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<b style="color: blue">Human Resource Associates</b>
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<h2>HR - On The Job</h2>
<h3>“The New Guy Is Just Not Fitting In!”</h3>
<p>Many years ago, GE published the results of their study on thousands of employee over several years. One of the more interesting findings in their final report concerned the many employees who quit or were terminated during their first 90 days of employment.</p>
<p>The study found that such employees never felt connected to the company, employees, the job or the work. They were never “assimilated” into the new environment. They felt that their surroundings were strange, they never established relationships with the other employees and they were never involved in activities. They always felt like an outsider.</p>
<p>More recently, The Gallup Organization (re. the Gallup Poll) created a feedback system that would help employers deal with this problem by identifying and measuring the extent (or lack of) of employee engagement. They also discovered that this early dropout problem has a direct effect on company costs, sales growth and customer loyalty.</p>
<p>After hundreds of focus groups and thousands of interviews, they created a 12 question survey that identified just how engaged, or connected, an employee was in the organization. They found that a high score on this quiz was closely associated to superior job performance. A low score helped them identify those areas upon which to concentrate if they wanted to save this employee.</p>
<p>The 12 questions of employee engagement:</p>
<ul>
<li>Do you know what is expected of you at work?</li>
<li>Do you have the materials and equipment you need to do your work right?</li>
<li>At work, do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day?</li>
<li>In the last seven days, have you been recognized or commended for your work?</li>
<li>Does your supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about you as a person?</li>
<li>Is there someone at work who encourages your development?</li>
<li>At work, do your opinions seem to count?</li>
<li>Does the mission/purpose of the company make you feel that your job is important?</li>
<li>Are your associates (fellow employees) committed to doing quality work?</li>
<li>Do you have a best friend at work?</li>
<li>In the last 3 months, has someone at work talked to you about your progress?</li>
<li>In the last year, have you had an opportunity at work, to learn and grow?</li>
</ul>
<p>Aren't you more likely to stay with an organization if you feel that you're a part of it?</p>
<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>
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<h2>Hitchhiking on the Information Highway</h2>
<h3>Unemployment - A Reality Check</h3>
<p>Economists estimate that the U.S. needs to create a little over 400,000 jobs per month in order for the economy to recover by 2015. Although Uncle Sam says it has created over 5 million jobs since January 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) doesn't agree.</p>
<p>According to BLS there were 142, 099,000 people working in January 2009. They also report that there were 142,278,000 people working in May 2012. That's an increase of 179,000 jobs in 40 months, for an average of 4,475 jobs per month. So instead of the over 400,000 jobs we need per month were getting a little over 4,000. That's 1% of what we need. How long will it take at that rate to achieve the recovery?</p>
<ul>
<li>The unemployment rate in January 2009 was 7.2%, in May 2012 it is 8.2%.</li>
<li>If we count all those who dropped out of the labor market, or used up their unemployment benefits (and therefore no longer being counted as unemployed) the unemployment rate would be 14.8%.</li>
<li>We now have the lowest workforce participation rate in over 30 years.</li>
<li>Statistically, the workers who dropped out of the labor market were all women as the male participation rate actually increased slightly.</li>
<li>Statistically, the number of new jobs created were all part-time jobs as the number of part-time jobs increased by 618,000 jobs while the number of full-time jobs dropped so low that it wiped out all the previous gains for the last three months.</li>
<li>The majority of the unemployed workers have some college education (52%) while the number of unemployed workers who completed was 8%.</li>
<li>The average hours per week worked dropped to 34.4 hours. The drop is equivalent to the loss of 200,000 job lost.</li>
<li>Approximately half of all those unemployed have been so for over 27 weeks.</li>
<li>Over 70,000 Americans are set to lose their unemployment benefits in June.</li>
<li>The industry with the highest rate of unemployment is Construction workers at 14.2%.</li>
<li>The industry with the lowest rate of unemployment is Government workers at 4.2%.</li>
</ul>
<p class="quote">“I smile because I don't know what the hell is going on”<br />
- Maxine</p>
<h3>Where are the Jobs?</h3>
<p>Actually there are now over 700,000 jobs open that are not being filled. Those employers are getting desperate as recruiting and head-hunting agencies reporting a surge in business. Why aren't the unemployed filling those jobs?</p>
<ol>
<li>Unqualified</li>
<li>Undesirable work</li>
<li>Requires re-location</li>
<li>Poverty entitlements are greater than the jobs pay</li>
</ol>
<p class="quote">“I have a Liberal Arts degree.<br />
Do you want fries with that?<br />
- Mickey Gorman</p>
<h3>Are You Too Rich or Too Poor?</h3>
<p>We used to consider that anyone making over $1,000,000 per year was rich. So we didn't mind that the tax rates were higher for them. Some time ago that figure was reduced to $500,000 per year. We thought including them in that higher tax paying group was okay too.</p>
<p>But as Uncle Sam and the states began busting their budgets and looking for more revenue, the idea arose that those making $250,000 annually (which includes most small businesses) would also be considered too rich and must now be included in that higher tax group. So does the government feel that they have enough money coming in now? Does the spending stop? Did it slow diminish any?</p>
<p>Of course spending increased more than ever. So what's the next answer? Well the state of Maryland has a solution we never thought of. The state just ruled that those making over $100,000 must now be corralled into that unhappy, higher tax paying group. $100,000 a year is just too rich. But let's take a reality check here too. Almost 40% of the school teachers in Montgomery County Maryland make over $1,000.00 per year. Many government workers in retirement are making over $100,000 per year.</p>
<p>The oncoming dichotomy; Eligibility for some U.S. poverty programs allow incomes up to $74,000 per year! If you're too poor at $74,000 and too rich at $100,000 what's going to happen when the states decide to lower that higher taxed group to those making $75,000?</p>
<p class="quote">“A government that robs Peter to pay Paul<br />
can always count on the support of Paul.”</p>
<h3>Some Stuff You Might Like To Know</h3>
<p><b>Question:</b> Is overweight considered a disability within the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?</p>
<p><b>Answer:</b> The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently won a court case against an employer on this issue. The employer terminated an employee in a health treatment center who weighed 500 pounds because she had limited ability to move around and was unable to perform CPR. She later died of morbid obesity. The EEOC still filed the case saying that she should have been provided an accommodation under the ADA. A federal court in Louisiana agreed with the EEOC that Obesity is covered under the ADA if the employee is twice the normal weight.</p>
<p>New Social Security numbering system may cause a few problems: Those who are older may be familiar with the secret of decoding SS#s. The first three numbers told you the state in which the Social Security card was issued. The middle two numbers placed you in various groups and the last four digits were your actual serial number.</p>
<p>However, as a result of so many demographic changes and the rise of identity theft, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is abandoning that tidy system. It is now assigning SS# randomly and will for the first time begin using 7s and 8s as beginning numbers. This can be a problem for software programs that perform edits and checks of SS#. Such programs typically reject SS# that begin with 7s and 8s. So alert your IT providers, payroll services and 401(k) administrators to the change. Also consider using the SSA verification service that will almost instantly confirm that the employee's name and SS# are valid matches. You can register with the SSA to use this service at <a href="www.ssa.gov/employer/ssnv.htm">www.ssa.gov/employer/ssnv.htm</a>.
<p class="quote">“He who knows not and knows not he knows not: he is a fool - shun him.<br />
He who knows not and knows he knows not: he is simple - teach him.<br />
He who knows and knows not he knows: he is asleep - wake him.<br />
He who knows and knows he knows: he is wise - follow him.”</p>
<hr />
<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 />
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<b>Average Income</b>
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<table>
<tr><td /><td class="u">June 2012</td><td class="u">June 2011<td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Hourly</td><td class="b">$23.50</td><td class="b">$23.05</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Weekly</td><td class="b">$810.75</td><td class="b">$792.92</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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<p>July 1, 2011 through December 31, 2012</p>
<table>
<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>
</table>
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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">313.7 million</td></tr>
</table>
<p align="center">
<i>one birth every </i><b>8</b><i> seconds;</i><br />
<i>one death every </i><b>14</b><i> seconds;</i><br />
<i>one new immigrant every </i><b>44</b><i> seconds;</i><br />
<i>net gain of one person every </i><b>13</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">June 2012</td><td class="u">June 2011</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Total</td><td class="b">155,163,000</td><td class="b">153,409,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Employed</td><td class="b">142,163,000</td><td class="b">139,385,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Unemployed</td><td class="b">12,749,000</td><td class="b">14,024,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Want A Job</td><td class="b">6,250,000</td><td class="b">6,531,000</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">Unemployment Rate</td><td class="b">8.2%</td><td class="b">9.1%</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</td><td class="b">+3.6%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">2011</td><td class="b">+0.7%</td></tr>
<tr><td class="i">1st quarter 2012</td><td class="b">(-0.9%)</td></tr>
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