President's Pen
by Cherilyn Stephens, PHR

Dear HRACI Members,

We need you! HRACI has several open board positions and we’re looking for great leaders to help advance our association. If you've always wanted to have the opportunity to further serve the organization by volunteering for a board position, now is the time!

We have the following positions up for election for the 2008-2009 term (2 year commitment):

• Treasurer
• Vice President, Membership
• Director of Certification
• Director of Communication
• Director of Special Interest Groups
• Director of Sponsorship

If you are interested in being considered (or re-elected) to one of these positions, please complete the Board Leader form and submit along with a resume no later than September 21, 2007. The nominating committee of the Board (comprised of Past President, President, and President-Elect) will review all candidates and recommend a slate of officers. The membership will be notified of the slate by email and the candidates will be presented and voted on at our October monthly meeting.

Criteria for consideration:
• HRACI Member
• SHRM Member (or will join SHRM once elected)
• PHR/SPHR certification preferred
• Ability to attend monthly board meetings and monthly meetings/special programs
• Previous HRACI volunteer in some capacity preferred
• Ability to facilitate and lead a committee if position requires
• Ability to commit time to the position and the organization
• Strong leadership skills and self-starter

Sincerely,

Cherilyn Stephens, PHR
President-HRACI

Click here to access the Board Leader Form

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It is our pleasure to announce the HRACI Award Winners for 2007, each year from your nominations we award an HR Professional Award of Excellence and an HRACI Volunteer of the Year.

This year's winners are:
HR Award of Excellence: Patti Daniels, PHR
Patti Daniels has been with Spherion or one of its subsidiaries for 15 years and in HR for approximately 21 years in a variety of different roles. During that time she has applied HR management concepts to improve and streamline functions in both the organization she’s worked for and as an HR consultant to benefit clients. Her focus on collaborative work with clients and the community by practicing a willingness to share information, experiences, and support with other HR professionals. Patti is a demonstrative HR Leader who practices the core principles promoted by SHRM - professional and colleague development, professional and personal responsibility, leadership, fairness, trust and respect for individuals.

HRACI Volunteer of the Year: Susan Crawley, PHR
Susan has been an active member of HRACI giving her time and dedication. She has been a volunteer on the Membership Committee for several years taking on commitments and following through. She also assists with the new member orientation and most recently has helped with the PHR/SPHR study group for the Certification Committee. Susan is someone you can count on to get the job done.

Each winner will receive a complimentary admission to the Indiana SHRM State Conference at the end of August as well as be submitted as HRACI's nominations for the same awards/recognition at the IN State Council, who will announce the State awards at the closing luncheon of the August conference.

Please help us congratulate Patti and Susan on their great support of our industry and our Chapter as this year's winners!

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Developing Your HR Strategic Plan
Speaker: Kathleen McComber, MA, SPHR

Should we do away with human resources? Abolish the department and those providing that function? This debate arises out of serious and widespread doubts about HR’s contribution to organizational performance. It is often ineffective, incompetent, and costly; Dave Ulrich uses the words “it is value sapping.” Indeed, if HR were to remain configured as it is today in many organizations the answer would be a resounding YES!…abolish the thing! But the truth is, HR has never been more necessary. Thinking strategically and planning ahead for leading today’s workforce is essential for every human resource professional. The competitive forces that managers face today and will continue to confront in the future demand organizational excellence. The efforts to achieve such excellence—1. through a focus on learning, 2. quality, 3. teamwork, and 4. reengineering—are driven by the way organization get things done and how they treat their people. Those are fundamental HR issues. To state it plainly: achieving organizational excellence must be the work of HR. Come to this session and learn a valuable set of skills.

This program has been approved for recertification credit hours toward PHR, SPHR and GPHR recertification through the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI). For more information about certification or recertification, please visit the HRCI homepage at www.hrci.org

Click Here to Register Now!

Date:	Thursday, August 16, 2007
Topic:	Developing Your HR Strategic Plan
Agenda	11:30 a.m. Registration & Networking 12:00 p.m. Lunch 12:20 p.m. Program 1:20 p.m. Adjournment
Location:	The Murat Center, Michigan and New Jersey Streets, Dowtown Indianapolis. Parking is included (be sure to mention you are with HRACI)
Program Cost:	Members $25 Guests $35 Student $15
Click Here to Register Now!
Sponsored by Career Builder

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Committee Initiatives/Responsibilities:
Primary focus of the HR Consulting Forum was to involve current and prospective consultants in educational and networking opportunities.

Committee Goals:
Our first year goals were to establish a viable steering committee, offer challenging meetings and encourage active participation among those entrepreneurial HR consultants.

Committee Accomplishments:
We accomplished 2006-07 goals through our very conscientious steering committee efforts as 80% served for a full year.

The balance of our exciting 2007 seminar schedule follows:
• August 28th luncheon at In. State SHRM Conference
• October 2nd To be announced
• December 4th “Business Ethics”

Reasons for Recognition:
Our forum exceeded our 1st year expectations as 80% of our steering committee was faithful throughout our initial year. We achieved our goal of having semi monthly seminars and enjoyed challenging programs.

We recognize and appreciate these contributions of Lisa Helms as she enthusiastically represented our interests in her role as HRACI Liaison. Initially Lisa exhibited coordination skills and then eagerly accepted her role as HRACI Liaison. Her contributions have been most valuable as she integrated our programs with EMA and HRACI goals.

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HR Consultant SIG

Topic: “Consulting - Outside Looking In”

Speaker: Bill O’Donnell, Director of Graduate Programs, Butler University College of Business Administration
Date: Tuesday, August 28. 12:00 – 1:00
Location: Indiana State SHRM Conference, Westin Hotel, 50 S. Capitol, Indianapolis

As consultants, we often lose touch with the client and customer. Join us for a facilitated executive level discussion on the “Ins and outs” of consulting, led by a senior consultant and thought leader within Human Resources. Bill O’Donnell is the head of Butler’s Graduate Programs in the Butler’s College of Business Administration, with several key positions in his life.

Bill’s consulting and HR pedigree includes:
Health & Welfare Practice Leader, Buck Consultants 2005 – Present
Consultant, INGENIX 2004 – 2005
Senior Vice President Human Resources, ATA Airlines, Inc. 2001- 2004
William M. Mercer, Inc 1980-1988/1992-2001
• Chair – Human Capital Business Design Team 2000-2001
• Principal/Office Head, Minneapolis, MN 1996-2000
• Principal/Office Head, Indianapolis, IN 1992-1995

Join us for a free-flowing discussion on the good, the bad and the ugly of consulting…

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Submitted by Dennis Stull

Workplace Violence and “Take Your Gun to Work” Legislation - By Debra Brooks

According to The American Journal of Public Health, workplaces in which guns are tolerated are five to seven times more likely to suffer homicides than those in which firearms are banned. About seventeen employees are murdered every week in American workplaces by someone with a gun. In fact, 77 percent of workplace homicides are committed with firearms. One might, therefore, find it interesting to learn that in 2006 the National Rifle Association (NRA) embarked on a 50-state campaign to pass “take-your-guns-to-work” laws that would bar an employer from having policies forbidding the presence of guns on the employer’s property.

Indiana was a state that considered such legislation. In fact, three days after a bill making it illegal for an Indiana employer to prohibit the presence of guns on the employer’s property was introduced in the Indiana House, an employee of Crossroads Industrial Services took a gun into the facility and shot four co-workers because he was tired of being teased about his weight. Thankfully, none of the co-workers was seriously injured. According to the Legislative Cumulative Report for Indiana, House Bill 1118 failed upon adjournment of the House on April 29, 2007.

As might be expected, there are passionate lobbyists on both sides of this issue. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and The Chamber of Commerce are two such organizations that oppose the gun legislation. Both organizations cite concerns that businesses will sustain increased costs associated with stepped-up security measures; more thorough recruiting and background check processes and extensive management and employee training programs on detecting and preventing workplace violence. They also criticize the legislation as an abrogation of an employer’s property rights. Finally, they argue that the legislation conflicts with employers’ duties under occupational safety laws to maintain a workplace free from recognized hazards.

The NRA supports legislation that would, at a minimum, permit employees to store their guns in the employees’ locked car while in the employers’ parking lots. The NRA’s former president and current Florida spokeswoman discounts the concerns of the legislation’s opponents. The NRA’s position is that the legislation is needed to increase worker safety. More importantly, the NRA believes that current laws permitting an employer to prohibit guns on the employer’s property violate employees’ Second Amendment right to bear arms.

According to The Brady Campaign, a national gun violence prevention lobby, Kentucky, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Kansas and Alaska all recently enacted laws which prohibit employers from banning guns on the employers’ property to some degree. Thirteen other states considered and defeated similar legislation. Organizations on both sides of the issue fully anticipate the legislative issue to resurface in coming years.

As the legislation winds its way back through the state legislative process, there are some critical steps that business and human resource leaders should take to protect against workplace violence. The International Association of Chiefs of Police strongly encourages employers to establish a policy applicable to all visitors, including employees, to the employers’ property that prohibits the possession of weapons not authorized by the employer.

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the best protection employers can offer is to establish a zero-tolerance policy toward workplace violence. Employers should also consider:

• Providing safety education for employees so they know what conduct is not acceptable, what to do if they witness or experience workplace violence and how to protect themselves;
• Establishing a workplace violence prevention program and incorporating the information into existing accident prevention training programs, employee handbooks and manuals of the company’s standard operating procedures;
• Educating all employees as to the workplace violence policy, and
• Committing to a prompt and thorough investigation of all complaints of workplace violence.

Equally important, business and human resource leaders should be involved in Indiana’s legislative process. Use the tools at your disposal by the HRACI Legislative Committee to find out the names of your Indiana State Representative and Senator. Contact your legislators to express your views on this issue. All of us have a part to play in the legislative process.

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Ann Murphy
Louis Reed
Sally Fiore
Todd Mayse
Jessica Goodrich
Tina Wilkinson
Leslie Cunningham
Michal Walker