HR Matters
Texas SHRM
If there have been any changes in your volunteers, report them to your Regional Administrator. Keep SHRM informed of any changes to volunteer e-mail addresses, contact information, and role changes.·
Hold a mid-year strategic planning/review meeting for your organization and review the SHAPE document to ensure you are on track.
Super mega and 100% chapters are allowed two e-blasts per quarter to promote their activities to all SHRM members in the chapter’s ZIP code range. Complete the online request form in the VLRC.
Veronica Sanchez - Winner
The HRSouthwest Conference is pleased to announce the Texas Volunteer Leader of the Year Award.
Volunteers are an integral part of and a vital asset to the continued success of the 35 local SHRM affiliated chapters in Texas and the umbrella association, Texas State Council-SHRM. The award will recognize those leaders whose volunteer efforts and impact are exemplary in serving their peers, the human resources community in the state of Texas.
While most of these volunteer leaders are full-time employees, they find time to share their talent to support their professional peers and advance the profession. Most make the commitment to serve for at least a one-year term and are responsible for managing a team or committee. Many have served multiple years in various positions and inspire others with their enthusiasm.
The chapters are dedicated to providing the HR professional with resources specific to his/her needs, including education and networking. The chapters also serve as a resource to their local business communities by providing subject-matter expertise. With more than 5,000 members in addition to the 1,000 student chapter members at Texas universities, the HR community is a significant part of our business communities.
The 35 SHRM-affiliated chapters across the state of Texas are successful because of these enthusiastic volunteers and we are excited to honor them for:
*Consistent and significant contributions of time, talent and energies.
*Commitment to the advancement of the profession and their professional peers.
*Outstanding record of participation and involvement.
Click here for more information about the award and how to make a nomination.
About The HRSouthwest Conference:
The HRSouthwest Conference, the nation’s largest regional human resource conference, provides attendees with exceptional educational opportunities, a varied and dynamic exposition hall with more than 200 exhibitors and sponsors and the opportunity to network and benchmark with more than 2,000 HR practitioners from around the country. The "Official State of Texas SHRM Conference" is an affiliate of the Society for Human Resource Management (shrm.org). More information is available at: http://www.hrsouthwest.com.
Contact Information: Marlene C. Diaz, Conference Services and Marketing Director, the HRSouthwest Conference, marlene@hrsouthwest.com.
TAB and SHRM-TSC Employment Relations Symposium:
The Texas Association of Business and the SHRM-Texas State Council host this annual employment relations symposium, attended by almost 300 business owners, human resource professionals, attorneys and accountants.
The Symposium offers invaluable and comprehensive information on cutting-edge labor law trends, legal tips from top attorneys, continuing education credits, access to top-notch vendors and innovative support services and professional networking opportunities.
Sponsorships and exhibit booths are available. For more information on sponsorships contact TAB Event Coordinator Lori Buntin at lbuntin@txbiz.org.
The event is being held at the beautiful Westin La Cantera in San Antonio on July 18-20. You can get details and register here.
Is your company one of the BEST to work for in Texas? Don’t forget! The deadline to register for the 2013 Best Companies to Work for in Texas is Friday, Aug. 31!
The 2013 Best Companies to Work for in Texas is a survey and analysis program dedicated to identifying and recognizing the best employers in Texas. You can find a description of the assessment and survey process under Assessment Process and answers to most of your questions under the FAQs on the website.
Registration deadline is Aug. 31, 2012!
This exciting initiative is brought to you by TEXAS MONTHLY, the Texas Association of Business (TAB), the Society for Human Resource Management-Texas State Council (SHRM-TSC) and Best Companies Group. The results of the program will be published in a special advertorial section in an upcoming issue of TEXAS MONTHLY. Winners will also be honored at a luncheon as part of the Texas Association of Business Annual Conference.
Best Companies Group manages the process and will be conducting thorough assessments of all the registered companies including a survey of the Texas-based employees. While determining who makes "the list" is very exciting, the Best Companies Group Employee Feedback Report is where the real value lies. Participating companies will receive the results of the employee survey, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of their workplace. As an added value, each company will receive employee benchmarking data, which may be used to compare oneself to the list-making companies and the overall participants.
For samples of our surveys and reports, please review the Best Companies to Work for in Texas website.
If you have additional questions, please email JackieM@BestCompaniesGroup.com or call 717-909-1570.
For questions regarding the SHRM-Texas State Council contact Dena Culpepper at the Council office at 214-354-8740 or texasshrm@gmail.com.
Each month the SHRM-TSC will randomly place the name of one of our chapter members in the newsletter. When you find your name (which will have the word "Winner" typed beside it) simply email Dena Culpepper at the Council office (denaculpepper@att.net) and she will send your your prize. Thanks for reading!
Are you ready to become a Star?
We are pleased to welcome everyone to this year’s Austin Human Resource Management Association’s (AHRMA) Annual Conference on August 23-24 at the Omni Southpark Hotel. Early Bird Registration closes this Friday June 15 so hurry and register to take advantage of the discounted price. Check out who will be speaking at this year’s conference at: www.ahrmaconference.org. You won't want to miss this awesome Conference! Register today: www.ahrmaconference.com
Did you miss your chance to bid on the wine bottle sitting inside a giant high heel? Or the dinner cruise on a catamaran? Or the six month delivery of mouth-watering cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes?
The end result was a total of over $5,400.00 raised for the Foundation and bargains of up to 70% off the retail value for the winners. This truly amazing outcome would not have been possible without a lot of hard work from the committee, headed up by Executive Director Diane McClendon, Chair Christine Cohen, Past President Chris Luttrell, and President-Elect John Hagan. Way to go Dallas HR!
East Texas Human Resources Association will be hosting their annual symposium on July 17, 2012, from 7:45am to 4:15pm. The event will be located at Bert E. Woodruff Adult Education Center, 220 N. Henderson Blvd., Kilgore,TX. This event is open for not only HR Professionals, small business owners, CEO's,COO's, mid-level management but for anyone interested in learning more on the following topics:
Immigration: Spelled Out for the Global Workplace
Don't Let Cloud Computing Rain on your Talent Parade
Using Company Culture and Values to Make or Break a Hire (and 'Get a Grip' with your hiring Managers)
Managing a Mobile Workforce
Disease Prevention and Stress Reduction in the Workplace
Slaying the Three-Headed Dragon: ADA, FMLA and Worker's comp
The Symposium has been certified for 7 HRCIcredits. The cost for non-members is $75 for the day or $50 a person, if 3 or more from the same company are registering. We encourage anyone interested in attending to please visit our website at http://easttexashra.shrm.org and register to save your spot! The symposium is being sponsored by Allied Waste Services, Kelly Services, Snelling Staffing Services, Good Shepherd Health & Prevention Services, Foster Quan, LLP, ModernSurvey, Michael Curtis, Ramey & Flock, and See Clearly Consulting.
South Texas SHRM will be conducting an HR seminar on September 6, 2012 at the UHV Multi-Purpose Room in Victoria. Come out and enjoy the food,beverages, networking and all of the great presentations that will be shared. For more information please contact Terri Kurtz at (361) 572-6463.
Many employers conduct criminal background checks for applicants or new hires in order to complete due diligence. In fact, the National Consumer Law Center reports that a whopping 93 percent of employers run criminal background checks on some job candidates, and 73 percent of employers conduct such checks on all potential new hires.
However, as part of its continuing effort to insert itself into the everyday lives of every workplace in the country, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued new guidelines that aim to curtail the use of arrest and conviction records for employment purposes. Now, every employer that chooses to run criminal background checks is at risk of facing a discrimination charge or lawsuit.
What the EEOC has made clear for more than 20 years is that it believes it is dangerous for an employer to automatically bar an applicant from consideration simply because of a past arrest or conviction. The agency points to sociological statistics that show that people of certain races and national origins are disproportionately arrested and convicted of crimes.
Therefore, the agency has said, if an employer issues a blanket prohibition on hiring for anyone with a criminal background, without further regard to the specific circumstances involved, that employer may well be in violation of Title VII (the country's most widely-applied anti-discrimination statute).
The EEOC, and the courts, may no longer accept the seemingly obvious rationalization that applicants with theft convictions are more likely to steal. Instead, employers should be prepared to defend their policy with research, evidence or statistics that demonstrate an increased likelihood that such applicants arc more likely to steal than others are.
Sumitted by: Chris Veillon
SHRM Learning System Program Partnering with a college/university through the SHRM Learning System Program can benefit your chapter in many ways: inspires new member growth; creates opportunities for HR professionals; cuts costs associated with program development; increases chapter exposure; advances the profession; and much more!
To find out how your chapter can take full advantage of the SHRM Learning System Program, read the LeadersEdge article on the VLRC SHRM Learning System Program - LeadersEdge article or visit the HR Certification Institute CLA page of the VLRC VLRC - Certification
SHRM’s Learning System
Learn more about how you can help your members prepare for Certification! See the SHRM Special Offer for State Councils and SHRM Chapters – a study group is a great option and a great value!! SHRM Learning System for Chapters and State Councils: SHRM Learning System for Chapters and State Councils Reminder!
SHRM Learning System – Copyrighted Material
The Society for Human Resource Management ("SHRM") is the exclusive copyright owner of the SHRM Learning System. The Learning System is a licensed product which limits the right of the member to use the Learning System solely for their own personal educational use, and not for the purpose of printing or making copies in any media or to sell, or sublicense, or loan or otherwise convey or distribute such materials or any copies thereof.
Did you know that you could be eligible for HR Certification Institute recertification credits for writing a letter to Congress or your State Legislator? The letter must be HR-related and you are eligible for .25 credit per letter and letters must be on different issues (max of 1 hour per year). Go to HRCI - Recertification for additional information.
In his recent book Retention Wars: The New Rules of Engagement, membership retention guru Mark Levin asserts, "The battle to get the attention, commitment, and involvement of members has never been greater. The competition for their time, money, energy, and interest has never been more formidable. The shifting needs of multiple generations, the world of the 24-hour workday, and the rash of ever faster technologies put a greater strain on membership organizations than they have ever before had to endure."
Levin goes on to say, "Still, giving up is not an option. Organizations can't be content to 'keep as many members as possible,' and write off the others as members who weren't going to stay anyway. Giving up is not an option, because membership still matters.
So if we accept Levin's two assertions that the challenge to retain members has never been greater and that membership still matters, we might ask, 'What can SHRM's Chapters do to take up the challenge of member retention?'
Many of the strategies Levin brings forward in his book have been treated in previous articles in our series on member retention. What we will focus on here is what Levin refers to as the 'WOW Factor.'
Levin begins this part of his book by relating his experience with an on-line greeting card company when he decided to send his wife a first ever on-line birthday card. This particular company not only notified Levin within seconds that his card had been sent, but several hours later they sent him another e-mail indicating that his card had been collected by Barbara, his wife. Moreover, they personalized these messages by using both first names. This transaction, brief though it was,created a WOW experience for Levin and assured his return business.
This example suggests two things: first, and obvious, our Chapters are not on-line greeting card companies; and second, creating WOW for your members need not be expensive or difficult to implement. In fact, here are some initiatives your Chapter can easily adopt that can engage members and differentiate your chapter from the competition.
Make your new member orientation a more personal and meaningful activity by:
* Presenting new members with a membership packet that will include, among other items, a detailing of your Chapter's benefits and a listing of Chapter members that have gone on to other leadership roles in SHRM (state councils, areas/regions, national, committees/panels)
* Following your presentation on member benefits, have each new member in the session spend a few minutes on their own professional development plan and identifying the member benefits most relevant to that plan.
* Ask each new member to share with the group the top HR issue in their organization. What often happens if this occurs is that another new member may have encountered, and perhaps solved, that particular issue.
* Does leaving the new member orientation with a potential solution to a top organizational issue/challenge create a WOW experience? ABSOLUTELY!
Make your web site the best it can be!
* More and more, your Chapter's web site is the main point of contact with members and potential members. While cosmetics can carry you only so far, making a great first impression through your site's design can create WOW for your Chapter. Your home page should be professional, should include your logo and SHRM's, and should feature a complete menu of what's available on your site. Also, a little pizzazz never hurts!
* Include all links that might be helpful to your members - SHRM,HRCI, Dept of Labor, your state's workforce commission, etc.
* Make all information available on your site easy to access. While this factor alone will not result in your members saying 'WOW,' you'll never have the opportunity to get to WOW through your web site if your members don't use it because it's difficult to navigate.
For information on SHRM's web site support program, please contact Shelly Quinn at squinn@shrm.org.
Include EXTREME MEMBER SERVICE as a part of your Chapter's mission and operational plan, and be sure to define what this level of service commitment looks like, for example:
* When a member calls or e-mails with a question, respond immediately whenever possible. If the question requires some research, acknowledge receipt of the question and let the member know when you'll get back with an answer. AND THEN DO IT! It's surprising how something as simple as acknowledging a question can help your Chapter create an environment of service commitment. Also, it's instructive to think of real world examples of great service you've experienced and then explore how you can bring those or similar experiences to your members.
* Collect questions from your members and create - and publicize - your new 'Frequently Asked Questions' page of your web site. This will save your members time, something no one possesses in abundance these days.
PERSONALIZE EVERYTHING (remember the greeting card example):
* Assign veteran members of your Chapter to serve as Chapter mentors to your new members, have them call and introduce themselves, and then check back with new members periodically throughout the first year to inquire as to how things are going. This action will significantly ease the transition into your Chapter, and most of the time it's a great experience for the mentor as well. Where else can you get two WOWs for the price of one?
* Feature information about members in your monthly newsletter- job information, certainly, but also personal information (e.g. favorite movie, favorite vacation destination). Do most other Chapter or other organizations do this? No, which is why this is a potential differentiator for your Chapter and something that will impress your members.
What the above initiatives tell us is that our members do indeed matter and that retaining them over time is more than worth the effort. As Levin suggests, the WOW factor can be a powerful tool in this effort and in making our members professional partners for life!
Submitted by: Broderick McGee, MBA, PHR
SHRM Survey: Fairness Cited in Implementation of Workplace Flexibility Practices
New SHRM research identifies opportunity for employers to use flexible work arrangements to recruit and retain valuable segments of workforce.
Alexandria, Va., June 1, 2012 - Many employers are creating flexible work arrangements, and some are adopting these programs for specific segments of the workforce. Still, many employers using these arrangements develop them for all employees out of a sense of fairness, according to new Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) research.
"Organizations recognize the necessity to meet the needs of specific groups of employees, but they tend to do this by designing the optimal arrangements that meet the needs of the great number of diverse groups," said Mark Schmit, SHRM vice president for research. "However, most organizations also recognize the need to consider specific employee needs on a case-by-case basis."
The research report, "Workplace Flexibility for Select Populations," was conducted in collaboration with the Families and Work Institute and researchers from Portland State University and Clemson University, and the results were released at the annual conference of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology in April in San Diego.
Ninety percent of organizations that employ veterans said they have not created or implemented flexible work arrangements specifically for employees who are veterans. When asked about the main obstacles to implementing flexibility for veterans, the No. 1 reason, as cited by 35 percent of respondents, was ensuring equal treatment for all employees.
The majority of organizations also had not created flexibility programs specifically for:
* Parents with responsibilities for dependent care (68 percent of organizations said they had not);
* Low-wage ($15.50 an hour or less) and hourly workers (75 percent of organizations that employ this type of worker).
In these cases, "ensuring equal treatment for all employees" was again the primary reason. Other reasons cited included ensuring that work is done and the impracticality of such arrangements given the nature of jobs.
Flexible work arrangements have been created by some organizations to accommodate segments of the workforce, including disabled workers (47 percent of organizations that hire the disabled have created flexible work arrangements specifically for them). Reduced work hours, flextime and telecommuting are the most common flexible work arrangement for employees with disabilities.
But Schmit noted, "The survey results identify an opportunity for employers to better use workplace flexibility programs to recruit and retain top employees and to address the growing skills gap. Veterans and the disabled, for example, have unique skills to bring to the workplace. They just need flexibility."
Among other findings: * 95 percent of organizations have not made any special effort to ask fathers what they need in terms of workplace flexibility. * The most common flexible work arrangements provided to low-wage and hourly employees include flextime (61 percent), shift flexibility (59 percent), break arrangements (51 percent) and leave for care-giving (51 percent).
SHRM's Workplace Flexibility for Select Populations research surveyed 509 randomly selected HR professionals in February 2012.
