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... 

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 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.

Balancing Priorities

By Richard Warren

The HR department has always been crucial in balancing business objectives and employee interests. The importance of the human capital management role increases when issues such as local traditions and compliance with a myriad of statutes, orders, and regulations are added to the equation. But balancing all this in a time when business dynamics and priorities are changing rapidly is probably the most difficult task for human resource specialists.

Austerity rules in compensation, cuts in training budgets, and tougher governmental regulatory enforcement sometimes lead to overreaction. Keeping the eyes on the ball and not permitting emotion to influence vital decisions affecting the organization’s workforce is an art and a commitment for HR departments nationwide.

What are the basic rules in balancing priorities in turbulent times?

Establish the rule of order. Your first priority should always be the alignment between business realities and employees’ interests. If you have to negotiate, do it. If you have to demonstrate the consequences of failing to balance both sides of the equation, do it. I suspect that when all is said and done, we will find that the Gulf disaster was the sum of many small decisions about drilling protocols, emergency response training, availability of safety gear, evaluation of subcontractor performance, and so on. Small decisions can have a huge impact. Now is not the time to ignore process.

Don’t try to do it all yourself. To balance priorities, you always need a consensus, a common understanding of the goals. An organization is always more similar to an organism than to a building. Many of the business goals are not set in stone; neither are the per-hour salaries as long as they are within policy limits. Try to assemble management and employees to openly discuss issues such as compensation, work hours reductions, investment in training programs, adherence to safety rules, market expansion, or outsourcing. When more brains are willing to find a solution, you will be surprised to see how many people will help you to achieve a balance of priorities.

Stick to a plan, but be flexible and ready to react to changes. If priorities change every week or month, is very difficult to manage the balance between them. Creating a plan to address the major issues in order of priority will always help, but don’t be stuck in the mud if abrupt change in the market, vendor selection, or another external factor dramatically turns the tables. Be prepared for realignment and rapid intervention in order to maintain the balance.

Forecast, prepare, and prevent. Once you set your priorities clearly, achieving balance between them and reality can be very easy—if you do your due diligence. The DOL is significantly increasing the number of audits this year. Now is the time to be certain you are “audit ready” regarding safety, affirmative action, FLSA, HR process and training.

Promote your efforts. Doing all this only within the closed circle of the involved parties (HR, management, etc.) will not produce much if all employees in the organization are not aware of your efforts. Keep employees tuned in the what is going on by taking advantage of the effective and inexpensive “enterprise 2.0” tools currently available.

Photography: Paul Tomlin

New Optimum HR Systems Solution: Employee Relations Helpline

The Employee Relations Helpline provides quick access to practical advice and information not only on urgent, pressing employee relations and HR-related issues but on the more routine types of questions as well.

The Employee Relations Helpline will provide assistance in a wide range of areas including employee relations, compliance, discipline, hiring, termination, benefits administration, leaves of absence and time off issues, performance management, and interpretation and application of Human Resources and company policy.

Employee Relations Helpline services are delivered "just in time", based on client priorities and those of the business.  We provide what you need as soon as you need it in order to ensure that your employee relations and HR questions and concerns are addressed in ways that bring added value to the business.

The Helpline Director, Katie Birthler,  is a former Human Resources Vice President for a Fortune 200 global manufacturer. With this new service, you receive her level of expertise at a very modest, per call charge. Please contact Katie for details.

The Bottom Line Issue of Optimal Knowledge

 The Evolution of HR  - part two

Evolution is a constant in HR – driven by natural changes in employee/employer relationships and accelerated by economic, political and societal change. For the last year, the economy’s effect on enterprises – small, medium and large  - plus dizzying technology advancements have forced HR professionals to take a hard look at their approaches to human capital management. At Optimum HR Systems we encounter these evolutionary changes every day with every client. This newsletter highlights what we’re seeing and learning.  

In a recent survey (Download the file here), 75% of respondents rated “unsatisfactory” U.S. workforce skills for coping with the work challenges presented by our new economy. Yet, in the same survey only 25% of responding companies offer appropriate training programs for their employees. In this issue Anita Ryan discusses how to set training priorities and how to achieve better employee training/development outcomes more effectively than with traditional approaches.

And speaking of employee development (or lack thereof), we’re all familiar with “toxic employees.” But do most bring these “toxic” behaviors in the door with them–or do poorly designed processes precipitate most toxic behaviors? Dick Lee’s articles show why HR professionals should be taking a leadership role in process improvement to curb toxic tendencies, rather than over-relying on “toxic screening” during the interview process.

You are welcome to download the entire "Bottom Line" issue of Optimal Knowledge here.

The five dimensions of job hunting

By Tom Felling

Optimum HR Systems associate and recruiting expert Tom Felling lists 5 important points which are a part of his “directional coaching”. His method helps executives “in transition” to be ready for their next very important career step. Here are some of his useful notes:

Strategy preparation

Mentally prepare yourself for your job search. Understand what are the prospective employer’s needs and outline a strategy to highlight your assets accordingly. You are going to have to dig deep. Find all these positive experiences, skills and knowledge that differentiate you from other people “in transition”. How prepared you are and how you differentiate yourself will be a key deciding factor.

Promote “your brand”. Be proud of yourself.

The key issue of any branding, including the personal one, is to FOCUS. Focus on your strengths. Make certain your resume states clearly what you do, how well you do it, and how you have contributed to the success to those who have hired you and would hire you now. ...keep reading

Poor Office Process, Poisonous Office Environment (at a horrendous cost)

By Dick Lee, Optimum HR Systems Associate

Are engineering and sales pointing fingers at each other? How about customer service and parts? Or HR and branch locations? How about sales and marketing management? Or IT and the rest of the front and back office? Okay, you’re like any other company. But do you have even the slightest sense of what all this dissonance is costing you?

Probably not. In which case you ought to grab or access the April 2009 edition of “Harvard Business Review” and read some sobering data. Very sobering.

April’s HBR features a very pithy one-page abstract by Christine Porath and Christine Pearson, How Toxic Colleagues Corrode Performance, which may very well peel back your eyelids. Their data alone might scare you into action–including running some toxic employees out of town.

You can’t fire the problem

But here’s the irony. Just firing these people won’t accomplish much, because a new set of “bad actors” will quickly fill their shoes. A relatively small percentage of inherently dysfunctional folks notwithstanding, the vast majority of these toxic employees didn’t start off toxic. Instead, their work environment created interpersonal strife by giving people and functions conflicting messages and conflicting goals, and they eventually succumbed to the venal side of human nature. (continue reading...)

What 2009 Will Bring to HR

The effects of the 2008 recession continue as US business shifts its focus to 2009 and beyond. A transition from “old” to brand new thinking in the Human Resources arena will be needed to support the policies and actions required for the US to resume a positive leadership position in the world economy. We at Optimum Human Resource Systems think that the following trends in human capital management are likely to significantly affect the lives of HR professionals as some of this new thinking takes hold.