cuts and unpaid mandatory vacation time as a way to forestall the layoffs of others.

Obama said it is “the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours.”

In his 21-minute address, Obama lauded the country’s entrepreneurial spirit. He said America’s greatness came from the willingness of individuals and businesses to reward achievement gained through effort, ingenuity and risk.

“Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less,” Obama said. “It has not been the path for the faint-hearted—for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things—some celebrated but more often men and women obscure in their labor—who have carried us up the long, rugged path toward prosperity and freedom.”

Obama said the economic challenges facing our country come in large part from “our collective failure to make hard choices.” It is a failure, Obama said, that has led to lost jobs, bankrupt businesses and costly health care.

Later, he repeated his campaign promise to end partisanship and appealed to citizens and businesses to lead the charge.

“Our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions—that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking America.”

Toward that goal, the Obama transition team last week unveiled a new Web site, usaservice.org, to make it easier for people and organizations to volunteer.

—Jeremy Smerd

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American workers juggled schedules and cashed in sick days and paid leave as they sought to be among the millions who descended upon the National Mall in Washington to witness the historic inauguration of the country’s first African-American president.

Coming to Washington is a short trip for John Paul Held, who lives in Odenton, Maryland. But getting out of work required its own journey.

Held was one of 20 workers at a Whole Foods Market in Annapolis, Maryland, who asked for a free day to attend the inauguration. With so much demand, Held had to make up time—doing inventory—to have his January 20 free.

“I ended up working Monday at 4 a.m. so I could be here today,” he said. “I had to do some schedule-flipping and begging.”

He was the seventh or eighth person asking for time off at his store. Christina Held, also of Odenton, was quicker on the draw. She is a waitress at the Iron Bridge Wine Co. in Columbia, Maryland.

“As soon as Obama got elected, I sent an e-mail to my boss to request the day off,” Christina Held said. She got her wish.

Her colleagues rue the fact that they tarried and are working today. “They’re jealous,” she said.

It wasn’t necessarily first-come, first-served at the Morrow County Board for the Mentally Retarded and Developmentally Disabled in Mount Gilead, Ohio, where Lorrie Williams serves as an administrator.

She had to stretch her workdays last month to create free time in January. “I worked extra hours before Christmas,” Williams said.

Williams was one of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people who came to Washington as chaperones for groups of junior high and high school students. Kids made up a large share of those attending the inauguration, hitting the capital as if every school system in the nation took spring break at the same time.

Even among the youth cohort, however, there were work worries. Tabitha Lassen, a junior at Tri-Valley High School in Dresden, Ohio, came to Washington to participate in inaugural activities hosted by Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington.

But first, she had to get time off work. It was a bit of a challenge.

Only four months ago, she found a job at a Dresden pizza parlor that offered a “perfect” location and a work schedule that accommodated her extracurricular activities, including marching band.

When she got the chance to come to Washington for the inauguration, she couldn’t turn it down. At first, however, her boss said she failed to give him enough notice.

“I apologized and told him I couldn’t give him more notice,” Lassen said.

If she had blocked out her schedule and then the Washington trip fell through, she would have lost workdays and pay.

“If I told him before I could go, then those hours would have been wasted,” she said.

For workers in the District of Columbia, the path to the inauguration was easier. Many companies in town gave their workforce the day off. Security restrictions made a typical business day impossible.

Brennan Snow is a product specialist at B-Line Medical, a software company in Washington. The firm gave its employees a floating holiday that they could use for either Martin Luther King Jr. Day or for the inauguration. Alternatively, they could exercise a work-at-home day.

“Our company was kind of cool about it,” Snow said. “They didn’t ride our butts about making it into the office.”

The largest employer in Washington—the federal government—gave everyone the day off. That meant it was no problem for Sharmane Watson, a secretary at the Patent and Trademark Office, to join her family for the inauguration.

Her husband, Moses Watson, is employed in a part of government that was especially busy on January 20—the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. He works on computer systems inside squad cars.

“I’m not essential personnel, so I took off,” he said.

Sharmane Watson summed up why they—and most everyone else—left work behind on inauguration day.

“I’m just here to be part of history,” she said.

—Mark Schoeff Jr. 

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Facing projected financial losses that could exceed $1 billion over the next three years, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan announced Friday, January 16, that it plans to eliminate 1,000 jobs this year, cut senior executive pay, freeze wages and reduce spending on advertising and lobbying by 25 percent.

The cuts also affect Blue Care Network, its HMO subsidiary. (For a related story, read “WellPoint Plans to Eliminate 1,500 Positions.”)

Blue Cross also said it will seek average rate increases of 55 percent for individual plans, 42 percent for group conversion plans and 32 percent for Medicare supplemental plans, or Medigap.

Those three individual plans represent about 418,000 members.

“We should not ask our individual subscribers to pay more, without first demanding sacrifices from ourselves,” Blue Cross CEO Daniel Loepp said in a webcast to employees.

Blue Cross plans to cut senior executive salaries by an undetermined percentage and freeze pay for other executives. Blue Cross last froze executive pay in 2007.

“Our goal is to move forward as a strong and financially stable nonprofit company, committed to fulfilling our mission and delivering the best value in health insurance products and services to our customers,” Loepp said.

Based on expense reduction estimates, the Blues estimate that total cost savings over the next three years could total $300 million to $400 million.

“The actuaries are projecting cumulative losses of $1 billion,” said Andrew Hetzel, Blue Cross’ vice president for corporate communications. “[These cuts] will not get us all the way there, which is why we need the rate increases.”

Over the next 60 days, 400 employees will be laid off at Blue Cross and Blue Care, Loepp said. Based on the results of an ongoing performance improvement project, an additional 600 positions could be cut this year.

In October, Blue Cross laid off 130 workers as part of the process-improvement project it began in early 2008. The layoff included workers in various departments, including marketing and communications, where 14 workers were laid off.

Blue Cross said that in 2008 it lost $140 million on individual policies. It projects 2009 to be worse, estimating it will lose $320 million. This includes $210 million in medical underwriting losses and the state-mandated set-aside of $110 million in additional premiums to cover future losses.

The projected losses are based on actuarial assumptions and that Blue Cross receives some rate increases this year.

Hetzel said Blue Cross is having its company 2008 financials audited and said he does not know whether the company itself will post an overall profit.

“It is premature to make a comment on specific gains or losses,” Hetzel said. “We project to be very close to zero for 2008.”

In 2007, Blue Cross said net earnings declined 27 percent, to $152.2 million from $210 million in 2006. The Blues said 2007 marked the third consecutive year of lower earnings for the nonprofit health insurer.

“State law requires our individual products to be financially sustainable, but we will lose hundreds of millions on them this year,” Hetzel said. “Absent regulatory reform, we must turn to the rate-setting process for relief, and we must get new pricing soon.”

In December, the Michigan Legislature failed to act on two bills to reform the individual health insurance market that Blue Cross said was crucial to its financial stability. Officials had said tough decisions would need to be made in early 2009.

The losses are due to “the combined effects of a recessionary economy driving thousands of people into Michigan’s individual health insurance market, a broken regulatory system that requires [Blue Cross] to cover virtually all of the state’s costliest-to-insure individuals, and the increasing cost of health services,” Blue Cross said in a statement.

Other cost-cutting actions include:

• A freeze on salaries for nonunion workers.

• A request of the United Auto Workers to delay a 3 percent pay increase.

• A 25 percent reduction in discretionary spending.

• Cuts to programs funded by Blue Cross in local communities across Michigan.

“All of our actions are to preserve the financial health and stability of the Michigan Blues,” Hetzel said.

(For a related story, read “Cigna to Cut Jobs; Recession Cited.”

Filed by Jay Greene of Crain’s Detoit Business, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

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In a move that smacks of corporate retribution, Wells Fargo & Co. has fired employees who left Wells to work at Wachovia Corp.

In total, Wells Fargo fired 175 of 2,000 Wachovia employees who had previously worked for Wells Fargo, said Melissa Murray, a spokeswoman for the bank.

This month, San Francisco-based Wells purchased Wachovia of Charlotte, North Carolina, for $12.7 billion.

They initially agreed to the deal in October.

In an almost unheard-of move, the employees that Wells fired include Wachovia registered representatives and investment advisors who work for Wachovia Securities of St. Louis.

That defies one of the fundamental tenets of the brokerage business: High-producing reps and advisors are untouchables in mergers because they are the backbone and revenue producers of the firm that has been acquired.

Before shareholders approved the deal, Wells created a “do not hire” list of the employees, according to several sources inside and outside Wachovia.

According to one source, the list was dubbed the “conflict employee summary.”

At least in several cases, Wachovia Securities employees either were told directly or sent a letter on Christmas Eve that Wells wouldn’t rehire them, those sources said.

Among those affected were Kent Elliott and Matthew Schmitt, a $1.7 million team in Roseville, California, who on January 5 joined Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. of Milwaukee.

The fired employees range from bank tellers to stock brokers, sources said.

Teresa Dougherty, a spokeswoman for Wachovia Securities, wrote in an e-mail Wednesday, January 14, that there was a corporate-wide HR eligibility process that Wells Fargo went through as part of the merger, and while up to 300 people were affected, only a handful were brokers.”

A day later, Murray said the correct figure was lower and that all the affected employees were given the opportunity to request a review of their eligibility requirements. As a result, many got their jobs back, she said.

So far, Wells Fargo has not made any other layoffs related to the merger.

She did not give specifics about the criteria employees needed to meet to keep their jobs.

The combination of Wells and Wachovia creates one of the nation’s largest banks, with more than $1.42 trillion in assets, nearly $800 million in deposits and operations in 39 states and the District of Columbia.

Filed by Bruce Kelly and Dan Jamieson of Investment News, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce com.

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WellPoint is eliminating 1,500 jobs, or about 3.5 percent of its 42,000-member workforce, the Indianapolis-based health insurer announced Friday, January 16. The cuts include 900 unfilled open positions and about 600 workers.

The staff cuts won’t affect Medicare Advantage or Medicare Part D compliance staff, according to a company statement. On January 12, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services forbade WellPoint from enrolling new members in these two programs and conducting related marketing efforts because of multiple deficiencies.

WellPoint, the nation’s largest health insurer by membership with 35 million enrollees, said it will take an after-tax charge of about $24 million because of the job cuts. The company last week said that it had an investment loss of $349 million in the fourth quarter. Officials said they would release more financial details on 2008 and the company’s outlook for 2009 at its earnings release January 28.

“With the current state of the economy, we made a difficult decision to adjust the size of our workforce as we continue to meet our members’ needs while appropriately controlling operating expenses,” WellPoint president and CEO Angela Braly said in the statement.

Aetna and Cigna Corp. previously announced job eliminations in response to the recession.

Filed by Rebecca Vesely of Modern Healthcare, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

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The federal government would pay 65 percent of COBRA health care continuation premiums for one year for eligible beneficiaries who have lost their jobs since September 1, 2008, as part of a massive economic stimulus bill unveiled Thursday, January 15, by the House Democratic leadership.

The bill also would allow other beneficiaries to hold on to COBRA coverage, for decades in some cases.

The COBRA premium subsidy is certain to increase the number of laid-off employees opting for the coverage. The subsidy is the same provided under a 2002 trade law to employees who lose their jobs due to foreign competition and to pension plan participants 55 and older in plans taken over by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp.

Currently, only about 20 percent of those eligible for COBRA enroll, a low acceptance due in part to the high cost of coverage. Under law, employers can charge beneficiaries a rate equal to 102 percent of the cost of coverage offered to employees.

With a higher take-up rate, employer costs would rise since beneficiaries opting for COBRA on average use more medical services than other health plan enrollees, surveys have found.

House Democrats estimate the subsidy would cost the government a total of $30.3 billion. In addition, the stimulus package, which legislators are expected to consider next week, would significantly stretch out the period of time some beneficiaries can retain COBRA coverage.

Under the measure, people 55 and older and those who have worked for the same company for at least 10 years could retain COBRA until they are eligible for Medicare at 65 or obtain health care coverage from a new employer. In the case of younger beneficiaries, that could mean they could retain COBRA for decades.

Under current law, employees who lose their jobs can purchase COBRA for 18 months. In other situations, such as death, divorce or martial separation, beneficiaries have a right to keep COBRA coverage for 36 months.

Filed by Jerry Geisel of Business Insurance, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

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Nissan North America Inc. will continue running its two U.S. assembly plants on reduced hours “indefinitely” because of slow U.S. sales.

Nissan’s auto plants in Smyrna, Tennessee, and Canton, Mississippi, have been running only four days a week, eight hours a day, to reduce vehicle inventories.

Nissan began operating some lines on four-day weeks in April and moved all production to the schedule in October.

A spokesman for Nissan’s U.S. manufacturing operations said Wednesday, January 14, that that schedule will remain in place for the foreseeable future.

Nissan and Toyota Motor Corp. have been studying production cuts in light of crashing U.S. industry sales.

A spokesman for Toyota’s North American manufacturing headquarters in Erlanger, Kentucky, said Toyota could scratch more production days during the first quarter.

Filed by Lindsay Chappell of Automotive News, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

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