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Hereare a few examples of companies that have experimented with 24-hour staffing.

• The Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company is taking the uncertainty out ofits employees’ lives by implementing a system of assigned rest days. By guaranteeingblocks of three or four days when employees can tell their families that the phone’snot going to ring, the company is giving them the opportunity to plan activities withoutfear of unexpected interruptions. The railroad has implemented this new schedulingpractice on 70 of its work lists and is currently expanding the program. The new plan hasbeen “very well accepted,” according to a railroad spokesperson.
• Rotating shifts allow all employees to enjoy the benefits of working the day shift atleast part of the month. But rotating shifts also require employees to adjust toever-changing sleep patterns and social disruptions. At its DePere, Wisconsin, plant,International Paper has addressed the problem by extending the length of its shifts from 8to 12 hours. Although they have to work longer at a stretch, employees are rewarded with agenerous number of days off. The typical schedule runs four days on, two off, three on,three off, three on, four off, with a total of only 190 days spent at work annually.International Paper reports “much higher” employee satisfaction since startingthe program.
• Sprint Global Connections Services set a goal of reducing turnover at its call centersby 25 percent. To achieve that goal, managers decided to “lighten up a littlebit.” They introduced big-screen television sets, popcorn poppers, bingo, and chickendancing to the workplace. For the employees stuck on the overnight shift, pajama partiesand disco nights are not uncommon. Sprint reports that it met its goal of reducingturnover while still meeting monthly efficiencies and goals.

Workforce, September 2000, Vol. 79, No. 9,  p. 42 — Subscribe now!

Here are several things to consider when putting together a policy manual:

• Additional provisions in policy manuals include jury duty, leaves of absence, pay advances and deductions, drug and alcohol use, visitors, workplace cleanliness, dress codes, and suggestion programs. Two of the hot topics in manuals include privacy policies and use of email, voice mail, computers, software, internet and miscellaneous electronic systems usually included under the umbrella of technology policies.



• Policy manual provisions are state-specific. Make sure you are aware of which state laws are included in policy-writing software, particularly when purchasing products over the Internet.



• Be sure to include a revisions statement, reserving the right to change or revise the policy manual. Indicate who in the organization is authorized to approve such changes.



• Prepare an Employee Acknowledgement Form to verify receipt of the policy manual and acknowledge the employee’s obligation to read, understand and comply with the provisions contained in it.



• Separate policy manuals may be necessary for a variety of reasons. Exempt and non-exempt employees, for example, may have different benefits and reporting requirements which cannot easily be distinguished within a single manual. Branch offices may have different rules and regulations within the same company.



• There are pros and cons to providing a lot of detail on important procedures within the policy manual. It is an advantage to have a specific blueprint for everyone to follow, although the manual is not the only manner in which this can be accomplished. Policy manuals can be very damaging to the employer when published versions are inconsistent with actual practices. Grievance and internal complaint procedures are examples of provisions which can lead to serious problems if not followed consistently. If detailed procedures are to be included, they need to be diligently updated and communicated to appropriate supervisors.



• Manuals may help small companies in court. The employment law firm of Littler Mendelson in San Francisco recently reported that a large number of start-ups do not institute formal employee relations policies until they hit the 100 to 300 employee range. Yet recent court decisions reflect favorably on the employer when corporate efforts are made to inform, train and take swift action in employee relations matters, confirming the importance of establishing written policies and procedures to minimize business risks.

For more information, find:

• Other articles and tips about policies, in the Research Center, as well as dozens of sample policies for substance abuse, harassment, conduct, attendance, casual dress, supervision, safety, voting, e-mail, timesheets and more. The policies are spread out over several screens’ worth of search results.



• The software section of Workforce Tools, the legal section, and the policies and procedures section.

Skill-based recruiting has already become a buzz phrase in the HR world. It can be defined as a new recruiting approach by which candidates are assessed according to their skill sets. After all, a person’s skills — whether they are professional, academic, interpersonal, and more — are the very tools that enable him or her to perform certain tasks and to behave in certain ways.

The strength of skill-based recruiting lies in its simplicity; the specific skills of a candidate are matched with the requirements of a specific requisition. Also, skill-based recruiting allows recruiters to maintain accurately a short list of qualified candidates in an efficient and hassle-free manner. In order to save time, energy and money, the recruiting industry is moving away from traditional resume-based recruiting — which entailed OCR, text extraction and analysis, and unreliable keyword searches — to a more efficient recruiting approach: skill-based recruiting on the Internet.

With the rapid evolution of the Internet, skill-based recruiting is booming. This is thanks to online questionnaires, which make it easier than ever before to obtain skill sets from applicants. The recruiters can tailor the online questionnaires to detect the required skills, to meet the exact needs of a company, position, or requisition.

If the Internet helps recruiters to perform skill-based recruiting, it also simplifies job seekers’ lives by making the application process as easy as 1, 2, 3. Good news! With an easier application process, each posted job may receive hundreds and even thousands of applications. But now, how to find the needle in the haystack? Thanks to automated pre-screening, the latest feature in skill-based recruiting, applications are automatically filtered, saving the recruiter days and sometimes weeks of analyzing paper resumes. The ones matching criteria predefined by the recruiter are short-listed while others are kept in a central database for future needs.

The Recruiter WebTop — developed by recruitsoft.com — is the first to offer an enhanced skill-based, pre-screening pro-filer. In designing the Recruiter WebTop recruitsoft.com focused on streamlining and improving process quality by assessing skills. Customized questionnaires for each job requisition are linked to a central database for the corporation, which may include skills and competencies, levels of experience, or key behaviors. recruitsoft.com‘s approach is the simplest for the applicant and most comprehensive in the industry. It leads to a higher proportion of completed applications and a positive application experience for the candidate.

recruitsoft.com’s web-based questionnaires overcome one of the key limitations of the traditional resume: with a traditional resume, it is the candidate who decides what information is presented. But with recruitsoft.com, it is the recruiter who is in control. He/she first determines the questions to ask, depending on what information is required from the candidates. Then the recruiter decides what are the “must-have” criteria a candidate needs to possess in order to be considered suitable for a particular job. This recruiter-driven philosophy leads to a more accurate sorting of candidates because those who have met all of the “must have” criteria are immediately assessed and clearly distinguished from those who have met only some or none of these required criteria.

With the power of recruitsoft.com’s skill-based recruiting technology, the recruiter can configure a variable scoring system to his questionnaire. The recruiter can determine not only the content of the questionnaire but also the relative value given to each of the questions in it making for a more precise search for specific skills, knowledge, and levels of experience.

A score is given to each candidate and he or she is clearly ranked in relation to the results of other candidates. The process also adds flexibility to candidate assessment by permitting recruiters to enter their own average candidate grade. This grade is determined by a consensus of recruiters involved in interviewing the candidate, of line managers, and of others involved in hiring. While not affecting the overall ranking of candidates, this grade allows a recruiter’s judgment, when deemed necessary, to override the automatic scoring system.

These filters create a centralized and updated database of electronic candidate profiles, which opens up a world of possibilities that have until now been unavailable to recruiters. Because these profiles are much easier to filter and evaluate than the traditional resume, they allow for more informed decision-making, facilitate the sharing of information, and provide better access to recruiter resources. The end result is a much more efficient way to pre-screen candidates because the recruiter is in control of what information is entered into the system and how this information is evaluated as to the suitability of a candidate for a particular job. A better list of candidates is produced and retained in an easy to implement and use fashion.

Thanks to skill-based, automated pre-screening, recruitsoft.com‘s solution greatly reduces the time spent at every step of the recruiting cycle (time-to-hire), compared to the traditional resume-based approach.

But the real metric to measure the success of a hire is the time-to-contribution or ramp-up time; that is the time required for a new recruit to train, to get acquainted with the new position, and to become a value-added member of the company. recruitsoft.com enables recruiters to reduce the time-to-contribution of their recruits. The principle is simple: by assessing the candidate’s skills, recruitsoft.com increases the probability of hiring the right candidate, that is the one who already possesses the appropriate skills and who, once hired, will need less time to be fully operational. In addition, consider the fact that a properly placed candidate is likely to be content and at ease in the workplace, which ultimately means greater employee retention and lower turnover.

The advantages of recruitsoft.com‘s skill-based recruiting application translate into huge savings for employers:

• Reduced time-to-hire
• Reduced time-to-contribution
• Increased probability of hiring the right candidate
• Improved retention
• Lower turnover

recruitsoft.com‘s approach proves quicker and more efficient than traditional resume-based recruiting in another way, as well. Recruiters can configure requisitions so that when an applicant scores within a preset range, they receive automatically an email detailing the candidate’s profile. The recruiter then decides whether or not to view the resume and pursue the candidate further. The implications of this reduced time-to-interview are staggering. In some cases, candidates have been contacted by a recruiter within minutes after completing the online questionnaire. This not only decreases the time spent recruiting, but also attests to the competency and efficiency of your company.

We at recruitsoft.com were able to pioneer this skill-based recruiting technology online because we understand the importance of grasping the power of the Internet in order to satisfy your recruiting needs. This skill-based recruiting method is the next step in the evolution of online recruiting.

Whenasking employees to burn the midnight oil, you’ll get better results if you:

• Openthe lines of communication. Schedule meetings close to shift changes and use bulletinboards and e-mail to keep your people connected. Don’t let workers on the overnightshift begin to think they’re second-class citizens.
• Safetyconsiderations come first, but whenever possible, encourage your workers to nap. A short,20-minute nap midway through a shift can have a significant restorative effect that willkeep employees alert through the morning hours.
• Warnemployees about the dangers of caffeine abuse. Coffee has a half-life of seven hours andthe caffeine can stay in your system a full 24 hours. Tell your employees that afterroughly two cups, they’re getting no additional boost, just jagged nerves and fitfulsleep when they finally do get home.
• Createa stimulating work environment. Bright lighting, a moderate level of noise (radios, musicand so on), and even certain aromas (peppermint, rosemary, lemon) stimulate the senses andkeep employees alert.
• Provide24-hour cafeterias and workout facilities. Both services can be morale builders, and, likea nap, a 20-minute aerobic workout can have a marked restorative effect on alertness.

Workforce,September 2000, Vol. 79, No. 9, p. 40 — Subscribe now!

Companies’insatiable appetite for employees is forcing many of them to supplement salaries andbonuses for non-exempt employees with stock option plans. Should you follow suit? There isno set formula for determining how deep within its ranks an organization should grantequity, but here are questions that can help HR frame a strategy for granting options, anddetermine your company’s ability to expand its options program to stay competitive.

Workforce,August 2000, Vol. 79, No. 8, p. 24 — Subscribe now!

C

overStory:

EightDays a Week– By DaytonFandray

You love itwhen you click your mouse at midnight and get your package the next day. Butbehind those clicks lies the need for 24/7 staffing. Here is how old and neweconomy companies meet the we-never-close challenge. By Dayton Fandray

Features:

Caution: Children at Work– By Brenda Paik Sunoo

Millions ofteenagers show up for jobs every day. Thousands of them are hurt at work eachyear, and some die. But employers can help them to reach 18 alive and well.

Safety First – By Paul A.Gilster

When you’repicking a Web-based application service provider, look for three things:security, security, security.

Special Report: HR and the Olympics

This month,the world turns its attention to Sydney, Australia, to watch the world’s finestathletes compete for the gold. Behind the scenes, in Sydney and ColoradoSprings, people and organizations strive to bring Olympic ideals to HR.

Gold-medal HR – ByShari Caudron

The UnitedStates Olympic Committee succeeds in managing one of the must successfulOlympic teams in the world. Here’s how corporate HR professionals can catchthat winning spirit.

The Sydney Challenge – By Brenda Paik Sunoo

How do youhire 52,400 people for an event that will be watched by the world? How do youpromote diversity in such a workforce? No worries, say the HR people at theSydney Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games.

Get Your Benefit Ducks in a Row – By Gilbert Nicholson

The rightbenefit-plan language is the way to avoid costly “permatemp” problems.

Cracks in the Glass Ceiling – By Charlene MarmerSolomon

Companies arefinding ways to keep talented women from quitting. Cultural change, flexibleschedules, and leadership training all play a role.

The Workforce Interview – By Bob Rosen

Ken Blanchardblazed a trail with The One-Minute Manager. He talks to us about fowl-ups incompanies, and shares his retention formula (think Einstein).

Book Excerpt: Time for a Change

In thesesections from The Book of Management Wisdom, Gordon Bethune and Mary Kay Ashdescribe how they made critical changes in their companies — even when it wasexpensive and difficult.

Health Benefits Crisis

It isn’t apretty picture: doctors, hospital administrators, and managed care“suits”slugging it out over health-care costs. Meanwhile, your company’s costsare spiralling out of sight. Can you do anything? You can.

Departments:

On the Contrary – Thinking the Worst.

InfoWise – Making the Passage to a Portal.

The Buzz – Work Spaces for the “FacilityChallenged.”

  Money Still Talks When It Comes toRetention.

Forte – Health is Serious Business at   DaimlerChrysler.

Legal Insights – Does a New Right Make aWrong?

Your HR Career – Make It Your Business toWrite Clearly

Working Wounded – Fancy Footwork forReferences

In Every Issue:

Between the Lines

Mailbox

Dear Workforce:

Q

–Jennifer S., H.R. Manager, major hobby and collectable company

Jennifer, we had Mark Gorkin (who has done safety consulting for the postal service and others), the “Stress Doc” out of Washington, D.C., write a response as follows:

There are two serious dysfunctions in this scenario.

First, this kind of passive-aggressive and overtly aggressive pattern is not just anxiety-provoking for others, but may have an intimidating intent or effect.

Will this individual ratchet up the hostility and become globally explosive or, perhaps, start focusing on a specific target? Are problems with alcohol or drugs, an underlying or unrecognized depression or a burnout state fueling the hostility fires? A person displaying problematic behavior and emotional conflicts or a personality disorder fairly quickly becomes a morale and productivity tumor in an avoidance-based operational system.

Second, when employees believe management or company policy will not or cannot address, set limits or discipline such provocative and dysfunctional behavior, the tumor turns malignant. (Alas, management has been known to overlook or deny the interpersonal actions and consequences of a high producer.)

Various organ systems are invariably compromised and damaged. Employees, at minimum, are distracted; colleagues’ fear and anger levels rise. The possibility of retaliation and/or mutual escalation increases.

Gossip and group cliques feed, if not scavenge, on this ambient tension. Employees steadily lose confidence in and respect for a “know nothing/do nothing” management structure. And morale, a belief in capable leadership and productivity are highly interdependent.

What about some strategies for disarming the hostile employee? As you didn’t specifically indicate your role or relationship with regard to this problematic individual, I will take a multifaceted approach. Consider these five strategic interventions:

1. Peer Confrontation. Because of the somewhat unpredictable nature of the problem employee, encourage the work team to confront the supervisor not the troubled and/or troublesome colleague. The supervisor must hear how people are being adversely affected by this person’s behavior. If the supervisor does not expeditiously address this problem, the group should approach the next level of authority or schedule an appointment with Human Resources.

There’s a guerrilla tactic if management is unresponsive: People from the work team or department schedule individual appointments with the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Counselor. Not only can the EAP professional be a work team advocate in this stressful scenario, but eventually someone high up will notice all the “lost company time.” (More on the EAP option in 5.)

2. Clear and Firm Policy. Management and Human Relations need to design a practices and procedures policy on what constitutes a hostile work environment, including intervention and prevention steps. For example, continuously slinging boxes across a floor can readily be assessed as an unsafe work practice.

3. Team Performance Evaluation. In performance evaluations, more and more organizations are including the category of team player, that is, does the employee demonstrate a capacity for collaboration, cooperation and coordination with direct colleagues, personnel in other task-related departments, matrix team members, etc.?

So being purposefully vague or not speaking to anyone, especially if one is withholding or manipulating information that others need for doing their job effectively and safely needs to be a vital component of a formal job evaluation. This performance component should be formally included in a job description as well.

4. Supervisor-Hostile Employee Relationship. Clearly, a supervisor needs to have a face-to-face meeting with the hostile employee. The supervisor must have documentation which specifically enumerates the professional disruptive behavior.

In addition, the supervisor needs to inquire how the employee perceives her general and specific work floor/work team behavior. And the disgruntled employee needs to be confronted with the specific concerns identified by colleagues. (Of course, confidentiality for all employees needs to be respected.) At some point, a team meeting with all parties present is advisable. This meeting may require a professional facilitator.

Returning to the one-on-one, the supervisor might usefully inquire whether there is something in the work environment, including work relationships, that is troubling or frustrating this employee. With a person not overly defensive, one capable of hearing the supervisor’s feedback, this meeting might become a wake up call. Sometimes, a disciplinary letter in an employee’s file or losing a couple of days’ pay, especially if the problem persists after a first discussion of the problem, can be a reality check.

(Remember, unless the level of behavior is significantly destructive, maximum disciplinary action should not be imposed if the supervisor and employee have not had a previous formal discussion of the problem behavior.)

The supervisor and problematic employee may now be able to establish a performance improvement plan. Goals, action items and timelines will need to be monitored on a regular, perhaps weekly, basis at first. If really fortunate, this person may even accept a referral for EAP counseling.

However, if the problem has been fairly chronic and defenses are well-fortified or if the problem has a definite biochemical component (e.g.,

clinical depression) then rational discussion and, even, traditional supervisory discipline may not be sufficient. And, of course, if alcohol or drug abuse is part of the diagnostic picture then medical treatment along with cognitive-behavioral intervention becomes critical.

5. Critical Intervention and Support. Especially with an employee demonstrating a pattern of hostile behavior, a supervisor may need outside assistance in dealing with such a problematic individual. For example, one recent intervention that helped turn around a hostile employee was my facilitating a confrontation between this employee and his supervisor.

Larger reorganization and dysfunctional leadership issues at higher levels had set the stage for a hazardous work climate. The supervisor initially felt he was not getting any upper management support in his attempts to set limits on and discipline the hostile employee.

Angry and dejected, the supervisor eventually gave up confronting this employee’s disruptive behavior. This only exacerbated the employee’s acting out patterns. A new division leader committed to tackling workplace morale plus an intensive individual and team intervention process put the brakes on a vicious work environment/behavior cycle.

Another vital conflict resolution step was holding a group meeting with the hostile employee, the supervisor, the new division head and the other team members. At first, I encouraged the team members to discuss the impact of the supervisor’s detaching from his supervisory role. (I knew confronting the supervisor would be less threatening than tackling the hostile employee.)

Still feeling mostly safe, these peers next spoke of their upset or discomfort with the hostile employee’s angry outbursts and bullying behavior. (The angry employee often is in denial about how aversive his behavior is to others. And, of course, the problem employee frequently sees his or her acting out as justified or provoked by others.)

The moral: A supervisor should strongly consider asking for support from a Critical Intervention Specialist or an EAP Counselor. While supervisors are usually aware of the EAP referral option for a problematic employee, the supervisor frequently overlooks the EAP option as a coaching resource for him-or herself.

Whether an intervention consultant or an EAP specialist, collaboration with a professional trained in dealing with hostile personnel and work scenarios will help the supervisor feel less isolated and vulnerable. Nothing like having good backup when tackling a hostile situation.

Of course, depending on the nature of the hostile behavior, internal security may need to be placed on alert (or brought in for consultation) if the employee becomes increasingly agitated during an intervention/discipline meeting or, for example, if he or she refuses to leave or keep off the work premises if instructed to do so.

Five strategic interventions have been highlighted: 1) Peer Confrontation, 2) Policy Clarification, 3) Team Performance Evaluation, 4) Supervisor-Employee Relationship, and 5) Critical Intervention and Support.

By building these steps into the company’s operational philosophy, policies and practices, upper management will definitely strengthen organizational leadership, individual and team productivity and workplace safety and morale.

You can also get more information on EAP vendors and articles.

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 state otherwise, your identifying info may be used on Workforce.com and in Workforce magazine. We can’t guarantee we’ll be able to answer every question.

The Verizon television commercial opens with two men in dark suits standing far apart. Each represents a company. One GTE. The other, Bell Atlantic. The commercial continues as the two men move closer and blend into one, symbolizing the union of GTE and Bell into an instant leader in the telecommunications industry.

The ad campaign, which was designed during Verizon’s summer merger, did not contemplate that the company would become embroiled in a strike of its 87,000 telecommunication workers, affecting 50,000 residential and business customers.

In spite of putting 30,000 managers and retirees into operations, a backlog of nearly 100,000 repair orders left many customers no choice but to switch high speed Internet services in order to keep their businesses up and running.

A partial settlement has been negotiated between Verizon and the unions — The Communication Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Details will be released once the remaining contracts are agreed to by the negotiating teams in Washington D.C.

Meanwhile, the Verizon merger ad continues to get national airtime, but its symbolism seems to have taken on new meaning. It underscores the difficulties presented when there is a merger of cultures and new business agendas. The two individuals also make a statement of oversimplification, underscoring the fact that Verizon underestimated the strength of its union base and the conviction workers would have for many of the deal-points on the bargaining table.

Although one of the provisions addresses the process of unionizing employees (voting ballots vs. cards), the remaining issues have broader appeal, affecting many businesses, industries and workers across the country:

• A shortage of labor — or lack of technically trained labor — has resulted in work speed-ups and mandatory overtime in order to keep up with customer demand. Stress has increased for workers, under the pressure of longer hours and less flexibility to manage family and personal obligations. The unions want to eliminate mandatory overtime.

• Merger restructuring has shifted work to geographical areas where labor is cheaper. This is both a wage and job security issue.

• Unions point to an increase of 10.6% in productivity and have sought pay increases and improved benefits commensurate to this higher level. Negotiators indicate that wage increases of approximately 12% have been agreed to.

• Following the trend to outsource, Verizon now subcontracts many areas of work. The unions are opposed to this practice.

• Workers want higher job standards and the ability to advance within their company structure.

Verizon will likely conclude negotiations with the unions shortly, but the dialogue is bound to reoccur in businesses across the country.

This is the dark side to the good economy: Companies struggle to recruit high-skilled workers. They shift products, work hours, and locations in order to meet competitive demands. The boost in labor hours and productivity has taken its toll on workers and their families. Full-time employees talk about the need for more work-life balance and benefits. The exodus of corporate employees to “Free Agency” is very often motivated by a desire for more flexibility as to when and where work is performed.

While unemployment is at 4% in many areas, there are specific communities where unemployment is still 8% or more. Outsourcing to remote locations and recruiting high-tech workers from all over the world — while leaving those nearby untrained — simply defers a problem for both business and labor in the long-run.

The disparity of cost-of-living in different areas and affordability of our most productive city centers makes standardizing wages nearly impossible. These problems, rooted in general demographic and economic conditions, are not likely to disappear anytime soon. Union and non-union shops will be interested in the outcome of the Verizon strike, as the topics mirror the employer/employee exchange of bargaining issues in the broader business sector.