President’s Pen
by Betty Lonis, SPHR

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Indiana State Conference. The conference will be held in Indianapolis on August 23rd – 25th. At last month’s meeting we gave away the first five of ten free registrations to the conference. We will give away the final five registrations at this month’s meeting. To be eligible, simply drop your business card in the basket at the July meeting. Remember, you must be present to win. And, if you registered at the June meeting and were not selected, your entry stays in the drawing for this month – so your chances of winning are twice as good.

If that isn’t reason enough to attend this month’s meeting, the recipients of the 2004 Awards for Excellence in Human Resources will be awarded. I am pleased that we received so many nominations for the awards. We will announce the winner of the Professional of the Year and the Volunteer of the Year Awards at this month’s meeting. I hope you will be able to join us and help us celebrate the recipients of these awards.

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

I look forward to seeing you at the July meeting!

Betty Lonis

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Before trying to 'fix' a perceived problem in your organization, first stop and take a moment to check your premises. That is the message shared by Gallup CEO Jim Clifton at the 2002 SHRM Foundation Thought Leaders Retreat. Based on the polls and research conducted by the Gallup Organization, Clifton asserted that most thought leadership today is either wrong or just a little bit off. Poor decisions in politics and business are often based on wrong premises due to ignorance of pertinent facts on the part of the decision-makers. Before taking action, leaders must take time to listen to the people whose lives are affected. Unfortunately, leaders seldom examine premises. They often accept them as true. People then build their business and people management strategies and programs on these untested assumptions.

For example, we assume that CEO's care about the people in the organization, when in reality they are most concerned with bottom line business results. This means that if HR recommends a new program because it is "good for employees," the CEO is not likely to accept it. HR must build the business case for investing in people based on hard data. HR professionals must become far more financially literate. They must focus on research rather than instinct and assumptions as the basis for their recommendations regarding people management. To be effective, HR must learn to check its assumptions and bring a hard analytical approach to soft people issues. Research has proven that having a spirited and engaged workforce impacts bottom line results, and HR is uniquely positioned to provide strategic leadership in this area.

To read the entire text of Jim Clifton's remarks, visit www.shrm.org/foundation/engaging.asp.

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

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by Andrea Davis

The HR Certification Institute (HRCI) Approved-for-Credit program is designed to encourage PHR and SPHR certified professionals to continue their ongoing education in human resources and to retain the PHR or SPHR designation through recertification every three years. Pre-approving continuing education workshops and seminars eliminates the guesswork for recertification candidates when planning their professional development activities. As a chapter, HRACI can submit HR-related education activities for pre-approval toward PHR and SPHR recertification. When the submission is approved, we are notified of the number of recertification credit hours awarded.

Approved-for-Credit Criteria

SHRM chapters must meet established criteria for programs to become pre-approved. Requests to review programs for pre-approval must be submitted well in advance of the program. We do our best to plan programs several months in advance so we can apply for credit. HRCI awards recertification credit on an hour-for-hour basis for time spent in the educational activity. Time spent for breaks, meals, and all other non-educational activities are not counted for recertification credit.

To qualify for recertification credits, all events must be HR-related and tied to the HR body of knowledge as defined by HRCI (Strategic Management, Workforce Planning and Employment, Human Resource Development, Compensation and Benefits, Employment and Labor Relations, and Occupational Health, Safety and Security).

If HRCI determines that the program does not meet the eligibility criteria, the request for pre-approved recertification credit hours will be denied. As an example, our May program (while educational) was not approved for recertification credit because the content was not specifically related and tied to the HR body of knowledge. Most of our programs during the year are HR-related and tied to the HR body of knowledge. However, we will occasionally have special events and programs which address the needs of our membership but don’t meet the criteria for recertification credit.

For more information on PHR or SPHR certification or recertification credits, please visit: www.hrci.org

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Consistent communication ensures the successful incorporation of value-added measurement, which requires the cooperation and participation of all managers and employees.
By Donald L. Sheppard, Sheppard Associates
Submitted by Tammy Goins

More and more companies are trying to achieve basic business goals by establishing a measurement for value-added performance. Whether it’s called economic value-added management, economic value management or value-based management, the key to achieving these goals is effective communication that ensures all employees and managers understand the measurement, how to change their behavior and how that behavior will benefit them and the company’s bottom line.

Since value-added measurements first were touted as a simple way to establish the value of company operations and functions, firms worldwide have struggled with a way to make a seemingly complex financial subject understandable to employees who play a key role in making it real. Now, more than ever, companies are emphasizing internal communication to enhance value-added programs.

What Does Value-added Mean?

It’s fairly simple: Value-added is ensuring that companies earn more than their cost for capital. Value-added measurements differ from more common measurements, such as earnings per share (EPS), return on equity or revenue growth, because they support the value-based decision making for day-to-day operations, capital investments and long-term strategic initiatives.

Companies that link incentive compensation to value-added performance accomplish more than just aligning interests of stockholders and management; they encourage employees to think and act like owners. However, for owners to make value-added decisions, they need to have a big-picture view from their local vantage point.

Effective Communication Is Key

Implementing value-added measurements equates with adopting a new way of thinking -- a new way of evaluating options and, ultimately, making day-to-day business decisions. If companies are to accomplish this, their employees need to have a strong grasp of what’s expected of them.

• The objectives of an effective value-added communication effort include:
• Obtaining key leaders’ buy-in that adopting some form of value-added measurement is a win-win for everyone
• Providing tools for managers to communicate the value-added approach to their staffs
• Establishing an ongoing effort to communicate the company’s actual value-added performance compared to the "old" way and to celebrate the improvements
• Advancing the thought that, as with any owner, each employee now bears the responsibility for participating in the communication process
• Establishing that there’s a potential personal financial liability for not com-municating. For example, in companies linking incentive compensation to the value-added measurement, not hitting value-added targets results in a reduction or elimination of bonuses. In other com-panies, value-added participation links directly to performance reviews.

Improving Profits

Communication needs to motivate employees, as owners, to ask questions that involve improving operating profits without using additional capital. For example:

• How can employees manage internal expenditures more effectively?
• How can employees increase the productivity of existing assets?
• How can employees provide better services to our clients without spending more?
• Can employees spend less capital and achieve the same or better results?
• Which operating assets are not generating enough return? Which should be sold or redeployed?

Evaluating Communication through Results

While it’s good to evaluate whether implementation and training materials are being read, it’s better to determine whether they’re being understood. The best way to determine whether communication efforts are "earning their keep" is to link the transfer of understanding to a change in behavior.

One way to establish understanding is to include various examples of day-to-day activities in which communication tools can be analyzed using the same value-added approach, which will improve the value created.

Behavioral Changes

Once it’s been determined that the communication has not only been received, but also understood, it’s important to find out how that understanding is being utilized.

• Have employees changed a behavior?
• What’s the behavior?
• By changing the behavior, what improvements have occurred?
• Can this behavior be quantified?

By quantifying the behavior, we then can trace the results to the financial measurement system -- the elusive bottom line.

For instance, a transportation company adopts a value-added business management system. In the various stages of communication, the company provides examples of how employees at every level can participate in reducing costs.

One such example explains how using a standard fuel vs. premium fuel results in a lower per-gallon cost, with no substantiated performance deterioration. The average number of gallons used by an average truck is used to calculate the per gallon savings of using standard fuel. Truck drivers at the company’s various locations understand this illustration and implement it. Various locations’ fuel costs begin to decrease. These decreases, added together, are apparent on the company’s financial statements -- the bottom line. An improvement in value has been achieved, and the value of the communication has been established.

Another example might include getting employees to think about which operating assets are not generating enough return and perhaps should be sold or redeployed. If the transportation company owns eight pieces of equipment, but one is rarely, if ever, used and its book value has been reduced to zero, it would be better for the company to sell that piece of equipment at a profit than to let it sit collecting dust.

The Value of Communication

Can communication take 100 percent credit for improving the bottom line? No. While communication links directly to the success of adopting a value-added measurement, there are obviously other drivers -- such as existing marketplace conditions -- that factor into the equation. However, the successful incorporation of value-added measurement requires the cooperation and participation of all employees and management. People throughout the organization need to first understand the company’s plan. If employee communication, performance reviews and compensation are not tied to and do not support the implementation of value-added measurement, employees are not going to get the message. Employees at all levels need to hear a consistent message that presents clearly where the company is going and how they can contribute to getting it there through value-added performance.

Essentially, communication should add its own value -- both figuratively and literally. This value is not just a "warm fuzzy," but a cold, hard measurement in dollars as well. It’s possible to follow the communication thread throughout the process of adopting a value-added measurement by evaluating communication tools along the way, tracking their results all the way to the bottom line.

About the Author -- Donald L. Sheppard is the Chief Executive Officer of Sheppard Associates in Glendale, Calif.

Reprinted from ACA News, February 2000, with permission from WorldatWork, 14040 N. Northsight Blvd., Scottsdale, AZ 85260; phone (877) 951-9191; fax (480) 483-8352; www.worldatwork.org.
© 2004 WorldatWork. Unauthorized reproduction or distribution is strictly prohibited.

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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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SHRM Releases 2004-2005 Workplace Forecast; A Strategic Outlook

(Alexandria, Va., June 27, 2004)—The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) today released the SHRM Workplace Forecast which projects the top ten trends affecting the American workplace according to a survey of HR professionals. The rising cost of health care tops the list, while security issues, labor shortages and exportation of U.S. jobs also rank as hot topics.

“ Successful businesses can adapt to changing economic, political, and social conditions. Being aware of trends affecting the workplace can help an organization proactively anticipate challenges ahead,” said Susan R. Meisinger, SPHR, president and CEO of SHRM. “Great companies have HR professionals leading the way with smart people strategies as organizations adapt to changing times.”

The “SHRM Workplace Forecast 2004-2005: A Strategic Outlook” examines the issues that are affecting macro-trends in the workplace and the jobs, duties and concerns of HR professionals. The forecast surveyed a random sample of 558 SHRM members.

Top Ten Trends Overall

1. Rise in health care costs
2. Focus on domestic safety and security
3. Use of technology to communicate with employees
4. Growing complexity of legal compliance
5. Use of technology to perform transactional HR functions
6. Focus on global security
7. Preparing for the next wave of retirement/labor shortage
8. Use and development of e-learning
9. Exporting of U.S. manufacturing jobs to developing countries
10. Changing definition of family

In addition, the SHRM Workplace Forecast Survey looks at the top ten key concerns, and other trends identified by the SHRM Workplace Trends and Forecasting Program, that influence overall trends within the following eight key areas: demographics, economics, employment, international issues, political trends, society, science and technology, and HR industry trends.

Demographics

The aging of the workforce, the need for elder care, changing family patterns, and high rates of immigration are all demographic trends that impact organizations and their workforces.

Economics

Economic trends include health care and pension costs, demand for high-skilled workers, and changes in corporate governance resulting from scandals.

Employment

Lower HR staff to employee ratios, demand for flexible work schedules, linking pay and performance, employee demand for customized employment relationships, and the backlash against managed care all impact the key employment trends.

International

International trends are formed by exporting U.S. jobs, security concerns, the expanding global marketplace, ethnic and regional differences, anti-Americanism, and a growing economic interdependence among the countries of the world.

Politics

The political trends in the U.S. reflect the issues that are most important in workplaces and households across the nation. These include a focus on domestic security, health care reform, increased political partisanship, 2004 elections, and a weakening of affirmative action policies.

Society

The changing definition of a family, a 24/7 work culture, and broadening diversity are some of the components that make the list of societal trends.

Science & Technology

The use of technology for employee communications, employee monitoring, and development of e-learning are all trends of growing importance to HR professionals. However, so are an increased concern for intellectual property, identity theft issues, and the vulnerability of technology to potential terrorist attacks.

HR Trends

Current trends in the HR industry include the growing complexity of legal compliance, use of technology to perform transactional HR functions, demonstrating HR’s return on investment, and the emphasis on HR competencies for practitioners.
SHRM members may access the complete survey online for free at www.shrm.org/surveys. Non-members may purchase a survey by calling the SHRM Store at 1-800-444-5006.

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the world’s largest association devoted to human resource management. Representing more than 185,000 individual members, the Society's mission is to serve the needs of HR professionals by providing the most essential and comprehensive resources available. As an influential voice, the Society's mission is also to advance the human resource profession to ensure that HR is recognized as an essential partner in developing and executing organizational strategy. Founded in 1948, SHRM currently has more than 500 affiliated chapters and members in more than 100 countries. Visit SHRM Online at www.shrm.org.

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If you have any questions, please contact Bill Kenealy at bill@ttrades.net or call 927-7130 for more information.

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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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