Benefit Management Group
HR in Lotusland
VANCOUVER, B.C.-Starting a new job is like crossing the Capilano Suspension Bridge. At first, it seems scary. After all, the 111-year-old bridge is 450 feet long and hangs 230 feet above a deep canyon. Whitewater rushes over rocks far below. And even though it sways and creaks, who could resist the lush view of giant plants and towering red cedars-10 minutes from downtown Vancouver? Besides, the bridge is very, very strong.
Similarly, Catherine Deslauriers is crossing a human canyon. As the city’s staff and organization development coordinator, she treads lightly in the HR position she’s held since January. One could say she’s often suspended between various parties. Learning about a new corporate culture–and training management–are her biggest challenges. “It’s all about building relationships,” says Deslauriers. “I can’t just come in and tell people what to do.” But once assimilated into the municipal culture, she hopes to leave her mark on one of Canada’s most beautiful and green cities. With measured steps, she’s inhaling the breathtaking view.
There are jagged mountain peaks. Sandy beaches. English Bay. The Haida and Tlingit cultures and a multiethnic population of 543,000 locals to seduce both residents and tourists alike. But from an HR standpoint, Deslauriers and Kim Froats, manager of health and safety, can’t walk down a street without first noticing the city’s employees-the parking-meter trainee writing up her first ticket, construction workers operating cranes in the distance, and bus drivers hauling passengers up and down Cambie Road. They are among the 8,500 public employees of Vancouver, a city of 23 distinct communities.
HR’s current focus is an ambitious leadership training program intended to make managers more accountable for the quality of city services and ultimately increase customer, or in this case citizen, satisfaction. It’s an approach that starts at the top with management leadership and accountability and works its way down to those who provide services directly. Understandably, how HR rolls out the curriculum is a sensitive matter. After spending a day shadowing Deslauriers, I could see why.
Improvements in running city government will also require increased employee recognition and public involvement. “That’s why I love HR,” says Deslauriers. “Human behavior is unpredictable, and you always have to think of new ways to solve people problems.” Moreover, when you work for a municipality, your product-human services-is always on public display.
We begin our day with a visitor’s orientation at 8:30 a.m. in City Hall, second floor, overlooking 12th Avenue.
Respect the history and corporate culture first
I first ask Deslauriers to explain the state of training upon her arrival. The city, she says, has provided ongoing training in a number of areas, including leadership and change management. But even though individual training sessions have been of good quality and the participant feedback has been positive, training hasn’t been strategic-that is, planned and well integrated across all business units. “Each business unit has its own culture,” she says. “How fire and rescue workers think and operate is quite different from those in engineering and public works.”
The new training initiatives, she says, will be delivered through a series of modules that will outline corporate values and expectations for approximately 300 exempt managers and another 400 within 12 bargaining units. The training will provide skill development opportunities, review city policy, procedure, guidelines, and practices, and support managers with tools that can be used in the workplace.
“Our anticipated training outcome is a corporate culture whereby managers will have a common understanding of the expectations of their roles and the necessary skills to be effective,” she says.
The city is looking at a three-year plan. In addition to the actual training curriculum, Deslauriers is mindful of other complexities. “We have a relatively new city manager and corporate management team,” she says. And Mike Zora, general manager of HR, has been with the city of Vancouver for two years. She credits him with urging her to apply for the staff and organization development position. As she eases into her new job, Deslauriers is well seasoned by the cumulative knowledge and skills acquired as an HR generalist since 1979. “I’ve done recruiting, training, labor relations, occupational health and safety-and a little bit of compensation.”
When asked how she entered the HR field, she laughs: “I got the idea from my old boyfriend’s mother.” The two were sitting one day having a chat. Deslauriers told the woman that she was thinking of becoming a schoolteacher. When her boyfriend’s mother observed that Deslauriers could be successful in human resources, the latter replied, “Human resources? What’s that?” Afterward, the young Deslauriers, a native of England, said, “Yeah, it sounds like something I might be interested in.” She subsequently transferred from a university to the British Columbia Institute of Technology, completing a two-year program specializing in human resources.
“I got my degree on a Friday, and I had my first job on Monday at Vancouver General Hospital.” Later, she worked for the British Columbia Cancer Agency, and more recently, the city of Langley, British Columbia.
Although she favors the softer training functions of HR, she also pays attention to the city’s $25 million investment in SAP Canada, an integrated software product using client/server technology. “It’s part of my HR mandate.”
Searching for an enterprise-wide technology solution
Our first meeting of the day is with Jim Hendersen, a temporary consultant coordinating the SAP training project. In October 1997, a project team of city staff and consultants from Ernst & Young and SAP began implementing the client/server technology at the city of Vancouver. The city chose to implement the modules that would help it manage financial accounting, project costing, purchasing and inventory, human resources, and payroll processes.
There are approximately 850 system users across the organization involved in all the modules. The city has been using the financial collective agreement obligations and the inability of legacy systems to deal with Y2K issues as part of the criteria for identifying a process as mission-critical or not.
In addition, the HR/payroll team spent nearly a year defining the city’s requirements and turning its 12 collective bargaining agreements into “rules” that the system will use to calculate employees’ pay. “Basically, the SAP training is an enterprise-wide computer system,” says Deslauriers. “It requires a great deal of training and relearning in the organization, and it has to be configured to meet the needs of our city.”
In the meeting with Hendersen, Deslauriers asks a lot of questions, seeking information about how HR will continue SAP training after his contract expires. During another meeting in the afternoon, Deslauriers learns that Hendersen may be interested in ongoing work. She takes her cue from a senior manager, again keeping her intuitive judgment turned on high volume.
Employee recognition and public involvement
After a leisurely lunch at a local Italian eatery, Deslauriers walks back to City Hall for three more meetings. The first one is with an employee-recognition vendor. He admires the city’s seal and offers to draw a mock-up of a pin that would recognize employee achievements. With semiprecious stones to boot.
Deslauriers is enthusiastic but cautious. The city recently eliminated some forms of flexible work schedules. Morale has been low. Would the pins be perceived as pacifiers, she wonders? Timing is everything. The meeting is short and cordial. But she eventually takes him up on his offer to draw up some tentative ideas.
Her next meeting is of a more serious nature. Her HR predecessor, she says, told the City Council that HR would do several things to improve public involvement. Deslauriers is a bit worried because she found out about it only recently. “Things are popping out of the woodwork as we go along,” she says with a plucky grin. “Obviously, if we told Council we’d do such and such, we’d better have done it or explain why it hasn’t been done.”
Among some of the commitments:
- Create a multicultural outreach and translation strategy.
- Improve public involvement skills.
- Improve community contact.
- Create better civic awareness and understanding of how the city works.
And if there’s any city that takes public involvement seriously, it’s Vancouver. For example, in the fall of 1992, the City Council asked citizens for ideas about the future. Over the following three years, more than 20,000 people participated in developing “CityPlan” as a shared vision for their city’s future. Its highlights include neighborhood centers, new housing downtown, a healthy job mix in the city, community services delivered locally, greenways to walk and bike across the city, and moving people-not cars-to ease congestion and improve the environment.
Clearly, change in Vancouver is occurring everywhere, and on all levels. Citizen activism will continue to compel the city’s employees to provide quality human services. For human resources, it means proceeding with change management on the higher levels of municipal government. Granted, there will be lots of questions and some resistance. Deslauriers experienced this at a previous meeting at which she presented a proposal for management accountability. As senior managers spoke up and raised questions, she quickly realized that she needed to seek further consultation.
A meeting with Jacqui Forbes-Roberts, general manager of community services, bore fruitful advice: be careful how the initiative is titled, positioned, and rolled out. Not every manager needs retraining. In some cases, the training should be voluntary. For others, it is strongly recommended.
Deslauriers leaves the office reassured. Checking in with key senior managers keeps her well informed, especially in learning more about past practices. Change is difficult. “I have to be very careful.” But even though obstacles may appear along her path, she can’t resist the lush vision of Vancouver as an improved “village at the end of the rain forest.” Besides, Deslauriers’s determination is like the Capilano Suspension Bridge: very, very strong.
Organization: City of Vancouver Responsibility: Staff and organizational development coordination Headquarters: Vancouver, British Columbia Employees: Approximately 8,500 HR Staff: Approximately 45, including HR support staff HR Challenges:
You should know: “The City of Vancouver is one of the most beautiful and liveable cities in the world,” says Deslauriers. |
Kodak Snapshots
Thursday, May 11, 2000. 9:50 a.m.
Think film, and the first thought that comes to mind is Kodak and their ubiquitous yellow film boxes. It’s been 100 years since George Eastman introduced the Brownie camera to the American public, and since then the company has dominated the consumer picture-taking market. In the last century, Eastman Kodak has branched out, developing strong professional and industrial markets for its imaging products, which now include everything from X-rays and microfilm to satellite photography and large-format film for the motion-picture industry. But it is those 4 x 5 snapshots taken by ordinary people to record important family events from birthdays and anniversaries to graduations and the first prom dress that remain the core of Kodak’s thriving $14 billion business.
Last year Eastman Kodak, based in Rochester, New York, sold close to three billion rolls of film, representing about 80 billion exposures, and almost 100 million more rolls of film in the United States alone than the year before. Innovation has always driven this company, founded in 1880, and Kodak saw sales of its new easy-to-use Max film grow by 40 percent last year and its flexible Advantix Photo System gain momentum.
As we move forward into the digital age, Kodak is uniquely poised to further expand its ownership of the imaging industry by helping consumers and commercial customers alike take advantage of computerized formats for displaying pictures. The company’s strong technical and engineering skills can provide the continued invention and follow-through that the fast-paced world of the Internet demands.
Key to Kodak’s continued profitable performance as its traditional businesses grow and its new e-commerce sectors evolve is its worldwide operation. Five years ago, Kodak turned its attention to its offshore operations and began an integration process in an effort to globalize its business practices on a market basis rather than a geographic basis.
That’s where Marty Britt comes in. As director of Worldwide Human Resources for Kodak’s consumer imaging division, Britt, 41, is in charge of managing a worldwide strategy for attracting and retaining top talent here and abroad. Working under her are the HR directors of Kodak’s five geographic regions and four office staff, in a department that is a shared resource for the company’s 89,650 employees, 43,000 of whom are in the United States.
Until 1995, its European, South American, and Pacific Rim business units operated as independent entities. The corporate office had trouble coming up with numbers as basic as how many people work for the company worldwide, especially when they were asked to break down numbers into categories such as full- and part-time, race, and gender, Britt explains.
Today Kodak is putting an emphasis on consistency and continuity to make sure that everyone is working toward the same goals, Britt says. At the same time, the company is moving from a culture of producing what it could invent to inventing products that consumers are demanding.
Like many others at Kodak, Britt grew up in Rochester and is the second generation in her family to work there. However, she never expected to follow in her father’s footsteps when she graduated from Cornell with a master’s degree in industrial and human relations. After a short stint in Florida, her hometown beckoned, though, and she took an entry-level human resources position at Kodak in 1985. Since then, she has worked her way up through the ranks, proving to be an intense, high-energy strategist who can make you laugh while giving you serious, on-target advice.
When I catch up with Britt on this gorgeous spring morning, she is already three hours into her workday. Surrounding her is a bevy of stuffed animals, photos of her dogs, and a vase of congratulatory fresh flowers, a reminder that she is only four weeks into her current position. In her last job, she served as director of corporate human resources.
On her agenda this morning is a meeting with senior managers in the research and development division to discuss an attrition problem. “We’ve lost three key people to other Kodak divisions, so what we’re concerned with here is trying to figure out if they left for another great opportunity or whether they just wanted to get away from something we need to fix,” she says.
At the meeting are Jack Wylam, senior human resources manager for the research and development division; Jim Patton, the chief technology officer; and Patton’s boss, Bill Atkinson, the director of output system development. Patton lays out the problem, quickly pointing out that the three women who left went to Kodak’s fast-growing Internet division, Kodak.com. “The question I have is whether we have created our own chaos here. Have we created a company but then failed to give them the tools to find their own talent other than stealing them from other divisions?” he asks.
Britt immediately jumps in and suggests that an analysis of career paths and the division’s own talent pool is in order. “I view this problem as a potentially positive move. What kind of talent do we have to backfill these positions? What are we doing to bring in new talent?”
Wylam agrees that managers at all levels need to realize that old-line companies such as Kodak can no longer expect to control their workers’ employment tracks. “It used to be that workers waited for their managers to hand out the promotions,” he says. “Now we are seeing employees take charge of their careers, find their own opportunities.”
Britt reinforces Wylam’s point, noting that Kodak always attracted top talent right out of college because Rochester was a great place to develop a career and raise a family. “What distinguished Kodak as a place to work was that people came here because they knew they could have a great career without moving.”
But since Kodak was forced to disrupt its own history of lifetime employment in the early 1990s with workforce cutbacks, the concept of loyalty has fallen out of the employment lexicon, Britt says.
Today, few Kodak workers are under 30, and many are nearing retirement. Nonetheless, Kodak has retained its reputation as an innovator and inventor.
Given the worldwide demand for talent, human resources managers have had to replace the old laid-back recruitment system by going on the offensive and making sure Kodak is the kind of place that astute, qualified workers will choose. “That means addressing everything from work schedules and dress codes to the basic element of respect for employees,” Britt notes, adding that Kodak currently has 600 to 700 open jobs in the U.S. alone.
10:35 a.m.
The issue of respect for employees comes up again when Britt meets one-on-one with Cindy High, her manager of human resources for worldwide information systems. Britt serves as High’s mentor, checking in with her from time to time and guiding her as she works with this key sector of Kodak’s workforce.
High knows she is in a war for talent and is working on a project to diversify her workforce. At Kodak, thanks largely to Britt’s personal vision, diversity goes far beyond racial and gender profiles.
“Diversity is recognizing each one of us as an individual and drawing on these unique talents and skills,” Britt says. “We have to find out what makes each employee unique because unless we do, we won’t get the value of their individual talents and experience.”
Diversity is important when it comes to inventing products, Britt notes, because of the cause-and-effect relationship between what is produced and what is purchased. “Women make up 70 percent of all consumer imaging purchases, which suggests that we need to make sure women are well represented around the table here when we are brainstorming those products,” she says.
Britt suggests that High involve Kodak’s own workforce in her executive-level recruitment efforts. She also recommends that High meet with the African American Leadership Team, Kodak Leaders Who Are Women, and the Hispanic Leadership Team and ask for their help in finding more talent among their own contacts. “This is the kind of outreach that makes everyone feel involved.”
She also encourages High to publicize her successes. “Don’t underestimate the value of telling stories, what exactly you are doing to attract top talent,” Britt says, pointing out that a manager in a key position in Singapore was offered special travel and vacation allowances so she could spend time with her husband and child. “The stories are what people remember.”
Britt excuses herself for a private meeting, sending me off to lunch with Greg Giles, her senior human resource manager for consumer imaging.
1:00 p.m.
Salad in hand, Britt is back in her office to meet with Paula Dolan, the company’s director of worldwide compensation. Dolan has come by because she needs something from Britt, specifically her comments on a new stock ownership plan being offered as performance-based compensation for exempt, non-management employees.
Britt notes that this type of bonus system is relatively new at Kodak and is part of an effort to align Kodak with high-flying “Silicon Valley dot-coms.” Although Britt protests that her recommendations are not as complete as she would like, given her newness in the job, Dolan is delighted with her effort, pointing out that several veterans haven’t yet gotten the hang of this reward program.
2:00 p.m.
After taking a few minutes to listen to her voice mails that have accumulated during the morning, Britt is off to a roundtable discussion with eight members of her human resource staff. They have signed up to talk about their jobs and to hear about company initiatives. Because Britt is new in the position, the man whom she replaced, Bob Berman, joins her as a co-facilitator. Berman, now the human resources director for global operations, brings with him that broader perspective. Also present are two members of the human resources education team, two secretaries, and four human resources managers.
Berman begins the session by tackling the prickly topic of employee advocacy on the part of human resource managers. He argues that HR staff can serve as important intermediaries, bringing employee concerns to top management. They also can intercede before a problem becomes a crisis.
The challenge, notes Jody Dietz, a senior educational consultant, is gaining an employee’s trust that his or her concerns will be held in confidence. “We are not lawyers, but we can create a model, for instance, showing that it is just as important to return a call from an employee as a manager,” she says.
Dietz also talks about her visit to a high-tech company, which gave her a new appreciation for what could be done to improve Kodak’s workforce. “I saw a lot of energy and creativity, a place where the word failure is not considered a bad thing.”
Asked about her plans for hiring a new diversity director, Britt replies that she is looking for someone with global experience.
The session ends with brainstorming ways to encourage more members of the human resources team to sign up for the roundtables, among them improving the visibility of HR News, which is published on the company’s intranet.
Organization: Eastman Kodak Company Responsibility: Inventor and manufacturer of photographic imaging products Headquarters: Rochester, New York Employees: 80,650 worldwide (42,300 USA) HR Staff: 9 direct reports HR Challenges:
You should know: Founded during the era of glass-plate photography, Eastman Kodak Co. has been a pioneer in the picture-making business for over 100 years. As the company moves increasingly into the digital age, George Eastman’s slogan coined for the marketing of his original $1 Brownie camera remains relevant:”You push the button, we do the rest.” Kodak is committed to mass-producing its products at low cost, always with a focus on the consumer. |
HR Behind Bars
It’s Thursday morning, March 23, and I’ll be spending the day at the Denver Reception and Diagnostic Center, one of 23 prison facilities managed by the Colorado Department of Corrections. As I back my car out the driveway, I notice tulips and daffodils starting to push their fresh green tips through the hard-crust dirt of my neighbor’s yard. It snowed earlier in the week, but the snow has melted and the sun is now shining with the kind of bright-chrome brilliance Colorado is famous for. It’s the kind of spring day that makes you believe in God, and glad you haven’t committed any felonies. Not that I ordinarily spend time obsessing about breaking the law, but today, I’ll be talking to people whose jobs are to manage the flow of inmates through the state’s prison system. Crime is on my mind.
I’m eager to talk to these people because I can’t imagine a less enticing place to work than a prison, especially on a day like this. Like many Americans who vote, recycle, and go to bed at the same time each night, when I think of prisons I envision beer-bellied Southern guards and tin cups clanging across metal bars. Prison is a place bad people are sent. It’s not the kind of place where you’d willingly spend time.
How does the Department of Corrections keep its prisons staffed in an economy where fast-food workers are making $10 an hour? I’ll spend the next six hours trying to find out. The Denver Reception and Diagnostic Center is a 400-bed maximum-security compound located on treeless, high-desert ground in east Denver. Here, all newly sentenced inmates run through a battery of physical, psychological, and vocational assessments before being assigned to a regular prison to serve their time. Diabetics may be sent to one facility. Schizophrenics may go to another. But the goal of the center is not just to recognize physical needs and mental disorders. It’s also to identify and recommend education and training programs for each offender.
Unlike penitentiaries where prisoners are sent to do penance — to think about what they’ve done wrong — the Colorado system appears to take its goal of corrections very seriously. Inmates may enter the system as twitchy little car thieves in orange jumpsuits, but if the state has its way, upon release they’ll be ready for work in such respectable jobs as check-out clerk, highway worker, or computer technician.
It’s the job of employees at the DRDC, which processes 35 new inmates a day, to determine the best way of correcting these offenders.
Upon arriving at the center, I park facing a two-story metal fence topped with coiled razor wire and enter the glass-and-cinder-block reception office. Behind the counter is a sign alerting visitors that no glass, Corning Ware, tin foil, or metal utensils are allowed. Corning Ware? I wonder what they do with that.
After exchanging my driver’s license for a plastic security badge, a tall, fair-skinned young guard marches me through a metal detector and two locked gates, and deposits me in the prison’s administrative offices to wait for Al Weber, my host for the day. Al is a personnel manager for the Department of Corrections. Although he works from the department’s central office in Colorado Springs, about 90 miles south, he is here today to conduct a “personnel assistance visit.” These visits, which began five years ago when the DOC centralized its personnel function, give Al the opportunity to answer human resources questions and see if any workplace issues need his attention. At this point, I’m assuming prisons are brimming with employment issues.
Al arrives, offering me a broad grin and a firm, warm handshake. He reminds me of the actor Brian Dennehy — granted, a nicer-looking and friendlier version of Brian Dennehy — but he has the same silver hair and firm, barrel-chested presence. I like him immediately. He offers me a tour and I accept eagerly.
Being self-employed, I like to play this little game whenever I visit a new workplace. It’s called, “Could I work here?” If my throat constricts and I begin to visualize employees pacing their cubicles like tawny zoo lions, I win and vow to keep my work situation as is. I’ve been playing this game for 16 years and I still file a Schedule C, which may provide some indication how I feel about most work environments. This one will be no different, I’m sure.
I straighten my jacket, follow Al, and start playing my game.
Colorado inmate statistics
70% of inmates are first-time offenders.
The average sentence length is 5.3 years.
More than 92% of offenders are male; however, Colorado s female prison population has tripled in the last 10 years, from 392 in 1989 to 1,179 last June.
The highest percentage of offenders, male and female,are between 30 and 39 years of age.
Over 24% of inmates are incarcerated because of drug offenses.
First, we meet Dawn Hausner, an eager 20-something with straight brown hair who manages the inmate phone system. Now, I’ve met people who are born actors or born politicians, but this is the first time I can recall meeting someone who is a born inmate-phone-system operator. Dawn swoops up a stack of phone logs and describes to me in great, fluttering detail how many numbers each inmate is allowed, how often they make calls, and how darn crafty they can be. “We catch ’em trying to arrange drug deals while in prison,” she laughs. “You have to watch ’em every minute.” I nod gravely as if this is the kind of thing I know all too well.
We leave Dawn happily arranging forms on her desk and come to Ramona Toomey’s office. Ramona manages a sundry array of personnel duties at the facility. She’s calmer than Dawn, and we have a very adult conversation about the state’s prison system. I learn there are approximately 15,000 incarcerated inmates in Colorado and 5,000 more in community corrections. To manage these offenders, the DOC staffs more than 6,000 employees, two-thirds of whom are “blue suits.”
“Are these the guards?” I ask hopefully, looking for a way to segue into a discussion about the dank interior of prison life.
“We never use that term,” Ramona admonishes. “We call them ‘correctional officers.’ We’re working hard to overcome the stereotype of the brutal prison guard made famous by Hollywood.”
In addition to the guards — or officers — the DOC staffs people in more than 200 occupations, including chefs, electricians, doctors, dentists, nurses, clerical workers, psychologists, and laundry personnel. “It’s like staffing a small city,” Al explains.
I find this all very interesting, but because I’m playing the could-I-work-here game I urge Ramona to tell me what it’s really like to work in a prison. I want to hear about grit and fear and evil.
“I like it,” she says simply. “I’ve been given a lot of opportunity. Most people associate prisons with what they see on TV, but it’s not really like that. It’s actually a very relaxed working environment.”
I’m skeptical, but her boss is standing nearby.
We leave Ramona’s office and Al introduces me to a string of office workers, including a personnel liaison, the plant manager, an office manager, and the warden. They talk breathlessly about their jobs. They press business cards into my hand, flip open newsletters, point to articles, and arrange for me to view a Power Point presentation on the facility. They tell me how long they’ve worked for the DOC, surprising even themselves with the statistics. Six years! Nine years! “Over 20, if you can believe it!” They laugh at each other’s jokes and urge each other to tell me stories.
Listening, I start to sense that the DRDC doesn’t get many visitors who aren’t in handcuffs. Any minute now, I just know I’ll be handed a paper plate and told to help myself to the cupcakes and Jell-O salad in the lunchroom. This isn’t at all what I expected.
My face must give me away because Al starts reciting some amazing statistics. The employee turnover rate here is between 6 and 7 percent annually, making the workforce at the Colorado Department of Corrections the most stable of all prison systems in the country. Furthermore, the level of absenteeism is the lowest of all state agencies, including the parks and recreation, housing, and transportation departments.
The low turnover and lack of absenteeism is remarkable on its own, even more so when you consider the phenomenal growth the department has experienced. Over the last five years, the number of employees has swelled from 3,500 to over 6,000. During the same time period, the inmate population has grown by 43 percent due to tougher sentencing laws.
I’m intrigued, and as Al leads me out of the offices toward the jail cells, I wonder aloud what it is that makes people want to work here. “I’ll introduce you to some folks,” he smiles. “You can ask them yourself.”
First, we meet Larry Jenkins, kitchen supervisor, a squat 57-year-old recently hired by the department. “The DOC doesn’t care about my age,” he says, while proudly showing me the facility’s glistening stainless steel and white tile kitchen. “Here, I’ll qualify for retirement in five years, and the state has a good pension plan.”
As Larry talks, I notice several women in yellow jumpsuits quietly placing fried fish patties on aluminum trays. First, I think they are food-service employees. Then it dawns on me that they are prisoners, and I catch myself thinking how normal they look.
“What is it like managing inmate employees?” I ask.”Interesting,” he says, “but not all that different from managing employees in any other restaurant. Of course, you have to keep the male and female prisoners apart. Otherwise, they start acting like junior high students.”
Next we meet with Peter Salus, a correctional officer who works in one of the inmate housing units, which, by the way, have no bars — only inch-thick layered glass. I’m struck by how small Peter is. I’m 5-foot-8 and I’m looking down at this slight, dark-haired man in the blue suit. There goes my image of brawny guards. A 14-year veteran of the department, Peter tells me what he likes best about his job.
“Inmate behavior is fascinating,” he says. “They have their own priorities and value system.” Intrigued, I ask him to describe a typical inmate’s values. “Mail and personal visits are important, and you don’t dare mess with their personal property. Even a little thing like a bottle of shampoo is a big deal.”
I nod, thinking how much my shampoo matters to me.
“The other thing I like about working here is that I never take my work home with me,” he says. This is something few people I know can say with a straight face.
“Do you find the environment stressful?” I ask. “Yeah, but you get used to it, and things don’t come up too often. In the last four months I’ve only had to use force once with an inmate. They’re pretty relaxed here.”
Relaxed? In prison?
As the day progresses, employee after employee confirms that prisoners here are relatively content, all things considered. Why?
“Because we treat them with respect and dignity,” says one officer. “They have better food and medical care here than they do on the outside,” says another. “The facilities are nice, the cells are clean, and each inmate has a window and running water. Because they are happy, they don’t give us any trouble.”
I don’t know about other prisons in the state, but I have to agree if you’re going to be incarcerated, this particular facility doesn’t seem that terrible. Take away the cameras, barbed wire, and brick guard tower, and the DRDC looks a lot like a college dorm wrapped around a green-grass quad.
Even the director of the medical clinic, another 14-year veteran of the department, talks about her job enthusiastically. “I feel much safer here than I would at a city hospital,” she says, standing in a windowless office surrounded by bales of stacked paper. “Here, the inmates are dried up, cleaned up, and have to check their weapons at the door.”
It’s now about 2:30, and as Al and I head toward the exit, two officers stop him to chat. This has been happening all day, not because employees have problems to discuss, but because Al, himself a former correctional officer and 20-year DOC veteran, is like an old friend. In fact, at one point an effusive black woman with tiny perfect braids and clothing the color of rainbows ran up to Al and hugged him as if she were eight and he was the Easter Bunny. I don’t know many personnel professionals who provoke that kind of unrestrained joy in employees.
As Al talks to the officers, I stand to wait for him near six orange-clad inmates who are lined up along a sunny brick wall waiting to get inside the medical center. They are not handcuffed. There is no guard keeping them in line. And surprisingly, I’m not afraid. One of them looks at me, looks at Al, looks back at me and asks earnestly, “Is he the warden?”
“No,” I quickly reply. “He’s the human resources manager.”
“Ah,” nods the inmate knowingly. “Human resources for us,” he asks pointing toward his chest, “or for them?” pointing toward a group of employees.
“For them,” I say, silently amused by the thought of HR programs for prisoners; like they need to worry about compensation and benefits programs.
But as I think about what he said, I realize that human resource management in a prison is all about the human resources here. And in a weird sort of way, the prison environment provides a great lesson on how HR should work in any organization. Treat people well, they won’t cause problems. Give them a nice environment, they won’t act up. Develop their skills, they’ll become more valuable citizens.
Driving home, I realize how wrong I’d been about working in a prison. The prison environment is really no more or less remarkable than any other workplace — with one key exception. The employees here don’t convey the caged-lion sense of entrapment I get from employees in many of the other workplaces
I visit. How ironic.
Organization: State of Colorado, Department of Corrections Responsibility: Managing the state’s prison system, including 23 facilities and 20,000 total offenders Headquarters: Colorado Springs Employees: 6,000, two-thirds of which are correctional officers HR Staff: 34 staff members, all located at department headquarters. Instead of maintaining an HR staff at each prison, the DOC appoints an employee at each facility to serve as personnel liaison. HR Challenges: Overcoming the dark prison stereotype when recruiting new employees. Staffing nurses and other specialists who can make more money outside of the state system. Encouraging employee initiative and creativity in a system that still uses a quasi-military hierarchy. Working within the state’s rigid personnel regulations. Colorado is one of two states that make specific reference to personnel activities in the state constitution. The state locates new recruits: “Anywhere we can,” says Al Weber, personnel manager. Because the DOC uses a military employment model: Correctional officers are promoted through five levels equivalent to officer, sergeant, lieutenant, captain, and major. Local U.S. Army bases provide a good source of new recruits. You should know: To aid in filling correctional officer positions, the DOC recently dropped its requirement for two-year college degrees. Instead, the DOC puts each new officer on a year-long probationary period. |
Form Used to Indicate a Serious Health Condition
The following format has been suggested by the Department of Labor as an appropriate means to obtain certification of a serious health condition of an employee. A copy of this Certification can be found at 29 CFR part 825, Appendix B.
Certification
(to be completed by the Health Care Provider)
1.) Employee’s Name:
2.) Patient’s Name (if different from employee):
3.) The attached sheet describes what is meant by a “serious health condition” under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Does the condition for which the patient is requesting FMLA leave qualify under any of the categories described? If so, please check the applicable category.
(1) | (2) | (3) | (4) | (5) | (6) | or(none of the above) |
5.) Describe the medical facts which support your certification, including a brief statement as to how the medical facts meet the criteria of one of these categories:
- State the approximate date the condition commenced, and the probable duration of the condition. Please include information regarding the probable duration of the patient’s present incapacity, if different (“Incapacity,” for purposes of the FMLA, is defined to mean inability to work, attend school, or perform other regular daily activities due to the serious health condition, treatment therefor, or recovery therefrom):
- Will it be necessary for the employee to take off from work only intermittently or to work on a less-than-full schedule as a result of the condition (including for treatment described in Item six below)?
- If yes, give the probable duration:
- If the condition is a chronic condition (condition # 4) or pregnancy, state whether the patient is presently incapacitated and the likely duration and frequency of episodes of incapacity:
6.) a. If additional treatments will be required for the condition, provide an estimate of the probable number of such treatments:
If the patient will be absent from work or other daily activities because of treatment on an intermittent or part-time basis, also provide an estimate of the probable number and interval between such treatments, actual or estimated dates of treatment if known, and period required for recovery if any:
b. If any of these treatments will be provided by another provider of health services (e.g., physical therapist), please state the nature of the treatments:
c. If a regimen of continuing treatment by the patient is required under your supervision, provide a general description of such regimen (e.g., prescription drugs, physical therapy requiring special equipment):
7.) a. If medical leave is required for the employee s absence from work because of the employee’s own condition (including absences due to pregnancy or a chronic condition), is the employee unable to perform work of any kind?
b. If able to perform some work, is the employee unable to perform any one or more of the essential functions of the employee’s job (the employee or the employer should supply you with information about the essential job functions)? If yes, please list the essential functions the employee is unable to perform:
c. If neither a. nor b. applies, is it necessary for the employee to be absent from work for treatment?
8.) a. If leave is required to care for a family member of the employee with a serious health condition, does the patient require assistance for basic medical or personal needs or safety, or for transportation?
b. If no, would the employee’s presence to provide psychological comfort be beneficial to the patient or assist in the patient’s recovery?
c. If the patient will need care only intermittently or on a part-time basis, please indicate the probable duration of this need:
(Signature of Health Care Provider)
(Type of Practice)
(Address)
(Telephone number)
To be completed by the employee needing family leave to care for a family member:
State the care you will provide and an estimate of the period during which care will be provided, including a schedule if leave is to be taken intermittently or if it will be necessary for you to work less than a full schedule:
(Employee signature) (date)
Definition of “Serious Health Condition”:
A “Serious Health Condition” means an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves one of the following:
1.) Hospital Care
Inpatient care (i.e., an overnight stay) in a hospital, hospice, or residential medical care facility, including any period of incapacity or subsequent treatment in connection with or consequent to such inpatient care.
2.) Absence Plus Treatment
A period of incapacity of more than three consecutive calendar days (including any subsequent treatment or period of incapacity relating to the same condition), that also involves:
(1) Treatment (including examinations to determine if a serious health condition exists, and evaluations of that condition; does not include routine examinations) two or more times by a health care provider, by a nurse or physician’s assistant under direct supervision of a health care provider, or by a provider of health care services (e.g., physical therapist) under orders of, or on referral by, a health care provider; or
(2) Treatment by a health care provider on at least one occasion which results in a regimen of continuing treatment under the supervision of the health care provider (for example, a course of prescription medication, or therapy requiring special equipment; does not include over-the-counter medications, bed-rest, or other similar activities that can be initiated without a visit to a health care provider).
3.) Pregnancy
Any period of incapacity due to pregnancy, or for prenatal care.
4.) Chronic Conditions Requiring Treatments
A chronic condition which:
(1) Requires periodic visits for treatment by a health care provider, or by a nurse or physician’s assistant under direct supervision of a health care provider;
(2) Continues over an extended period of time (including recurring episodes of a single underlying condition); and
(3) May cause episodic rather than a continuing period of incapacity (e.g., asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, etc.).
5.) Permanent/Long-term Conditions Requiring Supervision
A period of incapacity which is permanent or long-term due to a condition for which treatment may not be effective. The employee or family member must be under the continuing supervision of, but need not be receiving active treatment by, a health care provider. Examples include Alzheimer’s, a severe stroke, or the terminal stages of a disease.
6.) Multiple Treatments (Non-Chronic Conditions)
Any period of absence to receive multiple treatments (including any period of recovery therefrom) by a health care provider or by a provider of health care services under orders of, or on referral by, a health care provider, either for restorative surgery after an accident or other injury, or for a condition that would likely result in a period of incapacity of more than three consecutive calendar days in the absence of medical intervention or treatment, such as cancer (chemotherapy, radiation, etc.), severe arthritis (physical therapy), kidney disease (dialysis).
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.
Intermittent Leave Under the FMLA
Intermittent medical leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act can create administrative headaches for the unprepared employer.
Employers are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that the conflict between the extensive and often confusing FMLA policy concerns and typical attendance policies have led to contradictory requirements in dealing with employee absenteeism.
This article outlines some of the basic requirements of the FMLA as they pertain to intermittent leave requests, and puts the administrative headaches into perspective.
WHEN THE FMLA APPLIES
The FMLA applies to employers with 50 or more employees working within a 75 mile radius, and provides twelve weeks of unpaid leave during a twelve-month period for eligible employees, including those with a “serious health condition.”
The FMLA guarantees the right of the employee to return to the same position or to an equivalent position after an FMLA leave. Importantly, FMLA leave can be taken intermittently under certain circumstances. Defining those circumstances can present a real challenge to employers.
Requests for intermittent leave complicate an employer’s ability to monitor and discipline employees for attendance issues. Employers must make sure to understand the reason for an employee’s excessive absence in order to fully assess whether the absence is FMLA-related.
Although the FMLA was passed in 1993, employers continue to struggle the expansive definition of “serious health condition.”
To further complicate matters, if the “serious health condition” on which the leave is based rises to the level of a disability, the employer may actually be required, under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to provide extended leaves of absence (even in excess of the twelve week FMLA leave) as an accommodation, if such leave is requested and does not present an undue hardship to the company.
THRESHOLD REQUIREMENTS
Although the FMLA was passed in 1993, employers continue to struggle with its application and implementation, especially with respect to the Act’s expansive definition of “serious health condition.” For purposes of the FMLA, a serious health condition is defined as “an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition” that involves either: (a) inpatient care in a hospital, hospice, or residential medical facility; or (b) continuing treatment by a health care provider.
Further, the Act includes the vaguely worded provision that, when an employee is requesting leave for his or her own serious health condition, the condition must be one that “makes the employee unable to perform the functions of the position of such employee.”
Courts have held that the term “serious medical condition” includes not only medical conditions causing continual incapacity, but also conditions causing occasional periods of such incapacity.
For instance, in one of the first cases of its kind, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals has held that an employee’s peptic ulcer disease could be a serious medical condition for purposes of the FMLA. In Victorelli v. Shadyside Hospital, 128 F.3d 184 (3d Cir. 1997), Kathleen Victorelli, a medical technician, was discharged from her employment for violating her employer’s attendance policy. Although she was evaluated as a good employee, Victorelli had a history of absenteeism, had been counseled for and warned about the problem on multiple occasions, and had been advised that any further violation of the attendance policy would result in termination of her employment.
On July 29, 1994, Victorelli informed her supervisor, by telephone, that she would be unable to come to work on that day. She returned to work but was informed, on August 1, that her employment had been terminated, based on her absence on July 29th.
Victorelli filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, alleging that her employer violated the FMLA. Victorelli alleged that her absence was due to her peptic ulcer disease, an ongoing condition, and that the absence was therefore covered under the Act.
The District Court initially granted the employer’s Motion for Summary Judgment, based on a determination that, as a matter of law, Victorelli did not suffer from a “serious health condition” under the provisions of the FMLA and, therefore, was not entitled to the benefits provided under the Act.
The Court of Appeals disagreed with and reversed the trial court’s decision, and held that the issue of whether Victorelli’s medical condition was “serious” should be left to a jury. According to the appellate court, Congress did not intend to deny FMLA protection to an employee simply because a doctor was able to mitigate the frequency of the employee’s discomfort or incapacity.
The Act, according to the court, is also intended to protect those “who are occasionally incapacitated by an on-going medical problem.”
WHAT EMPLOYERS CAN DO
The Department of Labor has issued regulations that outline actions employers may take when an employee requests leave under the FMLA. Those regulations include three specific permissible actions that employers may take when employees request leave that may be covered under the FMLA:
1. The employer may request medical certification of a claimed serious medical condition. This certification should include the medical facts that support the health care provider’s designation of the condition as “serious” for purposes of the FMLA.
2. An employer who has reason to doubt the validity of a medical certification may require the employee to obtain a second (or even third) opinion, at the employer’s expense. The employer is permitted to designate the health care provider to supply the second opinion, but the selected provided cannot be employed on a regular basis by the employer. Pending the receipt of the second opinion, the employee must be provisionally provided with the benefits of the Act.
3. An employer may request a re-certification of a chronic or long term condition under certain situations, including circumstances under which the frequency or duration of an employee’s absences change significantly, or when the employer receives information that casts doubt upon the employee’s stated reasons for the absences. No second or third opinion on re-certification may be requested.
Failure to take these three actions was mentioned by the Court in Victorelli as an inadequacy in the administration of Victorelli’s intermittent leave claim.
Although the appellate Court did not make an ultimate determination regarding whether Victorelli’s leave fell under the protections of the FMLA, it specifically chided the employer for not taking actions that were clearly allowable under the Act, and that may have assisted in that determination. Because the permissible actions had not been taken by the employer, the Court remanded the case back to the trial court for a jury’s decision on the issue.
CONCLUSION
Employers who receive notice of or a request for medical leave from an employee should carefully review the circumstances to determine whether obligations exist under the FMLA. Because of the complexity of the threshold determination of whether or not the claimed illness or injury is a “serious medical condition,” employers should approach potential FMLA leave requests from a procedural standpoint, taking advantage of the medical certification requests allowed under the Department of Labor regulations.
Taking administrative precautions early in the process to effectively verify and implement allowable leave may preclude subsequent claims of FMLA violation against an employer. Failure to take such precautions may leave an employer at risk of the perils of a jury trial and the punitive damages that may go with it.
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.
Eye on HR at CBS
Tuesday, April 4, 2000. 9:10 a.m.
When I arrive on CBS Corp.’s televsion City lot in Los Angeles, I already start to feel the excitement of the entertainment industry. And, shall I admit it? I’m a little wide-eyed and star-stuck that I get to spend a day immersed in the entertainment industry. From the outside, this industry seems so glamorous. But I have a feeling a lot goes on behind the scenes — with HR as a major player — and that it only looks that way.
Susan Kayl, director of human resources for CBS in Los Angeles, has given me great directions. However, when I arrive, I still go to the wrong door. The receptionist tells me to go back to the artists’ entrance — the first door I passed — where I’ll find the HR office. I fancy myself a huge TV star as I walk through the double doors and sign in at the security desk. But the feeling quickly fades as I stroll down the hall, where posters of the many CBS television shows, past and present, grace the walls. Lucille Ball of I Love Lucy, Whoopi Goldberg of Hollywood Squares, and Bob Barker of The Price Is Right — I begin to get the feeling of TV nostalgia blended with a sense of modern show biz.
I take a left, and Henry Nigos at the HR reception desk greets me with a warm smile and lets Kayl know I’ve arrived. As I wait a few moments, I catch a glimpse of the Martha Stewart Living show on TV in the lounge area. “Of course,” I think to myself. “This is one workplace where TV-watching isn’t only allowed, it’s encouraged.”
9:12 a.m.
Susan Kayl greets me with a smile and a handshake. She ushers me into her office and we go over the day’s schedule. We have time for only a couple of questions before going to our first meeting of the day.
I find out that the CBS headquarters are in New York City and this Los Angeles office is the other of its two main sites; but its affiliate television and radio stations are located throughout the United States. The company employs approximately 13,000 people.
Kayl is second in command of human resources for CBS on the West Coast, and reports to Lynn Heymont, vice president of HR, West Coast. In total, there are nine in the department providing HR services to approximately 2,600 employees.
“Lynn, who came from Sony Pictures Entertainment [also in Los Angeles] brought me in last year to assist her in reinventing the HR function here,” explains Kayl.
The HR West Coast department was not unlike other traditional HR departments — more transactional in function rather than operating as a strategic business partner to the organization. Kayl, a generalist whose background is in organization development, training, and change management, took this opportunity because she liked the idea of helping to create an HR department for the 21st century.
Kayl manages the recruitment function and is also involved in organizational redesign, employee relations, and compensation with Heymont. Since she’s been at CBS, she’s been working hard to show the hiring managers that HR can and will help them with their staffing needs. Previously, most hiring managers were “doing their own thing,” says Kayl.
Now, to her credit, they’re increasingly turning to her for help with staffing. Kayl and her team have streamlined the process down to a science with a total proactive recruitment strategy, utilizing the Internet and community outreach network resources.
9:35 a.m.
We’re off to a scheduling meeting upstairs. We walk through some long corridors to an elevator and ride up to the top level (about three floors). Kayl explains to me that since she started with CBS a year ago, she’s been going to this meeting every Tuesday — a move that’s helped her build credibility for her department and her own standing within the company as a can-do manager.
This is Charles Cappleman’s meeting. Cappleman (“Cappy”) is the senior vice president of operations for CBS Television City. After people grab coffee and bagels, the meeting gets started.
Represented at the meeting are execs from programming production, technical operations, client relations, facilities, stage operations, and financial planning. They begin by discussing show schedules and how that affects facilities and operations. For example, The Young and the Restless is making up some scenes for the week, which they missed last week, and The Price Is Right crew is off for the week.
They discuss the set and lighting and shooting schedule for the $64,000 Question show and how they’ll have to double-check whether the New York City headquarters has arranged for a different 800-number to be listed for the show in each time zone, since viewers will be able to call in during portions of the broadcast. The MIS manager talks about remodeling one space and wonders if it will affect anyone. David Strouse, the director of financial planning, talks about financials. Last up is Kayl.
“The remodeling [of the office space] in HR is done,” she says. “It looks great! It’s bright and modern, and there’s a much better utilization of space. It’s a great place for applicants now to come.”
She goes on to talk about the upcoming blood drive and discusses a sexual harassment video that everyone in the company will be viewing. At 11:05 a.m., the operations meeting ends and we head downstairs.
11:10 a.m.
Back at her office, Kayl begins returning phone calls. The first call concerns a candidate search. “I just wanted to let you know that we’re on it. We have three excellent candidates to present to you,” she says to the person.
After the first call, Kayl returns a call from HR’s affirmative-action plan outsource vendor. She explains that they review their plan yearly, and set goals that are in alignment with the organization’s diversity initiatives. She places another call about an employee who’s been let go from the company, and the final one is to someone about a sexual harassment video that they’re planning to show to the entire workforce. Shortly, the calls are finished, and we head to Cappy’s office upstairs.
11:30 a.m.
Cappy has consented to give us a tour of the facility. We meet in his office, which overlooks the very busy Beverly Boulevard. He begins by telling us about the new high-definition television. Many CBS shows are now being filmed and broadcast with this new technology. He also shows us a video that chronicles the history of the CBS studios, and the many shows and stars that have been filmed there over the years and at the present time. Next, he takes us on a tour, for a rare glimpse of the backstage production facilities. We visit several studios. At one studio, sure enough, the red light is on outside. Cappy turns to us, making the shhhhh gesture with his hand, and we enter the studio on tiptoe. They’re filming a scene for an upcoming The Young and the Restless. Kayl later explains that her office doesn’t staff talent for the TV shows or productions. They fill only staff positions.
I ask Cappy how long he’s been with CBS. “Forty-seven years,” he says proudly. “And this wasn’t even my first job.” Kayl says there are many CBS workers who’ve been here for many years. It’s a great mix of new faces and long-term employees. Thre is a group called “FROGS,” an active organization of retired CBSers who sometimes hold luncheons on-site at CBS.
Our last stop on the tour is to see one of the stages built when the facility was first erected. Cappy tells a story about how one of his first jobs as stage manager for CBS in 1952 was to ensure that Judy Garland was on stage on time for a live performance. It was nerve-racking for him, because she took her cue just before the curtain opened and the show went live. It was a great work story. I get all starry-eyed again.
Lunchtime
I come back to reality as Kayl and I hop in her car and drive to Rosti, a nearby Tuscan restaurant. At lunch, we have a lot to talk about. She has a 28-mile commute by car (one way). She usually gets up at 4:45 a.m. with her husband, and works out before coming to work, usually arriving by 8:15 a.m. After hearing about her background, I ask Kayl what her biggest challenges in HR are right now.
“We’ve had a big push on recruitment since last November,” she says.
When I ask why, she responds that CBS is committed to having a workforce that reflects the racial and ethnic mix of the diverse Los Angeles community. So they’re pushing information about job openings and career opportunities at CBS out to community outreach organizations and local colleges and universities, in addition to attending local job fairs.
She also talks about the merger of CBS and Viacom. Viacom acquired CBS on May 4 — a turnaround of sorts because CBS owned Viacom and now the shoe is on the other foot, you might say. “We are excited about the merger and the opportunities it will bring in the future,” says Kayl. The acquisition is the largest media merger to date.
“Once the actual sale happens, the real work is going to be the transition piece of it,” says Kayl. Before joining CBS, Kayl was with Blue Shield of California and had been the head of HR when the firm went through a merger. That experience will help her during the upcoming transition of CBS and Viacom.
2:30 p.m.
After lunch, Kayl heads into the HR conference room for an update meeting with five HR staff members who are involved in recruitment. “The goal is to have our HR team have a wide range of generalist skills,” says Kayl. The CBS HR department was composed of human resource specialists — and there was little crossover of skill sets. Next, Norah Eshelman, HR assistant, discusses checking references for some candidates for such positions as guest relations and technical operations. Each person updates the group on interviewees and job-placement status.
At one point, Lyn Sereno, an HR administrator, gives thanks to another HR administrator, a pat on the back and a little cheer for a new hire that just took place. The group discusses the job fairs they’ll be attending through the month of May and the summer internship program. Kayl suggests that the director of placement, Carol Wallock, and she get together to talk about the summer internship program and the job fairs that the recruitment team will attend through the end of the year.
3:22 p.m.
Kayl returns to her office in order to make more phone calls.
3:40 p.m.
Kayl meets with Wallock in Kayl’s office.
“The job fairs are a major push,” says Kayl. “We see it as a vehicle, not only for diversity initiatives, but really where the talent is.” She explains that there used to be a time when people were fighting to get into CBS. They came in droves and were turned away.
“It’s a very different world now,” she says. “We’ve got competition with the other networks and the other studios that have networks. We also have to compete with the dot-coms giving out huge stock options.”
Kayl explains that years ago, CBS had rolled out two stock option programs, Fund the Future and Share the Vision. They’ve had to become flexible and creative with job offers for some categories that are difficult to fill, such as IT and finance. Kayl and Wallock further discuss their recruitment strategy.
4:20 p.m.
Kayl spends the rest of the day making phone calls, and doing e-mail and paperwork. She heads out the door at 5:56 p.m.
Organization: CBS Television Studios Responsibility: Recruitment, employee relations, compensation, and organizational redesign for the West Coast site Headquarters: New York City, with a site in Los Angeles (Television City), as well as affiliates all over the United States Employees: Approximately 13,000 total, with 2,600 on the West Coast site HR Staff: There are nine people on the HR staff at Television City HR Challenges:
You should know: No celebrities have to pass a screen test with HR. Human resources is not the casting office, and it fills the studio’s staff positions. Many CBS staffmembers have had a long history with the studio, and hold luncheons onsite at the studio. |
Ivy League HR
Thursday, April 20, 8:20 a.m.
Harvard University may own the most recognizable brand name in academia, yet few people would think of this leading university and research facility as one of the major employers in Massachusetts.
As many as 13,824 people report to work daily at this picturesque campus hugging the Charles River in Cambridge or at its associated locations throughout the Boston area. That number puts Harvard University fourth on the list of top state employers, behind telephone carrier Bell Atlantic (18,000), Stop & Shop Supermarkets (16,340), and Raytheon (14,000), the defense contractor.
Less than one-quarter of that total, or 2,588, are faculty, with the vast majority providing a host of support services. In addition to the school’s employee population, the student population is 18,541, including 6,684 in undergraduate programs.
Polly Price serves as Harvard’s associate vice president for human resources, reporting to Sally Zeckhauser, the university’s vice president for administration. Price, 56, has worked in human resources for 15 years and has been in her present position as head of the university’s Office of Human Resources since 1996. Her mission is lofty but, in her view, attainable–to help make Harvard not only the World’s Greatest University but also the greatest place to work in the universe.
As she heads to work on this crisp, clear April morning, the kind that coaxes us New Englanders through the dark winter months, Price is looking forward to a day that will illustrate just how big a challenge her mission is. Wearing a muted brown houndstooth jacket, contrasting skirt, and comfortable flats, Price will begin her day in a breakfast meeting with two professors at the Faculty Club. She wants to get their help with a survey her department administered to some of Harvard’s professional staff to gauge job satisfaction.
A meeting with nine of her key staffers and an update session with her information technology team will take up the better part of the mid-day. Finally, she will end this day in Massachusetts Hall hearing about Harvard’s efforts to improve the working conditions of its lowest-paid employees.
As head of the university’s Office of Human Resources, Price is responsible for making Harvard an attractive place to work as well as study. On a day-to-day basis, OHR ensures that the University complies with the host of governmental regulations that guide any employer from a Fortune 500 heavyweight to the neighborhood mom-and-pop grocery.
The Office of Human Resources is ground zero for all benefits programs because workplace enhancements such as health insurance and retirement benefits have been standardized across the university. But that is about all that has been standardized at Harvard when it comes to human resource issues, she explains.
When it comes to hiring, Price faces competing demands. Harvard University is made up of eight different academic schools and divisions, from Harvard Medical School and Harvard Law School to its various libraries and associated departments. Price, then, heads an HR department that is by its very nature decentralized, with a number of different people in top decision-making positions who do not report to her.
“What that means,” she says as we chat for a few minutes before the breakfast meeting, “is that my office does not do the hiring for all Harvard staff. Although everyone comes to us for information on benefits, we handle the hiring only for the central administration.” Practically speaking, that means that prospective employees looking for jobs at Harvard go directly to the departments they are interested in working for.
Price, however, is very interested in what goes on in the other HR departments across Harvard’s dispersed campus. Given the state’s 2.9 percent unemployment rate and the hot competition for the best employees, particularly in the information technology sector, Price has to keep up with how everyone at Harvard is recruiting and retaining their staffers so that the day-to-day work gets done.
“That can be an enormous challenge in this environment,” she says. “Up until a year ago, we were losing qualified applicants because we had no system for referring prospective employees who didn’t get a particular job on to other departments. Those names just sat in a file.”
Communication, then, is key to harnessing the Harvard brain trust. Price must nurture relationships with the deans and directors of Harvard’s schools and departments even though she is not ultimately responsible for who is hired. And she must provide the leadership to help Harvard meet its vision of being a model employer.
Price tells me what she finds so attractive about her job: “You are working with the smartest students, the smartest professors in the world,” she says succinctly. “People say to me all the time they could go to work for a dot-com and make a lot of money or come here and work beside a Nobel laureate. What I bring to this job is a solid understanding of how organizations, particularly academic institutions, work.”
8:35 a.m.
Harvard’s Faculty Club is just what you’d imagine an Ivy League university would offer as an amenity to its teaching staff. The two-story neo-Georgian brick structure is located just outside Harvard Yard, and is set off by a soothing fountain and lush landscaping.
Inside, oriental rugs, classic furnishings, and highly polished wood paneling greet visitors. The dining room tables are covered with linen and set with sterling silver. Fresh flowers decorate each table, and the staff await to meet any dining desire. You can’t help but speak in hushed tones.
Here Price is meeting two of Harvard’s internationally known sociology professors, Peter Marsden and Richard Hackman, to get their opinions of the Workplace Environment Survey conducted last November by the Office of Human Resources for the central administration’s staff of 3,400.
Also in attendance is David Jones, a member of Price’s staff who, as director of workforce initiatives, managed the survey. Hackman has brought along a graduate student, Josephine Pichanick, who is considering using the survey as the basis of a future research project.
Jones begins the meeting by explaining that OHR hired A Great Place to Work, a San Francisco consulting firm, to design and administer the survey, which was completed by 1,370 individuals.
Price adds that the employees at the Kennedy School of Government and Harvard Divinity School will be taking the survey in the next several weeks and that both the School of Public Health and the Education School are considering using it soon.
“Clearly there is interest from these administrators in finding out how their workers perceive their jobs and what they could do to make the environment better,” she says.
What is before the group this morning are the raw results of the initial survey that came back in February. Price has asked Marsden and Hackman to help her analyze the responses.
They are polite but immediately want to know why OHR hired an outside consultant rather than using Harvard’s own in-house expertise. “We’ve got people at the Business School that hire themselves out to do just this kind of work,” Hackman observes. Price is ready for that criticism, saying, “We hired these consultants because they are able to tie their analysis to ‘best practices’ in other companies,” she responds. “Also, sometimes professors here don’t have time for us.”
Price also points out that the survey has already caught the attention of Harvard’s top administration. “The provost has agreed to sit down and have lunch with staffers on a regular basis to discuss their concerns. Until we did the survey, we didn’t have that kind of support for change.”
For the moment Hackman accepts that. He notes that Harvard faces an unusual problem as an employer. Workers report that they love working at Harvard, but many don’t like their jobs or their bosses.
Price agrees with Hackman that the university needs to put more emphasis on management training.
9:40 a.m.
The breakfast meeting breaks up with assurances that the professors will continue to provide guidance. Price is out the door for a brisk three-minute walk across Harvard Yard to her office and a scheduled weekly staff meeting. “First, though, I am stopping for a big cup of coffee,” she says with a smile, ducking into a nearby Au Bon Pain.
Then it is up to the sixth floor of the Holyoke Center, in the middle of Harvard Square, where Price is warmly greeted by her receptionist and others in her office of 94. She sheds her coat in her tidy office overlooking the square and heads into the staff meeting.
10:02 a.m.
Around a table in a small conference room waiting for her are Mary Christakis, director of finance and administration; Rita Moore, director of information systems; Kim Roberts, director of employee and labor relations; Merry Touborg, director of communications; Gina Perris, director of benefits; Mary Cronin, director of human resources; Jane Hill, project ADEPT team leader; Heidi Conway, a benefits manager; and Jones, whom we met at breakfast.
Each reports on projects under way in his or her area of expertise. The meeting runs for a full two hours, and conversation never lags. Price mostly just listens, occasionally adding a word of encouragement or asking an on-target question. “We are all so busy that this is really the only chance we have to connect and listen to each other,” she had said going in.
Conway gives a brief report on a customer-service survey sent out to those who have used a Harvard benefit service recently. Jones then gives a report on preparations for an upcoming conference on workforce management that his department is organizing entitled “Staff Diversity: The Roadblocks-A Middle Management Perspective.”
Jane Hill reports on the progress of the university’s conversion to a multimillion-dollar Oracle-based computer system dubbed ADEPT. Routine HR processes ranging from payroll to benefits accounting are scheduled to move onto the system shortly, and Hill and her department are bracing themselves for the inevitable snafus that come with major changes.
The group also discusses how to sell top administration on a suggestion to provide personal computers to the university’s service employees for their home use. Moore notes that the idea becomes more cost effective as the price of personal computers drops. “This will not only promote literacy among these workers but will be especially important as we move to employee self-service with our benefits information,” she says. “These are the employees that are least likely to have a computer on their desk at work.”
Perris reports that Harvard has contracted with a service to provide child care at the next job recruitment fair, hoping this will be a good marketing tool.
The meeting breaks up just after noon, and Price goes to a private lunch meeting with Roberts and the Joint Council, a group of university administrators and representatives of its largest union, Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers.
2:00 p.m.
Price is at Joanne Doherty’s employment training office suite, in a neighboring office building, to get an update on Harvard HIRES, the university’s 11-month-old custom-designed online recruitment program. In addition to Doherty, John Kendzior, Price’s manager of recruitment, is at the meeting, along with Deanna Demert Myers, a computer specialist who can walk Price through the program.
The initial results are exciting, she learns in minutes. Kendzior reports that while the number of jobs in the sensitive IT division has dropped only slightly compared to a year ago, the total number of open university jobs has fallen dramatically from 419 in March 1999 to 303 in March 2000. He credits HIRES. “What we’re seeing is that the number of applicants applying over the Internet is increasing steadily, and that the applicants who do submit their r sum s online are being hired faster than those mailing or faxing them in,” he says.
At the same time, Doherty notes, the cost of recruiting candidates via the university’s own computer Web page and through other Internet services is a fraction of that of more traditional methods like newspaper advertising.
But what most excites Price is the function that allows recruiting managers across the university to see r sum s submitted to any other departments. “We have not had that ability before, and we knew we were losing good people,” she says, after hearing that in the first eight months, over 200 people were placed in jobs when their names became available in the general candidates’ pool. That function alone will save the university in two years the cost of designing the HIRES program, she adds.
2:50 p.m.
Price is on a schedule, so she excuses herself for another fast-paced walk across busy Harvard Square to make a meeting in Massachusetts Hall with her boss and a committee looking at Harvard’s nagging low-wage issue. But even though Price is in a hurry, she pauses for a brief moment to watch a pair of street performers giving a ballet demonstration. Their stage is a large sheet of cardboard, and the backdrop is the Harvard Square MBTA station.
In a second-floor conference room in the building that houses the university president’s office, the topic is a tough one. For a year now, the Ad Hoc Committee on Employment Policies has been considering the university’s responsibility to its contingent and service employees. Among the recommendations is spending $1.4 million for a workplace education program. Another is extending benefits to many of these workers who are part-timers but have worked for the university for many years.
The spotlight is on Harvard to come up with a model solution to a problem plaguing many employers. The university has come to depend on long-term part-time workers to staff its low-skill custodial, maid service, and dining room jobs. Many of the workers are recent immigrants who can’t read in their native languages let alone English, Price tells me.
Just two weeks earlier, nearly a hundred Harvard students calling themselves the Progressive Student Labor Movement set up tents in Harvard Yard for an overnight rally protesting what they claim is the school’s lack of commitment to a living wage for all workers.
As we walk into Massachusetts Hall, Price explains that those in the top administration are concerned about more than just the wage issue.
“The question we are asking is, What is the obligation of the university to improve these people’s lives? Perhaps it is more important to improve their job skills, not just raise their wages.”
Toward that end, Harvard has launched a pilot workplace literacy program called Harvard Bridge to Learning and Literacy. At this session called to discuss its performance is June Cuomo, director of the Faculty Club; Judy Della Barba, human resources manager for Harvard’s dining service; Carol Kolenik, a training specialist; Jim LaBua, deputy director of labor; Tom Vautin, head of operations and services; and Sally Zeckhauser.
Kolenik reports that since September, 38 people have voluntarily attended Harvard-run English-as-a-second-language classes during their regular work hours so they don’t lose pay. Harvard is now prepared to double the enrollment next year, with an eventual target of 250 a year.
Vautin and Cuomo add their expertise when the discussion turns to incorporating the classes into the regular workday without upsetting work schedules as the enrollment increases. Zeckhauser wants to make sure that students are being invited to volunteer as tutors. Price’s role here is to listen, and the meeting runs well past 4 p.m. It is clear that there is more to discuss in the coming days and weeks.
But as Price leaves the meeting and ends her day, she still has an enthusiastic spring in her step. She is looking forward to tomorrow, another day of working through these and other challenges toward her eventual goal.
“We know we have the resources here to make this the very best place to work.”
Organization: Harvard University Responsibility: Recruitment and training for the university s central administration, as well as benefits for the entire university workforce Headquarters: Cambridge, Massachusetts Employees: 13,824 total at all Harvard campuses; 3,400 at the university s central administration HR Challenges: Nurturing relationships with various schools and departments in a decentralized hiring environment. Dealing with student protests regarding wages for the university s employees. You should know: Harvard University is the fourth-largest employer in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. |
A Day in the Life of HR–2000
Life gets distilled to its essence every day for human resource practitioners, and it can be a pressurized mix of the best and worst in people bottled up with an ill-fitting cork.
At least that’s what our Day in the Life of HR survey suggests. On the pages that follow you’ll find much of the human drama played out in all its anguish, nobility, stupidity, and intelligence. The statistical results indicate a profession on the bubble: a tight labor market has pushed recruitment and retention to the top of most corporate agendas, and HR is expected to deliver answers while tending to the nagging chores that must be managed with fewer resources.
The best HR will deliver on these challenges and help shape corporate culture so employees want to stay and recruits line up at the door. But there are plenty of ladders to climb from the engine room to the bridge of the corporate juggernaut our numbers show, and judging by anecdotal testimony, there are plenty of skippers whose eyes aren’t always focused on the horizon. You’ll also get a real-world glimpse of the daily lives of five HR executives in settings that range from the Colorado penal system to Harvard University, Eastman Kodak, the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, and television broadcaster CBS.
Woven throughout this special section are the transcripts of your collective visit to the HR confessional. Here you gave voice to those tales from the trenches that defy metrics or reason. It’s just another day at the office.
Dear Workforce What if HR Isn’t Dressing Appropriately?
— HR’s Dress