Five Suggestions for a Successful Year

I like to start each day with a clean slate. I got this practice from a former boss who believed coming into the office each morning with a clean desk set the stage to begin the day with enthusiasm and a fresh look. I definitely feel that way about the new year. It’s a new opportunity to review methodologies, objectives, processes, mission, human resource practices, why we keep the extra toner by the kitchen instead of next to the printer. So to start the year off right here are five suggestions for a successful year:

1. Plan what is needed to execute new ideas or fix current processes. Without an overarching roadmap for what you want to accomplish, nothing else can get done.
   


2. Evaluate your team for skills or needed training. Determine what capabilities your staff will need to develop in order maximize your chances of reaching your goals. Now is the time to research options such as additional training or outside assistance to fill those gaps.
   


3. Clearly explain to your team what is expected of them. Many departments are still smaller than in past years. Make sure each person understands his or her new roles and responsibilities to reduce the risk of falling through the cracks.
   


4. Establish a mechanism to provide an early warning for failure. Sometimes it really is best to quit while ahead.
   


5. Determine the consequences of failure. Are the consequences big enough for everyone to want to do their best but small enough that employees won’t leave the team rather than fail? If you want your team to follow you through fire, they need to know they won’t get burned…too badly.
   

What are you waiting for? Let’s get to work!

Authored by Jeanine Maddox

Social Security Administrations Provides Assistance to HR Professionals

Do you want to help your employees understand their options as they transition to retirement or other life events? If so, the Social Security Administration has a webpage just for you! Go to http://ssa.gov/hrm/. This site provides information to human resource professionals regarding the various Social Security programs and Medicare. Direct your employees to the site too. There are benefits calculators, retirement planning videos, and a link to find the nearest Social Security office for face-to-face interaction.

NLRB Postpones Posting of Notice of Employee Rights

The National Labor Relations Board has postponed the implementation date for its new notice-posting rule by more than two months in order to allow for enhanced education and outreach to employers, particularly those who operate small and medium sized businesses.

The new effective date of the rule is January 31, 2012.

Challenges to NLRA Employee Rights Posting

Several organizations allege the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) exceeded its statutory authority by requiring, beginning on November 14, 2011, most private sector employers to post a notice advising employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act. The following organizations have filed suit in various federal courts against the NLRB to prevent the posting:

• National Association of Manufacturers


• National Federation of Independent Businesses


• National Right to Work Legal Defense and Education Foundation


• U.S. Chamber of Commerce


• South Carolina Chamber of Commerce

In addition, Representative Benjamin E. Quayle (Arizona) introduced the Employee Workplace Freedom Act (H.R. 2833) to repeal the notice-posting rule. The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce.

NLRA Employee Rights Posting

Effective November 14, 2011 Employers are required to post notice of employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). This far reaching notice covers most private-sector employers including labor unions. Agricultural, railroad and airline employers are excluded from the requirement. Small employers that conduct less than $50,000 worth of business across state lines are also excluded.

A workplace poster that describes employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act is now available for free download from the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board) website at www.nlrb.gov/poster. In addition, copies of the Notice will soon be available without charge from any NLRB regional office.

A few frequently asked questions about the notice are included below.

Q&A
ANSWERS TO COMONLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE NLRB NOTICE POSTING

QUESTION: Where do I have to post the notice?
ANSWER: The notice should be posted in conspicuous places, where other workplace rights notices and company notices concerning personnel rules or policies are customarily posted. Employers must also post the notice in another language in addition to English if at least 20% of their employees are not proficient in English and speak another language. The NLRB will provide translations of the notice, and of the required link to the Board’s website, in the appropriate languages. If a translation of the appropriate language is not available, the employer will not be liable for non-compliance.
QUESTION: What if I communicate with my employees electronically?
ANSWER: If an internet or intranet site is typically used to post personnel policies, the notice of NLRA rights may be placed there along with a physical posting. Employers are not required to distribute the posting by email, Twitter or other electronic means.

QUESTION: Are there any records retention requirements to comply with this rule?
ANSWER: No, the rule has no record-keeping or reporting requirements.

QUESTION: What happens if we don’t post this?
ANSWER: Although the NLRB does not audit workplaces or initiate enforcement actions on its own, employees, unions, or other persons could accuse the employer of unfair labor charges and bring this to the NLRB’s attention. In most cases, the employer will be made aware of the rule and given time to comply when requested by a NLRB agent. In such cases, the unfair labor practice case will typically be closed without further action. The Board also may extend the 6-month statute of limitations for filing a charge involving other unfair labor practice allegations against the employer. If an employer knowingly and willfully fails to post the notice, that failure may be considered evidence of unlawful motive in an unfair labor practice case involving other alleged violations of the NLRA.

QUESTION: Can an employer be fined for failing to post the Notice?
ANSWER: No, the NLRB does not have the authority to levy fines.

Day in the Life Summary Report

In early 2010, The Human Resource Department, Inc. (THRD) hired an outside firm to assist in our marketing strategy. In total, HR executives and core staff members from sixteen employers participated with us in a key phase of this project.

Here is the summary report. Although some of what we learned was expected, there were also some surprises.

Based on the outcome of our strategic initiative, including the collective feedback from participating organizations, we have clarified our target market and redefined some of our service offerings. In addition, we intend to develop a new service to enhance our compliance practice. Look for more on this in the coming months.

On behalf of The Human Resource Department Inc. and our consultant, Lazorpoint LLC, we hope you find this summary useful and interesting.

To learn more, click here.

Bad news, folks. Your resume will not get you a job.

Before you accuse me of being:

a) pessimistic
b) overly critical
c) psychic
d) all of the above

step back and think about this for just a moment. Your resume has two purposes - to represent "brand you" and to score you an interview. Period. End of story.

I began my career as a recruiter. Initially, I recruited accountants. Then I set my sights on computer programmers. But I didn't hit the mother lode until I worked for one of the largest professional services firms in the world. I hope I'm not dating myself too much (because it doesn't seem like it was that long ago...) but this was old-school recruiting - before the internet. Hundreds upon hundreds of resumes later, I had inescapably become a resource for job-seeking family and friends (and friends of friends) simultaneously confronted with and confounded by a blank sheet of paper (or a blank screen) and a six letter word. I had learned what seemed to work, and conversely, what didn't work at all. I'm relatively ruthless when it comes to paring down to the bare bones essentials - because one of the caveats of resume writing is, as Joe Friday said, "Just the facts, ma'am." Actually, what he really said was, "All we want are the facts." But that's not as interesting and I digress.

Before I give you my short list of resume writing tips, let me give you a little perspective to chew on: the person tasked with reviewing resumes WANTS (let me repeat that) WANTS to find the right candidate fast. Said person also wants the resume to be a clear and accurate representation of your expertise. So rather than thinking that the process of reviewing resumes is a process of ruling out, understand that it's more a process of ruling in.

So here they are - some of my cardinal rules of resume writing (in no particular order).

1. Do your research. Find some examples of effective resumes and incorporate what you learn into yours. Really, it's all been done before.
2. Your resume should be easy to read. Use bullet points to tell the reader where to focus.
3. Describe your experience in terms of the value you brought to your position and the organization. Focus on accomplishments that you can quantify.
4. Replace the career "objective" paragraph with a couple of brief sentences that summarize your experience and competencies.
5. Don't use acronyms that are specific only to your employer. If no one else knows what they mean, they won't do you any good. Spell them out, or better yet, briefly describe them to provide some context.
6. Consider which resume format may work best for you. Sometimes a functional resume may work better than a chronological one.
7. Some of us don't want our age to be apparent. It's okay not to indicate the year you graduated from college.
8. Less is more. Don't mention your reason for leaving an employer. And don't include your salary requirements. Leave out any personal information relative to marital status, children, or frankly anything else that isn't related to your professional experience.
9. Write your resume, set it aside for a day or so and then go back and edit it. Pare it down. Send it to a couple of folks who are willing to give you honest, constructive feedback, and take it!
10. Spell check. Spell check again. Proof read. (I don't completely trust spell check.)
11. Two pages are plenty. If you have anything really important on page three, the reader may never make it that far.
12. Never assume that the same resume' will be equally effective for every job opportunity you're pursuing. Be willing to modify your resume' based on the specifics of the opportunity or the organization.

I'm the first to admit that none of these is a revelation. But absent the kind of connections that can get you in the door without one, your trusty resume is pretty darned important when it comes to finding that job that doesn't feel like a job.

Author Wayne Dyer said that there's no scarcity of opportunity to do what you love, just a scarcity of resolve to make it happen.

Make it happen.

Authored by Sandy Turba

Everyone loves a Top Ten List

Everyone loves a Top Ten List. So imagine my delight when I came across "10 (or More) Things I Hate About Compensation Departments." Having been in the compensation field for the better part of the last ten years, I swallowed hard, took a larger than normal swill of my Starbuck's and prepared for the onslaught.

I won't rehash the list here, but I will repeat reason number 1: the allegation that compensation managers are unwilling to be accountable for anything, even though the combined employee compensation budget is generally the largest single variable corporate expense.
Okay, fair enough. Because when you read the remaining nine or so things that the good Dr. Sullivan hates (Dr. Sullivan is the author of the list), what I believe that he is really saying is what we all know to be true enough: that the compensation function alone can't, in a typical corporate structure, answer to all of challenges inherent in attraction, retention, development, and performance. I'm by no means condoning or condemning compensation departments across our fair country. But what I am saying is the same thing that I've been saying for the last ten years: that compensation isn't just a "science" and that it certainly can't be relegated to a silo.

When we work with our clients to help them understand if their employee pay is competitive, we look to build some business intelligence that reaches well beyond the raw numbers of a salary structure. In truth, the pay rates are the starting point. They represent the proverbial "stake in the ground." We can look at similar organizations in similar industries across the country and pretty quickly tell you if your pay is running with the pack. But really, does anybody want to finish the marathon in the middle of the pack?

Don't get me wrong. I'm not at all suggesting that outpacing your competitor's base pay is the way to win the gold medal. What I am saying is that we need to start looking at compensation as a total approach. How do you develop your people? How do you reward them? What's your compensation strategy? Is it what I like to call "the butts in seats" strategy? In other words, do you provide them with an increase simply for being employed? Are they rewarded more for innovation and risk than for mediocrity? Can your employees even articulate how pay decisions are made? Do they understand the value of their pay? Their benefits? Their career development opportunities? Do they believe they can really influence their opportunity to earn variable pay?

You may not have initially thought that all of these questions were related to compensation. But they are. And if you start asking them, and listening to the answers, I'm betting that you'll see what I believe is painfully apparent to many compensation professionals: that compensation isn't simply one core area of human resources. It is core to the culture of your organization.

Authored by Sandy Turba