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<b style="color: blue">Human Resource Associates</b>
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<span class="heading">HR - On The Job</span>
<p><span class="issue">If It's Not Safe, We Don't Do It</span><br />
<i>Protecting your most valuable assets.</i></p>
<p>In a scene from the classic 1987 movie, <i>The Untouchables</i> Sean Connery as a policeman walking his beat delivered this classic line, "You're going home? Well then, you've just fulfilled the first rule of law enforcement. <em>Make sure when your shift is over you go home alive</em>." Now that message could be the foundation of a great safety program. Rule No. 1 - Make sure everyone goes home alive.</p>
<p>"Make sure you go home alive tonight" is also a sign that hung over the time clock on one of the construction jobs I worked as an apprentice a few years ago (quite a few years ago). In those years before OSHA (Occupational Safety & Health Administration), the job site was a different world and signs like that told us more about safety than anything else we were provided. When a dam project was started, most journeyman craftsman could tell you how many men would die per yard of concrete poured on that job. When building homes, carpenters on the roof were required to remove the safety guards from the circular saws because they slowed the cutting down. It was common to see a saw drop to the roof and shoot across the boards towards someone's feet and onto the ground. Iron workers were advised that "only sissies wear safety belts" when climbing. Men were required to work on slanted roofs when they were covered with ice.</p>
<p>Trucks still had running boards on the side and men were expected to ride on them when traveling about large job sites. Spray painters wore small dust masks when painting in a tunnel. The masks were exchanged when the paint hardened. Workers carried 75-pound tool boxes on their shoulders while climbing two-story ladders. In some trades anyone over the age of 35 was considered too old to be on the job. You could usually identify the man who ran the company's big table saw; he was the one missing two or more fingers. Filing a workman's compensation (sic) claim would get you banned from any other job. And when someone was injured seriously enough, his final paycheck would be stuck in his shirt pocket as he was carried just out to assure that there would be no lost-time accidents.</p>
<p>And certainly construction was not the only dangerous work place. Sixty years before OSHA 13,228 miners were killed on the job in one five-year period. And on March 25, 1911 in one of the most horrifying job accidents in American history the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire occurred. One-hundred-forty-six female garment workers, mostly young immigrant teen-age girls died. Many were burned to death, while many more jumped to their deaths on the concrete sidewalks more than 100 feet below. Most of these women could have been saved if only a few safety procedures had been in place. But the doors had been locked to keep the workers from taking cigarette breaks. The fire escapes didn't lead anywhere and weren't capable of carrying more than a few workers at one time. The fire department's ladders were too short and their water hoses couldn't reach high enough. There were no audible alarms. The only safety measures were 27 buckets of water. The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire is credited with starting the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union (ILGWU). In the crowd watching the events was Francis Perkins who would later become the first Secretary of Labor. The Department of Labor building in Washington DC is named after her and the site of the Shirtwaist Factory Fire in New York City is now a National Historic Landmark.</p>
<p>There was certainly a need for OSHA when it arrived in 1970. Many companies were concerned that the abundance of new rules would make business impossible. The initial cost of safety equipment was considered enormous. But of course in the long run the equipment is relatively cheap. It's the safety processes, the training, the continuous, never-ending vigilance and the aggressive activism necessary to create and maintain a safe workplace that brings out the cost - and the benefits.</p>
<p>Today, everyone is aware of the importance of safety in the workplace. But still many of us see it as a hit-and-miss, once-in-a while thing to take a poke at. If someone complains or a safety hazard is obvious we think about safety. We'll do the obvious things but we can't really afford to spend a lot of time with things that eat up so much effort and often slow down the job. If we're all just a little careful we don't need to get lost in the weeds about safety - until someone really gets hurt. Then the cost and long-term impact on the company may seem crippling. The real tragedy, however, may be the permanent impact on the worker who may be crippled for life. So maybe the following steps can be our Rule No. 2 - Make this a safe workplace.</p>
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<p><b>Involve Your Employees</b></p>
<p>Bring out the observations, experiences and concerns about safety everyone has. Take an official aggressive and serious position about making yours a safe workplace. Get employees to buy-in and contribute.</p>
<p><b>Review Your Accident History</b></p>
<p>Discuss with your employees all the accidents, near misses and past hazards that have occurred. This will tell you where your most likely weak spots are.</p>
<p><b>Inspect Your Entire Job Site</b></p>
<p>Walk it and talk it. Brainstorm with your people. When you find a problem, don't just put it on a list for your next meeting. Fix it right then and there, and establish a procedure to prevent it from re-occurring.</p>
<p><b>Conduct Regular Safety Meetings</b></p>
<p>Include all employees. Discuss all safety issues and concerns. Keep records and report to employees the results of their safety efforts. Consider safety recognition and incentive programs.</p>
<p><b>Connect With the Experts</b></p>
<p>Contact and communicate with people who know safety. Safety expertise is available through the association. Join the safety programs and groups. Look into the STARS program initiated by OSHA. It can provide you with free training, safety manuals, training CDs and regular publications for your safety meetings. STARS also provides mentors to guide you and your company through the path to a safer workplace with lower accident rates and maybe even lower insurance rates.</p>
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<p>Your most valuable asset is your employees. These are the people you have chosen to work with and have chosen you to be their leader. Your job includes being responsible for their safety. They may have a life rich with family, friends, hobbies, and dreams for their future. They depend on you for much of that. And at the end of their shift, they want to go home alive.</p>
<p>Don't endanger their lives. Don't take risks with their safety. Don't ask them or let them take that quick and unsafe short cut. And that leads us to what should be our Rule No. 3 - If it's not safe, we don't do it!</p>
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<p align="center"><b><i>Have an employment question?</i></b></p>
<p align="center">Send it to <a href="mailto:[email protected]?subject=From HR On The Job">[email protected]</a>.</p>
<p align="center">Please include Company Name and Association in your e-mail. Company identification will be kept confidential.</p>
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<p class="heading">Hitchhiking on the Information Highway</p>
<p><b>Dateline:</b> August 2010</p>
<p><i>(Note: Although we attempt to provide the HRU update on the first of each month, we are normally delayed awaiting the release of several monthly government statistical reports. We will hereafter update the information as each report becomes available without waiting for all of them to be released.)</i></p>
<p class="section">More Union In Your Future?</p>
<p>The American worker has been rejecting unions for more than 50 years and union membership continues to shrink. From a high of more than 36 percent of the private industry workforce in the industrial 1950s down to 7.2 percent today, unions are losing out as they seem to still be fighting the battles of the 1930s. However, they do have a growing fan base in Washington as government workers are now the largest (and only growing) unionized workforce at 37.4 percent. And it seems that Uncle Sam wants to give them a hand.</p>
<p>In 2009 the federal government instructed all government agencies to convert government contracts from private industry to government employees wherever possible. That will certainly increase union representation across the country.</p>
<p>Also, in 2009 Washington authorized all government agencies to require the use of union only contractors on contracts of $25 million or more.</p>
<p>In 2010 the unions are making a big push for the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) which allows the unions to see how employees voted in union organizing contracts and forbids the employer the right to present the company's case to its own employees. Although it doesn't seem likely to pass this year (however it could), it's still inching its way along.</p>
<p>It just got a good nudge by the National Mediation Board (NMB) which oversees union contract issues for the U.S airlines and railroads. Historically the law required that in order for a union to win an election, the majority of the workers in a company must vote in favor of the union. The union could not win just by obtaining the votes of those who might show up at the election. Otherwise it would be too easy to intimidate or threaten employees who were opposed to the union to not show up. The union must convince the majority of employees to show up and vote for them. If only a few employees showed up it was ruled that the union had not convinced the majority and that the employees did not want the union.</p>
<p>However, the NMB recently changed that by initiating a new rule that in a union organizing election, the majority of the workers need not vote for the union as in the past. From now on, a simple majority of the workers who show up for the election can vote to bring in the union. So if a company with 250 employees is being organized by the union, the union can intimidate those they feel will not vote for them to stay away and bring say, 15 employees in to do the voting. If eight of them vote for the union the company must cease talking wages, benefits or work conditions with their employees and begin negotiating with the union. They will then have a union for at least two years. This move by the NMB is viewed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as a preview of what we may see from the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) that oversees labor relations over most other industries.</p>
<p class="quote">"In a time of drastic change<br />
it is the learners who inherit the future.<br />
The learned usually find themselves equipped<br />
to live in a world that no longer exists."<br />
- Eric Hoffer</p>
<p class="section">By the Numbers</p>
<p>How the Office of Management and Budget says the government spends your money:</p>
<table>
<tr><td class="b u" width=50%>Spent on</td><td class="b u">2008</td><td class="b u">2009</td><td class="b u">% of 2009 total</td></tr>
<tr><td>Social Security</td><td>$617 <b>billion</b></td><td>$683 <b>billion</b></td><td>19.4%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Defense</td><td>$616</td><td>$661</td><td>18.8%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Income Security (unemployment benefits, Food stamps, Child tax credits etc)</td><td>$431</td><td>$533</td><td>15.2%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Medicare</td><td>$391</td><td>$430</td><td>12.2%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Medicaid</td><td>$281</td><td>$334</td><td>9.5%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Commerce and Housing (2009 stimulus)</td><td>$28</td><td>$292</td><td>8.3%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Interest</td><td>$253</td><td>$187</td><td>5.3%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Veterans Benefits</td><td>$85</td><td>$95</td><td>2.7%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Transportation</td><td>$78</td><td>$84</td><td>2.4%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Education</td><td>$91</td><td>$80</td><td>2.3%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Justice</td><td>$47</td><td>$52</td><td>1.5%</td></tr>
<tr><td>International Affairs</td><td>$29</td><td>$38</td><td>1.1%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Natural Resources/Environment</td><td>$32</td><td>$36</td><td>1.0%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Science/Space/Technology</td><td>$28</td><td>$29</td><td>0.8%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Community & Regional Development</td><td>$24</td><td>$28</td><td>0.8%</td></tr>
<tr><td>General Government</td><td>$20</td><td>$22</td><td>0.6%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Agriculture</td><td>$18</td><td>$22</td><td>0.6%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Energy</td><td>$1</td><td>$5</td><td>0.1%</td><tr>
<tr><td class="u">Undistributed</td><td class="u">($86)</td><td class="u">(93)</td><td class="u">-2.6%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="b">TOTAL</td><td class="b">$2.98 trillion</td><td class="b">$3.52 trillion</td><td class="b">100%</td></tr>
</table>
<p>Note that earmarks, foreign aid or bridges to nowhere have little to do with big government spending. They don't make a blip on the radar screen. But look at Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Defense, Income security and interest, these six (of 19) items use up more than 80% of all federal spending. (Let's not even talk about the stimulus.) According to the U.S. Census Bureau, almost half (45 percent or 139 million individuals) of all the homes in America are receiving some sort of federal benefits.</p>
<p>How Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine Says You Should Spend Your Money:</p>
<table>
<tr><td class="b u">Spend it on</td><td>% of your take-home income</td></tr>
<tr><td>Housing</td><td>30%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Food</td><td>15%</td><tr>
<tr><td>Debt Payments</td><td>10%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Utilities/Household</td><td>10%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Transportation</td><td>10%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Savings</td><td>10%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Clothing</td><td>5%</td></tr>
<tr><td>Entertainment</td><td>5%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="u">Miscellaneous</td><td class="u">5%</td></tr>
<tr><td /><td>100%</td></tr>
</table>
<p class="quote">"We all have private ails. The troublemakers are<br />
they who need public cures for their private ails."<br />
- Eric Hoffer</p>
<p class="section">Q&A</p>
<p><b>Q:</b> We recently had an employee resign and set the date three weeks ahead. Because of previous issues with the employee we were concerned about him staying around that long. We decided to accept his resignation immediately. Do we have to pay him for the three weeks?</p>
<p><b>A:</b> No, as long as you do not have a policy requiring notice of resignation. Also, if you request advance notice of your employees, it's pretty hard not to accept it and to also provide the employee with advance notice in most cases of termination (Check the wording in your employee handbook). Also, if you let him go immediately he may be considered terminated for purposes of unemployment compensation. As a resignation, he is not eligible, but in your state, as someone terminated he may be eligible.</p>
<br />
<p><b>Q:</b> I've noticed that employee turnover rates sometimes appear in analytical reports. I'd like to track that in our company. Is there a formula for turnover that is universally accepted for comparison?</p>
<p><b>A:</b> Yes, for monthly turnover, take the number of employees who terminated that month, divide that by the average number of employees on the payroll that month (the headcount each day divided by the number of days in that month) and multiply the result by 100.</p>
<p><var>turnover rate</var> = (<var>terminations</var> ÷ <var>average # of employees</var> × 100)%</p>
<p>So if you had 156 employees (on average) that month and lost 19 of them: 19 ÷ 156 = 0.1218 × 100 = 12.2; you have a monthly turnover rate of 12.2%.</p>
<p>For an annual figure add the total number of terminations for the year and divide by the average number of employees for the year and multiply by 100.</p>
<p>So if our company in the example lost 19 employees every month and the average number of employees remained the same they would have lost 228 employees that year for a turnover rate of 146%.</p>
<p>Remember that not all turnover is caused by employment problems, retirements, military enlistments, even deaths do not reflect on needed improvements. So some companies do not count such separations.</p>
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<p style="text-align: center"><sub>© William J. Cook</sub></p>
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<span class="heading">Labor Stats</span>
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<b>Federal Minimum Wage</b>
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<p align="center">
<b>$7.25</b>/hour<br />
</p>
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<b>Average Income</b>
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<table>
<tr><td /><td class="u">July 2010</td><td class="u">July 2009</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Hourly</td><td class="b">$22.59</td><td class="b">$22.20</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Weekly</td><td class="b">$772.58</td><td class="b">$750.36</td></tr>
</table>
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<b>Federal Povery Level</b>
<hr />
<table>
<tr><td class="i">one person</td><td class="b">$10,830</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">family of four</td><td class="b">$22,050</td></tr>
</table>
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<b>IRS Mileage Allowance</b>
<hr />
<table>
<tr><td class="i">business</td><td><b>50</b> cents/mile</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">medical or moving</td><td class="b">16.5</b></td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">charitable</td><td class="b">14</td></tr>
</table>
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<b>Postage</b>
<hr />
<table>
<tr><td class="i">1 oz</td><td><b>44</b> cents</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">postcard</td><td class="b">28</td></tr>
</table>
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<b>Population</b>
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<table>
<tr><td class="i">world</td><td class="b">6.9 billion</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">U.S.</td><td class="b">309.7 million</td></tr>
</table>
<p align="center">
<i>one birth every </i><b>7</b><i> seconds;</i><br />
<i>one death every </i><b>13</b><i> seconds;</i><br />
<i>one new immigrant every </i><b>35</b><i> seconds;</i><br />
<i>net gain of one person every </i><b>11</b><i> seconds.</i>
</p>
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<b>U.S. Civilian Workforce</b>
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<table>
<tr><td /><td class="u">July 2010</td><td class="u">July 2009</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Total</td><td class="b">153,560,000</td><td class="b">154,351,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Employed</td><td class="b">138,960,000</td><td class="b">139,817,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Unemployed</td><td class="b">14,599,000</td><td class="b">14,721,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Want A Job</td><td class="b">5,886,000</td><td class="b">5,978,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Unemployment Rate</td><td class="b">9.5%</td><td class="b">9.4%</td></tr>
</table>
<br /><hr />
<b>U.S. Workforce Productivity</b><br />
<sub><i>(The amount of goods produced, divided by the number of work hours it took to produce it)</i></sub>
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<table>
<tr><td class="i">1992</td><td class="b">3.7%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1993</td><td class="b">0.5%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1994</td><td class="b">1.3%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1995</td><td class="b">0.9%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1996</td><td class="b">2.5%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1997</td><td class="b">2.0%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1998</td><td class="b">2.6%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1999</td><td class="b">3.3%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2000</td><td class="b">3.4%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2001</td><td class="b">2.9%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2002</td><td class="b">4.6%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2003</td><td class="b">3.7%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2004</td><td class="b">2.8%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2005</td><td class="b">1.7%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2006</td><td class="b">0.9%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2007</td><td class="b">1.9%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2008</td><td class="b">1.8%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2009</td><td class="b">+5.8%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2010 1st quarter</td><td class="b">+2.8%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2010 2nd quarter</td><td class="b">-0.9%</td></tr>
</table>
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