The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) recently reviewed the methods used in the past and in use currently.  Prior to the recent market upheavals and the changing employment economy, most mid- to large-sized companies tried to use a very methodical system for valuing jobs.  This benchmarking included salary surveys, ranking the jobs value in the organization, and using points to measure job factors such as skills, education and experience.  Salary surveys tended to be within the industry and were fairly steady.  Job ranking placed the job in a hierarchy that reflected how much each position was valued by the company.  Job classification also placed the job in a hierarchy, based on how it fit in the corporate structure.  Then, points were added for the skills, education and experience required by the position or provided by the applicant.  The key to the success of the systems used was the accuracy and clarity of the job/position descriptions themselves and a thorough understanding of their role in the overall business.  Some companies were better than others – some never re-evaluated the jobs once the documentation had been done!

In today’s market, fewer employers perform job evaluations, instead basing compensation on market pay and modifying using one of the other methods.  The biggest reason for this is the fact that employees no longer stay with the same company for 20 years, so how the job is evaluated doesn’t concern them.  Most are very aware of what their job and background are worth in the larger market.  Companies are conducting salary surveys, matching their jobs to similar ones outside the organization. 

Even using salary surveys, the accuracy of the job description itself is crucial.  Companies must bear in mind that the competition for skilled employees isn’t always just within their industry.  Sometimes an engineer or manager can cross into other industries with the same background.  This really complicates the pay question.  In a case I am personally aware of, an internet security company was purchased by a larger entity, and the new owners were having trouble matching job classifications between the two companies.  One particular employee researched job descriptions on the internet and found one with his exact duties that was paying about $5000 more a year – and his job was fairly important in the system.  Needless to say he got a salary bump!

The thing to remember is that job seekers also do their research, and know what a fair salary range is for particular jobs.  By the way, if a number of applicants are asking for salaries at the top of your range, it may be time to do another survey! 

One more issue that is prevalent in the tech industry in New Mexico is that there are “big guys” in the business and then the medium to small company needing the same types of talent and skills.  For the most part, the smaller companies simply have to acknowledge that they can’t meet the salary ranges in many of the higher demand positions – and figure out other ways to attract talent, such as a more flexible work environment, or special perks. 

Job seekers also need to understand that there are other issues than salary (as long as it is fair) when looking for work.  As always – good luck.

At a recent Society for Human Resource Management conference a management consultant outlined the challenges and the steps an organization can take to meet them.  An article by Beth Mirza on the SHRM website reviewed the presentation. 

First  the audience was told that we are exiting the Information Age and entering the Human Age.  The inference was that we previously depended on tools, machines, innovation and technology, but that the future will depend on a talented workforce.  I think this is another way of saying, as I have in many other postings, that hiring the right people is vital to maintaining a competitive advantage. 

Struggle One – a mismatch between the job and the talent available.  The jobs themselves have changed, in that a technician has to be able to communicate well with co-workers in addition to being a technical expert.  Sales staff needs to consult and network in addition to making sales.  Finally there is the ever present problem of too few qualified workers, and loss of the experienced workforce through retirement.  A shrinking work-age population exacerbates the problem.

There are experienced seniors who want to remain in the workforce, but are overlooked because the perception is that “they can’t keep up”.  The wise employer will recognize the value of a mature applicant with a wealth of information and experience.  Even as we recognize that not every senior has the energy for a fast-paced workplace, we also recognize that the new recruits don’t always have the basic skills to deal with the work environment. 

Struggle Two – Work resources outside the company.  The internet can provide solutions to a problem without having to employ anyone.  (A great way to find talent is to post a challenge on the company site and follow up with those responders who can come up with solutions.)

Struggle Three – the rise of individual choice.  The most desired applicants are presented with tailor-made employment agreements to meet their needs.  Thus we read about work from home, flex hours, and perks that make individual feel they are getting real value for their work.

Finally – the company has to deal with a more sophisticated and demanding customer.  Many customers do research online before they decide to buy a particular product.  Many times the customer buys the product online, thus changing the need for in-house sales staff. 

Some quick suggestions for employers that came out of the presentation – Think about who does the work in the organization and how it gets done.  Make sure experienced/older workers are passing on their knowledge to the new folks.  Make sure the employees know how their work affects the company’s success.  Keep job descriptions flexible to allow for a little individuality.  As always – good luck!

This is not a specific HR related topic, but one that affects the well being of every organization.  There seems to be a regular parade of workplace issues hitting the newspapers, both harassment and bullying, as well as embezzling and mismanagement.  In my humble opinion a major key to the well-run, non-news-making workplace is the attitude of the people from management on down. 

Let me give a few examples of fairly basic behaviors that WILL affect your company’s bottom line.  First, a business in the construction industry with a very specialized service and a lot of customers…but if some of them could find another company to provide this service they would move on.  Customers drop off their product to be treated, and then pick it up a few days later.  One particular morning there were two very busy construction managers left cooling their heels because the “paperwork” for their orders had not been brought to the office from the shop (the shop is about 100 yards away).  The billing/receiving clerk simply shrugged her shoulders as if there was nothing she could do, resulting in a 1 hour delay for these two busy people before someone finally found the appropriate documentation.  I would have fired that clerk immediately.

Then there is a time one of my friends called a company for information about their product.  The person answering the phone responded – “I don’t know and I have no way of knowing” – and hung up.  Maybe they were having a bad day, but at least they could have transferred my friend to someone else.  Needless to say the friend did not purchase their product.

Those examples dealt with employee-customer relations.  There is also an issue with how employees treat each other.  One business I was visiting had a sign in the women’s (also the female employees) restroom saying “Are we men or are we women?  Please keep this bathroom clean.”  I would venture to say the relationship between the female employees and the male employees was a little tense.  Any manager that became aware of that should have had a mandatory discussion about respecting each other in the workplace.

If you are a manager, how do you present yourself to employees and customers?  You are of course the example that the rest will follow.  If you make rude remarks about other employees or customers behind their backs that can send a signal.  Do some self reviewing to make sure you are putting the company’s best foot forward. 

The program “Undercover Boss” is a good example of how to find out what is going on at the company, but you can also just learn to be observant and listen to the conversations both on and off the telephone.  It is called MBWA (management by walking around) and it still works.

Good luck!

Here are some reasons we need to address the issue.  An article in the Society for Human Resources (SHRM)News, by author Jeff Brown of Colonial Life and Accident Insurance states the following:  The U.S. spends $147 billion in direct health care costs associated with poor diet and physical inactivity; obesity continues to rise with nearly 28% of adults now considered overweight; diabetes cases in the U.S. have increased nearly 43% since 2001 (9% of the population now has diabetes); over 17% of Americans still smoke!  These costs spill over into the workplace, reflected in absenteeism and increased costs – obese Americans spend 36% more on health care and 77% more on medications than those with healthy weight.

Therefore, wellness programs in companies are becoming among the top cost-control efforts.  The SHRM Employee Benefits report (June 2011) showed that 75% of companies supply their workforce with wellness resources and information.  Many more plan to add this program soon.  Again according to the author, the ROI on wellness programs is compelling – for every dollar invested, companies can save $6 on health insurance costs.

How do companies make this initiative work for them?  First of all, most employees appreciate having the wellness program available, and a large percentage feel that the benefits encouraged them to work harder and perform better.  They also see it as a benefit that increases their loyalty to the company. 

Getting the word out is the most important part of the wellness initiative.  Employers said many of their workers saw that the programs were targeted at those with health problems, or they weren’t aware of the resources available.  Communicating the opportunity needs to get to the personal level ;departments forming groups to participate, leadership championing the effort, or one on one counseling for new employees concerning the program.

An important part of any program is the ability to measure success.  Factors such as improved morale or more effort at work are hard to measure but important.  Then there are the more obvious ones – lower absentee rates, lowered healthcare costs, and better success in recruiting new employees.  The effort put into a wellness program needs to produce measurable results for everyone!

In Maryland, anyway, the practice of requesting a job candidate’s Facebook password as part of the vetting process created enough concerns that legislation was passed to disallow the practice.  The bill introduced by a Maryland assemblymember modifies the existing Labor  Code.   It prohibits bosses from “requesting or requiring that an employee or applicant disclose any user name, password, or other means for accessing a personal account or service through specified electronic communications devices; prohibiting an employer from taking, or threatening to take, specified disciplinary actions for an employee’s refusal to disclose specified password and related information; prohibiting an employee from downloading specified information or data.”

Measures similar to Maryland’s have been introduced in Illinois, Michigan and California.  In California they were pretty specific about their intent – “For purposes of a claim of negligent hiring, an employer does not fail to exercise reasonable care to discover whether a potential employee is unfit or incompetent by the employer’s failure to search or monitor social media before hiring the employee…An employer shall not require an employee or prospective employee to disclose a user name or account password to access social media used by the employee or prospective employee."  The bill is being voted on now.

Facebook had their own comment to make on the issue.  Here’s the statement: "We don’t think employers should be asking prospective employees to provide their passwords because we don’t think it’s right the thing to do. While we do not have any immediate plans to take legal action against any specific employers, we look forward to engaging with policy makers and other stakeholders, to help better safeguard the privacy of our users."

The Justice Department had said during recent congressional testimony that while entering a social networking site in violation of the terms of service is considered a federal crime, it would not prosecute for such violations.

Here in New Mexico law enforcement officers and corrections officers have been punished for social media comments on their jobs or other activities in their lives.  Other job applicants have found that posting pics of themselves partying can really backfire when an employer discovers them.  The venue continues to create issues for everyone involved.

The outside (private) life of an employee does not directly relate to their ability to perform the job they were hired for.  Background checks should be sufficient to screen applicants for sensitive positions.  Interesting how the pendulum has swung – I was questioned about a job description I posted requiring a high school education.  My supervisor said the Labor Department was taking issue with that fairly common requirement because the job did not necessarily require that level of education!  Crazy world.

“Green Jobs” numbers represent people across multiple industries, some of them very obvious and some-not so much.  The BLS defines green jobs as those that produce goods or services that benefit the environment or conserve national resources.  These jobs include those in making solar panels or energy-efficient windows, as well as organic farmers and mill workers making recycled steel.  More of a stretch is including industries such as workers in “used merchandise stores” and school bus transportation.  One sector that I’ve seen defined as green is the IT industry – presumably because we use less resources and paper to communicate and store information.  However…the battery/electrical energy required to keep our IT devices working may be an offset!

If you focus on jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency, the number becomes much smaller, according to the Brookings Institute – 600,000.  Also noted in the CNN Money article is the fact that these jobs are heavily subsidized by the government.  In 2011, $16 billion was spent on assisting various green energy programs.  There is heavy job growth in the wind and solar energy.  Again according to the Brookings Institute the numbers are 8%-10%  growth in these industries.

In the future, this number (green jobs) may become even more ambiguous, as the definition expands to include “workers whose duties involve making their company’s production processes more environmentally friendly”.  One can only assume there will be tax or subsidy benefits to those companies and there will be a lot of reports to highlight recycling or other green efforts in the organization.

Any effort that saves natural resources and improves our environment can’t be bad.  It just seems that the “green jobs” category becomes confusing and blurs the lines between the various industries and their ups and downs!.

In a surveys of 2000 employers, McKinsey Global Institute found that 34% of employers expect that their companies will use more temps in the next five years.  Various reasons were given.  One was that qualified people are hard to find, and staffing agencies say with their expertise and up-to-date resources they are better at finding this talent.  Another was the spiraling costs and regulatory mandates facing employers.  The use of an agency can shift benefit costs and burdensome taxes. A major reason given was that staffing agencies give employers more flexibility.  As business waxes and wanes, they can adjust the workforce accordingly.  As technology changes, they can easily change the type of talent to add to meet these changes.  Also, many job seekers like the flexibility of working for an agency.

There are issues, however.  There are significant costs – a markup over the basic employment costs – to use this service.  Some companies feel that when the cost of hiring and the cost of unemployment benefits are taken into consideration, employers save money.  Staffing agencies are also typically liable for workplace injuries, another savings.

The thing that I found interesting was the statement that most temp workers are really hoping to get hired at some point.  A staffing association survey revealed that 75-90% of these workers are actually looking for permanent positions.  Doesn’t this defeat the purpose of temps?  I guess the one factor is that the employer has a period of time to review the worker’s abilities on the job before they make a job offer.  Stats from staffing agencies showed that in 2010 53% of temporary workers bridged into permanent jobs.

Another issue that comes up is the relationship between temps and regular employees.  There is a perception that the temporary employees aren’t in it for the long haul and aren’t as loyal.  However, employers that use a staffing agency say their employees know that these workers are extra help to assist in meeting business demands or to provide support when major change is happening in the company. 

A company that decides to use a staffing agency still has to do its homework, with a clear staffing plan and a clear understanding of the positions it needs to fill.  Also keep a close watch on the costs associated with temp staffing.  These factors will help to make the best decisions for the organization as it expands (or slows down!).  Good luck.

An article in the Society for Human Resource Management News discusses this new trend and the pros and cons of playful job titles.   Business cards with creative titles attract attention and can be very entertaining.  Once business owner  says that the title “President” is just boring, and as head of a remodeling company calls himself “Head Chef”.  He says he wanted to provide a little entertainment, but also found that these titles filters out potential annoying customers – apparently those with no sense of humor.  Here are some more interesting titles:
* Word Herder –copywriter
* Transportation Captain – logistics supervisor
* Marketing Rockstar – head of marketing
* Happiness Advocate – Head of HR
* Plumber Hero – plumber

Companies with a special focus, such as Build-a-Bear Workshop Inc., incorporate the company identity (a little cutesy but the Benefits Coordinator is the Director-Compbearsation, Bearnefits and Bearvelopment).  The head of a consulting service calls himself the Chief ‘What If’ Officer. 

There is a downside to being too cute – in the job-seeking world it is much wiser to use traditional titles, as applicants can have a tough time figuring out what they are applying for.   A resume with these funky titles listed as past experience might not impress potential employers – they are looking for SERIOUS employees to fill their openings. 

The bottom line is that creative titles, especially on business cards, can create a casual, fun environment for employees and customers – if it is appropriate for your particular industry.  Alternative titles (more traditional terminology) can be used for job descriptions and resumes.  The important thing here is also that the employees understand what their titles commit them to!  One employee relations representative at a traditional manufacturing company wasn’t impressed by the new labels, and preferred the familiar titles to communicate with their industry.

If you are a one-person business, it probably would be better to be very specific about what you do and what services you provide.  Perhaps you can be a little creative in the “mission statement” on your business card or letterhead.  However, having been an HR Manager for a few years, I do think our present system is a little ponderous.  Maybe there is a happy in-between!