Optimum HR Systems

Optimal Knowledge: The Resilience Issue

The new issue of Optimal Knowledge is about resilience. Here is an excerpt from the leading article of Anita Ryan: “At The Crossroads: The Keys to Organizational Resiliency”: “American businesses, large and small truly are at a crossroads. Those organizations resilient enough to have survived the longest economic downturn since the Great Depression are now faced with dual dilemmas that could challenge their continuing success. On the one hand the uncertain global financial situation requires businesses of all types to maintain vigilance related to cash reserves, workforce expansions and internal project investment. On the other hand in certain sectors there has been an easing of recession pressures. An increase in sales has been accompanied by a simultaneous rise in external customer demands and an internal strain on human resources that are already at a breaking point.

The layoffs and hiring freezes that were required at the height of the recession placed an ongoing burden on remaining employees. Increased hours and productivity demands could be sustained for a certain period of time. However, now that 3 years have passed, top employees (and they are the top employees because lower performing workers were cut at the beginning of the downturn process) who have not been sufficiently supported are beginning to respond to the call of recruiters from competing businesses. Suddenly these hard working top-notch people are saying “enough” and considering other options.

Although businesses want to maintain the fast reacting strategies that have enhanced their survival capabilities, now is the time to pull some mid and long terms strategy tools out of their organizational toolboxes.The loss of underappreciated highly skilled key employees is as big a danger to continued corporate resiliency as are poorly constructed or executed sales and marketing plans. So what are these tools?...” Keep reading... 

OSHA 301 SUMMARIES NEED TO BE COMPLETED AND POSTED FROM FEBRUARY THROUGH APRIL. SUMMARIES MUST BE POSTED EVEN IF THERE WERE NO INJURIES.

by Vija Kelly

To complete the summary you must have posted all of your injuries and illnesses (including hearing loss) to the OSHA 300 log. You must also have these postings backed up by “First Report of Injury” documentation.

One of the commonest problems we find is over-reporting. To be recordable the injury must be work-related, require medical attention and involve lost workdays or job transfer. 

1. Work-related means occurring on the worksite in the course of job or related tasks.

2. Medical attention means visiting the doctor or clinic and receiving actual treatment or a prescription for drugs.  (Over the counter medicines prescribed at greater than the dosage on the OTC bottle ar  treated as prescribed medications)

3. Lost workdays or job transfer days begin the day after the injury occurred.  
As you review your 300 log and prepare the 301 summary, you should take the opportunity to do an annual assessment of accident and injury experience.

Take the time to see what measures can be taken to reduce accidents and the injuries they cause. Set reduction goals and an implementation plan for coming year. Schedule  training to reflect the accident reduction goals. (If all of your accidents and injuries are cuts, for example, training on hand and fingers safety is in order.)

This is also a good time to conduct a Safety Program Evaluation.

1. What is the status of your safety program?  

2. What did you accomplish, or fail to accomplish last year?  

3. What needs improvement?  

4. What will be your emphasis for 2012?  

5. What goals do you have?  

6. How will these be accomplished?  
You are required to do all the paperwork. Why not put it to good use?

 

Simple solutions to potentially big problems

By Richard Warren

Recently, three articles in the HR press have shown that the consequences of bypassing commonly accepted HR best practices can have significant impact on employers.

The first article is about the increased, record number of charges filed with the EEOC: almost 100,000 new charges in 2011 and more than $364 million in back pay and penalties due to discrimination on the workplace. That combined with the $170 million in monetary benefits that the EEOC private-sector national mediation program collected for plaintiffs, puts the total penalties above one half billion dollars. 

The second article is about the new legislation on age discrimination. On November 16th, a final regulation was approved which establishes that “an employment practice that adversely impacts older workers is discriminatory unless the practice is justified by a “reasonable factor other than age” (RFOA). This rule compliments the ADEA (Age Discrimination in Employment Act from 1967 and gives more precise interpretation on RFOA, as well as emphasizes a list of factors that can determine if a case will be viewed as an age discrimination matter. (See full text of the rule) 

The third article explains that gender related compensation disparities still exist in the workplace: The U.S. Office of Accountability states: “Women in general have surpassed men in obtaining education over the last three decades, but on average, women with a high school degree or less earned lower hourly wages than men with the same level of education…Even when less-educated women and men were in the same broad industry or occupation category, these women's average hourly wage was lower than men's. GAO estimated that in 2010, less-educated women earned 86 cents--compared with 81 cents in 2000--for every dollar men earned, after adjusting for available factors that may affect pay.” (Read more here)

Age discrimination cases, resolved by the EEOC in 2010 were 63% greater than 10 years ago (24,800 vs. 15,155 respectively), representing almost 25% of all claims filed and resulting in $93 million of monetary benefits paid (see stats here). Gender discrimination was slightly more expensive - $129.3 million, and 30,914 resolutions in 2010. (See full statistics here).

Simple tools can dramatically reduce your risk of problems such as those outlined in the above articles. When was the last time you conducted a HR practice assessment? Updated your employer handbook? Reviewed your protocols for handling allegations of employment related discrimination?
If you would like to discuss any of these issues in more detail, please contact our compliance expert, Katie Birthler. 

 

Independent Contractors Misclassification: under the rigorous scrutiny of DOL and IRS

By Katie Birthler

Classifying an employee as an independent contractor has come under close scrutiny by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and both federal and state Departments of Labor (DOL). The federal government has estimated that worker misclassification costs several billion dollars annually in loss of tax revenue. The problem of employee misclassification is so pervasive that all levels of governmental agencies have intensified efforts to “crack down” on the practice.

The temptation to classify a worker as an independent contractor can be great, considering that employers do not pay unemployment insurance taxes, overtime pay, workers’ compensation premium, or the employer’s portion of Social Security and Medicare taxes for independent contractors. Also, such workers generally are not eligible for fringe benefits such as medical coverage or retirement benefits.

Until very recently, the IRS didn’t share information or coordinate efforts to combat employee misclassification with federal and state DOL agencies. This comes to an end now as the US DOL and the IRS and 11 states agreed to coordinate enforcement efforts. Keep reading...

 

The National Labor Relations Board postpones until January 31, 2012 the posting of employees’ rights notice implementation

By Katie Birthler

The implementation date for the new notice-posting rule has been postponed by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by more than 2 months and the posting requirement will take effect on January 31st, 2012, instead of November 14, 2011. According to the NLRB, this delay is to “allow for enhanced education and outreach to employers, particularly those who operate small and medium sized businesses.”

Most private sector employers will be required to post the 11-by-17-inch notice (poster). The poster is available at no cost from the NLRB through its website, either by downloading and printing or ordering a print by mail.  Employers who usually notify employees about employment rules and policies on a Company Internet or intranet site will be required to post the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) notice online.

This notice does not affect the existing obligation for some federal contractors to display the existing poster about employee rights to union organization in their workplaces, established by President Obama’s Executive Order from January 30, 2009.

For further information about jurisdiction and posting requirements, Optimum HR Systems clients can visit the NLRB Frequently Asked Questions webpage, or direct their questions to Richard Warren. 

Optimal Knowledge: The Communication Issue

Today’s “experience” economy, constant information and advertising exchange in social networks pushes both companies and employees to communicate their brand transparently, openly and with an “awe” emotion. Statements and speeches don’t do it anymore. Action and sharing the great encounters with the company’s brand are not only the flavor of the month, but a trend that is here to stay.
How can HR departments help their organizations to achieve these goals the right way? As we said in previously, HR can help by consistently championing their organization’s brand. Think in terms of the  company’s mission and values and act on the them everyday through all channels of communication.

The role of HR in fostering this “internal marketing” conversation is crucial. In the “Communication” issue of Optimal Knowledge, Optimum HR Systems associates share their thoughts on several aspects of communication.  Anita Ryan explains how shaping the organization’s culture through training leads to better results – internally and externally and ultimately contributes directly to achievement of business goals. Vija Kelly speaks about another aspect of organizational culture that HR departments need to build on a daily basis – how to foster a safety climate that goes beyond simple compliance. Dick Lee reminds us of the role of HR in helping their organizations avoid potential data security pitfalls in the era of social networks and Internet experience sharing. John Cleveland and Michelle Maher stress the importance of good communication of the value of benefits to employees. 

And, as a final communiqué, Richard Warren announces our office move to Plymouth, Minnesota. 

You can download the entire issue here

Excellent Customer Service

by Richard Warren

Everyone is happy to share their customer service nightmares but very few of us take the time to talk about customer service excellence. This morning I had a most amazing experience. Please bear with me while I share it because I think there are some “teachable moments” woven in there.

For several weeks I have been having intermittent problems with Adobe Acrobat Pro 9 garbling MS Office 2010 files. Yesterday it finally froze up on me. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper! 

I called Adobe, went through the bridging menu and after three choices got this message: “We are not able to take your call at this time. If you prefer not to hold, please enter your phone number and name and we will call you back in “X” minutes”. At the appointed time, they called back and got a busy signal so they continued to try five or six more times until I answered. The CSR patiently gathered intake data and explained every step she was taking to resolve the problem. When she needed to look something up, she put me on hold, told me when she would be back on line and gave me the choice of holding or getting a call back. At the “resolution” stage of the call she took control of my computer, installed the software upgrade needed to solve the problem and tested it on one of my documents to be sure it worked properly. She closed by sending me a link to some individually paced learning resources and sending me an electronic “service experience” survey. I cannot think of a way she could have handled this “Adobe experience” any more professionally!

To me this was the gold standard of the “Experience Economy”. Adobe is obviously using customer feedback to triage their incoming calls correctly and using voice recognition software to give the feel of “personal” attention. After collecting some basic intake information, they appear to be directing calls to CSRs who are competent in both the appropriate technology and language. It was obvious to me that the CSR had been coached extensively but she did not sound “scripted”. 
I think there are some lessons here for each of us regardless of our industry. Are we investing the proper amount of resources into designing and implementing the processes, technology and training to make each customer contact experience a moment we would be proud to share with our Board of Directors?

If you want to speak with Optimum HR Systems process and customer experience expert, please contact Dick Lee. 

 

VEVRAA: Strengthening Employment Protection for Veterans: New Regulation Proposed by the OFCCP

The OFCCP recently released a call for comments on the proposed new regulations to be included in the VERAA (Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistant Act of 1974, Section 4212). That Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) is in the stage of collecting feedback from all interested parties.

The proposed changes refer to the requirement that governmental contractors and subcontractors step up their affirmative action and nondiscrimination efforts for US veterans in the hiring process. These regulations are intended to meet the demand for faster integration into the labor force for protected veterans at a time when increasing numbers of them are returning from active duty in Iraq, Afghanistan and other regions in the world. As per a report released in March 2010 by the BLS, the 2009 annual average unemployment rate for veterans 18 to 24 years old was 21.1%, compared with 16.6% for non-veterans in that age group. The unemployment rate for veterans 25 to 34 years old was 11.1%, compared with 9.8% for non- veterans in that age group. 

These new regulations will increase the contractor's data collection obligations, and will require the contractor to establish hiring benchmarks to assist in measuring the effectiveness of its affirmative action efforts in job listing, recruiting, employing, and retaining protected veterans. 

Continue reading...

Optimal Knowledge: The Harmony Issue

In a perfect world, there should be a harmony between what business goals dictate and what compliance requirements impose. This idealistic harmony rarely exists for several reasons. Some companies believe that they cannot afford to make changes in their way of doing business and adjust to a variety of compliance requirements regarding affirmative action, safety regulations, manufacturing processes or other employment related regulations.  Some other companies believe that since they are stellar performers in almost all aspects of their business they probably will not be hit by an audit. Some companies simply don’t know better – they don’t follow changing regulations, trends in auditing, etc.

All these practices can, in the end, be more costly and disruptive than complying in the first place. The goal should be to integrate compliance into every process so that it becomes automatic and you are prepared long before the auditor (inspector) shows up at your front door.

In this issue, Dick Warren writes about the recent OFCCP audit trends and suggests several steps to develop an “audit-ready” Affirmative Action Plan. With several examples of the cost of safety procedures in recent OSHA citations and the steps to avoid them, Vija Kelly stresses the fact that in most cases is less expensive to adhere strictly to the rules out of the gate than to address them after an inspection. Dick Lee speaks about another type of harmony – one that affects us all – the harmony between a costumer-centric healthcare and the business goals of the healthcare providers. His advice applies to any type of organization.

This conversation about harmony should continue at all levels in your organization. Download the Harmony issue.

COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS STATE OF THE MARKET REPORT

Keystone Compensation Group LLC, an Optimum HR System partner, just released a new report titled “COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS STATE OF THE MARKET REPORT”. This is an executive report for compensation and benefits professionals and includes 2011 projections for base pay and bonus programs as well as benefits trends. 

The Report is based on thorough research from numerous sources and provides an overview of the current economic environment, salary structure projections, and the 2011 salary budget increase. The report also shows a snapshot of the current health care costs and their projected increase for 2011. It highlights a significant trend for how employers are shifting a larger portion of their healthcare costs increase to employees. The reports also provides high level estimates of the overall cost of providing health care coverage to employees and the breakdown between employees and employers.

Key observations gleaned from this report are:

• The current economic expansion, as measured by Gross Domestic Products (GDP) growth, will gradually contribute to creating new jobs and declining unemployment. 
• As a result of this economic growth, talent retention is likely to climb on the list of priorities for most employers as they start to add staff.
• To retain their top talent, organizations need to become better at differentiating pay based on employee contribution. 
• While salary increase budgets are inching up, they are not likely to increase fast enough to reverse the effect of the cost saving measures that employers implemented during the recent recession. 
• Variable pay continues to play an important role in providing employers with a vehicle to share the results of their successes with their employees while keeping their fixed costs under check. 
• The average salary increase budget for 2011 is projected at 3.0% up from 2.4% in 2010. In contrast, employers are budgeting around 11.6% of payroll for variable compensation for professional exempt level positions. 

You can Download the full report here or contact Linda Herman for further information or assistance with your compensation and benefits programs.