If you areplanning on attending the Training 2002 Conference & Exposition this year inGeorgia, you don’t want tomiss the following special offers from these companies:
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Dear Workforce How Do We Write A Business Case Justifying A Staff Increase
QDear Workforce:
What are the points to be covered in writing a business case to increasestaff?
– Needs to know, safety consultant, health care, Vernon, British Columbia,Canada.
A Dear Needs to Know:
As you plan your case, keep in mind the universal objectives of everycompany: using resources as efficiently as possible, having productiveemployees, and ultimately creating a successful business, sooner rather thanlater.
When considering any change that would have a significant impact on thecompany, test the waters and garner support first. “Trial balloon”your ideas with key colleagues and/or superiors to ensure that the written caserepresents the interests of all parties involved. They will then be much morelikely to lend their support.
The actual arguments that you use will vary depending on why you want to addstaff: do you want to increase productivity? Build the customer servicedepartment to have fewer dropped calls and therefore more satisfied customers?Create better back-up capacity among your staff? Hire someone with a specialtalent that will allow your company to venture into previously unchartedterritories? Whatever your goal, here are some steps to follow in writing yourcase:
State the reason for adding staff and all the anticipated benefits to thecompany, both short and long term. Ask and answer the question: “Can thecompany afford not to create this position/hire this person?”
Give details on reporting structure, and how the new position will affectand interact with existing positions. Note: if you have recently had layoffs,adding new positions may seem confusing to your staff. Careful explanation andan over-emphasis on communication are necessary to help maintain morale, andshould be part of your case. Keep in mind too that the opportunity for employeesto help create, recruit, supervise, or perhaps be promoted to a new position canbe attractive, and provide career growth — a great retention tool.
Anticipate and address objections and problems.
List the total cost, including benefits, training time, other staff time,furniture, business cards, etc. Consider how much money the company may belosing by not having a fully staffed team. For example, how many salesopportunities are you missing by not having an experienced sales and marketingrepresentative?
Focus on how the benefits will outweigh the costs; for example, how soonthe new position(s) will pay for itself. Note: How you choose to discuss thecosts can vary depending on your company’s financial situation. If you’re in acash crunch, the executives will most likely want to see immediate return oninvestment. If you’re in a more stable period, they may be able to appreciatethe advantages of a longer-term investment.
If you effectively address each of these points, briefly and concisely, whilekeeping in mind the overall goals of your company, you will have made your case.Good luck!
SOURCE: Lisa Kaminski, Liz Peterson and Bill Cooper, HR managers, PersonnelManagement Systems, Inc., Kirkland, Washington, Sept. 5, 2001.
LEARN MORE: See “Tactics to Tackle ToughTimes“
The information contained in thisarticle is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, butshould not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember thatstate laws may differ from the federal law.
OTC – Opera for Dummies
In 1978, I saw Magic, the thriller starring Anthony Hopkins as a ventriloquist whose wooden dummy, Fats, slowly goes crazy and embarks on a murderous rampage. Ever since then, dummies, marionettes, and other small hand-painted facsimiles of human beings have, like, totally creeped me out.
I imagine myself rising from a warm bed at 2 a.m. to let the dog out, only to encounter a Charlie McCarthy-type character seated calmly at my kitchen table in the moonlight. “I’m glad you’re awake,” he’d say, his lower jaw clacking shut as his eyes dart, Kewpie-like, toward the butcher knife gripped in his white-gloved dummy hand.
Typically, I’m able to get through the day without obsessing about the sinister potential of puppets. But recently I was in Prague, where marionettes are, according to the tourist brochures, part of a “long and rich tradition.”
Walking through the narrow cobblestone streets, I passed several shops selling the stringed puppets. Row upon row of still, expressionless marionettes hung limply on the walls, their hands and feet suspended in midair. There were rabbis, chefs, kings, and witches, all of them silently beseeching passersby to give them life. I shuddered.
My friend Angela looked at me. “They bother you, too?” she asked.
I nodded as I scurried past the shops.
That night at dinner, Angela and I discussed our fear of marionettes and other inanimate humans. We talked as if we were discussing something semi-rational, like politics. “The problem I have with them is their inability to reason,” Angela explained, using the logical lawyer’s voice she typically reserves for closing arguments.
Yes, I agreed. That was one of their deficiencies.
After dinner, we walked through town and noticed several posters advertising Don Giovanni by Prague’s National Marionette Theatre. “No way,” we concluded.
The next day, while we were on a walking tour of the old town, my attention was diverted by a marionette shop that was broadcasting “Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson at levels loud enough to cause Prague’s last remaining Communists to pack their identical government-issue suitcases and flee up the Vltava River.
On the street in front of the shop, a small Pinocchio marionette was break dancing, his red feet clomping on the cobbles at the behest of the salesperson controlling his strings.
“Look!” I exclaimed. “How cute!”
Angela stared at me as if I’d broken some unspoken covenant of the anti-marionette society. Her eyes traveled to the break-dancing puppet. “They are less threatening when they dance,” she conceded.
The edge taken off, we soon found ourselves admiring the range and artistry of marionettes available for sale. We discussed how — and why — marionettes are still popular in a city that has survived Nazis and Communists, and now boasts sushi bars and Internet cafés. There must be something to this marionette business.
Our defenses crumbling, we scrambled for ways to keep our disdain of puppets intact. “The marionettes must just be for tourists,” we scoffed. When that didn’t work, we tried snobbery, ranking marionette theater on the same cultural stratum as monster truck rallies.
But the more we questioned the allure of the puppets, the more we became fascinated by them. Over a beer that afternoon, we agreed to see a marionette show, “just to see what the fuss was all about.”
We arrived at the theater the next night, and when it was time for the performance to begin, instead of subtly dimming the lights as they do in New York, employees of Prague’s National Marionette Theatre loudly sounded something like an enormous school bell. We didn’t know whether to head to our seats, dart out the door for recess, or alert the captain that the sub was taking on water.
The show began, and the first marionette to appear was Mozart, who had curly silver hair and a round wooden face that bore a slight resemblance to Barbara Bush. He jerkily “conducted” the imaginary orchestra — the real music was on tape — and the other marionettes appeared. Controlled only by strings, they moved haltingly, like children walking on a rope bridge in high winds. It was going to be a looong night.
The production got under way and I noticed that the backdrops were painted in a style best described as Scenery 101. I could see the thick hands and cleavage of several of the puppeteers. I felt like I was watching a fifth-grade talent show where at any moment a little Indian girl would be tied to the stake while her parents clapped their enthusiastic approval. Most unsettling of all was the fact that the marionettes’ faces didn’t move. At all. Don Giovanni maintained the same painted-on, noncommittal expression regardless of whether he was seducing a peasant or being engulfed by flames.
Yet despite myself, I was smiling, a silly what’s-the-harm-in-this grin that lasted the entire performance. I don’t know if the grin appeared when I realized that puppeteers are supposed to be part of the act. Or when I realized that this particular production of Don Giovanni was intended to be a comedy. Or when Mozart drank too much wine and fell asleep, loudly knocking his little wooden head on the edge of the imaginary orchestra pit.
Regardless, it dawned on me that the point of marionette theater is not to convince audience members that the puppets are real in a scary Hollywood way. The point is to provide an excuse for listening to great music.
As we walked back to our hotel after the show, Angela said, sounding a bit like Mr. Rogers: “Sometimes, it takes learning about something to appreciate it.”
I concurred, thinking of all the times in my life I’ve passed up opportunities because of fear, snobbery, or preconceived notions. I thought about how foolish my long-held, but unexamined, fears and judgments really are.
As we neared the hotel, Angela made one final comment. “You know, those puppets didn’t scare me at all.”
“Me either,” I said, secretly wondering if I’d have time at the airport to purchase a souvenir marionette. After all, it wouldn’t hurt to have a little reminder that long-held beliefs can change.
Workforce, December 2001, pp. 22-23 — Subscribe Now!
The Workforce 80: The Labor Movement to War
With the inauguration in 1922 of The Journal of Personnel Research, Workforce magazine’s first name, the fledgling field of personnel was officially born. Workers were leaving fields for factories, and businesses were swiftly learning about the complexities of managing people in an industrial world. For the past 80 years, the publication has served as a mirror of the U.S. workplace, and a bellwether for HR, helping it to find its way in a turbulent world.
To mark its 80th anniversary, editors, writers, and distinguished members of the business and academic communities have created a special issue chronicling 80 events that have shaped HR. Together the stories — offered without ranking — are an impressive collection of people, trends, innovations, and events that have had a profound impact on human resources and the workplace.
This magazine is one of the oldest and one of the largest continuously published periodicals in the country. What is less well-known is that it has been a family enterprise for most of its history. Workforce publisher Margaret Magnus succeeds her mother, Betty Hartzell, who was publisher of what was then called Personnel Journal from 1974 to 1990, and Hartzell’s uncle, Arthur C. Croft, who bought the publication in the late 1930s.
“Human resources fundamentally deals with human nature,” Magnus says. “HR strives to bring out the best in everyone.”
With a history that spans the full life of HR, Workforce has covered sweeping changes in the field from the industrial revolution to the information age. Throughout its tenure, HR has been at the vanguard of social change. Workforce is honored to have participated in helping to create its vision, tell its story, and chart its course.
Workforce, January 2001, pp. 26-56 — Subscribe Now!
The Workforce 80 was written by Shari Caudron, Sarah Fister Gale, Samuel Greengard, James E. Hall, Carroll Lachnit, Susan J. Marks, Todd Raphael, Janet Wiscombe, and Eilene Zimmerman. The following people shared their time and expertise in the creation of the list: Thomas Dougherty, University of Missouri; Dave Ulrich, University of Michigan; Matt Miklave and Jon Trafimow, Epstein, Becker & Green, P.C; Bob Gitter, Ohio Wesleyan University; John Boudreau, Cornell University; Maria Greco Danaher, Dickie, McCamey & Chilcote, P.C.; Daniel Mitchell and David Lewin, UCLA; Judson MacLaury, historian, U.S. Department of Labor, and Arnold Packer, senior research fellow, Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies.
The Costs of Not Checking
The result of not doing a background screening could be theft, embezzlement, a shooting, a sexual assault, or a lawsuit. In California, plaintiffs suing companies for negligent hiring win about 60 percent of the time, says employment-law attorney Patti White, a partner in the San Jose office of Littler Mendelson. In 2000, the average verdict in losing such a case was $870,390, says Barry J. Nadell, president of InfoLink Screening Services.
Nadell and White gave the following specific examples of the cost of doing nothing:
Trusted Health Resources hired Jesse L. Rogers in 1991 as an aide in a home health-care program, but never conducted a criminal-background check and so failed to discover that Rogers had six larceny-related convictions in Massachusetts. Rogers was later convicted of stabbing to death John Ward, a quadriplegic under his care, and the victim’s grandmother. Ward’s parents brought suit against Trusted Health, winning compensatory and punitive damages of $26.5 million and sending Trusted Health into bankruptcy.
An Oakland civil jury awarded more than $11 million to a woman’s husband after she was murdered in 1998 by a carpet cleaner dispatched by America’s Best Carpet Care. The man had never undergone the kind of background check that would have uncovered his violent criminal past.
Manor Park Nursing Home in Texas failed to do a criminal background check of an employee who later sexually assaulted a resident of the nursing home. The jury awarded the plaintiff $1.1 million.
A county in Texas failed to do a background check on a reserve deputy sheriff it had hired. After just a few days on the job, he injured a passenger in a car during a traffic stop. The reserve deputy had a criminal record, including assault and battery, was on probation at the time of the attack, and also had an outstanding arrest warrant. The jury awarded the injured passenger $818,000.
Workforce, February 2002, p. 52 — Subscribe Now!
How Leaders Can Take Charge of Change
Your firm may be introducing Web-based training, a knowledge-management system, Windows XP. Whatever the flavor of the month, new technology can create real resistance in your workforce — and, in some cases, anxiety and fear.
David Dell, research director for capabilities management and HR at The Conference Board, has observed, “Both HR and IT have many new issues to address and many decisions to make and implement. But the speed of change in both areas makes the challenge more difficult as it increases the promise.”
Why do people resist change? Leslie Smith, a clinical psychologist and former Web designer in McLean, Virginia, outlines these reasons:
Fear of making mistakes or looking foolish.
A lack of understanding or confidence about the new system and its benefits.
Anxiety about doing more. Employees often feel overworked already, and resist learning something new when it’s layered on top of their existing duties.
Change fatigue. Once people learn something new, they’d like to stick with that new knowledge and take a rest.
Jeanie Daniel Duck, author of The Change Monster: The Human Forces That Fuel or Foil Corporate Transformation & Change, writes, “The knee-jerk answer (to failed change efforts) is the people ‘resist change,’ as if ‘resistance to change’ were some kind of sorry genetic code that, if it could be reengineered, would magically produce people instantly eager to do things differently whenever anyone asked. The ‘resistance to change’ answer… is appealing because it takes the blame off the leaders and puts it on those ‘no-good followers.’”
Leaders must take charge of change. There are many things that you can do to ensure a more successful initiative, including:
Communicate. Explain what benefits you expect from the new system and how people’s roles might change. Also make sure that change is championed from the top of the organization and communicate that support.
Collaborate. Involve prospective users in change decisions and choices. Duck says it’s not the change that’s the problem, but the way it comes down. “People are changing all the time, but those are changes of their own choosing,” Duck says. “People resist being told they have to change.”
Demonstrate. As Duck observes, people are powerfully motivated by self-interest. Technological change is likely to be more successful if people are shown what’s in it for them. “When they’re motivated, it’s amazing what people can do,” she says.
Evaluate. Look at the whole corporate culture, not just IT, to determine how many other changes people are being asked to deal with at the same time, such as a merger or reorganization. Perhaps it’s time to give them a breather.
Commiserate. Let people know it’s okay to complain, Duck advises. It provides a useful outlet. Although IT may feel like the corporate whipping boy, “that’s the nature of the beast. IT departments have a checkered past,” she says. “They must accept that and be more careful.” Further, allowing complaint and disagreement might enable you to measure resistance before you spend millions of dollars on that new initiative.
Don’t denigrate. Mary Lynn Pulley, Ph.D., is a faculty member at the Center for Creative Leadership in Greensboro, North Carolina. She maintains that the learning curve is upside down: “It’s more of a valley than a hill,” she says. “Whenever you learn anything, your performance actually declines before it improves.”
She refers to that performance dip as the Valley of Chaos, and urges learners to remember that chaos and creation go hand in hand. “Things have to fall apart or disintegrate in some way so that they can come back together in a new way.” Managers must make it clear that mistakes are okay and avoid any kind of punishment for error in a learning environment.
Eradicate. “You must allow for the notion of un-learning as people abandon old ways,” Pulley says. Know that people have to rid their minds and routines of that which no longer works, but be aware that getting rid of the old and familiar can engender fear and confusion.
Mentoring Program Evaluation
Use the form below to help youdetermine if your mentoring program is effective.
Date:
Mentor:
Protege/Mentee:
I am a __ Mentor __ Protege/Mentee.
Instructions
Please answer all questions using ascale of 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). In order to help make theprogram stronger, please be as candid as possible.
The Program
| 1. | Thegoals and objectives of the program were clearly defined. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 2. | Ifelt supported in this mentoring program from my manager. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 3. | Thestructure of the program made it easy to perform my role in thisrelationship. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 4. | Theprogram requirements were just right. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 5. | Thetime commitment for each interaction was just right. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 6. | Thematch between my mentoring partner and I worked. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 7. | Ibelieve the program will benefit the organization. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 8. | Ifelt supported by the program administrator. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 9. | Theoverall expected outcomes for the program were realistic. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 10. | Theprogram worked for me. | 12 3 4 5 |
The Relationship
| 1. | Thematch between my mentoring partner and I met my needs. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 2. | Wehave met regularly. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 3. | Wecame prepared to use the time effectively. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 4. | Wewere confident about what to do when we started. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 5. | Mymentor understood what I was saying. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 6. | Myprotege/mentee understood what I was saying. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 7. | Iexperienced learning and growth during the process. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 8. | Wewere open and honest with each other. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 9. | Wehad meaningful conversations. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 10. | Mymentor offered guidance and knowledge. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 11. | Mymentor could be called a “developer of people.” | 12 3 4 5 |
| 12. | Myprotege/mentee shared concerns and asked good questions. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 13. | Myprotege/mentee enlightened me. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 14. | Thisrelationship will continue beyond the formal process. | 12 3 4 5 |
Benefits and Learnings
| 1. | Asa result of this mentoring relationship: | |
| Ihave grown. | 12 3 4 5 | |
| Ifeel better about my career. | 12 3 4 5 | |
| Ifeel more concerned about my career. | 12 3 4 5 | |
| Ifeel more a part of the organization. | 12 3 4 5 | |
| Ifeel it was worth my time and effort. | 12 3 4 5 | |
| 2. | Therules for success, both unwritten and written, were explored andconsidered. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 3. | Developmentalareas were defined and recommendations made. | 12 3 4 5 |
| 4. | Thisexperience increased my effectiveness. | 12 3 4 5 |
Narrative Questions
What has been the greatest benefit youreceived from this experience?
What were the greatest challenges?
What conversations still need to takeplace?
Please provide specifics about thementoring relationship:
Strengths –
Weaknesses –
Recommendations –
Please provide specifics about theprogram:
Strengths –
Weaknesses –
Recommendations –
Reprinted with permission from”Getting Started WithMentoring,” by Myrna Marofasky & AnnJohnston (ProGroup, 2001).
Dear Workforce How Do Companies Measure The Cost Of Training
QDear Workforce:
Can you provide me with examples of how companies calculate the cost ofinternal training for their employees?
– Calculating cost, HR Coordinator, manufacturing, Hingham, Massachusetts.
A Dear Calculating Cost:
There is some divergence between how companies calculate the cost of internaltraining and how they should calculate it, to get to the true economic costs.Most companies have a pretty good handle on the direct costs incurred by thetraining function, which typically include:
Curriculum design and development costs.
Program materials and supplies.
Compensation (including benefits) of program deliverers.
Travel expenses for the deliverer and other staff.
Administrative costs (such as the costs of registering participants andcoordinating logistics).
Facilities (room charges, audio-visual equipment, etc.).
Incidental costs.
However, if one wants to measure the true economic cost of training (ifneeded for a credible ROI analysis, for example), one must also include theindirect costs. This means looking beyond the training department’s cost centerand including costs incurred by the other functions within the organization. Thecosts typically borne by the participant’s department include:
Cost of taking the participants off the job.
Cost of participants’ time spent on pre- and post-program activities.
Cost of participants’ managers’ time spent on pre- and post-programactivities.
Travel costs.
Finally, one should consider costs incurred by other functions in the designand delivery of the training program, such as the value of subject-matterexperts’ time spent assisting with design or delivery.
While it may seem like a daunting task to capture all of these costs,remember that it is rarely possible to capture all costs with 100% precision.One should instead strive for reasonable estimates of the costs that are moredifficult to measure.
SOURCE: Donna Neumann, CPA/MBA, senior consultant, Organizational SolutionsGroup, Personnel Decisions InternationalCorp., New York, New York, July 26,2001.
LEARN MORE: See “How an Industrial ManufacturingCompany Became an E-Trainer“
The information contained in thisarticle is intended to provide useful information on the topic covered, butshould not be construed as legal advice or a legal opinion. Also remember thatstate laws may differ from the federal law.
A Payroll Tax Holiday Would Not Stimulate Hiring
Workforce received this letter to the editor from David Coelho, the director of administration and finance for a non-profit organization in Boston, Massachusetts..
Regarding your article on a “payroll tax holiday” to help end the recession: Much of what you wrote is interesting, from a fairness and equity standpoint. However, I find the “tax holiday” as an employment incentive a little baffling.
I cannot see where a payroll tax holiday would generate significant incentives to employers to add employees to their payroll. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), less than .2 of 1 percent (33 thousand of over 17 million) of the businesses in America employ more than 100 employees. The average annual salary in the United States is currently just under $26,000.
Using these figures, in order to generate enough savings from a one month Social Security tax moratorium, only companies with more than 204 employees would be able to hire a single individual for a year, and then only at an average salary in the company, with Social Security and Medicare taxes. This would not take into account any other benefits (health, retirement, and other basic benefits). Plus, the one-month savings in Social Security taxes needs to be made up to keep an already critical Social Security system from sliding further toward insolvency. The total savings for all workers/wage earners/employers exceeds $35 billion (probably a conservative figure) and the treasury would have to fill that gap.
The formula would generate additional jobs at these rates.
500 employees = 2.46 full-time employees;
1000 employees = 4.9 full-time employees;
5000 employees = 24 full-time employees;
10000 employees = 49 full-time employees, and so on.
If, on average, those 33,000 businesses employed 205 workers, a one-month holiday would generate enough money to employ less than an additional 33,400 employees for a year. While 33,000 new jobs would mean something, especially to those new employees, it is a one shot deal; it is dwarfed by current U.S. non-farm employment, estimated at over 130 million; and, the fact is that in December 2001 alone, payrolls decreased by 124,000 employees, and there are 2.6 million more unemployed as of December 2001 than in December 2000. The more likely scenario would be that companies would take any savings and at best keep a few people from becoming unemployed, and more likely plug holes in their insurance, energy, and utility budgets.
Would a payroll holiday help ease the recession? It would ease some people’s pain and belt tightening, and it would be the most equitable tax cut offered today, and it may even delay layoffs. However, the only real force that grows the economy is investment, and a payroll tax holiday for a month will not foster a long-term fix to minimize this recession or other future downturns.
A better choice would be to revamp the Social Security tax code, lower the rate, and apply it to all income levels, not just those under the current level of approximately $85,000. By reducing the rate and amount of tax on employees, and including all income levels, individuals would have an increase in their take-home pay over a sustained time. At that point, other incentives to save via traditional bank or investment options could be employed. The code could be changed to so that employers’ total Social-Security-tax liability is maintained at current levels, a fact that would almost be automatic as a lower rate is applied to all employees.
Would lower income workers save these funds versus spend them? Hard to say. Increases in energy, food, and health insurance costs hit lower income workers harder. The immediate impact of the recent tax cuts (up to $300 for an individual, and $600 for a two wage earning household — most did not receive the maximums) seemed to be that it reduced overall debt load, or was spent on a one-time expense. Some saved it, bought mutual funds, or bought a CD. Others donated it to a charity, the various 9/11 funds, or local social service organizations.
The key here is that most people do not understand the value of investment, and the time value of money. HR departments and 401(k) investment houses need to make it easy for employees to understand the mechanism, and the value of compounding. In addition, Congress and the financial industry need to make it easier to invest and to gain access to your money when you need it.
I enjoy reading your articles, as my experience in HR has mostly been a “seat of the pants” thing, and HR issues have become a significant part of my job. I used your site to research ideas for our employee manual and alternative work schedules. It has been very helpful in creating a very comprehensive HR system for a small organization. However, on this particular part of this tax holiday issue, I think the actual outcomes wouldn’t pass muster, plus the cost to the treasury would be in excess of $35 billion. That is a big number, and the $35 billion could be better applied to the unemployed for health care costs, to business loans and grants, to student loans and grants, and other areas where the investment of funds generates far greater returns.
Compensation to The ADEA
| 61 | TheEvolution of Compensation |
Until the early 1980s, compensation wasn’t linked in any way to performance. It was a paternalistic process that had little to do with business strategy, says Michael Thompson, national director of reward consulting for the Hay Group. Base salaries were standard, few workers received incentives for performance, and pay was based largely on economy and seniority.
In the last two decades, compensation transitioned from an administrative task to a complex balancingact between driving competitive advantage and managing workers’ needs. |
That began to change with the high inflation rates of the 1980s, Thompson says. “Organizations recognized that competitive advantage was not just dictated by access to capital or technology, but by people and talent.”
In the last two decades, compensation transitioned from an administrative task to a complex balancing act between driving competitive advantage and managing workers’ needs. Individual performance plays a larger role in determining compensation, and performance reviews are now a key component of benchmarking the value of workers.
But individual performance isn’t the only factor that determines worth in today’s workplace, Thompson says. To get a true measure of value, managers also evaluate the impact of a worker’s performance on the overall success of the company. The kind of performance that matters the most determines which jobs receive the greatest compensation. “That’s what defines the value of a worker,” he says.
| 62 | WorkplacePrivacy |
At one time, HR grappled with privacy issues in the form of locked desks and locker searches. Now, privacy issues are high-tech. Given the rising threat of terrorism, the theft of intellectual property, and workplace fraud, many organizations are desperately searching for ways to combat criminal risks. With growing frequency, they’re turning to sophisticated surveillance techniques that allow the employer to monitor workers via video, computer keystrokes, Web page visits, and physical movements within a building.
Despite an outcry from privacy advocates, courts have consistently upheld the right of employers to monitor workers.
For HR, maintaining security while avoiding an Orwellian workplace is no simple task. “Personal information collected legally through e-mail and surveillance allows a boss or someone else to further their agenda,” observes Simson Garfinkel, author of Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in the 21stCentury.
Personal information collected in the workplace, such as Social Security numbers and home phone numbers, is finding its way into the outside world. Conversely, information from the outside, such as medical records and genetic data, is filtering into the workplace, creating new privacy risks. Organizations are searching for new ways of dealing with legitimate security risks while protecting private information.
| 63 | TheTest |
For everything that HR wants to know, there’s a test: Personality. Honesty. Interests. Skills.
During the industrial revolution, testing was more about fitting people into processes already established. Now, tests are used to figure out things like how a person can contribute to a business, and whether a person fits into a company’s culture.
“Employers are now using tests to develop individual plans for maximizing employee satisfaction, increasing retention, and helping in the organization’s strategic objectives,” says Charlie Wonderlic, whose grandfather, Al Wonderlic, was testing for cognitive ability in 1937.
Résumés and interviews weed out definitely unqualified job candidates, but tests are thought to provide much more information. Many tests, however, weren’t developed for job performance in the first place. “There has been a proliferation of bad tests,” says Dr. Wendell Williams, an industrial psychologist with ScientificSelection.com, which develops selection tools.
Williams says research shows that the best way to predict an employee’s potential is by measuring intelligence, particularly as it relates to solving problems similar to those that could occur in a business. This can be done, of course, with a test.
| 64 | AbrahamMaslow |
Abraham Maslow did most of his important research in humanistic psychology in the 1950s, while chair of the psychology department at Brandeis University. It was there that he created his “hierarchy of needs,” determining that low-level needs must be satisfied before higher-level needs can be met. Maslow looked beyond the basics-air, water, food-and added five others in this order: physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self-actualization.
The last level in his hierarchy-self-actualization-pertains to how a person fulfills her potential. It was a sign of the times; his work came into vogue during the 1960s, when people were looking for more meaning and purpose in their lives.
Not everyone buys the hierarchy as a workplace motivator. John Boudreau, a professor of HR at Cornell University, cites the starving-artist syndrome, in which “a person would rather pursue their art than eat.”
| 65 | Globalization |
Virtually everything that human resources managers do is done differently in a global environment. “HR has to take into account currency differentials and cultural differences that affect how you pay and the way people are paid, according to their class,” says John Boudreau, a professor of HR at Cornell University.
Until 1970, globalization meant direct foreign investment going from the United States to other parts of the world, and American employees being sent to work overseas. After the 1980s, the concept changed to include foreign investment coming into the United States from Europe and Japan, and foreign companies building facilities on American soil.
The result is that many large multinational companies find that their organizational setup works well for operations in the United States, but not in other countries. “Many HR functions, like recruitment, selection, and training, are also optimized for U.S. operation,” says Peter Dowling, a fellow at the center and co-author of International Human ResourceManagement. “And HR finds it difficult to change because its experience base is domestic.” Whether the task is finding managers who can staff international offices, or training employees to work in other countries, change is slow. Typically, major changes don’t occur in HR until 60 percent of a company’s revenue is foreign.
| 66 | IBMand the Birth of Corporate Culture |
In the 1930s and 1940s, few companies paid serious attention to corporate culture. The exception was Thomas Watson, founder of IBM.
According to his son, Thomas Watson Jr., author of the best-seller Father, Son & Co. (Bantam Books, 1990), employees at IBM in the 1930s earned well-above-average salaries, worked in clean shops, attended free company-sponsored concerts, and were invited to night courses to learn how to get promoted.
Early IBMers also adhered to a strict dress code while working alongside the now famous “Think” sign. Watson’s message? That employees would advance faster if they used their heads.
The results of Watson’s culture-building were impressive: IBM dominated the market in the ’30s and ’40s, successfully expanded its monopoly overseas, and managed to avoid unionization.
| 67 | HigherEducation for All |
Following World War II, the GI Bill greatly expanded the concept of higher education and the nature of work. Although a pension plan had been established for veterans after the Civil War, it was largely gutted after World War I. The broken promise ignited a march on Washington during the Depression by angry vets demanding recompense. They were attacked by federal troops. The debacle was so traumatic for the country that Congress vowed to treat veterans more generously. Thus was born the GI Bill, legislation making it possible for millions to pursue higher education. About 7.8 million World War II veterans received benefits, and 2.2 million of those used the bill for higher education. By 1947, half of all college students were veterans.
Colleges, in turn, received years of financial security. Grants became more prevalent, and student bodies exploded. “Practical” degree programs in fields such as business were established. Veterans of all backgrounds, ages, and religions poured into community and state colleges, changing the complexion of higher education and, consequently, the nature and needs of the workplace.
| 68 | A.Philip Randolph |
In 1925, labor leader A. Philip Randolph organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the first black union in American history. “The group fought the Pullman Company for 12 years, but they finally won recognition,” says Norm Hill, president of the A. Philip Randolph Institute. As a result of the organization’s success, Randolph became a visible spokesperson for African-American rights in the 1940s and 1950s. He focused on making sure that blacks weren’t discriminated against in government jobs. He also influenced the formation of the Fair Employment Practices Committee and was instrumental in the enactment of an executive order barring discrimination in the military.
In 1963, he led a march on Washington, D.C., for jobs and freedom, an event that rallied 250,000 people. Following the peaceful demonstration, Randolph, Martin Luther King Jr., and other black leaders met with President Kennedy, and within a year, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was enacted.
“In many ways he was the father of the modern civil rights movement,” Hill says. “Andas the workforce is increasingly populated by minorities and women, Randolph’s work with the brotherhood should serve as a model for the low-wage worker.”
| 69 | Outplacement |
Employers haven’t always invested time, effort, and money in helping people they’ve laid off. Three decades ago, it was a novel idea to put aside resources for job counseling and placement to assist employees who had lost their jobs.
It was a way of thinking about employees with more compassion, and one that began to evolve at a time of increasing layoffs, which were associated with waves of mergers and acquisitions, says John Challenger, CEO of the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., in Chicago. Many people were losing their jobs through no fault of their own, and all parties involved had a vested interest in creating a system that helped deal with it. HR managers felt responsible to employees, and companies wanted to avoid litigation related to layoffs.
Recently, outplacement packages have gotten less generous and have been less effective in helping employees find new work, says Kate Wendleton, CEO of the Five O’Clock Club, a career counseling network based in New York. The firm’s COO, Richard Bayer, says employers today use outplacement services to help maintain the morale and productivity of the existing workforce.
| 70 | IntangibleAssets |
In the 1930s, there was a surplus of labor and a shortage of financial capital. In an effort to better manage this limited resource, companies developed accounting and measurement systems that closely tracked their financial progress.
The growing importance of intangible assets such asemployee knowledge and skill setshas changed the role of HR. |
But over the years, the market has come to recognize that there is more to the valuation of companies than what is reflected in traditional accounting systems. Buyers and analysts are, increasingly, valuing companies at levels much higher than what is seen on the balance sheet. “We are entering a new era in which intangibles such as intellectual capital matter to stock price,” says HR professor John Boudreau of Cornell University.
The growing importance of intangible assets such as employee knowledge and skill sets has changed the role of HR. The good news is that HR activities have risen in stature. The bad news is that HR is being charged with the daunting task of determining how to measure and manage something so intangible.
“But the real challenge is not one of measurement,” Boudreau says. “It’s that we don’t have a logical point of view about how talent drives organizational success.” It will be up to HR professionals to create this new system of accountability.
| 71 | Womenin the Workplace |
Of all the pivotal events affecting human resources in the 20th century, none had a more dramatic impact than the legions of American women who entered the job market. In the 1920s, about 20 percent of the nation’s women held jobs; by the end of the century, the number had tripled to 60 percent. (In 1995, 8 out of 10 women between the ages of 20 and 44 were employed.)
Born of the industrial revolution of the 19th century, the women’s movement of the 1960s was a major catalyst for political, social, and educational equality. From the beginning, feminists fought for issues directly affecting HR-ranging from access to employment, education, child care, contraception, and abortion, to equality in the workplace, changing family roles, the need for equal political representation, and redress for sexual harassment in the workplace.
In the second half of the 20th century, several key events thrust American women into a world of unimagined economic independence. The Food and Drug Administration approved the use of birth control pills (1960). The Equal Pay Act (1963) made it illegal for employers to pay a woman less than a man for the same job. President Lyndon Johnson’s expansion of affirmative-action policies ensured that women and minorities would have the same employment opportunities as white men (1967). Title IX of the Education Amendments led to a large increase in the number of women in athletic programs and professional schools (1972). The Pregnancy Discrimination Act ensured that a pregnant woman can’t be fired or denied a job or promotion because she is or might become pregnant.
Despite extraordinary gains, the National Partnership for Women and Families reports that women are heads of most poor families and are still clustered in low-paying, traditionally female occupations.
| 72 | EmployeeAssistance Programs |
These programs, now an expected benefit at most large companies, evolved out of alcoholism intervention in the workplace by fellow employees, unions, and/or employers in the mid-20th century, says Margaret Altmix, president of the Chicago-based accrediting group Employee Assistance Society of North America. They also were a natural outgrowth of the occupational health movement in the 1960s.
Employers began to recognize that their workers had the same problems that were reflected in the larger community, says Gregory P. DeLapp, immediate past president of the Employee Assistance Professionals Association Inc. in Arlington, Virginia. Companies were losing employees, and with them the resources that had been invested in them, because of illnesses and personal problems that were treatable with counseling.
Eventually, EAPs evolved to encompass many issues that affect the well-being of employees and their ability to perform at work — ranging from divorce to post-traumatic stress syndrome. What began as an employee-recovery social movement has evolved into part of the basic fabric of today’s workplace, DeLapp says. The catastrophic events of September 11, and the acute needs of the people affected, demonstrate the value of EAPs, he adds.
| 73 | TheNational Labor Relations Act |
The HR community has been directly affected by the two dominant statutes governing labor-management relations: the National Labor Relations Act and the Labor Management Relations Act. These statutes created the National Labor Relations Board, a federal agency that has two roles. The board receives, investigates, and resolves unfair labor practice complaints against unions and employers. Unfair labor practices include employer or union interference with employee rights to engage or refrain from engaging in concerted activities; employer or union refusals to bargain in good faith; and discrimination in employment. Certain union picketing activities, such as secondary boycotts, are also banned.
The agency also oversees representation elections. There, employees and unions can request that the board conduct a secret-ballot election to vote on whether employees wish to have union representation.
| 74 | ASecure Old Age |
Despite the reality that Generation Xers tend to be cynical about Social Security, it continues to be one of the most popular U.S. government programs ever created. It began as a way of caring for the elderly, and as a way of opening up jobs for younger workers.
Over the years, there have been attempts at supplementing Social Security with employer pension plans, in which a company would invest money for an employee based on tenure. The popularity of such plans, though they still are used in many companies, is starting to fade as jobs have become more portable.
More recently, plans such as 401(k)s have helped employees with retirement. Many people, however, don’t fully understand the concept, and don’t participate, or cash in too early to fully benefit.
Steve Sass, author of the book The Promise of Private Pensions (Harvard University Press, 1997), says Social Security has made a huge difference in workers’ lives. “Old people are no longer poor, and once they were.”
| 75 | TheAmericans with Disabilities Act |
For the past eight decades, HR professionals have been expected to be keen students of changing laws, savvy interpreters of new employment and discrimination legislation, and authoritative spokesmen for the rights of both employer and employee.
The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, for example, was a child of an earlier federal law, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which had been limited to federal contractors and entities that were receiving federal financial assistance. The ADA prohibits employment discrimination against qualified individuals with disabilities in the private sector, and in state and local governments. The EEOC was given enforcement power over the federal act.
The next year brought the Civil Rights Act of 1991. Among other things, it provides monetary damages in cases of intentional employment discrimination and was a key piece of legislation with direct impact on the workplace. Following a congressional vote to overturn a series of conservative Supreme Court decisions related to workplace discrimination, Congress went further, providing that, as with the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, jury trials would be available in ADA cases. For the first time, compensatory and punitive damages could be awarded.
| 76 | FrederickWinslow Taylor |
Frederick Winslow Taylor’s theory of scientific management made him extremely unpopular with workers in the 1890s, says Robert Kanigel, MIT professor of science writing and author of The One Best Way: Frederick Winslow Taylor and the Enigma ofEfficiency. Taylor’s theory says that production efficiency can be greatly enhanced by closely watching individual workers in order to find and eliminate the wasted time and motion in the operation.
Taylor’s influence onimproving cost-effectiveness in mass production can’t be dismissed. |
With precise observation, management could identify the “one best way” to do a job, determine the correct productivity level, and set a pay rate based on that level, Kanigel says. Those who did not make that level would earn less money.
Though the system provoked resentment, Taylor’s influence on improving cost-effectiveness in mass production can’t be dismissed, Kanigel says. “We live in a world where common daily products are dirt cheap, and part of that derives from efficient production. When we condemn his excesses, it’s important to remember we owe him some of our material prosperity.”
Kanigel says Taylor’s theory is bad management practice: “People don’t like to be told in elaborate detail how to do their jobs.”
| 77 | TitleVII of the Civil Rights Act |
This sweeping legislation created job protections and opportunities that have served as the foundation of HR employment practices for nearly four decades. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 principally addressed race discrimination, sex bias, and also discrimination based on color, national origin, and religion. The law created an administrative charge-processing system that gave a complaining employee or applicant the right to file a suit in federal court.
At first, most of the significant litigation involved class actions to dismantle race-based seniority systems and restrictions against blacks in blue-collar industries. Then, in 1972, Title VII was amended to give the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission its own enforcement authority. This meant that the EEOC, along with its investigation and conciliation of charges of discrimination, could file its own lawsuits.
Along with its increased enforcement authority, bureaucratic headaches surfaced for the EEOC. The agency itself became mired in an increased backlog of charges of discrimination that never seemed to be investigated. Over the next 20 years, the EEOC increased its professionalism and reduced its backlog.
| 78 | HamburgerUniversity |
It started 40 years ago in an Illinois basement, with about 10 students in a management-training class. Today, 200 pupils attend classes at Hamburger University, and more than 65,000 managers are graduates.
“McDonald’s was really on the leading edge of what was taking place 40 years ago,” says Pat Burke, a vice president for Drake Beam Morin and a training expert. “Then, a number of other organizations started paying attention.”
The global giant was one of the first to consider different ways of educating employees. Over the years, its menu has changed, and so has its training. Courses are now available in 22 languages. To accommodate a growing range of cultures and languages, the corporation is using more animation and graphics and less text in its training materials. McDonald’s has 10 training centers worldwide, including facilities in England, Japan, Germany, and Australia.
There’s now a digital component to the university: e-training that students can access on the Web.
| 79 | HRFads |
The history of HR is laced with management initiatives that promised to solve some vexing business issue. In the 1970s, transactional analysis was the rage. In the 1980s, the one-minute manager and quality circles held sway. And in the 1990s, TQM, self-directed teams, re-engineering, empowerment, and emotional intelligence all had their 15 minutes of fame.
Although these efforts are well-intentioned, and many have successfully transformed companies, the endless cycle of management programs has created legions of workplace skeptics who regard the latest directive from management as nothing but a flavor of the month.
“A lot of so-called HR fads have been influential,” says HR professor John Boudreau of Cornell University. But problems arise when HR professionals begin to chase fads simply because other companies do. “If HR continues to look externally for answers, it will continue to be regarded as a profession that can’t think independently and account for its impact.”
Sure, it’s hard work not to follow the herd, especially when conferences, magazines, and HR leaders join together in support of a particular profit-building initiative. But for HR to become strategic, that’s exactly what must happen.
| 80 | TheAge Discrimination in Employment Act |
The law was enacted in 1968 to protect employees 40 and older. Very little litigation developed under the ADEA until the late 1970s, when corporations started restructuring and reducing their over-40 workforces. Plaintiff lawyers also discovered that age-discrimination lawsuits had some punch because jury trials were available, and juries were sympathetic toward older workers who were fired.Gradually, the upper age limitation on the ADEA was shifted from 65 to 70, and then entirely removed. Enforcement authority transferred from the Department of Labor to the EEOC.
Employers, sensitive to the risks of age-discrimination lawsuits and the threat of whopping jury verdicts, developed counter tactics. For a little extra severance pay, terminated employees were asked to sign general releases agreeing not to sue. Congress then adopted legislation regulating the “when” and “how” of releases.
Workforce, January 2002, pp. 48-56 — SubscribeNow!