In the ever-changing corporate HR and talent management domain, one of the most exciting developments occurring in recent years is the emergence and growing adoption of integrated talent management product suites. Traditionally the human capital management (HCM) technology market has been highly fragmented with a variety of point solutions, each focusing on individual talent management functions.
Wired tells the story of an Australian tribunal, which ruled that an employee was illegally bullied at work, in part because a co-worker had unfriended her on Facebook.
Transfer this case to America, and assume that the employee is claiming retaliation based on the unfriending. Supposed Employee A complains to HR that Employee B is sexually harassing her, and, as soon as Employee B finds out about the complaint, he unfriends Employee A on Facebook. Does Employee A have a claim for retaliation based on the unfriending?
The answer is likely no.
As a matter of law, an adverse action sufficient to support a claim for retaliation merely must be an action that would dissuade a reasonable worker from complaining about discrimination. Yet, the Supreme Court has stated that the adversity to support a claim for retaliation must be “material,” and that petty slights, minor annoyances, or a simple lack of good manners normally will not count:
We speak of material adversity because we believe it is important to separate significant from trivial harms. Title VII, we have said, does not set forth “a general civility code for the American workplace.” … An employee’s decision to report discriminatory behavior cannot immunize that employee from those petty slights or minor annoyances that often take place at work and that all employees experience…. It does so by prohibiting employer actions that are likely “to deter victims of discrimination from complaining to the EEOC,” the courts, and their employers…. And normally petty slights, minor annoyances, and simple lack of good manners will not create such deterrence….
A supervisor’s refusal to invite an employee to lunch is normally trivial, a nonactionable petty slight. But to retaliate by excluding an employee from a weekly training lunch that contributes significantly to the employee’s professional advancement might well deter a reasonable employee from complaining about discrimination.
Thus, an ostracism or shunning from a social network—one that serves no work-related purpose other than fostering congeniality among co-workers—likely should not support a claim for retaliation.
It’s open season!
On benefits, that is. Every fall, HR departments look forward to open enrollment season with excitement — and trepidation.
This crucial period is not just an opportunity for employees to review benefit options, but also a golden opportunity for HR to renew relationships.
Managing such a crucial initiative can be daunting, but that’s why Workforceis here to help. Beyond our ongoing magazine coverage, we’ve launched a new event that will explore the future of benefit management.
Coming to Boston on Nov. 9, Workforce Focus puts you in direct conversation with fellow HR professionals for a one-day, in-depth examination of the technology transformation reshaping how we communicate and manage employee benefits.
For more information, visit WorkforceFocus.com.
I hope you’ll join us there!
Responding to “Work in Progress” columnist Kris Dunn’s story in the July issue titled “Meet the Aggregator Killer,” reader Jonathan Duarte wrote:
So is your intent to send automated ‘cease and desist’ and copyright infringement emails with links to all the ‘old’ jobs? I haven’t aggregated and distributed much for job ad content in the last five years, but from what I can tell, the ‘old’ jobs probably isn’t the biggest issue. The bigger issue is probably the ‘lesser’ aggregators that mandate job seeker registration under the guise of ‘apply for this job’ and then never redirect or submit an application for the position, but instead put job seekers on automated job alerts and marketing automation email campaigns that they never opted into.
Regarding the Workforce August story “Rub Some Dirt on It: Why Workers Are Forgoing Treatments,” reader Dan983 said:
Prior to HDHPs, employer population health plan member expense distribution ratios under PPO plans indicated the sickest 5 percent of members annually spend 60 percent of plan dollars and the top 10 percent account for 70 percent. This top 10 percent are not impacted by any deductible as ACA makes plans reimburse 100 percent after members have $6,600 in out-of-pocket cost. What about the other 90 percent? The bottom 50 percent only account for 2 percent of plan expenses. High-deductible plans cause members to forgo physician visits, screenings and prescription therapy. These plans have been dishonestly sold to employer plan sponsors. Now, by plan design, members are being lured into worsening states of chronic disease. Remember, the max employers can shift is $10,000 on the HSA option. What’s the max employers are liable for to pay the impact of chronic disease? Unlimited!
Our August Dear Workforce newsletter posed the question: “How Do We Make a Supervisor Deal With a Problem Employee?” to which reader Michael Toebe responded:
The supervisor obviously dislikes conflict engagement and might be intimidated by the offending person. Yet avoidance is not an effective conflict strategy. It allows the status quo to continue to great work culture, process and legal detriment. What could prove helpful is suspending judgment and asking the supervisor what concerns they might have in investigating the emotional drivers about the employee’s unsavory behavior. Learn the “whys” behind the resistance, question the limiting beliefs, ask if they feel they need additional resources to problem-solve and express confidence in their ability and ask for a commitment to be assertive (not aggressive) in addressing a critical problem and why it is critical. Set a date to talk again later that day or the next morning to review what happened. What the supervisor might need is understanding, support and encouragement. Or they might also need skill set development in conflict strategies, as in how to talk with, not at, the employee.
Workforce blogger James Tehrani asked: Is it OK to compliment people at work to which reader Denise Gamble replied:
I compliment people all the time. I’ve been told I have a gift for recognizing the good in others and for providing positive feedback. I am female and agree it’s considered more acceptable for women to compliment either gender in the workplace.
I’ve lost about 90 pounds this year and receive regular compliments. I’m fine with them. My appearance is so changed that often someone will blurt out, ‘Wow! You look great!’ It’s heartfelt and not creepy. Creepy is the guy that followed up with, ‘I’ll bet you look great in a swimming suit!’ (Fortunately, that wasn’t from a co-worker.)
Some thoughts based on my own experience: I believe it is OK to compliment people you work with on a regular basis if a) the compliment is authentic, brief and not related to gender, race, religion, etc. b) is not contrived or based on any underlying, self-serving motivation and c) part of your character.
We welcome your comments on these stories and others on our website. Be sure to follow us and give us a shout on Twitter at @Workforcenews, too.
Hope to hear from you!
Background Check Blunders
Nothing is more American than the ideal that hard work will get you a house, car and comfortable life for your spouse and 2.5 children. But for a third of all Americans, hard work is only half the battle.The FBI reports there are approximately 80 million individuals in its master criminal database. What’s more, nearly half of African-American men have been arrested by the age of 23.Employment law is beginning to catch up with the criminalization of America in order to address hiring practices that exclude applicants and employees with criminal background blemishes. When navigating the tempestuous waters of criminal background checks, employers should be aware of these background check blunders.Many employers desirous of conducting criminal background checks hire third parties to perform this task. Unfortunately, employers must beware of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, or FCRA, a federal statute requiring that employers provide specific types of notice before and after using a third party to conduct a criminal or credit background check.Specifically, under the FCRA, employers must: notify applicants before even starting the background check that a third party will be evaluating their background histories; provide applicants a copy of the background check report and an opportunity to challenge its findings after the background check is complete, but before an employment decision is made; and give applicants or employees notice of the final decision and the basis of that decision. The FCRA should be consulted for the specific wording required for each type of notice and additional requirements.Also keep in mind that there is a current wave of ban-the-box laws being enacted in states and municipalities across the country. Ban-the-box laws forbid employers from asking about criminal information prior to giving applicants a “conditional” offer of employment. The laws are intended to end the once common practice of automatically rejecting qualified candidates with criminal histories without providing an opportunity to explain the circumstances of the incident.Initially, ban-the-box laws applied only to public employers. But there are now an increasing number of jurisdictions applying ban-the-box laws to private employers, including Baltimore, Chicago, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C., as well as several states. Companies doing business across several cities or states should be especially careful, as their practice might invoke several of these laws. Best practices dictate that employers comply with the ban-the-box framework as if there is a valid law in their respective locale.Even after carefully navigating the procedural pitfalls, employers must continue to be vigilant when making adverse employment decisions based on criminal history. Many states and local governments have laws prohibiting employers from using the fact of an arrest alone as a basis for not hiring or firing someone.Rachel L. Schaller and Daniel R. Saeedi are lawyers in the Chicago office of Taft, Stettinius and Hollister. To comment email editors@workforce.com.
Faster and Friendlier
Sara Piccollo is the definition of a rising star, rapidly climbing the ladder at PIMCO in her nine years at the company. After joining PIMCO as an entry-level learning and development coordinator in 2006, Piccollo worked her way up the global investment management firm to become head of diversity and inclusion.
Piccollo, 33, has been a key player in developing PIMCO’s diversity and inclusion strategy, implementing unconscious bias training, offering incentives for inclusive leadership and ensuring that all employees are involved in the company dialogue about diversity. Recently, Piccollo led the design and launch of PIMCO Parents, an initiative focused on mothers and fathers.
A champion of diversity of thought, Piccollo works constantly to prove the truth of PIMCO’s diversity and inclusion philosophy: Diverse teams create better business results.
Amy Whyte is a Workforce editorial intern. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com. Follow Workforce on Twitter at @workforcenews.
Julio Acevedo has always sought to better himself. Small wonder then that he rose to a position where his job is to help his colleagues better themselves.
The pursuit of self-improvement motivated the Puerto Rico native to move to Florida in search of better opportunities for himself and his family. He found that opportunity at the Lake Wales Charter School system, where he took a position as a kindergarten teacher. Putting his bachelor’s degree in drama to good use, he engaged students with impersonations of famous singers, including Elvis Presley, in order to drive their interest in reading.
The satisfaction he gained from successfully motivating his students to improve themselves drove him to enroll at Nova Southeastern University’s educational leadership program. He graduated from the Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based school in 2011 with a specialist degree that he immediately put to use in his school system’s administrative office to coordinate programs for English for Speakers of Other Languages and migrant workers and their families. Setting policy wasn’t enough for Acevedo, though. He paid attention to the needs of the population he was serving and created Conexion Hispana, a federally funded, community partnership that provides free health screenings, legal services and educational programs for Hispanic families.
His efforts have earned him great rapport with students and colleagues, so when the HR director position opened up, Superintendent Jesse Jackson had to consider him. “During my first meeting with Mr. Acevedo to discuss the position, my statement of expectation was quite simple,” Jackson wrote. “If he was going to be effective in the job, he would have to pay very careful attention to the customer service provided to all of our stakeholders.”
In his dual role as HR director and English Language Learners coordinator, Acevedo has been able to streamline the district’s onboarding process as well as continue to deliver services to the school’s Latino community.
“I love to be able to help my staff understand their benefits and our system,” Acevedo, 33, wrote. “I have always been passionate about helping others, and, as the HR director, I feel that I am able to help many people.”
Learning is a lifelong process, but for the Leadership Council on Legal Diversity’s program manager, Lori Lorenzo, that notion is also part of her job.
Lorenzo, 36, provides development opportunities for lawyers in all stages of their careers as a way of promoting inclusion in the legal sector. She spearheaded the Pipeline Partnership Program with college advisers to address barriers that minorities face when applying to law school. Another initiative she started, the Pathfinder Program, helps law students develop professional networks and foundational leadership skills. Lorenzo also helps experienced lawyers transition into executive leadership positions.
“Lori understands that an inclusive legal profession is a critical business and social imperative,” wrote Bruce Strothers, managing council at Coca-Cola Co., where Lorenzo has conducted Leadership Council on Legal Diversity sessions. “She is self-aware and empathetic, yet shrewd in managing the business of building innovative talent development models.”
For large companies, a $1.8 million savings in health care costs might elicit a polite smile and nod from senior leadership, but for a midsize nonprofit organization with a mission to bring high-level education to urban students, it’s quite an achievement.
Achievement First’s Teresa Clarke, 39, was able to bring home those insurance savings in the first few months after she joined the organization, and she even negotiated a rate cap to ensure continued savings.
It’s a nice luxury to have a lawyer in the human resources department managing a staff of four HR generalists.
Max Polaner, Achievement’s chief financial and strategy officer, wrote: “Teresa led the effort to bring our HR function out of the dark ages by leading the charge to overhaul some of the antiquated processes.”
And that’s only a taste of why Clarke deserves to have the spotlight shown on her as a Workforce Game Changer.
Photo by Mark Thompson Photography
In 2014, the Quality of Life Leadership Academy — the organization formed by the Michigan departments of Environmental Quality, Natural Resources and Agricultural and Rural Development — accepted into its ranks for the first time “nonprofessional” candidates such as secretaries and analysts. Kelly Ploehn, an analyst in the Environment Quality Department, was among those who participated in the 10-month program.
Ploehn, 37, helped develop a presentation to address employee engagement concerns. The findings, based on employee input, made some senior leaders uncomfortable, but Ploehn powered ahead, presenting her results along with recommendations to improve engagement.
Thanks to Ploehn’s perseverance, the Environmental Quality Department established an employee engagement team, naming Ploehn a team leader and representative for her division.
Amy Whyte is a Workforce editorial intern. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com. Follow Workforce on Twitter at @workforcenews.
There’s something about an infectious laugh.
But while colleagues say hers is engaging enough to travel through walls, the changes made by Ivory Woodhouse, career development specialist at the Washington University School of Medicine, are anything but funny.
Woodhouse, 31, has had a significant influence on human resources at Washington University since she joined in 2011. She has helped move hiring managers into a new applicant tracking system, which, as those in the HR space know, can be tricky business because some workers are averse to new technology implementations.
She has also created a brand for a new career development initiative called Smart Choices. For the first time, the School of Medicine has a way for its staff to learn about their career options, and Woodhouse was the driving force behind the change. In just over a year, she moved career development from fliers and brochures to a fully actualized career counseling service.
Her peers have consistently expressed their appreciation for her genuine, caring and supportive assistance for all of the schools’ employees.
And that laugh? Well, that’s just the icing on an already thickly frosted cake.
