HR Issues 2006 05

							 Human Resources Enterprise

HR Issues & Trends
May 2006


HR Issues & Trends is a way for you to stay on top of HR happenings in the workplace.
This electronic publication draws from various articles that concern human resource issues.
The intent of this publication is to stimulate thinking among State of Iowa HR practitioners
about ideas that can help them do their jobs better, improve their organizations efficiency
and effectiveness, and respond to future developments more proactively. We are also
encouraging departments to review these articles to gain ideas and insights on how to
better improve the diversity of State government. HR Issues & Trends will be distributed
once a month. If you find articles or sources that will add value to this publication and
better inform other departments please forward that information to Joe.ellis@iowa.gov.

Thanks to following individuals who provided some of the sources summarized in this
report: Mike Frost, Kevin Pokorny and Dawn Peterson.



ADA/PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES
Another ADA Catch To Consider: It’s well-known that the Americans with Disabilities Act
(ADA) covers individuals without disabilities, if they are regarded as disabled or have a past
history of disability. But there’s another catch. Less-well-known is the other group of people
who can be in perfect health, but who may also qualify for ADA protection: those who have
a relationship or association with an individual with a disability. Here are common ways
managers can violate the ADA’s association provision.
http://www.ahipubs.com/singleissue/2006/mlbnljan1506.html

Ban from Campus Following Threats is Not Retaliation for Reasonable
Accommodations Requests: University provided a legitimate, nondiscriminatory
explanation for its decision to ban plaintiff from campus which plaintiff failed to show was a
pretext for retaliation based on his ADA complaint; plaintiff failed to show that he was
otherwise qualified, with reasonable specific accommodations, to meet prerequisites for
admission into the university's graduate school program and was not entitled to relief under
the ADA. Craig Mershon v. St. Louis University ( 04/05/06): U.S. Court of Appeals, Opinion
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION/EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
EEOC Turing Attention to Broader Cases: The country’s chief watchdog on employment
discrimination will shift its focus to cases of "systemic" inequality that transcend a single
complaint, rather than solely responding to cases brought to its attention by individual
plaintiffs. http://www.workforce.com/section/00/article/24/34/66.html

EEOC Guidelines Aim To Lessen Subtle Race Discrimination: The US Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued new guidelines aimed at
combating subtle forms of race discrimination. The new compliance manual does not
change existing job discrimination laws, but it was written to give employers,
employees and lawyers better guidance on emerging areas of racial bias, which
currently make up one-third of EEOC complaints. They include English-only language
discrimination against immigrants, incidents of discrimination in which minority
employers favor their own groups, as well as instances of illegal exclusion of minority
employees from advancement, networking and other job opportunities. The manual
also addresses haras.sment and retaliation, "glass ceilings" for groups based on
stereotypes, as well as cases in which discrimination may involve a multiple set of
categories. MORE and EEOC Compliance Manual

EEOC Says Not Enough Women and Minorities in Finance Industry. The US
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released a report showing that
the representation of women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and American
Indians /Alaskan Natives as managers in the financial services industry is still lagging.
The report found that the percentage of women officials and managers is highest in
banking/credit (48.6%) and lowest in the securities sector (33.8%). African Americans
holding the same higher-level positions amount to 7% in banking/credit and 4.4% in
the securities industry. The percentage of Hispanic officials and managers is highest in
Central Banking (5.1%) and lowest in Securities (2.9%), while the highest percentage
of Asian officials and managers is in Securities (6.4%) and the lowest percentage is in
Central Banking and Insurance (2.8%). MORE

SHRM Urges OFCCP to End EO Survey: The Equal Opportunity (EO) Survey requires federal
contractors to report applicant, hiring, promotion, termination, and incumbency data for
“full-time” employees based on EEO-1 categories. The EO Survey also requests
compensation data by EEO-1 category.
http://www.epexperts.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=2185

High Court May Clarify Standard for Retaliation: Employees who file a
discrimination complaint and are fired or have their pay reduced can make a strong
case showing illegal retaliation. But the law is vague on a key question: How harsh
does the employer's retaliation have to be before it violates the law? 1) Read more
about the case before the Supreme Court.
2) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2006/04/17/AR2006041701310.html?referrer=emailarticle

Wal-Mart Publishes EEO Data Online After Shareholder Request: The country's
largest private employer placed its equal-employment-opportunity data online Tuesday,
along with a report detailing its recent diversity efforts, setting the standard for
transparency in diversity, a shareholder-advocacy group said.
http://hr.cch.com/news/employment/042006a.asp
Discipline Can be Dissimilar for Employees Not Similarly Situated: Employer
submitted legitimate and nondiscriminatory reasons for the adverse actions and employee
did not show those reasons were pretextual. Conduct did not rise to level of a hostile work
environment. Civil rights claims failed because employee did not show she suffered adverse
action for protected First Amendment activities, she was not treated less favorably than
similarly situated employees and the conduct did not shock the conscience. Andrea Martin
v. State of MO, 043941U.pdf 04/12/06 U.S. Court of Appeals


AGING WORKFORCE
Old. Smart. Productive. Rather than being an economic deadweight, the next generation
of older Americans is likely to make a much bigger contribution to the economy than many
of today's forecasts predict. http://biz.yahoo.com/special/smart05_article1.html

Adapting to Older Workers: The ranks of workers 55 and older are swelling, yet few
employers have adjusted to meet the needs of this strategically important segment of
the workforce. Researcher and author Ken Dychtwald says companies should start
thinking about how to accommodate older workers before they lose vital experience.
Read more about Dychtwald's views on the aging workforce. >>>


BENEFITS
Workplace Addiction: One of the most difficult situations for managers to deal with is
when they suspect an employee may have a problem with alcohol or drugs. What are the
warning signs? How should a manager communicate to an employee about his or her
observations of the employee’s behavior? What should a manager document? This article
from Forbes.Com offers 7 steps to handle employee substance abuse incorporating
PowerPoint™ slides to illustrate each step. This article is a great refresher in providing
guidance to managers in how to handle workplace addiction.
http://www.forbes.com/business/2006/04/05/drug-alcohol-workplace-
cx_sr_0406addiction.html


DIVERSITY
Diversity at Work: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that by 2008, 70 percent
of all new entrants into the work force will be women and people of color. DiversityInc.com
Factoid

Diversity Lacking in Technical Occupations: According to the National Science Board's
2006 Science and Engineering Indicators, the United States still relies on foreign talent: 40
percent of doctorate holders in science and engineering occupations in 2003 were foreign
born. The proportions of women, blacks and Latinos in science and engineering occupations
have grown, but they still are well below their respective proportions of the population,
according to the report. The percentage of women grew from 12 to 25 between 1980 and
2000, the percentage of blacks rose from 2.6 to 6.9, and the percentage of Latinos
increased from 2.0 to 3.2. DiversityInc.com Factoid

Visa Limits Fuel Frustration in Efforts to Fill High-skill Jobs: Observers say firms are
being forced to drop key projects or offshore more work; a proposal to raise the cap on H-
1B visas could provide relief. Read about the difficulties in recruiting employees who
require an H-1B visa to work in the U.S.

Magazine Lists Top Companies for Diversity: DiversityInc, a magazine focusing on
diversity in business and the marketplace, released its "2006 DiversityInc Top 50
Companies for Diversity" list this week. Read on ...

Redefining the Imperative for Leveraging Diversity and Inclusion: A Fresh Look
Making diversity a means in service of your organization's mission and key strategies. More

Businesses: Capitalize on Diversity: Integration was the message of the Iowa
Careers Consortium's third roundtable discussion.
http://www.gazetteonline.com/2006/04/20/Home/News/diversity.htm

New Study Shows That Diverse Groups Make Better Decisions: When it comes to
making tough decisions, inclusive groups fare better than homogenous ones, according to
new Tufts University research on juries. According to the study, which was published in the
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology's April issue, the disparity is due in part to
unwillingness by all-white juries to introduce the issue of race and its effects on the case.
http://www.apa.org/releases/0406_JPSP_Sommer.pdf


FLSA
Wage and Hour Actions Outpace All Other Class Actions: Class actions and class-
action reform have been in the forefront of the political landscape in recent months.
http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2003/11/17/focus7.html


FMLA
Expect an FMLA Rule Change Proposal by June: The Department of Labor says it will
soon publish a proposed rule that would change regulations covering the Family Medical and
Leave Act (FMLA) so they will conform to recent court decisions.
Read on ...


HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT
Study: Being Strategic Presents HR Challenges: HR business-process outsourcing is
supposed to free up HR professionals to take on more strategic tasks. A new study,
however, finds that adoption of HR BPO is outpacing the skills and expertise of many in HR.
MORE (Free Registration Required)

Study Identifies HR Contributions to Shareholder Value: Performance management,
rewards, succession planning, recruiting, communications, HR technology and the overall
HR function can significantly contribute to shareholder value if companies design and
implement their programs in a formalized way, according to a new study by Watson Wyatt
and the Human Resource Planning Society. The recently completed study was introduced at
the 2006 Human Resource Planning Society Annual Global Conference, taking place April
23-26 in Tucson, Arizona. http://www.workforce.com/section/00/article/24/34/49.html
LABOR FORCE
Current Employment Statistics (CES) Each month the CES program surveys about
160,000 businesses and government agencies, representing approximately 400,000
individual worksites, in order to provide detailed industry data on employment, hours, and
earnings of workers on nonfarm payrolls for all 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto
Rico, the Virgin Islands, and over 400 metropolitan areas and divisions.
http://www.bls.gov/sae/


PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT/PRODUCTIVITY
Employee Must Attend Work to Perform Essential Functions: This employee was
absent about 40% of the time in 2000 and 2001 (172 days from 6/00-3/02). Exhausted his
12 weeks of FMLA each year and then had additional lengthy time off each year. Employer
had approved his leaves and didn’t dispute the medical necessity of the leaves. Employee
terminates him for his absenteeism. Excerpt: “… an employee who cannot attend work
cannot perform the essential functions of his job. This is true even when the absences are
with the employer’s permission. [His] absence, which peaked at 96 days in a one-year
period, are well beyond the level of non-attendance that we said in Pickens [v. Soo Lines,
2001] amounted to an inability to perform one’s job.” James Schierhoff v. GlaxoSmithKline,
U.S. Court of Appeals http://www.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/06/04/051552P.pdf

Personal Debt Can Drive Employees to Distraction: Employers are beginning to
realize the negative effect that debt can have on their workforces, and many are taking
action by offering financial education programs. Read more about employers helping
their workers deal with debt.

Program Makes the Point: Alertness Matters: Companies with round-the-clock
operations in seven U.S. cities are being offered a free alertness and fatigue management
presentation by an internationally recognized authority on the topic.
Read on ...


RECRUITMENT/INTERVIEW/SELECTION/RETENTION
Replacement Ratios: Replacing a bad hire can cost as much as five times the employee's
annual salary in recruitment, training, severance, and lost productivity, according to 11% of
the respondents to a new survey. SHRM reports that 42% of the 444 organizations
surveyed by Right Management said a bad hire cost them twice the employee's annual
salary, 26% said it cost them three times that amount, and 15% reported an amount equal
to the employee's annual salary. The main consequences identified by participants were
nonmonetary, however; lower employee morale (68%), decreased employee productivity
(66%), lost customers or market share (54%), and higher training costs (51%), while
higher recruitment costs (44%), and higher severance costs (40%), were also cited. MORE.

Internet Recruiting: Employers have been using the Web as a recruiting tool for
almost a decade, but online hiring surpassed more traditional sources for the first time
in 2005. That is according to a new study by Booz Allen Hamilton, a New York
consulting company. The Internet accounted for 51 percent of all new hires, overtaking
newspaper classified advertising and job fairs. For example, 21 percent of new hires
were generated through corporate Web sites and another 21 percent through job
boards, compared with 5 percent sourced through classified ads. Also, 74 percent of
employers say they will ratchet up spending on their corporate online recruiting, while
68 percent figure to invest more in employee referral programs. A sidelight: Many
companies plan to drive more applicant traffic to corporate Web sites in an effort to
comply with new federal regulations that require them to define an Internet applicant.


RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING BUDGETS 2006

  Average percentage of recruitment advertising/attraction budget devoted to source
   General job boards                                             27%

   Organization's Web site                                        15%

   Employee referrals                                             11%


   Campus recruiting                                              10%

   Newspapers                                                     9%

   Niche job boards                                               8%

   Commercial résumé databases                                    7%
   Career fairs                                                   7%
   Other                                                          4%
   Social networking technology                                   3%
   Note: Survey of 73 large employers.
   Source: DirectEmployers, Booz Allen Hamilton


College Internship Programs Graduate to a Higher Level: Companies measure the
success of internship programs by the number of new hires. Students want meaningful
learning experiences. The best internship program managers achieve their hiring goals by
giving students what they want.
http://www.workforce.com/section/06/feature/24/34/35/index.html

Employers Report Internships Lead to Full-Time Hires; Recent Poll by
CareerExposure.com Finds 94 Percent of Employers Offer Full-Time Positions to Interns.
Internship programs are proving to be a "win-win" situation for employers, according to a
recent poll by CareerExposure.com. http://www.e-
topics.com/index.asp?layout=topic_story&UserID=20051222072657135174&topic=25609&
doc_id=b0515125.7sw&date=5%2F16%2F2006&display=Human+Resources+Management

Employee Referral Programs Help Companies Hire the Best for Less:
Attracting the best talent is critical for companies that want to maximize their growth and
profitability. But that may be more challenging today as organizations struggle with tighter
recruiting budgets and leaner HR staffs. http://www.cen-
chemjobs.org/employer/chemhr/SepOct03/erps.html

Feast and Famine in Recruiting of Professionals: Uneven labor markets leave some
companies with thousands of résumés, while others have none. Workforce planning will
have to adopt a new timeframe.
http://www.workforce.com/section/06/feature/24/34/16/index.html


RETIREMENT/PENSION
EBRI Reports Workers are Too Confident About Retirement: The Employee Benefit
Research Institute's (EBRI) annual retirement confidence survey indicates that about 68%
of workers are confident about having adequate funds for a comfortable retirement, up
slightly from 65% a year ago. On the other hand, more than half of all workers say they've
saved less than $25,000 toward retirement, and even among workers 55 and older, more
than four in 10 have retirement savings under $25,000. "‘Overconfidence' is the word that
comes to mind," said Jack VanDerhei, co-author of the study. MORE.

Working Retireds Give New Meaning to Retirement: A MetLife study of retirement
aged workers reveals retirement is no longer defined by a specific date, but rather a desired
state of being. MORE.


REWARDS/RECOGNITION
Good Intentions, Lost in Translation: Incentives are catching on overseas, but the
value of awards can be misunderstood. Cultural and economic factors affect how they're
viewed. Good Intentions, Lost in Translation


SAFETY / HEALTH/WELLNESS/WORKERS COMPENSATION
Heavy Burdens: Employers are searching for innovative strategies to combat the obesity
epidemic among U.S. workers -- and diminish its impact on health-care costs.
http://www.hreonline.com/HRE/story.jsp?storyId=4222461&query=Obesity


TRAINING/MENTORING/LEADERSHIP
Cardinal Health HR to Take More Strategic Role: Corporate leaders at Cardinal Health
have decided that the company’s competitive advantage lies in its people. As a result, it’s
concentrating human resources efforts on finding and developing talent while outsourcing
administrative functions.

Career Growth: New research by jobs Web site CollegeGrad.com suggests that young
people entering the workforce seek out companies that are willing to invest in their future.
Name recognition of potential employers is less important to candidates than whether a
given company will provide career development and other growth opportunities, the report
says. As a result, 70 percent of job seekers surveyed said they would rather work for
smaller growth companies that offer competitive benefits and emphasize a balance between
work activities and their personal lives. Large international companies were favored by only
30 percent of would-be workers.

Improving work/life balance, in fact, will prompt about 18 percent of U.S. workers to look
for new jobs in 2006. So says Pittsburgh-based Key Group, which surveyed 1,727 men and
women who classified themselves as middle management, office/administrative or
professional workers. Also, Canadian workers are shifting their priorities to focus more on
family, according to recruitment company Workopolis. It found that 44 percent of Canadian
job seekers now rank family as their No. 1 priority, followed by 31 percent who put their
careers first. That is almost a complete reversal from five years ago.


VETERANS
Tips for Complying with USERRA The rules for the Uniformed Services Employment and
Reemployment Rights Act have teeth and employers who fail to comply could be facing
lawsuits and double damages if the violation is willful, according to two military leave
experts who led a recent BLR audio conference.
Read on...

The Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USSERA)
facilitates the employment and reemployment of US service members. More information is
available at http://www.dol.gov/elaws/userra.htm

Veteran’s Preference affords veterans special rights and privileges for federal
employment. The Veteran’s Preference VETGUIDE can be found at
http://www.opm.gov/veterans/html/vetguide.asp

The Veterans Administration Readjustment Counseling offers veterans confidential
counseling services to assist in the readjustment process. Most services are available in or
near the veterans’ respective communities. Further information about these services is
available at http://www.va.gov/rcs/


WORK ENVIRONMENT/WORK LIFE/FAMILY
Workplace Ridicule on the Rise: Tolerance in the workplace, also known as co-worker
sensitivity, didn’t fare too well in America last year, according to an annual workplace
ridicule survey conducted nationwide.
http://www.workforce.com/section/00/article/24/33/84.html

U.S. Lags Behind in Work/Life Benefits: According to Harvard's Project on Global
Working Families, the United States is one of only five countries out of 168 studied that
doesn't mandate some form of paid maternal leave. The only other advanced economy
among those five was Australia's, where women are guaranteed a full year of unpaid
leave. Only half of American workers get paid sick leave and only one-third get paid leave to
take care of sick children, according to the Institute for Women's Policy
Research. DiversityInc.com Factoid


WORK RULES
Tallying the True Cost of Absenteeism: Companies can draw on new empirical data to
underscore the importance of designing health benefit programs that combat absenteeism.
The study, "How to Present the Business Case for Healthcare Quality to Employers," finds
that the actual cost of health-related absenteeism could be as much as 35 percent higher
than conventional estimates. http://www.workforce.com/section/00/article/24/33/85.html

Tardy Workers not Fooling the Boss: More than one in ten (13%) of workers say they
arrive late to work at least once a week and nearly a quarter (24%) say they are tardy at
least once a month, according to a survey by CareerBuilder.com. Of the more than 2,500
respondents, one-in-five admitted to making up fake excuses to explain their tardiness - -
but 35% of managers said they don't believe workers' excuses most of the time. Little
wonder, since Monday is the most popular day for late arrivals, according to 64% of hiring
managers. MORE.

Federal Court Says Employee Work Attendance Is Essential: Attendance at a job is
necessary, even if the employee's absences are for legitimate medical and personal reasons,
according to a ruling by the 8th US Circuit Court of Appeals. The opinion came after a
packaging mechanic at GlaxoSmithKline, James Schierhoff, claimed his employer fired him
after missing work too often. Between June of 2000 and March 2002, he had "excused"
absences for 172 workdays - about 40% of his work time. The court said in its ruling that
Schierhoff was unable to demonstrate that he could perform the essential functions of his
job, stating that "an employee who cannot attend work cannot perform the essential
functions of his job. This is true even when the absences are with the employer's
permission." MORE.




Joe Ellis
DEPARTMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE SERVICES
Human Resource Enterprise
Grimes State Office Building
Des Moines, Iowa 50319-0150
515-281-5607
515-281-7970 (fax)

For State of Iowa employment opportunities visit:
https://www.iowaonline.state.ia.us/idopapptrack/public/AppOpenings.asp