Author: Site Staff

The new breed of HR decision maker is found in organizations of all sizes. The important factor is the organization’s reliance on the new role of HR management in actively making the business better.

Number of Employees in the Organization	Workforce Magazine Subscribers
1-49 Employees	16%
50-99 Employees	12
100-499 Employees	36
500-999 Employees	10
1,000-2,499 Employees	8
2,500-4,999 Employees	6
5,000 or more Employees	12
Average No. of Employees: 1,271

Source: Workforce Subscriber Study, Globe Research Corporation, 1998.

 

The new breed of the HR decision maker is found in all industries. Smart companies see their business-oriented approach to HR management as a competitive advantage.

Primary Industry	Workforce Magazine Subscribers
Manufacturing & Distribution	25%
Health Services	12
Public Admin/Military/Non-Profit	11
Finance/Insurance/Real Estate/Banking	9
Computer Services/Technology	8
Legal/Management Consulting/ Professional Services	7
Communications/Publishing	5
Wholesale/Retail/Import/Export	5
Education	3
Construction/Engineering	3
Transportation/Utilities	3
Travel/Entertainment/Hotels/Restaurants	2
Oil/Gas/Mining/Chemicals	2
Agriculture/Forestry/Fishing	1
Other	4

Source: Workforce Subscriber Study, Globe Research Corporation, 1998.

The role of the new breed of HR decision maker in managing specific aspects of each HR function will vary by the business issues involved, by the individual company, by the size of the company, by the organization of corporate-wide HR management, and by the industry.

Responsibility for HR Program	Workforce Subscriber (Any Involvement)
Recruitment/Employment	92%
Staffing/Temporary Services	90
Awards/Recognition	85
Benefits	83
Training	83
HR Technology	75
HRMS	69
Relocation	56
Intranets/Extranets	36

Source: Workforce Subscriber Study, Globe Research Corporation, 1998.

 

Administers Programs

To see the real impact of HR programs – on the business goals and on the organization – the new breed of HR decision maker is concerned with management aspect from program development to product recommendation and approval. They are also intricately involved in program implementation to ensure that the program meets it goals.

Administers Programs	Workforce Subscriber
Recruitment/Employment	82%
Staffing/Temporary Services	75
Awards/Recognition	71
Benefits	69
Training	64
HR Technology	54
HRMS	54
Relocation	41
Intranets/Extranets	19

Source: Workforce Subscriber Study, Globe Research Corporation, 1998.

 

Evaluates or Recommends Suppliers

As a member of the corporate management team, the new breed of HR decision maker identifies the key HR suppliers who can help the organization meets its business goals. They also work with line management in selecting the HR products and services that best serve the individual operational groups.

Evaluates/Recommends Suppliers	Workforce Subscriber
Recruitment/Employment	54%
Staffing/Temporary Services	56
Awards/Recognition	49
Benefits	52
Training	51
HR Technology	50
HRMS	43
Relocation	29
Intranets/Extranets	22

Source: Workforce Subscriber Study, Globe Research Corporation, 1998.

 

Has Budget Authority

Development of the budget depends upon the corporate objectives and where the dollars are spent – corporate, division, operating unit, or department. The new breed of HR decision maker works with key individuals to develop these budgets based on the business needs.

Has Budget Authority	Workforce Subscriber
Recruitment/Employment	49%
Staffing/Temporary Services	44
Awards/Recognition	43
Benefits	33
Training	39
HR Technology	34
HRMS	30
Relocation	26
Intranets/Extranets	14

Source: Workforce Subscriber Study, Globe Research Corporation, 1998.

 

 Approves Purchases

In those organizations where there is budget responsibility, the new breed of HR decision maker approves purchases.

Approves Purchases	Workforce Subscriber
Recruitment/Employment	43%
Staffing/Temporary Services	41
Awards/Recognition	39
Benefits	33
Training	37
HR Technology	32
HRMS	25
Relocation	25
Intranets/Extranets	14

Source: Workforce Subscriber Study, Globe Research Corporation, 1998.

 

Although the new breed of decision maker is generally in HR management, there are HR visionaries outside the HR department. They, too, use HR to solve business issues.

Department	Workforce Magazine Subscribers
Human Resources/Personnel Management	72%
Finance/Administration/ Operations	13
Employment/Recruitment	2
Consulting/Legal	3
General/Line Management	3
Training & Development	2
Compensation & Benefits	1
HRMS	1
Other	3

Source: Workforce Subscriber Study, Globe Research Corporation, 1998.

 

Successful organizations have the new breed of HR decision makers located throughout the organization. All are working together to find HR solutions to meet the company’s business needs.

Department Location	Workforce Magazine Subscribers
Corporate Headquarters	54%
Division	17
Operating Unit	17
Independent Business	9
Other	3

Source: Workforce Subscriber Study, Globe Research Corporation, 1998.

An employer may be liable for retaliation under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act for transferring an employee, following her sexual harassment complaints, to a position she could not perform.

Christine DiIenno, who priced donated clothing for Goodwill Industries, was sexually harassed by her manager for two years. After DiIenno reported the harassment to Goodwill, she was transferred to a job processing and sorting clothing, with the same pay and benefits as her pricing job. Despite a doctor’s note documenting her phobia of “critters”—e.g. mice and insects—DiIenno was forced to process clothing which was infested with vermin. After breaking down, she took medical leave and sued alleging retaliation.

On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit allowed DiIenno to proceed with her claim, holding that transfer to a job an employer knows an employee cannot do may constitute adverse employment action. DiIenno vs. Goodwill Industries of Mid-Eastern Pennsylvania, 3^rd Cir., No. 98-1024, 11/27/98.

Impact:
Employers may not disguise retaliation, such as knowingly transferring an employee to a job that employee is unable to perform.

Source: D. Diane Hatch, Ph.D., a human resources consultant based in San Francisco, and James E. Hall, an attorney with the law firm of Barlow, Kobata & Denis, with offices in Los Angeles and Chicago.

If you’ve worked in a company with more than a handful of employees,then at some point you’re likely to have thought, “It’d be nice to be able to searchby a co-worker’s first name and instantly locate that person’s contactinformation right from my desktop.”

Their extension number, e-mail address, the correct spelling oftheir last name, who they answer to, what project they are currently assigned to, theirsecretary’s name, the department they are in …

All these bits of information are commonly needed by your employees day in and day out.

Now imagine being able to pull up their data as well as their photo! Having the powerto associate a name to every face in your organization is a powerful tool, indeed. Thistype of intracorporate networking can not only impact the way you see others, but the wayother see you, as well.

The InteractiveOrgChart (IOC) takes this functionality one step further and allows the user todirectly e-mail the individual (or the group of individuals) from that one centrallocation. Furthermore, users can travel throughout the intranet using URL buttons createdby the OrgChart. Add even more value by posting employee manuals and corporate policies onWeb pages that are accessible through the OrgChart. It shouldn’t be too hard to envisionEntraspan’s Interactive OrgChart creating a focal point for your corporate intranetas it has for so many others.

In addition, the Intranet OrgChart can impact the way you feel about your relationshipwithin the company. Visualizing yourself as a fundamental part of a larger whole lendsitself to a feeling of belonging and unity. Nothing promotes teamwork like employees whoappreciate, respect and depend upon one another.

And consider locating a familiar face on the corporate intranet’s organizationalchart and finally discovering that person’s name! The next time you encounter thatsame man in the elevator or that nice woman in line at the local deli, you’ll finally beable to greet them by name—never mind the fact they told you once before and you’veforgotten it!

The Interactive OrgChartfrom Entraspan, Inc. is a networkedenterprise application that attaches to your corporate database and displays selectedinformation to your employees through a browser. The information displayed is oftendefined by a human resource executive and implemented by your company’s databaseadministrator. Any amount of information (as much or as little) in your database can bedisseminated through the OrgChart. A free evaluation download is available tointegrate the OrgChart into your environment and get a first hand look at the many ways itcan empower your employees to be more self-sufficient, promote unity, and otherwisebenefit your organization.

You may wonder, “How do I offer different levels of information to differentusers?” The Interactive OrgChart allows for passwordprotection at the chart level as well as the individual level. What this means is thatthe CEO and HR executives may retain the power to see and edit all information, managersmay be able to view (but have selected editing ability) a subset of this information, andemployees may be able to view an entirely different subset and edit nothing.

In addition, multiple charts can be used to represent different types of data. Anemployee chart is simply the most common use, but it is only the beginning. Executives maywish to implement charts for succession management, product lines, facilities,suppliers/key clients, etc. The common thread between each of these password protectedcharts are that they’re used to display information that becomes progressively moresegmented. And if the OrgChart is incapable of delivering a feature that is specific toyour organization, then Entraspan is there to provide customization services.

The following is an inside look at how Dura Pharmaceuticals has implementedEntraspan’s Interactive OrgChart as their corporate solution. Dura employs manyremote salespeople, and therefore, their OrgChart has more people displayed on the chartthan those who access it. This corporate structure is the exact opposite of how auniversity might use the OrgChart to post a few hundred faculty for thousands of studentsto access.

One striking thing about Dura is their awareness of the importance of bringing theiremployees together as a family. One quick tour of Dura’s corporate office evidencesthis in that their corporate walls are adorned with portraits of their offsite accountrepresentatives.

Dura Pharmaceuticals

Company Background and IOC Administration:
Dura Pharmaceuticals provides pharmaceutical products with a respiratory concentration tophysicians and their patients nationwide. The company has loaded IOC on their server sothat all employees can access the graphical display from their desktops. About 900 nodesare currently being displayed and minimums of 25 people are thought to be accessing theapplication at any one time.

Problem Experienced:
Dura had two goals. They needed to provide up-to-date OrgCharts and they also neededto centralize the company’s personnel information. They also wanted individuals to beable to access their own information and interact with co-workers from one commoncorporatewide interface. Another important element was that this interface had to beextremely user-friendly so employees would not be burdened with having to learn a newprogram. This application had to be able to attach itself to the company’s existingOracle database and had to be able to be viewed through Internet Explorer 4.02. It had tobe able to work with Windows 95, Windows NT, HP, and Unix. However, Dura’s mostcritical need was to locate a mechanism that would allow employees to access real-timepersonnel information.

Substandard Solutions:
Dura had been using presentation software add-ons as well as a popular drawing programto write its charts. These chart drawing software tools could easily create connectedboxes and text, but neither of them had the capability to interface with a centraldatabase. Charts quickly became obsolete and useless. Not only did these charts oftendisplay misinformation, but they required hours to update. And as far as locating acentral interface to the personnel files, nothing existed. Employees had to go see HR orask around to get valid information into or out of the corporate database.

The Reason IOC Was Deemed To Be a Better Solution:
What makes the Interactive OrgChart different is just that—it’s interactive!At first glance, it’s often thought of as a tool to draw OrgCharts, but IOC isn’t adrawing tool at all. It’s more correct to say that it is a database management tool thathappens to display its data in a very appealing and user-friendly OrgChart structure. Ituses bright colors and employees pictures to provide a logical and easy way to interactwith otherwise boring text files. The key element is that people are attracted to theproduct so they use it, and by doing so, current, accurate and uniform information isconsistently and easily accessible to them.

Main Benefits that IOC Provided:
For Dura, the key benefit is that employee information has finally become centralized.Now the company’s database is updated through IOC, and both are updated in tandem.Personnel information has been unified and accurate information is now being disseminatedthroughout Dura. As a result, overhead was reduced because tedious rewrites were no longernecessary.

Unexpected Benefits that IOC Provided:
IOC “pulled together the Dura community, making it possible for people to attacha name to a face.” When larger companies decide to include photos in their OrgChartas Dura has, executives and employees alike generally respond with enthusiasm. They findthey no longer smile benignly at that same individual in the elevator—rather, theysay, “Hi Bob!”

Jason Liebrecht
Dura Pharmaceuticals
Systems Analyst/Webmaster
http://www.durapharm.com

Dear [Name of Object of Affection]:

As we discussed, I know that this may seemsilly or unnecessary to you, but I really want you to give serious consideration to thematter as it is very important to me. [Add other material as appropriate].

I very much value our relationship and Icertainly view it as voluntary, consensual and welcome. And I have always felt that you feel the same. However, I know that sometimes an individual may feel compelled to engage in or continue a relationship against their will out of concern that it may affect the jobor working relationships.

It is very important to me that our relationship be on an equal footing and that you be fully comfortable that our relationship is at all times fully voluntary and welcome. I want to assure you that under no circumstances will I allow our relationship or, should it happen, the end of our relationship, to impact on your job or our working relationship. Though I know you have received a copy of [our company’s] sexual harassment policy, I am enclosing a copy [Add specific reference to policy as appropriate] so that you can read and review it again. Once you have done so, I would greatly appreciate your signing this letter below, if you are in agreement with me.

[Add personal closing]

Very truly yours,
[Name]

---

I have read this letter and the accompanying sexual harassment policy, and I understand and agree with what is stated in both this letter and the sexual harassment policy. My relationship with [name] has been(and is) voluntary, consensual and welcome. I also understand that I am free to end this relationship at any time and, in doing so, it will not adversely impact on my job.

[Signature of object of affection]

---

SOURCE: Teresa Butler, Littler Mendelson, Atlanta, 888-LITTLER

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.

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Once you obtain your HR certification—either the PHR or SPHR designation—remember that you must be recertified every three years, according to Alexandria, Virginia-based Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI). The requirement helps to ensure that human resources professionals stay current on industry trends.

To fulfill the recertification requirement, you must either take the current version of the PHR or SPHR exam—or complete 60 contact hours in some form of HR activity. The six categories and types of accepted activities are listed below:

Continuing education:
Seminars, conferences, college coursework, video conferencing and audiotaped seminars.

Instruction:
teaching a class or making educational presentations in one’s organization.

On-the-job experience:
Implementing some type of new program in the organization—i.e. a new benefits plan or new performance appraisal plan.

Research or publishing:
Conducting research on an HR topic or writing a report on the HR field—i.e. periodical article, or an HR-related document.

Leadership:
Responsibility in a local HR organization or chairing a committee.

Professional membership:
Membership in Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and other kindred organizations, such as the American Compensation Association (ACA) or the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD).

Source: Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI).

Workforce, May 1999, Vol. 78, No. 5, p. 80.

If the performance of an older employee declines over time, do you have to keep them on?

The short answer is no. The ADEA (Age Discrimination in Employment Act) does not require that you keep the employee at the organization. The law only states that you judge the employee in his or her performance and ability, not age.

If the employee’s performance is slipping, you should keep evidence that the decline is significant and has taken place over an extended period. Some related tips:

• Documentation could include appraisals, warnings and discipline.
• Keep records on all employees, not just “problem” employees.
• A good rule of thumb is that any change, including a firing, shouldn’t be a surprise to an employee. They should be in the loop.

SOURCE: Bureau of Business Practice, Waterford, CT, 1998.

Being a mentor doesn’t necessarily mean a long-term, time-consuming commitment. Here are five easy ways to help someone at work improve their skills:

• Make a copy of a magazine article that you think they would learn from and find interesting. It doesn’t have to be related to your business — it could be about sports, business, politics, or entertainment.

• Share information about a professional seminar or workshop coming up.

• Have lunch with someone you don’t normally see outside of work; you can give them advice on work and/or personal matters.

• Be a mock audience for a presentation or a reader for a report.

• Teach someone a software package they don’t know. If you don’t have time, just teach them some short-cuts you know in a software package they use.

SOURCE: 101 Ways to Have a Great Day @ Work,” Stephanie Goddard Davidson, 1998.

St. Luke’s Hospital had a problem on it’s hands. Each of its 1325 employees received a 20-page performance appraisal. After considerable reorganizing, it reduced the page count to 13, and the time for managers to complete each one by 30 minutes.

NEW FORM NAME	REPLACES	FUNCTION
PADCF: Performance Appraisal Data Collection Form	Score page, competency page and minimum job requirement page	Entry of employee’s score, minimum job requirements and competency; HR staff keys the data.
Score Approval Form	Didn’t exist previously	Managers verify scores that were keyed in.
Comment Sheet: Computerized version available in WordPerfect	Three sections of form for comments	Consolidation of all comments to a single form, leaving room for as many comments as desired. Allows for continuous documentation throughout the year.
Summary Page	Three pages of former system	Generated for program to give employee data, detail score, overall score, competency and minimum job requirement scores. Includes space for employee comments.

Personnel Journal, April 1996, Vol. 75, No. 4, p. 120.