Author: Site Staff

SpecialReport: HR on the Internet

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Channeling the Résumé Floodwith Applicant Tracking

Millionsof résumés flow through the Internet, yet companies are oftenill-equipped to capture and hire the best candidates. In this package ofstories, you’ll see why applicant tracking is so popular and begin toassess how it can best help you manage the hiring process. ByPaul A. Gilster, Barbara Davison, and William Dickmeyer

Better Training is Just a ClickAway

It’sno longer a question of whether the Web will be used to deliver workplacetraining. It’s just a matter of how fast it will happen, and what blendof digital and classroom instruction is best. ByEilene Zimmerman

Online Incentives Sizzle – andYou Shine

Ofcourse you want a great rewards program. But the real reason for exploringonline reward sites is this: it’s a lot less work for you. ByPaul A. Gilster

Hot Disputes Cool Down inCyberspace Mediation

Online dispute resolution candefuse anger and save HR managers time, energy – and real-world lawsuits. ByBrenda Paik Sunoo

Making Online Self-Service Work

Putyour benefits administration on the Web and your employees will flock toit, right? Not when a good chunk of the working population can beclassified as technology resistant. You can help employees make a smoothtransition. ByPaul A. Gilster

Features

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When an Employee’s CrisisBecomes HR’s Problem

Sometimesthe line between the business world and the personal one blurs. Anemployee’s unresolved problems – a death, a disaster, a divorce – canaffect productivity and workplace morale. ByChelle E. Cohen

The Workforce Interview

Howcan HR make a difference in a company? You pick your battles, says JimMoore, who directed workforce planning for Sun Microsystems. You might getrespect. You might get fired. ByBob Rosner

Departments

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Between the Lines

HRisn’t generally seen as being an “early adopter” of new technology.And that’s a big problem for the profession.

Mailbox

FreshHR. More on assertive assistants. A sitcom solution to the “holidayparty” dilemma.

Dear Workforce:

Dealingwith a disgruntled worker takes patience – and a plan. Merging disparatepay systems.

On the Contrary

It’s Jan. 1, 2001. You have aheadache. It’s Jan. 2, and your goals for the new year seem impossibleto attain. Shari Caudron feels your pain.

InfoWise

Thetop 10 HR tech trends for 2001 include technology outsourcing, streamingvideo on your desktop, and wireless synchronization with Bluetooth.

The Buzz

Threeways to structure expatriate compensation. HR’s resolutions for a newyear. The irony of ergonomic legislation. Should you pay interns?Recognition for businesses that do good.

S•M•L

Canthe Internet help you hit the salary mark? Companies of all sizes arefinding information online, but whether the free stuff is reliable is asubject of hot debate.

Legal Insight

Findingyour way through the Internet’s legal minefield. Retaliation against anillegal immigrant is big trouble. A leave-taking that leaves bigquestions.

Forte

Sun Microsystems found a way tobeat its employees’ commuting nightmares: satellite work centers.

Working Wounded

Whatdo you do when your company “suggests” you exercise your stock optionsas a sign of loyalty? And who would you most like to be your boss? Oprah?Einstein?

Several sources to help you determine salary compensation.

• William M. Mercer
• Radford Surveys
• Hay Group
• Towers Perrin
• Watson Wyatt Data Services
• Western Compensation & Benefits Consultants
• KPMG Group

Workforce,January 2001, Vol 80, No 1, p. 93  SubscribeNow!

There are plenty of salary surveys available. Make sure you choose the right one for you.

• The sample size has to be large enough to ensure that the information is valid.
• Valid and useful surveys readily identify their key elements, including effective date of the data, term definitions, clarity of statistics, and position descriptions. Aggregate or summarized data also should be reported, and data collection, screening, and verification techniques identified to ensure that the survey was properly conducted and reported.
• Survey sources and sample sources should always be identified. Reputable organizations should be willing to reveal the source of their sample to show that the data is both valid and accurate.
• Be cautious when reviewing free online survey information. Numerous issues can affect the reliability and validity of the data reported. A key concern is how data is collected and reported.
• Make sure the data is current.

For more information, you cancontact World at Work’s Information Development Call Center at 877/951-9191 orby e-mail at InfoCenter@worldatwork.org;or check out its Web site, www.worldatwork.org.

Workforce,January 2001, Vol 80, No 1, p. 88  SubscribeNow!

It’s possible to help an employee through a personal crisis while doing what’s best for your business.

1. Find out what the situation involves, and what the employee needs in terms of time off, flexible scheduling, reduced workload, or other concessions. Don’t assume you know what he wants – ask.

2. Offer EAP brochures, as well as information on vacation time, sick time, FMLA, or leave of absence that may be available.

3. Act as an intermediary between the employee and her supervisor, to help balance the employee’s personal needs with the business needs of the company.

4. Try to make clear what accommodations can be made by the company, considering the employee’s role with the company and management’s ability to temporarily shift his workload.

5. Reassure the employee, her supervisor, and coworkers that the employee is just going through a temporary situation. Encourage empathy and understanding.

6. Help the employee shape a “transition” plan that will enable him to gradually return to his former responsibilities.

7. Maintain contact with the employee and check with him, as well as his supervisor, periodically to see if everyone’s needs and expectations are being met. This is especially important if the employee is away from work for some time.

8. If it is determined that an employee’s problems are interfering with the company’s business needs, make every effort to gently guide her back to a resuming her former responsibilities. Try to make the transition smooth and gradual for everyone.

Workforce,January 2001, Vol 80, No 1, p. 66  SubscribeNow!

 

Work|Life Benefits helps companiesachieve measurable increases in employee productivity, retention and moralethrough the design and implementation of integrated work/life strategies andservices. 

    Work|Life Benefitsoffers programs relating to: 

• Childcare services
• Adultand elder care services
• Adoptionand parenting
• Specialneeds
• Childsafety
• Collegeand college planning
• Maturetransitions
• Expatriationand repatriation
• Legalissues
• Financialplanning
• Convenienceand concierge services
• Petcare
• Adoptionsubsidy
• GeriatricCare Management
• Lactationservices

    Work|Life Benefitshas a national database of nearly two million providers and a map trackingprogram. Consultants provide written materials on a wide range of work-lifeissues. “Helping Hand” sheets contain solutions to common problems andchallenges facing the workforce. Books and videos are available. 

For moreinformation, please contact Bill Gurzi at bgurzi@wlb.com.

Can you top these?

1. Located a company to create an ice sculpture of Elvis (down on one knee and surrounded by red lights and greenery) for a Christmas party.
2. Provided transportation for an employee to her suburban home to retrieve a burning bagel which was accidentally left in the oven.
3. Made marriage proposal arrangements, including flowers, bunny-shaped dessert and reservations at a romantic restaurant.
4. Provided a company to repair a carbon monoxide leak. Family members relocated as vital repairs were made to their chimney.
5. Obtained an autographed picture of Barbara Streisand for a surprise birthday gift.
6. Arranged for the presentation of a live owl to a third-grade classroom.
7. Organized a spouse’s birthday party at a Japanese restaurant that included customized menus and origami at each place setting.
8. Sent Chicago-style pizzas to a consultant laid up with a broken leg in Denver.
9. Outfitted a group of five as hockey players for Halloween, including sticks, pucks, jerseys and a referee with a whistle.
10. Converted old 8mm and 16mm family tapes to VHS for Christmas presents.

SOURCE: Accenture.com

Personnel Journal, September 1995, Vol. 74, No. 9, p. 96.

A discriminatory work environment can be extremely damaging. Not only can itlead to decreased productivity and lower morale, but it can result in lawsuitsthat are detrimental to the company’s reputation and financial well-being.Judgments can run into the hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.Here then are five tips that can help you prevent illegal discrimination fromoccurring in your workplace.

Never retaliate against an employee for filing complaints concerningdiscrimination.

Punishing employees for filing complaints or for cooperatingin an investigation of a complaint is illegal.

Eliminate any illegal screening practices.

Illegal discrimination can often occur when an organization’s policies oremployment testing have an unfair and negative impact on a protected class.

Set the example for appropriate behavior.

It’s important for HRmanagers to set the example for proper conduct in the workplace. Performingevery aspect of your job in a fair and impartial manner will continuouslyreinforce these sentiments.

Never ignore inappropriate behavior.

Take immediate action against anydiscriminatory conduct — no matter how minor it may seem. By ignoring suchbehavior, you appear to be condoning it.

Involve employees.

Share the responsibility of maintaining adiscrimination-free workplace with employees. You can encourage theirinvolvement by being available to hear grievances.

SOURCE: Corpedia Training Technologies, a Mesa, Arizona-based company thatoffers computer-based training products in legal basics, management, personaland communication skills, and workplace safety.

Workforce, November 1999, Vol. 78, No. 11, p. 28 — Subscribenow!

The Workforce Optimas Awards are a celebration of the power of human resources management. Annually, Workforce recognizes HR programs that have made their businesses better. The winners are selected in 10 categories: General Excellence, Competitive Advantage, Financial Impact, Global Outlook, Innovation, Managing Change, Partnership, Quality of Life, Service, and Vision. The winning programs are profiled in the March issue of Workforce magazine with additional information provided at Workforce online.

It is with great pleasure that Workforce celebrates the winners of Optimas Awards 2001:

General Excellence: Sysco Corporation

Competitive Advantage: WellPoint Health Networks

Financial Impact: NCCI Holdings

Global Outlook: Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

Innovation: Province of New Brunswick

Managing Change: National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA)

Partnership: Blue Valley School District

Quality of Life: Camping World, Inc.

Service: IXOS Software

Vision: Acxiom Corporation

Q

Dear Workforce:

I need to choose an organizational consultant for a managers’ developmentprogram in my company (50 employee start-up). This might be a long-termrelationship, and I need tips for making the right choice — what can I ask theconsultants whom I meet, who is considered a “good” consultant, andwhat are the hazards which I must avoid.

— Human resources manager, Israel

A Dear Start-up:

Here are some steps to take:

1. Make your selection competitive and get proposals from a variety ofconsultants — and select the one who best understands your culture, needsand is flexible in customizing (customizing means more than changing thename on an off-the-shelf product).
2. Ensure that he or she is getting senior resources from the consultingorganization. It helps when a consultant working with managers has been amanager before.
3. Look at other manager development curriculums they’ve done before to seethat they are in line with what their expectations would be. Find out aboutthe consultants history — if you want a long-term relationship it isimportant that the person have a track record and is likely to be around fora while. Ask to see sample materials. Ask to observe a course.
4. Ask about class size — good management development programs almost neverhave more than 12-14 individuals in them.
5. Check references.
6. Conduct a preliminary working session with the consultants prior to thedecision. This will allow you to see their working style.

SOURCE: Lance Brilliantine and David Rudini ofDeloitte and Touche.

E-mail your Dear Workforce questions to Online Editor Todd Raphael at raphaelt@workforceonline.com,along with your name, title, organization and location. Unless you stateotherwise, your identifying information may be used on Workforce.com andin Workforce magazine. We can’t guarantee we’ll be able to answerevery question.

Don’t sacrifice everything to the bottom line; cutting costs by letting go valuable employees can be a drastic measure. Use these questions to inspire new thoughts about efficient budgeting.

Revenue

1. In what different ways can we use our facilities to generate additionalrevenue?
2. Are there add-on sales opportunities, where we can sell ancillary productsto our existing customer base at no additional cost to us?
3. Is there value in our customer database?
4. Are there significant heavy users of our products that could be isolatedinto a separate group for special product offers and additional sales?
5. How often do we lose customers?
6. Can we develop a retention strategy for those customers?
7. What additional actions can we take to augment our business products orservices?
8. Are there opportunities to license or franchise our business?

Salaries

1. How many hours a week do our managers work?
2. Should they be working 45 to 55 hours instead of 40?
3. How many of our employees take advantage of direct deposits for paychecks?
4. How well do we manage our salary administration program?
5. Have we established target compensation ratios based on the personality ofour business?
6. Have we established a desired community position, knowing where we want tobe with regard to our competition?
7. Do we have a salary administration program?
8. Do we have a salary range philosophy?
9. Do high-performing employees get higher increases than those who have notperformed as well?
10. Do we establish a salary increase guideline budget and stick with it?
11. Are salary increase guidelines pre-approved?
12. Do we have a salary administration program that offers employees a salaryreview on an anruversary of the hire date?
13. Do we know whether our company would qualify for targeted tax job credits?
14. Do we have a training rate for all appropriate positions, where employeesreceive a lower rate until they are trained?
15. Do we have a 90-day probationary rate for certain positions?
16. Do we have a labor management system that helps us schedule labor in15-minute increments?
17. Do we have a software program that reconciles cash and allows employees tocash out quickly at the end of shifts?
18. Do we constantly look for labor reductions by modifying our software?
19. Do we have industrial engineers do time-and-motion studies to determinewhether additional efficiencies can be gained?
20. Do we have an incentive program to help reduce absenteeism?
21. Is our business a high-turnover business? what can be done to reduce ourturnover rate?
22. Does our business utilize a vacancy factor?
23. Do we measure all of our costs by various units (such as cost per test,cost per guest check, and cost per widget) in order to determine areas ofcontrol?

Payroll Burden

1. Have we ascertained the difference between full-time and part-timeemployees and the benefits they should be receiving?
2. Have we evaluated the cost of our 401(k) administration program to see howcompetitive our costs are and to determine whether additional savings arepossible?
3. Have we evaluated the cost employees are paying for participating in ourbenefits?
4. Have we established a vacation policy whereby vacation time must be takenthe year in which it is earned?
5. Do we have a sick time buyback program whereby employees can sell backsick time at reduced rates?
6. Have we instituted a vacation buyback program allowing employees to sellback unused vacation hours at a reduced rate?
7. Have we evaluated a cafeteria-style benefits program?
8. Have we aggressively tried to reduce worker’s compensation insurance byeliminating accidents?
9. Do we understand how our true burden percent is budgeted?

Communications

1. Have we authorized a telecommunications consultant to analyze ourcommunication costs in terms of rates charged, equipment used, or programsoffered? Perhaps the consultant could be compensated in accordance with afee structure based on a percentage of the savings. If there is no savings,there is no fee.
2. How often do we renegotiate rates and terms with vendors who provide uswith communication services?

Utilities

1. Have we authorized a utility consultant to analyze our utility costs?
2. Do we have in place a mandatory energy conservation program wherebythermostats are set at a standard temperature?
3. Do we have a policy that lights are turned off in conference rooms andrest rooms when these rooms are not in use?
4. Do we have a procedure for turning off all other than security lights atthe close of business?

Professional Fees

1. Do we challenge fees charged by outside attorneys?
2. Have we reached an understanding about how much we will be charged, or do wejust pay whatever outside professionals bill?
3. Have we sought to get the most favorable fee arrangement in each case?
4. Do we try to settle our legal cases?
5. Have outside attorneys designed a format to use for routine scenarios?
6. Have we attempted to negotiate contracts giving us a guarantee as to aminimum number of hours?
7. Do we use less expensive attorneys for small collection transactions?
8. Do we try to share costs when appropriate and make sure there are noconflicts of interest?
9. Do we give lawyers all appropriate records at the first meeting in order toeliminate the need for phone calls regarding missing items?
10. Do we insist on an itemized statement each month?
11. Do we suggest PBF approaches to the attorney? Maybe we can save the lawyer’sexpense, which would offset or reduce the cost of our service.

Marketing

1. Do we ensure that our advertising agency does a postbuy analysis on alladvertising buys to determine whether the target rates were achieved?
2. Do we seek syndication scenarios whereby a partner would agree to fund thedevelopment of commercials and campaigns for a percentage of revenues?
3. Do we seek to have the advertising agency have some “skin in thegame?”
4. Do we look for those who would partner on a percentage of the revenue?
5. Would it be possible to publish a magazine via a custom publisher anddistribute it to our customer base as a way of marketing our organizationand generating some additional revenue?

Public Relations

1. Should we consolidate our brochures into a few rather than have a largenumber of brochures?
2. Do we write our own press releases?
3. Do we seek free PR opportunities for promoting our business?
4. Do we stretch the impact of our public relations by being a good corporatecitizen, sponsoring teams or working with local schools?
5. How do we rate our public relations agency? Is it getting results?
6. Is there a way to create PR events out of everyday occurrences?

Insurance

1. Are we familiar enough with our insurance policies to determine whichitems are covered and which are not?
2. How often do we challenge third-party providers to reduce our insuranceadministration costs?

Travel and Entertainment

1. Does our business need an individual who is certified as an independenttravel agent so that we may receive discounts on hotel rooms, car rentals,and other travel expenses?
2. Should the company buy or lease an apartment for traveling employeesrather than paying for hotel rooms?
3. Do we have a need for video conferencing? Would that solution help usreduce costs?
4. Is there a policy stating that all travel must be approved in advance andthat travel authorization forms must accompany expense reports?

Facility Costs

1. Have we performed a property tax assessment comparing the cost to build afacility with the current fair market value, and have we sought adjustmentswhen appropriate?
2. Have we ever had an accountant challenge a tax assessment?
3. How often do we evaluate our excess property? Could this property be soldor leased to reduce carrying cost?
4. Have we evaluated the sell/leaseback program?

Vehicle Costs

1. Do we have a program in place for monitoring our gasoline purchases?
2. Are our maintenance costs monitored and controlled?
3. Have we evaluated our company policy to determine whether a car allowanceis better than a company-car program?

Other Supplies and Services

1. Do we need to have armored-car service, or can our managers make thosedeposits?
2. Have we evaluated our armored-car service to determine whether we canreduce the number of pickups?
3. Do we constantly negotiate and renegotiate prices with vendors?
4. Do we constantly renegotiate our prices with vendors to avoid the typical3% annual inflation rate that most vendors demand?
5. Does our business recycle paper?
6. Does our business manage our trash bins to determine whether the bin sizesare appropriate? Can we get by with smaller ones or fewer pickups?
7. Have we evaluated our uniform program?
8. Are uniforms needed?

 

SOURCE: Excerpted from ProfitBuilding: Cutting Costs Without Cutting People, by Perry J. Judy,published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Order by phone at 800/929-2929.