With 11 states now allowing doctors to prescribe marijuana–and legislation pending in several other states–some employers are concerned that they will be liable if an employee causes an accident while under the influence.
Cyndi Fischer is a human resources manager at Advanced Power Technology in Bend, Oregon. “We try to accommodate the employees if we can,” Fischer tells Business Insurance. But, she says, “we have to make sure it’s a safe environment for both the employee and the rest of the employees who work here.”
Medical-marijuana laws are creating confusion for employers. In some states, the state laws contradict federal laws. In other states, the laws are ambiguous, according to Business Insurance. In Oregon, for example, the law says employers don’t have to accommodate the use of marijuana at work. While that bans employees from smoking pot on the job, it’s unclear how that affects drug tests and whether an employee who fails an employer’s test needs to be accommodated.
Dear Workforce How Do I Measure Soft Skills
| To what extent does this employee… Not at all To a great extent | |
| 1. Remain flexible when dealing with coworkers | 1 2 3 4 5 |
| 2. Demonstrate a willingness to listen to others | 1 2 3 4 5 |
Dear Workforce What Rewards Would Suit Professionals Who Generate New Business
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Year 1 – Total Recognized Revenue of $2 million
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Year 2 – Total Recognized Revenue of $6 million
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Year 3 – Total Recognized Revenue of $12 million
At BJ’s Wholesale Club, the Definition of Personnel Manager Proves Costly
BJ’s Wholesale Club paid $320,000 in overtime pay to 233 employees as part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Labor, according to the Boston Globe.
Many of BJ’s 151 stores employ someone called a “club personnel manager.” According to the Labor Department, this person–who answers benefits questions, handles job applications and inputs employee schedules–should not be exempt from federal overtime laws. While BJ’s disagreed with the findings, it said it only settled “to avoid the expense of litigation,” according to the Globe.
BJ’s personnel managers make $14.93 an hour, on average, and work about five overtime hours each week.
New federal overtime rules will go into effect August 23. The U.S. Department of Labor has information online at http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/fairpay/main.htm and by telephone at (866) 487-9243.
Job-seekers aren’t Limiting their Searches to Local Companies
Job seekers are relocating more than at any time since 2001, according to John Challenger.
Challenger’s quarterly survey of 3,000 job-hunting managers and execs shows that 25 percent more people relocated for a new job in the second quarter of this year than in the first quarter. Also, 51 percent changed industries to get a new job, 18 percent more than in the first quarter.
Jobless managers and executives still are much more inclined to stay put than they were before the terrorist attacks in the United States. Challenger says that people who aren’t totally frustrated with the bites they’re getting from employers want to stay geographically close to family and friends. “More than at any time in the past,” he says, “job seekers seem determined to find jobs in their own geographic region.”
iOptimas-i Overview
More Employee E-mail Is Ending Up in Court
One in five U.S. companies has had employee e-mail subpoenaed in the course of a lawsuit or regulatory investigation, according to a survey by the American Management Association and The ePolicy Institute. Last year, 14 percent of companies found their e-mail subpoenaed.
“For financial services firms and others in regulated industries, the failure to properly retain e-mail and instant messages can–and regularly does–lead to six-figure fines, criminal charges, civil lawsuits and damaging publicity,” said Nancy Flynn, executive director of The ePolicy Institute. “Employers simply cannot afford to approach e-mail and IM retention as a hit-or-miss proposition.”
According to the AMA study, only 6 percent of organizations retain and archive instant message records.
A set of sample policies related to managing e-mail can be found online.
Chicago Factories are Booming, but Hiring is Not
Chicago factory owners say that there’s strong demand for their products, but that productivity gains are keeping hiring down.
Prince Industries, for example, “replaced eight temporary employees with a new Swedish laser-cutting machine” that runs constantly, according to Crain’s Chicago Business.
In Buffalo Grove, a Chicago suburb, sales are up 20 percent this year at Schultes Precision Manufacturing. But the company has reduced head count (through attrition, not firings) from 110 employees to 102 employees.
Not far south, in Indianapolis, Navistar International is using improved equipment to build a thousand engines each day using 1,200 workers at its plant–400 fewer than it needed three years ago, according to Crain’s Chicago Business.
Tech Companies Scaled Back on Options
High-tech companies decreased their use of broad-based stock option grants by 15 to 20 percent during the first four months of 2004, according to Mellon Financial Corporation.
Ted Buyniski, a principal at Mellon, says that companies are no longer just focused on the best way to pay employees. They’re basing their stock-option programs on what shareholders will allow.
On one hand, he says, “Executive levels pay packages are not changing dramatically.” At that level, corporations are replacing options with restricted stock, performance shares or cash. However between pressure from the SEC, from shareholders, and from the FASB, it’s employees further down the corporate hierarchy that are paying the price of options cutbacks. “High-tech pay is starting to look more like general industry,” Buyniski says. “General industry has never given all their employees options. The place where this happened was in technology. By turning options into a scarce resource, the industry that has been the most egalitarian in the use of options has been forced to create multiple classes of citizens,” just as general industry does.
Buyniski says that even though many tech companies are still giving options to new hires, his clients are looking for new ways to recruit and retain top talent in an option-limited environment. Some firms, he says, are looking at giving bigger bonuses; others are giving salary increases; still others are adding to benefits, such as increasing 401(k) matches.
Workforce Management July 2004
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All aboard
By Andy Meisler |
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| Beset by rising insurance costs, Union Pacific employs semi-tough love to improve the health of its mostly middle-aged, blue collar workforce. While some companies take a no-prisoners approach, UP choose to nudge, encourage and prod its employees to good health. And it’s saving millions. | ||
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Lesson plans
By Cindy Waxler |
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| Employers have long complained about workers whose education has ill prepared them for the job market. Now companies are trying to fix the problem with the next generation of employees via after-school programs. IBM offers tutoring and mentoring sessions. Dell hosts courses in which students learn how to assemble computers. A Boson law firm, Hale and Dorr, provides grant money and prepares middle-school students for mock trials with the kids as lawyers. Businesses that have been “Monday morning quarterbacks and spectators in education reform” should get involved, on after-school educator says. | |||
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Pulling the plug
By Samuel Greengard |
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| The complexity of installing and maintaining human resources management systems is prompting many companies to bypass them altogether. That was the course Regus Americas took, junking its HRMS and handing the walking papers to half its human resources staff. As large companies turn to total business process outsourcing, software companies could find themselves endangered and so are working hard to lock up contracts with outsourcing giants. Meanwhile, small- and medium-sized firms that haven’t previously relied on a major HRMS package are leapfrogging directly to outsourcing in the same way that countries like China and Kenya have skipped landline communications and headed directly to cellular phones. | |||
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Between the Lines
The fast-forward future We didn’t get a Jetsons future, but the one that’s arriving daily is just as interesting. |
Reactions From Readers Letters on women at the top, a well-educated workforce and highly paid HR leaders. |
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In This Corner
The art of the covenant Restrictive covenants are a necessary part of business today. But they’re difficult to craft and hard to enforce. |
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Legal Briefings |
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Data Bank
The curse of private funding |
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Wal-Mart vows to fight on
The largest retailer now faces the largest class-action lawsuit ever filed against a private employer. Also: With the acquisition of Exult, Hewitt aims to become outsourcing’s 800-pound gorilla. A new CEO promises a people focus at Coca-Cola. A study reveals what makes companies productive. Mitsubishi’s leaders take responsibility–and keep their jobs. The NLRB deals unions a bad hand. |
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| Retirement Benefits New tactics to boost 401(k) interest Employers try contests, computer games and financial counseling to engage workers who can’t seem to focus on retirement planning. |
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Health & Safety
Ergonomics is back on the radar screen Business and OSHA are turning their attention back to a hot issue of the 1990s. |
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Benefits Management
Auditing for the “ineligibles” Companies save millions by weeding out grown children, ex-spouses and other employee dependents who are no longer eligible for benefits. |
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Awards & Recognition
A reward that money can’t buy Procter & Gamble gave employees two extra vacations days are a reward for outstanding stock performance. It’s a model that other companies can follow. |
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Corporate Culture
No accounting for this tradition There’s no demonstrable ROI, but that doesn’t stop the venerable company picnic. |
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Regulation
A key role in a complex compliance picture As companies face the demands of Sarbanes-Oxley and other new regulations, human resources plays a critical part in the process. |
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June 2004
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May 2003 |
April 2003
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