Why Enforcing Dress Codes Will Drive All Men Out of HR.....

I like to think of myself as a progressive guy.  Or at least a little strategic at times.  That's why dealing with items like dress code compliance (a cross that all male HR Generalists have had to bear at one point in their careers) will likely drive me from the HR game at some point in the future.  Could be when I am 60, could be next year.  Who knows?

What's the big issue?  The Consumerist recently posted a Dress code it claims is from a Comcast Call Center.  Nothing wrong with Comcast.  However, plenty of challenges when you get 1,000 employees together in 4X6 cubes.  Want to spend your time as a HR pro recruiting?  Maybe developing some management training?  Great - just go talk to Alice (in Cube 317) first about her non-compliance with the dress code.  Apparently she has on what we believe is one of the "never appropriate" items:

-Tank Top
-Midriff Top
-Body Suit
-Flip Flops
-(shudder) Spandex Pants
-Excessively tight clothing
-House Slippers with nasty toes

Could the manager have had the conversation without getting you involved?  Sure.  Without saying something to get you sued?   Hmmm.   So you walk down to Cube 317 to take care of business.  You pull out speech 17b on what's appropriate or not and BAAAM!!!!  Alice tells you she has a medical condition where the spandex in the pants helps her circulation, and the slippers are the only thing her feet will fit into because of the swelling.  You look up and - I'm not joking but you guessed it - there are 20 Call Center Reps, all dressed the right way, watching what you are going to say next.

Backed into a corner, you do what you have to do.  You tell her she'll need to work through some medical documentation to justify the exception, and 3 hours later, when you think you have that one triangulated, you have 3 more medical "necessities" on your desk.  So much for the upscale stuff you were working on.

And there goes your whole week.  If you are in a big, consumer-based Call Center, rinse and repeat.  If you are a male HR Pro, prepare to be verrrry uncomfortable.

PS - Got to love that Comcast chose to plug their corrective action steps right into the Dress Code Policy.  Now that's efficient!!!

UAW/GM - Notes on the "Back to Work" Agreement

The UAW is back on the assembly line at GM, although assessment of the UAW's brief strike against General Motors will be difficult for at least a few more days - not enough details about the agreement are available for evaluation.

In the meantime, two resources for you now and in the days to come:

--The always reliable Union-Free Employer checks in and will undoubtedly be looking over the small print in the days to come...

--A new kid on the block, The Pay and Benefits Guy, has a thoughtful post on what the agreement looks like on his end - and why there may be only losers in this battle...

Next up?  Ford, who has bet all company assets on the latest turnaround plan....

The HR Blog Power Rankings - Week of 9/24/07 [sponsored by the HR Capitalist]

Brands rule.  Think about your life - you are a brand flunky...

Look at you with your iPod, HBO, "Trucker Hat", SUV and most impressively, that "Members Only" jacket.  Nice...

The HR Blogs you spend time with are no different - they're brands, just like the products you pay a 50%premium for.    Rather than pay extra for blog brands, you subscribe via RSS with a tool like Google Reader, or have Feedburner deliver it to your digital doorstep to show your loyalty. 

Which got me to thinking... What world famous brands are some of the top HR blogs most like in my eyes?  Here's my list of blog brand equivalents in the real world:

• KnowHR Blog - KnowHR is the blog equivalent of Apple.  Stylish and always ahead of the curve from a communication/brand image perspective... Thinking Different...
• Compensation Force - I've been drinking the Ann Bares Kool-Aid for some time (more sugar in the next pitcher, Ann), and I think the best brand comparison is IBM Global Services.  Solid.  Savvy.  Won't get you fired by selecting them as a vendor.  Might get you promoted.  Cool commercials...
• 8 hours & a lunch - Let's see, I can get literature, music and quotes at 8 hours.  Sounds like Amazon.  Or Oprah...
• Evil HR Lady - Evil is eBay.  Lots of people passing through and checking in.  Added bonus of not having to give your name, so you can satisfy your needs to bid on that used Charlie's Angels lunchbox without people judging you. 

OK - that's all I got.... I'll take another run at it on the next poll....

The HR Capitalist is proud to announce the HR Blog Power Rankings for the week of 9/24/07!  Rankings below reflect blog entries from August 26th to September 24th across 112 HR-related blogs.  How do we rank them?  Check out the complete Poll Methodology here...

See what rants and riffs spurred my recommendation here...

In our opinion, the top 25 and those also receiving votes represent the best of the HR/Human Capital Blogs.  Thanks to all listed here for your commitment to HR/Human Capital community!

1.   Fortify Your Oasis (Power Rating- 8, Last Poll - #8)
2.   Incentive Intelligence (Power Rating- 7, Last Poll - #9)
3.   KnowHR Blog (Power Rating- 7, Last Poll - #1)
4.   Compensation Force (Power Rating- 6, Last Poll - #1)
5.   Pennsylvania Employment Lawyer & Attorney (Power Rating- 6, Last Poll - #3)
6.   Execupundit (Power Rating- 6, Last Poll - #12)
7.   8 hours & a lunch (Power Rating- 5, Last Poll - #4)
8.   The Business of Management - John Hollon (Power Rating- 5, Last Poll - #6)
9.   All Things Workplace (Power Rating- 5, Last Poll - #16)
10. Three Star Leadership - Wally Bock (Power Rating- 5, Last Poll - #17)
11. Knowledge Infuser (Power Rating- 5, Last Poll - #7)
12. Jon Ingham's (HCM) Blog (Power Rating- 5, Last Poll - #10)
13. Evil HR Lady (Power Rating- 5, Last Poll - #13)
14. The Career Revolution (Power Rating- 4, Last Poll - #14)
15. HR Thoughts (Power Rating- 4, Last Poll - #15)
16. Employee Evolution (Power Rating- 4, Last Poll - #22)
17. Trizle (Power Rating- 4, Last Poll - #5)
18. Talent In China (Power Rating - 4, Last Poll - NR)
19. McArthur's Rant (Power Rating- 3, Last Poll - #24)
20. systematicHR (Power Rating- 3, Last Poll - #18)
21. Ask a Manager (Power Rating- 2, Last Poll - #19)
22. Jim Stroud 2.0 (Power Rating- 2, Last Poll - #11)
21. Taleo Blog (Power Rating- 2, Last Poll - #21)
22. Suits In The Workplace (Power Rating - 2, Last Poll - NR)
23. Stanley Bing (Power Rating - 2, Last Poll - NR)
24. JibberJobber (Power Rating - 2, Last Poll - NR)
25. The Human Capitalist  (Power Rating- 1, Last Poll - #20)


Also Receiving Votes: The Union-Free Employer, Marketing Headhunter, Guerilla HR, The Work Clinic, The Future of Work Weblog, XpertHR > Homepage, Brazen Careerist, People Signals, SittingXLegged, Employee Handbooks, cheezehead, Race in the Workplace,  Complete Potential, Gruntled Employees, Donald H Taylor, My Global Career

On Probation/Not Eligible For Poll - The HR Capitalist (Please Read Anyway!!!)

See the game by game results here....

Mike Gundy - New HR/Anger Management Project or Passionate Leader?

Anger is a funny thing - a word here, a twist there, and people are speed dialing the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) line on your behalf.  Add some references and context, and you're a passionate, "fire in the belly" leader.  Which one is Mike Gundy?  The Oklahoma State coach refused to take questions after Oklahoma State's 49-45 victory against Texas Tech on Saturday, instead expressing outrage at a newspaper column that suggested a quarterback's demotion was a result of his attitude more than his ineffective play.

Take a look and make the determination yourself:

So which is it?   Is Gundy a candidate for an Anger Management intervention, or is he a leader to be praised for standing up for his team?

Couple of side notes for your consideration as well.  You can take a look at the column that provoked this response here.  Additionally, Gundy has been taking heat this week since his comments were directed at a woman, causing some to question whether his response would have been as strong if he was dealing with a male journalist.  Either way, you can bet his team is circling the wagons and loving the passionate defense of a "direct report".

Of course, in athletics you can lash out at external individuals in defense of your team and be a hero.  Harder to pull off in corporate America, where other departments, customers and even vendors are partners you have to work with to get things done moving forward.

I'm tagging Steve at All Things Workplace, Wally at 3-Star Leadership and Michael Moore at PA Employment Lawyer for their thoughts.  What about it guys, is Gundy a true leader or EAP poster child?

Wal-Mart Medical Plans - Better, But Still Not Competitive...

It's easy to beat up on Wal-Mart from an "employer of choice" perspective.  They churn through employees, use as much part-time labor as possible to keep total costs down, and generally haven't offered much in the way of benefits for their workforce.

For a great rundown of the historic attitude towards employee benefits at Wal-Mart, take a look at this memo.  It's a confidential memo that was leaked out from a board meeting in 2005, when a VP of Benefits gave a "state of the state" address on benefit costs to the Wal-Mart board.  If you haven't read this before, it's a must-read.  Among the brainstorming to keep health care costs down in 2005?   To discourage unhealthy job applicants, the VP of Benefits suggests that Wal-Mart arrange for "all jobs to include some physical activity" (e.g., all cashiers do some cart-gathering).  Seeing that in print makes me say, "yikes"...

But change is underway, and Wal-Mart is attempting to position itself as "kinder and gentler" to employees. 

First, the good news.  Multiple media outlets recently reported that Wal-Mart is improving the benefits they will offer employees in 2008.   Looks like Consumer-based plans will rule the day, with Wal-Mart indicating it would give each employee or family that signs up for coverage a grant of $100 to $500 to defray health expenses, while charging premiums as low as $5 a month. The new program, for which workers can sign up starting this month, offers 50 ways to customize coverage with varying trade-offs like higher premiums and lower deductibles.

In one plan, for example, an employee would pay premiums up to $79 a month, receive a health care credit of $100 and pay a deductible of $500. In another, the employee would pay premiums of $8 a month, receive a $100 health care credit, but pay a deductible of $2,000. Though many generic drugs will be available for $4, brand-name drugs will cost $30 to $50.

About half of Wal-Mart workers have coverage from the company, while 40 percent more get their coverage elsewhere — through a spouse, a parent, a second job or a state program like Medicaid. About 10 percent have no health coverage.

Now for the bad news.  While the plan is a positive move, it doesn't go far enough.  The biggest limitation?  Waiting Periods.  Full-time employees must still wait 6 months to be eligible for coverage, and part-timers must wait one year for coverage.  While it's easy to pile on Wal-Mart for the one year requirement for coverage for part-timers, the reality is many companies don't offer benefits for part-timers (it would be interesting to see the number of hours a week on average required for eligibility).

I'm more focused on the full-time equation.  If Wal-Mart would move the eligibility mark to one month for full-timers, they'd limit the majority of what's left to criticize.   

HRonomics - Why Your Attendance Policy and Allen Iverson Are Linked...

Heard last week in an escalation to the desk of the HR Capitalist...

HR Capitalist - "Allen (named changed to protect the identity of the attendance-challenged), your manager mentioned you were upset that you had been counseled about getting to work on time.  She mentioned you requested that I give you a call."

Allen - "Yeah, I wanted to complain to you about this.  I do my job, what's it matter if I am a little late?"

HR Capitalist - "Allen, we try and be as flexible as we can on the attendance front.  It seems like your manager has been very flexible.  She's tried to coach you on at least 5 occasions, and the formal counseling you received reflects 15 instances of you reporting to work late, from 10 minutes to 3 hours depending on the episode."

Allen - "But I do my job!  We're just talking about when I get there.  I'm one of the best when I am there."

HR Capitalist - "Based on our conversations, I think your manager agrees you are very good when you are there.  Since your role with our company is based on serving our customers, and we schedule your position based on call volume, it's important you are there as scheduled, so our customers aren't impacted."

Allen - "Would you rather have good reps on the phone or worry about when they are there?"

HR Capitalist - "I'd like both, since we schedule according to call volume.  Additionally, when you aren't there, it also impacts your teammates as well".

Allen - "How does it impact my teammates?  When I get there is about me, not them."

HR Capitalist - "That's not true.  When you aren't there as scheduled, abandoned rates and hold times go up, meaning your teammates are rushed to get to the next customer.   That impacts quality.  Additionally, they feel the stress of customers who have had to wait longer than they normally would, etc."

Allen - "I disagree with that.  Whether I am there on time is about me, not them...."

And so the dance goes...  While I am a proponent of the Best Buy/IBM/Netflix flexibility when it comes to when and where you work, some jobs are based on availability, like this one.

While the conversation was going on, I was reminded of a classic clip of perennial NBA All-Star Allen Iverson talking about the necessity of practice as long as he showed up and played well in games.  Take a look and see if you can identify any employee you know in this one....

What HR Pros Need to Know About the UAW/GM Strike...

By now, you're hopefully aware that members of the United Automobile Workers union walked off the job today at General Motors plants across the country after union leaders and company officials failed to reach an agreement in contentious talks on a new contract.  That's a big event - one that hasn't happened since 1970.

As usual, the disagreement is over money.  But the primary focus of this round centers around the ongoing cost of benefits as part of the total compensation package.

Here's all you need to know as a HR pro about the strike, and why GM feels compelled to ensure meaningful change this time around.  From the Wall Street Journal prior to the strike:

"This time they mean it. The Big Three (General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler) have talked tough before. They were going to wring concessions out of the UAW in contract negotiations, only to retreat and agree in the end to a costly new labor deal. This time things are different. The Big Three are hemorrhaging money. They say they have to eliminate or narrow the $30-dollar-an-hour cost disadvantage between themselves and their Asian rivals like Toyota, Nissan, and Honda. They have to do something about legacy costs. If the UAW doesn't bend, the companies say they are willing to move investment in plants and people outside the US. The UAW leadership understands the problems and has agreed to some work-rule changes and benefits cuts designed to save money. But the concessions have been small potatoes compared to what the companies say they need. The UAW's leadership has been maneuvering for a couple of years preparing members to cuts. But how far will they be willing and able to go?

That got me wondering what the total talent cost structure was for Detroit automakers.  Here's a clip from the AP I found:

"Detroit News columnist Daniel Howes, citing people familiar with the auto industry's bargaining strategy, reported earlier Wednesday that car makers would seek to cut hourly labor costs by 30 percent, from about $71 to around $50, including wages, pension and health care.

The costs then would be comparable to those of Asian automakers, who pay similar wages but have far lower pension and health care costs, and make thousands of dollars more per vehicle than the Detroit automakers do."

For those of you scoring at home, that's an annualized total comp cost of around $148,000 per FTE for the American automakers, vs. $85,000 for the foreign automakers.

And that's why GM allowed the strike.  The US automakers won't survive intermediate to long-term with the current cost structure... 

Oprah Loves You - So Much She'll Work You 87 Hours a Week....

Pick the statement about Oprah Winfrey from the list below that doesn't belong:

A. Oprah Loves You...
B. Oprah Respects You and wants all to have a work-life balance...
C. Oprah has hosted shows depicting the deplorable working conditions in third world countries...
D. Oprah works production assistants in her company 87 hours a week...

I bet you picked "D", right?  WRONG!!  Trick question.  The correct answer is "B".  Oprah wants most of you to have a work-life balance, unless you are a production assistant in her company, Harpo studios.  The New York Times reported recently that Carla Bird, an assistant at Harpo Studios, is working a LOT of OT for Oprah:

"A woman in a Chicago workplace caused quite a stir recently when she submitted her time sheet. She had worked 800 hours of overtime in 17 weeks, meaning she had been on the job about 12 or 13 hours a day, seven days a week, January through April.

Because the woman, Carla Bird, is an assistant at Oprah Winfrey’s production company, Harpo Studios, and because some seemingly jealous co-workers spread the word to the news media, her $32,000 payout was the talk of those who pay attention to workload for a living. The work/life experts were predictably appalled that Ms. Bird had logged so many hours."

OK, some quick math to see what we are dealing with here.  800 hours of OT in 17 weeks means Bird was working 87 hours a week for Oprah, and regardless of whether we are talking about a 5, 6 or 7 day schedule, that's a lot.  Also, you have to love that since the report was public, we can back into what assistants in Oprah's shop make.  About $26.40 per hour if my math skills are right...

It's easy to have fun with the story, but hard to know for sure what's going on.  It could be the employee popped up and reported this overtime in bulk, and the right thing to do was to pay it. 

Perhaps Oprah has put a "pre-approval" process in place for all OT requests from Bird moving forward?

I doubt it...

All Stars, No Ditchdiggers - The Ocean's Eleven/Netflix Staffing Model

Remember Danny Ocean from Ocean's Eleven?  Ocean had all stars because he had referrals (he knew exactly who to hire for each job), he was offering lots of cash and gave each specialist lots of flexibility to run their part of the show.

I recently riffed in my Workforce.com column that the world needs ditchdiggers too, meaning all of us need to value the contributions of the steady, if unspectacular, employee.  After all, you've got limited resources, so it's hard to fill all your open slots with stars.  Someone's got to make the donuts, and be content with that 3% average increase you're laying out there.

Ditchdiggers are a necessity, if you run the normal company, when it comes to three areas -
1) Compensation, 2) Flexibility, and 3) Performance Management.   If you're dealing with normal compensation restraints, you're going to field a team comprised of a few stars and a bunch of solid performers.  Maybe you'll throw some flexibility in the work environment to keep it fresh, but at the end of the day, you can't afford to be too hardcore with the performance management cycle - you're giving 3% average raises.

Unless you're committed to a fresh approach in all three areas, like NetFlix.  From a recent article in BusinessWeek on the talent strategy of NetFlix, which compares the DVD rental shop to Ocean's Eleven:

"Netflix is where Hastings (Netflix CEO) is trying to revolutionize not only the way people rent movies but also how his managers work. Hastings pays his people lavishly, gives them unlimited vacations, and lets them structure their own compensation packages. In return, he expects ultra-high performance. His 400 salaried employees are each expected to do the jobs of three or four people. Netflix is no frat party with beer bashes and foosball tables. Nor does the company want to play cruise director to its employees. Rather, Netflix is a tough, fulfilling, "fully formed adult" culture, says marketing manager Heather McIlhany. "There's no place to hide at Netflix."

And what happens when someone doesn't live up to expectations? "At most companies, average performers get an average raise," says Hastings. "At Netflix, they get a generous severance package." Why? Because Hastings believes that otherwise managers feel too guilty to let someone go."

The article's a good read and provides a solid follow-up to past articles detailing the "we don't care when or where you work" experiments going on at places like Best Buy and IBM.  The twist to the Netflix model?  Netflix will pay big for your contributions in addition to giving you the flexibility you want, but you either perform or you're out the door.  Like Danny Ocean in Ocean's Eleven, they'll get who they want and pay them well (what did the Ocean's Eleven crew get?  Something like 11M per convict?), but the stakes are high and the pressure is likely on all the time.  Jail or death in the movie, performance termination at Netflix.  Can't be an 8 to 5 person in Vegas or at Netflix.

All that cash and flexibility comes at a price.  Make sure you are an "A" player before you sign up.

Sexual Harassment Trials and the Media: A Cautionary Tale

Talent wins.  Whether the game is business or sports, the managers/coaches can only enhance performance to certain levels.  You've got to have the horses to win the game.

The pressure to have strong talent can also cause you to make decisions you wouldn't ordinarily make.   Consider the cautionary tale of the New York Knicks (pro basketball) and Isiah Thomas.    Thomas is a former All-Star player who has transitioned into the role of executive for the NBA's premier franchise (the Knicks).

Thomas and the Knicks are also currently embroiled in a nasty lawsuit. Lawyers for a former Madison Square Garden executive suing New York Knicks coach and president Isiah Thomas for sexual harassment, rested her case after four days of testimony portraying him as a foul-mouthed jock who loathed and then loved her.  Details from ABC News on the four days of testimony:

-On Tuesday, Jeffrey Nix a 15-year employee of the NBA team, took the stand in U.S. District Court to recount a series of 2004 conversations he had with his friend and co-worker. Browne Sanders, in tones of disgust, detailed how Thomas initially treated her with contempt shortly after his December 2003 arrival in New York, Nix testified.

-At one meeting meant to resolve any issues between Browne Sanders and Thomas, the two-time NBA champion guard lashed out at her by calling her a "bitch" and reminding her in even harsher language he is the president of the team, Nix said his friend told him.

--Browne Sanders also told Nix, he testified, that Thomas had asked her in March 2004: "What are your job responsibilities, you ... ho?" Thomas added an obscenity for emphasis, according to the secondhand account.

--By the end of the year, though, Nix testified that he saw Thomas embracing Browne Sanders in Madison Square Garden after a Knicks' victory and watched as his friend pushed the coach away. "You're not going to believe what he just said," Nix quoted Browne Sanders as saying. "He just said, 'I'm in love with you. It's like (the movie) 'Love and Basketball."

Making the whole thing nastier is the fact that Browne Sanders was fired by the owner (Jim Dolan) of the club almost immediately after being informed by his VP of HR that the defendant was impeding the investigation by coercing "her direct reports into collaborating her complaints."  Unfortunately, no one ever confronted Brown Sanders with those allegations before she was terminated...

The moral?  Companies have to conduct due diligence with any allegation before they start terminating people, especially those who have filed a complaint in an area like harassment.  Your star performers may be the ones included in the allegations, but you can't let that affect your judgment.   

It will be interesting to follow this one - you don't get a lot of opportunities to see all the testimony in print in cases like this...

The 30 Highest Paid HR Execs - Get My Agent On the Phone!!

Workforce Management recently highlighted the 30 Highest-Paid HR Execs at publically traded companies in the US.  Couple of key observations from the desk of the Capitalist:

You - Working hard for the money.
Them - Working hard for significantly more money.

You - No employment contract, living the "at-will" lifestyle.
Them - Able to generate 12M (that's million, Dr. Evil) in severance payouts if it doesn't work out.

You - Hoping the team finds a way to hit the crazy "stretch" numbers so you can get part of that annual bonus check.
Them - One bonus plan isn't enough.  Needed to break it up among "Bonus" and "Non-Equity Incentive Plan Compensation" to keep it all straight.

Them - Must have a pretty good agent.
Me - In need of agent.  Looking for the number of Drew Rosenhaus (uber-agent for Terrell Owens among others) in my Outlook Contacts.

See the PDF of the detailed list here.   I need one of two things to resolve this inequity.  Either Ann Bares needs to sell a salary survey to my company, or I need the profane skills of Ari Gold of Entourage to market my capabilities more effectively...

When Your Job Offer Process Takes On a "Stalker" Quality....

Two main things to remember regarding your recruiting brand.  Don't expose your candidates to hiring managers that hurt your brand and move fast.  Nobody likes to be interviewed and then put on hold for 2-3 weeks.

Of course, moving too fast might be a bad thing as well.  Lisa from HR Thoughts and Ask a Manager hit the comments yesterday and asked the right question:

From Lisa - "From the queen of sssslllllloooooowwwww federal hiring processes, I throw a question out - do you think a hiring process can move too fast, in effect "scaring off" a candidate with its intensity?!"

From Ask A Manager - "I'd love to hear answers to Lisa's question too. I tend to move pretty quickly, but there have been times when I have consciously slowed myself down, because I didn't want a candidate to think we were overeager. The fact is, when I find the right person, I know it -- and I want to snatch them up ... but I do sometimes pull back a bit so they don't mistake that for desperation."

Moving fast is good.  ABC... Always... be.... closing...  But close too fast and you'll definitely give the candidate that easy to spot "stalker" vibe.  Closing is like the classic dating scenes in the movies.  Get the number, then wait a couple of days to ensure you don't look like a chump.  Call the same night, and the restraining order can't be far behind.

Of course, if you are marketing correctly during the process, the candidate won't mind if you call the next day, because they'll want the offer.  It really depends how good you are at selling.  Have a sloppy hiring manager in the mix, and the candidate might need at least 3 days to get over the lameness hangover.  2 days seems like a safe bet after a round of interviews to make the offer.  Make it sooner and you might miss, or it might cost you $$$ in a counter-offer process.  If you are thinking you need to wait a week, you probably aren't connecting in the process or selling hard enough.

Or you can be like Mikey from Swingers and call the candidate before they even get home.  Watch and wince.....

 

Recruiting Brand 101 - Candidates Think Your Hiring Managers are L.A.M.E.

How's your recruiting brand?  Got the website, collateral for candidates, maybe even some video?  Cool!!!!

Do your hiring managers reinforce the brand you are trying to create?  Or are they lame, non-communicators destroying all the brand equity you're building in your company as an "employer of choice"?

Stop and think about this one.  A while back, I riffed that the best way to lose talent was to be slow.  Slow to call candidates back after phone screens, slow to get them in to interview after phone screens, slow to pick them up in the lobby for the interview, whatever.  Act slow and candidates start to think your company is a boring, stale, disorganized place to work.  Period.

Speed to market is still my number one driver to create candidate momentum and get a deal inked with the talent you covet.  DDI/Monster recently repackaged the same survey results and focused on ineffective hiring managers, so it's a good time to revisit the other drivers that make candidates think your workplace stinks.  Here are the top drivers of candidate dissatisfaction in the interview process from the DDI study:

"70 Percent of Job Seekers Say Aloof is Annoying. Job seekers identify a number of interviewer behaviors that adversely affect their willingness to work at the company in question. For instance, 70% of interviewees rank “acting like has no time to talk to me” as a common – and annoying– behavior of hiring managers and staffing directors. Other irritating behaviors exhibited by interviewers include:

- Withholding information about position (57%)

- Turning interview into cross-examination (51%)

- Showing up late (48%)

- Appearing unprepared for interview (47%)
- Asking questions unrelated to job skills (43%)"

This should be scary to every HR Pro, because you can spend 10-20 hours on a search, only to have your hard work destroyed by a hiring manager who considers interviewing the 10th or 11th most important task they've handled on a given day.  More important than the destruction of your personal work is the loss of the best talent available, which means you'll soon be filling the same position again.

What's the best strategy for limiting the influence of hiring managers with the personality/demeanor of a depressed, irritable Dr. Cox from Scrubs?  My favorite strategy is to rely on one or two hiring managers per department who have proven their marketing abilities in the recruiting process.

Eliminate the deadbeats from the process or pay the price... 

Pay for Performance - Your Company vs. Uncle Sam

Most people think of "Pay for Performance" and immediately frame the conversation in the following manner - the private sector does it, the Federal Government does not.   For years that's been true, although the rewards for high performers over low performers in the private sector haven't been as great as many would expect given the hype.

The lack of merit-related compensation may be changing at the Federal level.  The Washington Post reports The Pentagon is taking its first big step to break away from the government's primary pay system, sending a strong signal to Defense Department civilian workers that their salaries will increasingly hinge on job performance.

The department's change in pay strategy applies to about 110,000 civil service employees who are in the first phase of the new National Security Personnel System, known as NSPS.  The government's major pay system, the General Schedule, has traditionally passed along the pay raise set by the Congress to about 1.6 million workers in a predictable fashion each year, some would say by rewarding longevity over performance.

Here's the breakdown of how a combo of merit pay will work for those eligible/impacted within the Defense Department from the Post:

"--1.25% for a base pay increase, provided eligible employees.

--1% as a local-market supplement, provided eligible employees. It would mirror the "locality pay" provided other federal employees, and the actual amount would vary by metropolitan area.

--1.25 % for performance raises, awarded after managers have evaluated employees based on a five-level rating system. (Under NSPS, employees who have been rated as "unacceptable" in their job do not receive any raises.)

The allocation for performance raises would go into a pot of money that includes other funding streams, such as the 2.26% of the Pentagon payroll that used to go for quality step increases and promotion raises in the old system. Funds set aside for bonuses, usually 1 percent to 1.5% of payroll, also go into this pot."

With that in mind, it looks like up to 2.25% of an increase would be based on non-performance factors, with somewhere between 4.51% to 5.01% available for performance-related merit increases.  That would indicate the total range of increases for the eligible group would be 2.25% for the lowest performers, up to 7.26% for the highest performers.

Sound strong or lame?  Remember the performance-related data provided by Ann Bares at Compensation Force?  Bares cites a Mercer compensation survey of the private sector showing the highest performing employees receiving base pay increases of 5.7% in 2007, compared to 3.5% for average performers and 1.7% for the weakest performers.

With that in mind, the plan at the DOD seems valid, even stronger than market in some ways.  Here's hoping they get through the Change Management side of the transition with the plan intact and implemented in a positive fashion.

More on employee contributions for Medical Coverage....

No bigger hot-button topic than what your talent has to pay for medical coverage via employee contributions.  Here's the updated info that's been made publicly available recently to help gauge where you are at in the food chain:

---Private-Sector companies - The Kaiser Family Foundation, a health care research organization that annually tracks the cost of health insurance, reported in, an annual cost survey, that PPO coverage is the most costly option.   For family coverage, companies pay $1,008 per month under fully insured plans, with employees picking up $3,281 annually of that cost, or $126 per pay period (assumes 26 pay periods).

---Federal Government - The Washington Post reports that the government sponsors 283 different health care plans, the most popular of which are two Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans (most likely the gold-plated PPO variety). Enrollees in these plans will see their premium costs go up between 3% and 8.5% in 2008. The bi-weekly premium, for families in the standard option plan, will be $145.14, $10.84 more than this year.   About 60% of federal employees are reported to be in the BCBS network at various coverage levels (ee only, EE+1, Family).

While it's hard to get plan quality details from this top level report, it's clear that more and more companies are being more aggressive with cost sharing on the medical plan side.  Additionally, the cost share on the Federal Government side is much more aggressive than I was expecting.  More detail from the Post report shares that the Federal Government picks up about 70 percent of premium costs in its role as employer.

Interesting data - compare and contrast with the total comp value play at your company...

Dirty Little Secrets and Your EAP (Employee Assistance Program)

Want to get a bunch of HR people nodding their heads?  Make a statement about the value of the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) our companies offer, usually as part of the Life Insurance suite.  It's true, it's a great product and every once in a while we get a great chance to refer someone to it and it does some good.  Much patting on the back usually commences...

Of course, most of us don't market it hard enough.  Or anywhere close to hard enough - including me.   I have no marketing strategy other than to simply list it on my benefit marketing collateral we use in the recruiting biz.   Most of you are just like me.  I really, really need a strategy in this area to make sure people understand it's there for their confidential use...

What's got the Capitalist thinking about EAPs?  Uh...It's not my life, honest...  Nothing but a Ward Cleaver, vanilla-type existence here.  Please don't stare at me....

OK, two things actually got me thinking about our EAP.  First up, Deb at 8 Hours and a Lunch did a rocking post about the value of an EAP, which I thought was great.  Second, I was watching FUSE the other night for a fix of Alternative Rock (what did you expect from the Capitalist?  Britney Spears?), and a video came up from a band called the All-American Rejects.

The cut is called "Dirty Little Secret", which features about 30 people holding up cards detailing what makes them feel like a freak.  It's a good reminder that all of us have our issues (except of course, for Ward), and at times of weakness we might need a resource like your underutilized EAP.  Check out the video to get the flavor and think about it during the next four random conversations you have in the office...

Maybe I should get outside the box and use this video to market the EAP inside our company... 

Visionary Stuff - Inflatable Pigs In Front of Your Building....

I'm a little late to the game on this one, but I couldn't resist a belated post.  The old innovation in labor organizing?  Inflatable rats in front of buildings in NYC.  The new innovation from labor?  Inflatable Pigs!!  From FinancialWeek:

"During the past several months, labor organizers in New York City have been introducing the  “greedy pig” balloon to employers at their work sites. The 12-foot-tall balloon portrays a sneering creature decked out in a top hat and suit, chomping on a cigar.

While the giant rat, with its sharp fangs and beady eyes, has been effective in getting people’s attention, it was time for something new, said Richard Weiss, a spokesman for Construction and General Building Laborers Local 79, a New York union that helped design the pig a couple of years ago.

“We felt that it was time to spice it up,” he said."

Alrighty then... Marketing 101... When the best rational argument/benefit summary you can provide no longer resonates with the target audience, it's time for.... Shock and Awe!!!

Morty!  Attendance was down at the meeting last night.  Cue the Pig!!  And get some scab picket line participants from the temp agency while you're on the phone.

What's next?  The inflatable leech attached to the building?

The HR Blog Power Rankings - Week of 9/10/07 [sponsored by the HR Capitalist]

Good Poll Results - Oklahoma drills Miami and moves from #8 to #3 in the College Football Top 25...

Bad Poll Results - Michigan drop-kicks their first two games to App State and Oregon and drops out of the same poll....

What about the HR Blogs?

The HR Capitalist is proud to announce the HR Blog Power Rankings for the week of 9/10/07!  Rankings below reflect blog entries from August 12th to September 11th across 112 HR-related blogs.  How do we rank them?  Check out the complete Poll Methodology here...

The short version the methodology is that I have my Google Reader set up to read all 112 blogs for the period in question.  Using the star feature, I identify the entries I would recommend to my HR colleagues.  The more recommendations, the higher the power ranking and the poll position. 

See what rants and riffs spurred my recommendation here...

In our opinion, the top 25 and those also receiving votes represent the best of the HR/Human Capital Blogs.  Thanks to all listed here for your commitment to HR/Human Capital community!

1.(Tie) Compensation Force (Power Rating- 8, Last Poll - #1)
1.(Tie) KnowHR Blog (Power Rating- 8, Last Poll - #16)
3.   Pennsylvania Employment Lawyer & Attorney (Power Rating- 6, Last Poll - #3)
4.   8 hours & a lunch (Power Rating- 5, Last Poll - #5)
5.   Trizle (Power Rating- 5, Last Poll - #24)
6.   The Business of Management - John Hollon (Power Rating- 5, Last Poll - #6)
7.   Knowledge Infuser (Power Rating- 5, Last Poll - #25)
8.   Fortify Your Oasis (Power Rating- 5, Last Poll - #9)
9.   Incentive Intelligence (Power Rating- 5, Last Poll - #19)
10. Jon Ingham's (HCM) Blog (Power Rating- 5, Last Poll - #14)
11. Jim Stroud 2.0 (Power Rating- 5, Last Poll - #15)
12. Execupundit (Power Rating- 5, Last Poll - NR)
13. Evil HR Lady (Power Rating- 5, Last Poll - #11)
14. The Career Revolution (Power Rating- 4, Last Poll - #13)
15. HR Thoughts (Power Rating- 4, Last Poll - #4)
16. All Things Workplace (Power Rating- 4, Last Poll - #23)
17. Three Star Leadership - Wally Bock (Power Rating- 3, Last Poll - #7)
18. systematicHR (Power Rating- 3, Last Poll - #2)
19. Ask a Manager (Power Rating- 2, Last Poll - #8)
20. The Human Capitalist  (Power Rating- 2, Last Poll - #10) 
21. Taleo Blog (Power Rating- 2, Last Poll - #17)
22. Employee Evolution (Power Rating- 2, Last Poll - #12)
23. The Work Clinic (Power Rating- 2, Last Poll - #25) 
24. McArthur's Rant (Power Rating- 2, Last Poll - #22)
25. The Future of Work Weblog  (Power Rating- 2, Last Poll - NR)

Also Receiving Votes: XpertHR > Homepage, Suits In The Workplace, Brazen Careerist, JibberJobber, Evil HRIS Guy, People Signals, SittingXLegged, Employee Handbooks, cheezehead, Race in the Workplace,  Stanley Bing, Complete Potential, Gruntled Employees, Donald H Taylor, My Global Career

On Probation/Not Eligible For Poll - The HR Capitalist (Please Read Anyway!!!)

See the game by game results here....

Employees Pay Average of $3,281 Annually for Family Healthcare Premiums

How much do I have to pay?  I know you've heard that question before.  Whether you are recruiting, budgeting or getting cold-called by a benefits vendor, everyone wants to know what your plan costs.

Of course, simply stating what your health care plan costs employees per paycheck doesn't speak to the quality of the plan, or the coverage it provides.  Most parties seem less interested in the quality question - they simply want to know what it costs.

A new survey is out, conducted by the the Kaiser Family Foundation, a health care research organization that annually tracks the cost of health insurance.  Many of the more than 3,000 companies surveyed said they planned to make significant changes to their health plans and benefits, and nearly half said they were very or somewhat likely to raise premiums.  From the survey:

"This year, premiums reached an average of $12,106 for a family of four, with workers paying, on average, $3,281 of that. Premiums to cover a single person cost $4,479, with employees paying $694. The portions both families and single people pay in premiums has nearly doubled since 2001.

The companies reported that premiums for families increased 6.1 percent, on average. That's the lowest growth rate since 1999, when premiums rose 5.3 percent and cost an average of $2,196 for individuals and $5,791 for families. Health care premiums rose 7.7 percent last year, when individuals paid an average of $4,242 and families paid $11,480."

The good news is that premium increases seem to be under control.  The bad news is that the survey doesn't really control for the quality of the plan, meaning the results are hard to draw firm conclusions from.  If items like co-pays and co-insurance are on the rise, then the true cost increase may be higher than 6.1%.  It's a quality thing.

Here's the data you can use.  As you would expect, family coverage is the most costly option, with companies paying $1,008 per month under fully insured plans.  Employees pick up $3,281 annually of that cost, or $126 per pay period (assumes 26 pay periods).  That gives you a nice barometer on the market as you shop medical coverage, and also illustrates what employees can expect to pay out of paychecks for their health care.  How do you stack up? 

Incentive Intelligence and the Wisdom of Incentives...

Incentive Intelligence has a great post on when to use recognition and when to use incentives.  Here's the advice in a nutshell:

"Recognize what you don't want to change.  Create an incentive around things you think will change."

Great insight from a credible expert focused on this single niche area of your practice.  The post is well-worth the read, so check it out here....

"Big Boned" 101 - Why You Will Have Your BMI Memorized in the Next 5 Years...

Michael Moore, resident blogger at The Pennsylvania Employment Law Blog (A capitalist favorite and a top 5 HR blog in the Power Rankings) has been busy running down the 411 on Body Mass Index, also known as your BMI.  For those of you who don't know, BMI is a function of height and weight (BMI calculator).   The Center for Disease Control classifies a person who has a BMI of less than 18.5 as underweight; normal is 18.5-24.9; overweight is 25-29.9; obese is over 30; and extremely obese is over 40. Among the nuggets from the "other" Michael Moore:

"Other than being incorrectly labeled "overweight" or "obese", why should we care whether BMI is a accurate health status predictor? BMI is fast becoming the legal standard for determining whether someone is "obese" and therefore a "health risk". With this label comes a whole host of employment and benefit consequences:

• Cost of and Eligibility for Certain Employee Benefits

Individual insurance policies for life, disability and medical insurance almost universally use underwriting procedures that take into account BMI as a basis for determining insurability and premium.  A survey by the Texas Office of Public Insurance Counsel found that insurance company individual health plan underwriting guidelines used BMI as a basis to deny coverage, charge a higher premium, and offer less coverage. The California Insurance Commission has made comments alerting consumers about BMI as a basis for insurance denial.

Some group health plans are community rated and not subject to medical underwriting. These plans calculate premium based on the expected claims of the community not the individual employer group.  Other group health insurance programs can be subject to medical underwriting in which BMI analysis and other factors will be used to price the coverage for the group.  An employer with  a compliment of employees with potential for high claims (including high BMI) will face higher premiums or denial. Likewise, self-insured medical plans that utilize stop loss coverage may undergo medical underwriting where BMI will be factored into the rate for reinsurance.."

If all that's too heavy for you (no pun intended), check out MM's breakdown of collective BMI across PA-area pro sports teams:

BMI BOWL

TEAM	Average  BMI	% Roster with BMI  >   30
Philadelphia Eagles	32.77	62.96%
Pittsburgh Steelers	31.84	56.7%
Pittsburgh Pirates	27.30	9.67%
Philadelphia Phillies	27.16	3.1%
Philadelphia Flyers	26.82	0%
Pittsburgh Penguins	26.58	4.5%
Philadelphia 76ers	24.51	0%
Detroit Shock (WNBA)	23.26	0%
1996 U.S. Olympic Women's Gymnastics	18.79	0%

Looks like the Offensive and Defensive lineman are at risk.  Would be interesting to see what the average expected lifespan of a NFL lineman is.  I'm guessing with that type of BMI for a long period of time, it's well below average.

Like Willie once sang (or was it Don Meridith?) "Mommas, don't let your babies grow up to be Left Tackles".....

The Jerk Hall of Fame - "The Customer Hoarder"

Sometimes there is a method to the madness.  Or a hostage.....

Companies can come up with multiple rationalizations for keeping Jerks in the workplace.  Some are real reasons, other are flimsy excuses not to confront.  Among the real reasons companies rationalize keeping Jerks around? The Customer Hoarder.  Who is this individual?  Read on:

The Customer Hoarder owns your most important customers: A specialized form of the knowledge hoarder, this "customer hoarder" has been allowed over time to carve out a position as the sole individual responsible for talking to your customers, often the most important ones. Most commonly seen in sales and support functions, the managers at your company will often avoid confrontation with this flavor of jerk so they can make it through the next month or quarter.

I once knew a customer hoarder so focused on controlling access to preferred customers that he/she refused to share a existing customer list with new sales reps.  The solution if the new sales reps needed to contact an existing customer?  The hoarder farmed out the necessary name and number, one contact at a time as needed.  They also gave it verbally, refusing to email or write it down.

That's control and customer hoarding at its best.  The only way to unseat this flavor of workplace jerk?  Makes sales quota dependent on hunting new business, not collecting orders off of exiting customers...

Saving Your Company's Culture By Embracing the Crazy People

HR People have been known to be "command and control" when it comes to having fun.

So what about you Catbert?  Are you prepared to let your employees have fun and spice it up in the workplace?  Yeah?  What about when they go after your most important stars at the next company function, or (gasp) your executives via impressions in front of your entire company?  Still confident you are bleeding edge in this area?

It's OK, everyone is a little hesitant to let the youngsters on stage to mimic the most visible employees in your company.   People have been known to fire someone before such a performance is even complete.

Of course, such a session might contribute to your employees feeling like your work environment is a cool place to work.

Or in the case of professional Tennis, like your sport might actually be worth watching.

Take a look at the clip below.  There's a new men's player on the scene named Novak Djokovic who made it all the way to the Men's US Open final before being defeated by some robo-legend named Roger Federer.  What makes him special?  He can play AND entertain.  The entertain part has been sadly missing in men's tennis for awhile - some would say the Sampras/Agassi rivalry was the last time the tour had entertainment, others show their age and say the thing hasn't been worth watching since McEnroe...

In any event, there's a new sheriff in town and his name is Djokovic (aptly pronouced Joke-a-vich).  Find a Djokovic in your company, give him a stage, and watch the culture get healthier in a hurry....

Like the Jeffersons, these HR Blogs are "Moving On Up"....

Last Week, The HR Capitalist announced the first installation of the HR Blog Power Rankings, with rankings reflecting blog entries from July 30th to August 29th across 103 HR-related blogs.  Check out the complete Poll Methodology here...

Next Poll is set to print on 9/13 or 9/14.  Who's hot leading up to the next poll?  At the halfway mark, these blogs are "moving on up" the list:

--KnowHR Blog - Frank's on fire with posts on Jerk Free Jobs, Counterintuitive Communication and giving high school grads a chance. 

--Trizle - Quirky style, but it works for me.  An original flavor...

--Fortify Your Oasis - Rowan's waxing on zero-sum training games and the Definitive Job-Hunt. 

--Knowledge Infuser - Jason has a cool poll determining your technology typography<