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<b style="color: blue">Human Resource Associates</b>
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<h2>HR - On The Job</h2>
<h3>Keeping the Best</h3>
<p>Companies are again finding that good employees are hard to attract. There are certainly many good people out there who can do the work these companies want done. But, are they interested in moving to a new job? According to several respected sources the good ones may be very interested.</p>
<p>Employee attitudes are changing. After three years of understaffing, long hours, high productivity, and little or no wage increases, “The disgruntled employee is the new norm,” says the Corporate Executive Board (CEB). And, although reports show that resignations among employees overall are down 30 percent, <em>among employees ranked as high performers, resignations are up 10 percent and climbing</em>. It's no longer just about finding good employees but also about keeping those you have.</p>
<h4>Keeping Good Employees</h4>
<p>What can you do to retain your good employees? Here are four important steps you should consider.</p>
<h5>1. Start by removing the things that drive them out:</h5>
<p><b>An atmosphere of distrust:</b> Assuming that employees are basically lazy and untrustworthy makes them feel you're not all on the same side. An atmosphere of distrust does not foster a desire to participate or to contribute. </p>
<p><b>Low expectations:</b> Have high expectations of your people and let them clearly know what those expectations are. You can usually get what you expect, so <em>expect superior performance</em>.</p>
<p><b>Demanding and restrictive rules and policies:</b> Some companies with 20 employees have a 100-page policy manual full of small print and legal jargon. Keep rules and policies to just what you need, and make them easy to understand. Don't design your policies for the two or three individuals you have trouble with. Design it for your good employees and deal with the others as exceptions.</p>
<p><b>Failure to communicate:</b> Let employees know what's going on. Let them know about your long-range plans and new services. Some companies give more information to newspapers or strangers than to their own employees. Don't make your employees outsiders.</p>
<p><b>An uninviting environment:</b> A dismal, unpleasant workplace makes people feel dismal and unpleasant. Prisons are designed to be harsh, colorless environments that create feelings of intimidation and obedience because that's what is expected from the occupants. You want the opposite, trust, self-motivation, participation, and productivity from your employees.</p>
<p><b>Unresolved problems:</b> Respond to complaints and resolve problems. Don't wait them out hoping they'll go away. Employees remember ignored complaints and unresolved problems. Unions seldom organize a company by promising higher wages and better benefits. They do it by seeking out and listening to employees' problems, problems that you didn't resolve. Seek out those problems yourself and resolve them early.</p>
<h5>2. Then, include things that keep them in:</h5>
<p><b>Create a participative environment:</b> Bring employees into the decision and management process. It's uncomfortable trusting your business to employees you're not sure can handle it. But employees who help create ideas and are part of their development are buying into the program. They feel responsible for making it work. Discuss your interest in keeping employees and how to do it.</p>
<p><b>Involve them in creating or reviewing rules and policies:</b> Allow employees to discuss and participate in the creation of the employee handbook. Never start something new, like introducing an attendance policy, by posting it on the board before employees know it exists. Review such things at least a few weeks before they're initiated.</p>
<p><b>Share the vision:</b> Leaders communicate their vision. Let your employees know what yours is. Paint that picture, describe it with all the feeling <em>you</em> have for it. Show them their place in it.</p>
<p><b>Instill Confidence:</b> Recognize people's contribution to ideas and solutions. Encourage the confidence they need to do this. When employees come to you for answers, respond by asking them what <em>they</em> recommend. And ask yourself “What am I doing that makes them afraid to proceed on their own?” Encourage them to act more independently.</p>
<h5>3. Focus on those you can't afford to lose:</h5>
<p><b>Talk to them:</b> et them know why you value what they do. Discuss their place in future plans and include them in that planning. Ask for their ideas and allow them to try the good things they suggest. Let them see how much they are part of what's going on.</p>
<p><b>Increase their opportunities:</b> What training, skills, knowledge, or certification can advance their career? Where do they see themselves in five years, in two years? Show them how to make that happen.</p>
<p><b>Provide what career-minded people want:</b> Freedom to act, authority to decide, support for their ideas that advance the success of the company, development, advancement, attention and respect.</p>
<h5>4. Provide recognition for what they do:</h5>
<p>Recognizing good work and accomplishments can seem uncomfortable if you haven't been doing it all along. But “failing to recognize people” always ranks high on exit interviews. Use formal recognition programs with well-managed measurements and informal programs like gifts, lunches, time off, gift cards, congratulatory email messages copied to everyone, and sometimes just saying thanks when you see good work.</p>
<p>But recognition is not just for good work and accomplishment. Regular and timely feedback is also a form of recognition. Most average performers would like to know how they're doing and what they can do to improve. Most poor performers want to know what's wrong and how they can change. Take the time to identify what each employee is doing, how well they are doing it and recognize them for it.</p>
<p>And here's a secret, people stay where they are when they have a strong connection to others in the workplace. You are one of those “others.”</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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<h2>Hitchhiking on the Information Highway</h2>
<h3>Unemployment Worsens But the Unemployment Rate Improves?</h3>
<p>In March the unemployment rate improved by going from 8.3 percent down to 8.2%. This was reported to be the result of adding 120,000 new jobs. That certainly sounds like good news. But in fact unemployment is continuing to get worse.</p>
<p>Here's how we know:</p>
<ul>
<li>Although 120,000 new jobs were added, 164,000 people dropped out of the labor market and are no longer being counted as unemployed.</li>
<li>When someone's unemployment checks run out, they are no longer considered unemployed.</li>
<li>Employee who are laid off before they become eligible for unemployment benefits are not counted as unemployed.</li>
<li>When a full-time, 40 hour per week employee is laid off, and later is replaced with two part-timers working one day (8 hours) a week each, that is reported as a creation of new jobs.</li>
<li>There are 12 million people unemployed.</li>
<li>There are fewer people employed today than in 2001.</li>
<li>5 ½ million people have been unemployed for longer than 6 months.</li>
<li>8 million people have been reduced from full time to part-time jobs. If their percentage of unemployment were included in the calculations the unemployment rate would be 11.5 percent.</li>
</ul>
<p>And one additional fact tends to throw some questions on the accuracy of the reports. The numbers of unemployed people seems to be regularly underestimated each week but then quietly adjusted upward a few weeks later. The number of unemployed was later revised upward in 56 of the last 57 weeks.</p>
<h3>Livin' The Dream</h3>
<p>According to a 2012 report by the Heritage Foundation, for the first time in American history the amount the government pays out to individuals as entitlements exceeds the amount of disposable income the average worker earns. The report states that the disposable income of the average worker is $32, 446 annually. While the average amount paid out as entitlements/assistance is now at $32, 748. It's almost like saying that the people who pay no income tax now bring in more money than the people who do.</p>
<p>Some related facts:</p>
<ul>
<li>The U.S. government now spends $2.5 trillion annually on entitlements. The U.S. government takes in $2.5 trillion annually. All the rest needed to run the country must be borrowed.</li>
<li>The top 50 percent of all income earners pay 97 percent of all the federal taxes. The lowest 50 percent of income earners pay 3 percent of all the federal taxes.</li>
<li>In 1984 there were 34 million Americans who were not required to pay federal income taxes. In 2010 there were 151 million.</li>
<li>The whole country was focused on the largest lottery jackpot in history when the enormous prize reached $640 million! That's what it takes to run the federal government for 80 minutes.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Let's Look For Some Better News Out There</h3>
<h4>IRS Showing a Little Heart</h4>
<p>Although April 17 is the drop-dead day for paying your 2011 taxes, The IRS just announced that jobless folks can get another six months to pay. The details:</p>
<ul>
<li>You must have been unemployed for at least 30-days between January 2011 and April 17 2012.</li>
<li>Or if you are a business owner and your business income shrank at least 25 percent in 2011 due to the economy</li>
<li>You must file your 1040 form and a form 1127-A by April 17, 2012 requesting the six month extension.</li>
<li>Individuals with incomes over $100,000 are not eligible.</li>
<li>Individuals owing more than $50,000 are not eligible.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Want To Save Money On Your Health Care?</h4>
<p>Everyone already knows that switching to generic drugs can save you lots of money. But not so many know how to find the right replacement or even if there is one. Kiplinger Personal Finance Advisor advises: Checking <a href="http://www.drx.com">www.drx.com</a> to see if your drug has a generic or therapeutic equivalent and what it is. Then ask your doctor if the switch makes sense.</p>
<p>If you need an X-ray, lab test or procedure ask whether the doctor works with other facilities. Then call local hospitals, clinics and outpatient centers to compare costs. Have it done there and have the results sent in.</p>
<p>If you need care but not necessarily an emergency room, you can save hundreds and sometimes thousands of dollars by going to an urgent care center or a convenience care clinic.</p>
<p>Take advantage of new laws that forbid copays or deductibles for certain preventive care procedures. Check them out at <a href="http://www.healthcare.gov">www.healthcare.gov</a>.</p>
<h4>How About Finding Some Lost Money And Keeping It?</h4>
<p>Billions of dollars in forgotten cash is languishing in dormant bank accounts, insurance companies, tax records, property records and elsewhere. Check with <a href="http://www.unclaimed.org">www.unclaimed.org</a> and <a href="http://www.missingmoney.com">www.missingmoney.com</a> and <a href="http://www.treasuryhunt.gov">www.treasuryhunt.gov</a>.</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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<b>$7.25</b>/hour<br />
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<b>Average Income</b>
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<table>
<tr><td /><td class="u">March 2012</td><td class="u">March 2011<td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Hourly</td><td class="b">$23.29</td><td class="b">$22.92</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Weekly</td><td class="b">$806.96</td><td class="b">$786.16</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>
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<b>IRS Mileage Allowance</b>
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<p>July 1, 2011 through December 31, 2012</p>
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<tr><td class="i">business</td><td><b>55.5</b> cents/mile</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">medical or moving</td><td class="b">23.5</b></td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">charitable</td><td class="b">14.0</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">29</td></tr>
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<b>Population</b>
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<table>
<tr><td class="i">world</td><td class="b">7 billion</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">U.S.</td><td class="b">312.5 million</td></tr>
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<p align="center">
<i>one birth every </i><b>8</b><i> seconds;</i><br />
<i>one death every </i><b>11</b><i> seconds;</i><br />
<i>one new immigrant every </i><b>45</b><i> seconds;</i><br />
<i>net gain of one person every </i><b>15</b><i> seconds.</i>
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<b>U.S. Civilian Workforce</b>
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<table>
<tr><td /><td class="u">March 2012</td><td class="u">March 2011</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Total</td><td class="b">242,604,000</td><td class="b">239,000,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Employed</td><td class="b">142,034,000</td><td class="b">139,764,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Unemployed</td><td class="b">12,673,000</td><td class="b">13,628,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Want A Job</td><td class="b">6,299,000</td><td class="b">6,500,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Unemployment Rate</td><td class="b">8.3%</td><td class="b">9.4%</td></tr>
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<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</td><td class="b">+3.6%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2011</td><td class="b">+0.7%</td></tr>
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