President’s Pen
by Betty Lonis, SPHR

At last month’s meeting we announced the winners of the HRACI Scholarship and the HRACI 2004 Awards for Excellence in Human Resources. I would like to share the winners with those who were unable to attend the meeting.

First, I am pleased to announce that Betsy Clendenen is the winner of this year’s HRACI scholarship. Betsy Clendenen is a junior honors student at IUPUI majoring in psychology. She was recently inducted into Psi Chi, a national honor society for psychology majors and won this year's Psi Chi Award at IUPUI for her outstanding academic record. Following completion of her bachelor's degree in 2005, she plans to pursue a Master's Degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology followed by a career in human resources. Betsy works part-time as an administrative assistant for a construction company. She has been an active community service volunteer in her community, most recently as a mentor and role model for children in a local elementary school.

Before announcing the winners of the HRACI 2004 Awards for Excellence in Human Resources, I would like to acknowledge the number of excellent nominations received for both the Volunteer of the Year and the Professional of the Year Awards. The pool of nominees was very competitive and the selection decisions were very difficult. And now, I’d like to announce the winners.

The first award is the Volunteer of the Year Award. This award recognizes the efforts of an individual who has provided outstanding leadership, motivation, and organizational skills to the development of the local chapter or other SHRM program. The Volunteer of the Year Award recognizes successful efforts of an individual in serving the profession. Greg Medcalf, SPHR, is the winner of this year’s Volunteer of the Year Award. Greg is the Human Resources Director of Milestone Contractors, L.P. He has been selected for this award for his work in ensuring that the human resources community stays current with industry related events and general community events, for his efforts in organizing member events and networking opportunities, and for his work on the Marketing/Public Relations committee for HRACI.

The second award is the Professional of the Year Award. This award recognizes creative approaches and consistently high performance that benefit the nominee’s organization as well as their business and professional communities. This award recognizes successful efforts in applying creative management concepts to improve performance, advance the profession, and promote better understanding of human resource management. Andrea Davis, SPHR, is the winner of this year’s Professional of the Year Award. Andrea is the Vice President of FlashPoint. She has been selected for this award for the creative and practical solutions she provides to her clients in which she focuses on aligning people strategies with business strategies. In addition, for her efforts in educating others in the area of human resource management through the various presentations she has made and training workshops she has facilitated to different groups. And finally, for her active membership in the professional human resources community.

I hope you’ll join me in congratulating all of our winners!

Please feel free to contact me at 317-277-5345 or president@hraci.org.

I look forward to seeing you at the August meeting!

Betty Lonis

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Thanks again to the vendors who participated in our first HRACI vendor fair during the July luncheon meeting!

Indianapolis Colleges for Adults Network
American Express Financial Advisors
Equity Corporate Housing
Peoplewise
NetG
Benefits Consultants, Inc.
Manpower
The Artos Group
Creative Performance Solutions Corp.
The Morley Group
PMC
TMP Worldwide

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The SHRM Foundation supports the SHRM Information Center through a quarter million dollar grant. The Information Center, a free service to SHRM members, publishes the online White Papers series, maintains the Competitive Practices Database and answers more than 70,000 HR inquiries annually. The Foundation grant ensures that the Information Center has the latest technology and the most current resources to help HR practitioners get the answers they need quickly and easily. For an overview of the Foundation's work, visit www.shrm.org/foundation.

The SHRM Foundation: Investing in Your Future as an HR Leader.

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1. Review the new regulations at 29 CFR 541, as they appeared in the Federal Register on April 23, 2004. White papers, summaries, and outlines of the recent changes are helpful, but it is important to reference the actual regulations to ensure your company is in compliance.
2. Provide training to other HR professionals, managers, and supervisors who will be assisting with the internal FLSA audit. It is important for anyone participating in the FLSA classification of employees, to fully understand the regulatory changes.
3. Assess the salary levels of employees currently classified as exempt:
   a) Identify those exempt employees currently earning less than $455 USD/week ($23,660 USD annually) and decide whether their salary will be increased or they will be reclassified as nonexempt.
   b) Assess the duties of those exempt employees currently earning between $23,660 USD and $100,000 USD to confirm they are correctly classified as exempt under the new duties tests.
   c) Verify that any employees currently earning over $100,000 USD meet at least one of the requirements of the new duties test.
   d) Confirm that outside sales and computer professionals meet the new respective duties tests. Make any necessary classification changes resulting from this analysis by Aug. 23, 2004.
4. Communicate those changes to the affected employees, at a minimum. You’ll want to be sensitive to the impact on affected employees (benefit eligibility, perceived status, etc.) resulting from the change. You may also choose to issue a general communication about the regulatory changes offering employees a contact should they have any questions (which can be done at any time).
5. Review organizational pay practices to ensure that all nonexempt employees are properly paid for all time worked including overtime, and update those policies and procedures as necessary.
6. Modify your existing policy or implement a new policy to include the new safe harbor for improper deductions provision.
7. Initiate training for any managers and supervisors not involved in the compliance audit process to educate them about their role in remaining FLSA compliant.

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Nominations for the 2005 "Best Small & Medium Companies to Work for in America" will be accepted until August 15, 2004. For more information and an online nomination form visit, http://www.greatplacetowork.com/best/nominations/nom-sme.php

To qualify for the list, an organization must have at least 50 and less than 1,000 U.S.-based full- and part-time employees. Typically, companies must also apply on behalf of the whole organization where similar workplace cultures exist (i.e., subsidiaries of larger organizations are typically eligible for participation along with the parent organization - as long as the parent organization and subsidiaries together have no more than 999 U.S.-based employees).

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SHRM is the nation’s largest organization dedicated to human resource management and is committed to both advancing the HR profession and serving the HR professional. SHRM provides a wide range of services and products designed to meet the needs of more than 170,000 professional and student members and the entire human resource profession. To kick off the "Member Madness" program SHRM is offering a reduced rate of $145 for new members for 12 months of service. For more information or to join now, visit the website at www.shrm.org/membermadness or talk to one of our HRACI Membership Committee members about the benefits of membership in SHRM.

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• Packet Preparation – assemble items for inclusion in conference packet, stuff bags, store filled bags and assist with miscellaneous conference tasks. (M)
• Hand-Out Distribution – place handouts and evaluations on chairs for general sessions (M, T, W)
• Attendee Early Registration – help setup the registration area, set up nametag tables, register attendees and assist with miscellaneous conference tasks, direct attendees to pre-conference session location, etc. (M)
• Exhibitor Check-In – assist vendors with registration, booth location and set-up, errands, etc.(T)
• Attendee Registration – register attendees prior to opening sessions. (T)
• Exhibit Hall Information Table – answer questions for attendees and update attendees on prizewinner information in the Exhibit Hall.
• Post Signs for Concurrent Sessions – post signs with topics and speakers outside of rooms. (T, W)
• Speaker Introductions – introduce concurrent session speakers. (assigned if not selected by volunteer). Volunteer will get attendees seated, introduce speaker (script is provided)…open session, facilitate Q & A if necessary and stay in the room during the entire session. (T, W)
• Room Assistants – distribute and collect evaluation forms in concurrent sessions, make certain room is clean for the next session, and stay in the room during the entire session. (T, W)
• Speaker Host – assigned to speaker ready room to attend to speaker last minute needs, questions, etc. (T, W)
• Miscellaneous – last minute needs or whatever!!! (M, T, W)

If you would like to help out for at least one hour, please specify the volunteer areas along with the day(s) and time(s) of your commitment.

Click here to download a pdf version of volunteer response form.

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SHRM and HRACI encourage our members to help educate today’s youth for tomorrow’s workplace. For more information and a mentor application form, please call (888) 492-0004 or go to www.firstlady.in.gov/mentorindiana.

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Chimelle Morris

Kevin Smith

Alejandra De Luna

Christopher Paynter, PHR