HRwireTips from Indy area HR professionals

							                               March 2006 • Volume 1 • Number 4
This bi-monthly newsletter is offered     ARE WE GETTING LESS DONE TODAY
to you as a free HR resource that
may assist you in achieving your
                                          & SPINNING OUT OF CONTROL?
business and professional goals.          Do you and your fellow workers feel rushed at work, but sense you
NEWS & TIDBITS                            are achieving less than you have in the past?
Indianapolis Ordinance Protects           Recent research, conducted by Day-Timers, Inc. involved
Sexual Orientation & Gender Identity      approximately 1000 randomly sampled workers who indicated that
You may or may not all ready know         they finish only about 66% of their daily planned work in an average
that during December of 2005 the          day, compared to 75% ten years ago.
Indianapolis City-Council approved
revisions to the Human Rights             Technology: Help or hindrance?
Ordinance that adds protections
                                          Experts suggest the biggest culprit is the technology that was
(applicable to all Marion County)
based on sexual orientation, gender       supposed to speed up the work and make work easier. However, it
identity and US military service          seems that most of us rarely concentrate on one task anymore.
veteran status.
                                          We seem to be taking little bites out of something, then move on to
Consequently, Marion County               another something, doing the same thing etc. etc. until the first thing
employers should be revising any          may not be a priority anymore or we have missed the target timing all
existing non-discrimination               together.
statements in handbooks, policies,
posters and training programs etc. to     Workers typically get 46+ e-mails per day, with at least half
align with the revised ordinance. The     requesting or requiring a prompt response. We are almost never out
ordinance also replaces the term
“handicap” with “disability” and          of “focus disturbance” reach with cell phones, including the various
replaces “disabled veteran or             “tooth attachments,” black, blue, or strawberry type electronic
Vietnam era veteran status” with          devices, pagers, faxes, land-line phones, car phones, etc.
“military service veteran status.”
                                          We think we’re faster, better, more efficient with all this technology
The ordinance applies to employers        at our sensory tips, but we still seem to feel rushed and less
with six (6) or more employees within     productive. What gives?
Marion County, but provides
exceptions for not-for-profit             More to do, less getting done
corporations or associations
organized exclusively for fraternal or    The irony is the very expectation of getting more things done is
religious purposes: any school,           hampering our getting more things done. There’s a feeling that no
educational, charitable or religious      matter what we do, it’s never done or enough.
institution owned or conducted by, or
affiliated with a church or religious     Then we add into the equation the electronic calendar / scheduler that
institution; and any exclusively social   permits anyone, even your in-laws, to schedule a meeting in the
club, corporation or association that
is not organized for profit and is not    middle of what little concentrated work time you had planned for the
in fact open to the general public.       day.
                                          Too often, these scheduled meetings produce one of two results:
ABOUT HRwire                                  •   Little value to you and you probably didn’t need to be there,
HRwire is a free newsletter
                                                  or worse;
presented by a coalition of
professional independent business
service firms, a majority of which are
                                             •    An additional assignment to be accomplished in the all ready
owner-operated HR-related small                   full, but disjointed work day.
businesses.
                                         No wonder employees, managers and others are frustrated,
This coalition goes by the acronym       discouraged or otherwise not-engaged in the organizational
GOOFIE which stands for “Group Of        objectives. If I wait a minute or two priorities will change and I will
Owners For Independent Enterprise.”
                                         be on to the next bite.
The firms within the coalition are
seasoned practitioners primarily         The bottom line
representing HR and related
disciplines.                             As organizations, we need to think about and evaluate how can we
                                         truly improve our “real work” productivity and permit our goal
These are professionals who know
                                         achievement contributors to have the time to accomplish what they
how to solve challenging business
issues, and do.                          were hired to do.
                                         It’s a cultural/environmental/management thing that’s impacting
                                         people, regardless of the speed and efficacy of the current
                                         technology.
                                         Factual information extracted from an article written by Ellen Wulfhorst for
                                         Reuters News Agency.
CONTACT US:                              HR SCENE-ARIO
To let us know what you think of this
newsletter or to learn more about the
HR and other services available          Q: Our company hires a wide variety of hourly and salaried employees and
through GOOFIE, please contact the       much of the interviewing process and the decision to hire rest with the hiring
organization below that provided this    manager/supervisor. We have not specifically trained the
newsletter to you.                       managers/supervisors in how this should be done. Are there any employment
                                         liability issues we should be alert to avoid?

                                         A: Yes, there are employment liability issues that relate specifically to
Provided to you by:                      potential claims of discrimination in hiring practices. The Civil Rights Act(s)
                                         and Equal Employment Opportunity requirements protect prospective
PMR Group                                employees from divulging information that is not specifically job related. For
                                         example, asking if an applicant is married and has children or asking the age
Your HR Connection                       of the applicant or inquiring about social/religious membership before making
                                         a job offer, could lead to a charge that results in significant monetary
Contact Information:                     penalties. Lack of knowledge on the part of interviewers or inappropriate
pat@pmrgroup-hr.com                      questions on job applications can be costly.

phone: 317-846-0247
                                         Group Of Owners For Independent Enterprise – Participants:
                                         Dunlap HR Consulting, Fischer Business Group, Grotke & Bekes, P.C.,
                                         Human Capital Consulting, Human Resource Results, HR Simplified,
                                         KOSource, Mary Cook LLC, Mickler & Associates, Phillips & Associates,
                                         PMR Group, Prentice Consulting, Inc. Schaffer & Associates, The Laswell
                                         Group, The Mediation Center, The Thorne Group