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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 class="section">Ten Things Good Managers Believe</p>
<p>Good managers believe that every employee is important and that they must see to the needs of each employee. However, good managers even more so, need to understand and believe that they are paid to run the company. According to Steve Tobak, writer of BNET's The Corner Office blog, "Their the key components in an organization that exists to serve its customers and shareholders." If you were the owner of a company, you would expect your managers to see to it that employees are engaged and provided with the necessary guidance, acknowledgment and empowerment. But most importantly, you would want them to fully believe that their focus must be on the customers and the company.</p>
<p>This is what Tobak thinks, so recently he asked his readers what they think good managers believe. He received the following responses on the subject.</p>
<ol>
<li>My overriding priority is to help my company achieve its strategic goals by facilitating the efficient flow of business and decision making.</li>
<li>It's my job to behave like a mature adult by being genuine and empathetic with my own and other's issues, especially when everyone else is acting out like spoiled children.</li>
<li>If I don't work my tail off and be hands-on when necessary, I can't expect anybody else to do it either.</li>
<li>It's challenging but nevertheless critical to provide genuine feedback, both positive and negative, to my employees, peers and management, and request the same from them.</li>
<li>Compromising my ethical principals in the name of "the ends justify the means" or for any other reason, is unacceptable.</li>
<li>It's my job to promote my team's accomplishments and to take the heat for their failures.</li>
<li>I need to provide my employees with the tools, training and the support they need to be effective, instead of setting unachievable goals and setting them up for failure.</li>
<li>I shouldn't just promote a can-do, customer service attitude, but actually "walk the talk" when it comes to supporting customers and stakeholders.</li>
<li>It's important to entrust my employees with as much responsibility as their capabilities will allow, and to hold them accountable for the same.</li>
<li>I need to strike a balance between shielding my folks from the ripples of dysfunctional management and openly communicating events that may affect them.</li>
</ol>
<hr />
<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>
<hr />
<p class="heading">Hitchhiking on the Information Highway</p>
<p><b>Dateline:</b> October 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">New Leave Law Proposal</p>
<p>A recent law providing additional employee leave allowances has been proposed in the U.S. Senate. The new law is called "The Working Families Flexibility Act (S.3840). The proposed legislation is aimed at providing employees a broader opportunity to change their work hours.</p>
<p>The law has two (2) basic requirements:</p>
<ol>
<li>
Employees must be provided with a formal process that allows them to request a change in:
<ol>
<li>The number of hours they must work</li>
<li>The times (hours) they must report to work</li>
<li>The location where they must report to work</li>
</ol>
</li>
<li>
The company must establish a formal written policy to be distributed to all employees. The policy must include:
<ol>
<li>A personal meeting with the employee to discuss the items above</li>
<li>A written reason for the approval or rejection of the request</li>
<li>The reasons must include explanations and alternatives</li>
<li>An appeal process that also provides written responses</li>
</ol>
</li>
</ol>
<p>The proposed law also provides the employee with an additional appeal process to the Department of Labor (DOL) which includes a DOL investigation, civil penalties and awards of relief for violations. At this point there seems little expectation of the bill passing. Voting has been put off for later.</p>
<p class="quote">"What if the Hokey Pokey<br />
really is what it's all about?"<br />
- Anon</p>
<p class="section">Union Organizes Pot Growers</p>
<p>No, we're not talking about flower pots. This isn't about pots, it's about <strong>pot</strong>. In case you were worried that the folks who grow marijuana weren't being paid enough, the Teamsters Union local 70 of Oakland California are coming to the rescue. Betting that the recent California laws legalizing medical marijuana will be expanded to non-medical use and then to other states as a tax booster, the union organized the cannabis growers working for the Marjyn Investment, LLC company to start at $18.00 per hour, scheduled to increase to $25.75 at the end of next year.</p>
<p>But things are not really cool with everyone, "Dude". The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has no authority over any of this as their jurisdiction doesn't cover agricultural workers. The workers, who are trimming and packaging the pot may come under the California Agricultural Labor Relations Board (CALRB). But some consider them to be more like the grocery store people who trim and shelve pineapple, which takes the CALRB out of the picture. And then of course the United Farm Workers (UFW) and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) and the Retail Clerks Protective Association (RCPA) will wonder how the Teamsters got into the picture. And if, as some predict, the company decides to produce brownies and cupcakes, then the Bakery, Confection, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) will want to get into the act. Picketing could get to be a lot more entertaining.</p>
<p class="quote">"Everyone is more or less<br />
mad at one point"<br />
- Rudyard Kipling</p>
<p class="section">Workers Telecommuting is Bad for the Environment?</p>
<p>The growth of telecommuting, whereby employees perform their work from home and maintain communications with a central office, has long been accepted as an environmental advantage. When we consider the impact on the environment of driving to and from work, providing heating and cooling, parking and utilities to an office full of in-house employees, the advantages can be tremendous when you multiply that by millions of workers.</p>
<p>However, a recent report from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) tells of a study by the consulting firm of WSP Environmental that says the folks who telecommute are the real polluters. The study indicated that telecommuters run their heating and/or air conditioners all day while in-house workers turn them down or off when they leave for work. In addition, they tend to operate them at higher levels than those at work. They often use multiple computers and screens using more energy. They also seem to use their cars more than worker's who take public transportation. The possibility that when home all day, telecommuters will use additional home appliances such as TVs, cooking ranges, microwaves and home plumbing may be adding to the results The study said that teleworkers generate 33 percent more CO2 than in-house workers. A similar study in the U.S. said that the measurable savings of telecommuting were negligible.</p>
<p class="quote">"I'd tell you to go to hell, but I work there<br />
and I don't want to be seeing you every day."<br />
- Shirley Jackson</p>
<p class="section">Q&A</p>
<p><u>Question:</u> We have always had a 90-day probation policy for all new hires. We evaluate their performance during this time to see if we made a mistake in hiring this person. It also gives that person the opportunity to do the same. But what additional rights do we or the employee actually have during those 90-days?</p>
<p><u>Answer:</u> None. Although a 30, 60 or 90-day introductory period has its purpose, the employee has the same rights, protections and laws in effect during those 90-days as anytime thereafter. Your rights and obligations as an employer are also no different in either time period. If at anytime you decide that the employee is unable to perform his/her job you both have the same rights and should follow the same procedure whether before that time or after.</p>
<p>A few additional points:</p>
<ul>
<li>The better term is "Introductory Period or Orientation Period". Probation is a punitive term usually referring to a performance improvement problem issue.</li>
<li>A court case some years ago (San Diego 1982) determined that completing a "Probation Period" established an implied contract of continuous employment. That meant that thereafter the employee could only be terminated for just cause. In other words the company lost its "Employment at Will" rights.</li>
<li>The proper use of those 90-days is to guide, orient and develop the employee.</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p style="text-align: center"><sub>© William J. Cook</sub></p>
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<span class="heading">Labor Stats</span>
<hr />
<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">September 2010</td><td class="u">September 2009</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Hourly</td><td class="b">$22.67</td><td class="b">$22.30</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Weekly</td><td class="b">$775.31</td><td class="b">$753.74</td></tr>
</table>
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<b>Federal Povery Level</b>
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<table>
<tr><td class="i">one person</td><td class="b">$10,956</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">family of four</td><td class="b">$21,954</td></tr>
</table>
<hr />
<b>IRS Mileage Allowance</b>
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<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>
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<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>
<hr />
<table>
<tr><td /><td class="u">September 2010</td><td class="u">September 2009</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Total</td><td class="b">154,158,000</td><td class="b">153,927,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Employed</td><td class="b">139,391,000</td><td class="b">138,768,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Unemployed</td><td class="b">14,767,000</td><td class="b">15,159,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Want A Job</td><td class="b">6,202,000</td><td class="b">5,960,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Unemployment Rate</td><td class="b">9.6%</td><td class="b">9.8%</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>
<hr />
<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">-1.8%</td></tr>
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