PSX
THE EMAGAZINE FOR CUTTING EDGE PEOPLE STRATEGY september, 2014
THE
E X CHANGE www.theexchangeforpeoplestrategy.com
From Total Rewards to Total Value Exchange A Mandate to Engage Key Stakeholders in the Organization’s Mission, Vision, and Values
Are M i l l e n n i a l s from M e r c u r y and B o o m e r s from P l u t o ?
The Politics of Fair Pay: Revisiting the Wage Gap…
To Defer or Not to Defer: Unlocking the Possibilities Part 2 in a series
B o a r d E v a l u a t i o n s Grading Director Performance
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PEOPLE ARE TALKING……
.REWARDS
To Defer or Not To Defer? Unlocking the Possibilities, Part 2 in the Series Submitted by Robert D. Birdsell, Grahall | EBS, LLC
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BOARD GOVERNANCE
Board Evaluations: Grading Director Performance
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Submitted by Nancy May, President, BoardBench Companies, LLC. LIGHTING THE FUSE: IGNITING THE POWER OF PEOPLE
Are Millennials from Mercury and Boomers from Pluto?
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Submitted by Jim Finkelstein President and CEO, FutureSense, Inc., Co-authored with Melissa Mead, Freelance Writer for FutureSense, Inc.. REWARDS
The Politics of Pay: Revisiting the Wage Gap
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Submitted by Michael Dennis Graham, Grahall, LLC
THE EXCHANGE
F O R
C U T T I N G
E D G E
P E O P L E
BLINDING GLIMPSES
S T R A T E G Y
INTO THE
OBVIOUS: 40
FROM THE PEOPLE SIDE OF INNOVATION & PARADIGM SHIFTS
Turn-Keys for LARGE Scale Change
A short story about how one group of leaders arrived at Top-Down Bottom-Up Middle-Out Strategy Submitted by Marvin L. Smith, Deliberate Synergy
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REWARDS
From Total Rewards to Total Value Exchange A Mandate to Engage Key Stakeholders
In an Organization’s Mission, Vision and Values Submitted by Bruce Brownell, Managing Director, Fulcrum Partners, LLC And Michael Dennis Graham, Grahall, LLC SHAPE OF THE MONTH:.REWARDS
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Part-time Recovery For Economic Reasons
Submitted by Michael Dennis Graham, Grahall, LLC
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GENERAL HR
The 7 Steps for Successful Projects A Guide to Online Solutions™
Submitted by Charles Patton, Grahall, LLC
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C O N T E N T S s e p t e m b e r
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Letter from the Editor
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Contributors
69 Shape of the Month: Part-time Recovery for Economic Reasons…
We hope you enjoy our September issue of The People Strategy Exchange. Missed last month’s issue? Find it here at JANUARY ISSUE MAY ISSUE
FEBRUARY ISSUE JUNE ISSUE
MARCH ISSUE
JULY ISSUE
APRIL ISSUE
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WHATS AHEAD FOR OUR NEXT ISSUE…
As we continue our investigation of People Strategy we ask for
your direct feedback about our endeavor. Please share your
thoughts and ideas for stories, contribute to the discussion through our feedback options, most importantly SPEAK UP about what you want to read and better understand about how people strategy can
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drive your organizational performance and success.
Letter from our Editor…
s e p t e m b e r
2 0 1 4
“…the days grow short when you reach September”…anonymous No doubt the days are growing shorter here in the northern hemisphere, but the workloads that we face don’t seem to follow this autumnal tradition. This is a busy time of year for HR professionals and senior executives. Planning for the New Year is all the rage with our readership, and although we shudder to see holiday decorations in stores as early as September 2, we are in fact in the throes of managing and planning for 2015. This issue of PSX will help you as you consider the many issues facing your organization on the coming year: compensation and workforce planning, change management, and project management, among others. Michael Graham looks at two aspect of compensation. First the politics of the pay gap between men and women and how this topic might be used during the mid-term elections. Then Graham examines the change in “workscape” as the number of part time jobs (and therefore part time workers) has grown over the past several years and what this means to the American economy. Marvin Smith takes us on a journey through a large scale change effort and shows how the three legs of top down, bottom up and middle out planning and engagement can deliver successful outcomes. Bob Birdsell, in the second of two video discussions, takes fresh look at unleashing the value of after tax savings. Check out Bob’s introduction and listen in to his video presentation. Charles Patton addresses large scale project management and the importance of ensuring that stakeholders understand and accept the “WHY” including “why now, why here, and why me”. Nancy May takes a close look at the inconsistencies of Board and Director evaluations, and Jim Finkelstein takes a stab at comparing the similarities of (rather than contrasting the differences between) Boomers and Millennials. This and much, much more are available in our September issue. Please read on! We hope to provoke some dialogue with these and our other articles, columns, and topics. Join the conversation and become part of the robust exchange of information. To leave us your feedback, critiques, and suggestions click here. As a final thought, did you know that September 24th was punctuation day, and the month of September (among other things) is Self-Improvement Month? In honor of that I leave you with this: Read PSX; it will improve you! All
the best,
Edie Kingston EDITOR IN CHIEF
Elizabeth B. Hall CREATIVE DIRECTOR
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u t o r s THE EXCHANGE
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Bob Birdsell, is Managing Director for Grahall/EBS. For our September issue, Bob Birdsell
has submitted part 2 of his series: To D e f er o r No t to D e f er ? U nlo c ki n g t h e Po s si b il it i e s In the second of two video discussions, Bob takes a look at the options available for savings. Is pre-tax or post-tax a better option? Check out Bob’s introduction and listen in to his video presentation.. Grahall/EBS is a firm specializing in the discovery of new and innovative executive benefit programs designed to replace existing plans which have become obsolete in the current regulatory and tax environment. Bob has invested the last 25 years of his career in assisting organizations in creating, implementing, and administering state of the art benefit programs for organizations in numerous industries. Bob can be reached at Robert.Birdsell@Grahall.com
Bruce Brownell
This month, Bruce was interviewed for the article From Total Rewards to Total Value Exchange: A Mandate to Engage Key Stakeholders in the Organization’s Mission, Vision and Values. Bruce Brownell, a founder of Fulcrum Partners, LLC, is responsible for analysis, design, integration, administration and communication of executive compensation and benefit strategies. With more than 25 years in financial consulting, including the past 15 years exclusively in Executive Benefits, Bruce has consulted in for-profit industries, including engineering, manufacturing, distribution, health care and technology. Bruce can be reached at Bruce.Brownell@fulcrumpartnersllc.com
Charles Patton
submitted the first in his series: The 7 Steps for Successful Projects: A Guide to Online Solutions. Charles leads Grahall’s Online Solutions business. He specializes in all aspects of reward strategy, executive compensation, including equity-based compensation, short-term and long-term cash incentive/retention compensation, executive employment arrangements, benefits and development rewards. Charles can be reached at Charles.Patton@grahall.com
Jim Finkelstein
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pens the monthly column for
PSX titled “Lighting the Fuse ” . For our September issue Jim submits the article Are Millennials from Mercury and Boomers from Pluto? Jim, President and CEO, FutureSense, Inc., has over 37 years of consulting and corporate experience, and has specialized in business and peo-ple strategy, motivation and reward, and organizational assessment, develop-ment, communications, and transformation. Jim’s experience has included being a Partner in a Big Five firm; a CEO of a professional services firm; a corporate executive for Fortune 500 companies; and an entrepreneur with his current company, FutureSense, Inc. Jim can be reached at jim@futuresense.com
b u t o r s
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Michael Graham
Michael leads Grahall Paid Fairly . Grahall is an intellectual capital firm whose comprehensive services help organizations maximize the value exchange between organizations and individuals. Michael Graham has over 38 years of experience in the compensation and benefits field advising organizations in all industries. This month, Michael submitted 2 articles: The Politics of Pay, which revisits the Wage Gap. The second is titled Part-Time RECOVERY, for Economic Reasons. Michael was interviewed for a third piece speaking to Total Value Exchange... a revolutionary change in the approach to Stakeholder compensation and rewards. Michael can be reached at Michael.graham@grahall.com or through www.grahall.com.
Nancy May is a consultant at Grahall, LLC and is the President and CEO of
The BoardBench Companies, LLC, an integrated corporate governance advisory, director and CEO succession services firm. This month, Ms. May submitted the article Board Evaluations: Grading Director Performance. Ms. May has over 25 years experience as a strategic advisor to high-growth, mid-cap and Global 100 public and private companies and their boards on governance issues impacting financial health, boardroom diversity, strategy, rapid growth and sustainability of corporations worldwide. Nancy May can be reached at nmay@boardbench.com
Marvin Smith
of Deliberate Synergy writes for his column: “ Blinding
Glimpses into the Obvious� with a discussion of
Turn-Keys for LARGE
Scale Change: a short story about how one group of leaders arrived at Top-Down Bottom-Up Middle-Out Strategy . Deliberate Syn-
ergy puts innovation into practice with people, strategic initiatives and incentives that foster sustainability. Marvin has 30+ years of experience in facilitative consulting that covers all aspects of innovation. Including those who have direct responsibility, leadership and the culture and skills needed to cope with 21st century complexities. Marvin can be reached at marvin_smith@comcast.net
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Tim McConnell is an HR Strategist and Organizational Architect with McConnell HR
Consulting Inc. of Ottawa and New York. Check out Tim’s article from last month’s issue: A Look at Organization Design as Microsoft Digests Nokia. Tim is a regular contributor to the PSX, The Exchange for People Strategy eMagazine. Tim can be reached at Tim@McConnellHRC.com.
Jay Wolf is President of the JCris Consulting Group in New York. Jay is a former Peak
Performance Coach at the Center for Enhanced Performance at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Jay is a regular contributor to the PSX, The Exchange for People Strategy eMagazine. He can be reached at Jay@jcrisconsultinggroup.com
Christian Liakos is VP Alliances & Business Development at BullseyeEngagement. Christian has twenty years of experience in strategic alliances and direct sales in the hardware, software and technology space. Currently, he is responsible for building a partner ecosystem that will leverage and provide additional value to BullseyeEngagement’s employee and operation performance solutions. Christian’s prior work encompasses various industries and buyers including VARs, eProcurement/supply chain, to telecommunications, and Human Resources cliakos@bepms.com
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Click on any of these images To buy your copy of the 2013 People Strategy Survey
The 2014 Survey Is Now Open! Start the Questionnaire >>
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To Defer or Not?
Part
2:
Unlocking the Possibilities Please
PRESS anywhere on this screen to see Robert Birdsell’s informative
video
presented
by
Robert D. Birdsell
Grahall & Executive Benefit Solutions
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This is the second in a series of 2 articles and videos on the subject of “Pre-Tax Saving” and “After-Tax Savings”. (The first article and video “To Defer or Not? What are My Options?” can be accessed below…) Please
click on the image below to access the first in the series…
To Defer or Not? Part
1: What are My Options? Presented by Robert D. Birdsell Grahall & Executive Benefit Solutions
Essentially, if the sponsor provides a Pre-Tax deferred compensation plan for the executives it is similar to providing an informal loan to the participant. This is true because the participant does not pay current income taxes on the amount deferred. For example, assuming a tax rate of 40%, for every $50,000 of Pre Tax savings, it is comparable to giving the participant an annual loan of $20,000. (After tax savings would be only $30,000 since taxes need to be paid before the dollars are invested). The value of this informal loan can be measured in economic terms. If the assumed earnings rate
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6%). By the 10th year of the loan the value is $12,000 and rises to $24,000 by the 20th year.
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on the deferral is 6%, the value of the "informal loan" is $1,200 in year one ($20,000 x
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As presented above, the economic advantage of the deferred compensation plan over the personal after-tax savings account is approximately 16% over a 20 year period. This suggests that pre-tax savings are preferable to after-tax savings to the tune of approximately 16%. This 16% advantage, however, does not take into consideration other issues associated with pre-tax deferrals such as the prospect of higher taxes in the future, security concerns, contribution limitations, and restrictions imposed by 409A. Contemporary executive benefit programs were designed for a different age, an age that was not concerned with these issues that have become commonplace on the modern marketplace. The question then becomes: “Is it possible to replicate the traditional deferred compensation plan using After Tax savings and deliver the same economic value while eliminating some or all of the issues?� The answer is yes if loans are made available to participants in the After Tax plan and the proceeds of the loan are invested along with the after tax dollars. Although there are various types of loans that could be employed to accomplish this objective, this discussion and video (which you can access
here
)
examines only one: a special insurance loan. This type of insurance loan addresses and eliminates issues with taxes, security and complications arising from 409A. In summary, the sponsor provides a loan to the participant to cover the taxes on his after tax investment. (i.e., $20,000 per the example above). The sponsor will recover the loan provided to the participant at termination or retirement and would hold an assignment of the policy to guarantee the recovery of such dollars.
With the “loan enhanced” after tax plan, the participant will have no worries about security, no worries about tax increases eroding their benefits, no concerns about 409A restrictions on deferrals and distributions. Additionally, no taxes would be due on any gains during the accumulation program and the program can decide to provide taxfree distributions at retirement.
It’s a true win win! ◘◘◘ For more information, please contact Robert Birdsell at Robert.Birdsell@grahall.com.
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B O A R D E
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“And, then there are those who see and glibly vocalize about the value of a substantive evaluation, but will only reluctantly get involved with the process, all the while avoiding focus on outcomes, root causes, and improvements.”
Nancy May, President and CEO BoardBench Companies, LLC
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According to a study by PWC, 94% of public companies regularly conduct an evaluation of their board. Since the NYSE requires all its listed companies to conduct some form of board evaluation (NASDAQ does not, but recommends it as good governance) this number is not a surprise. Unfortunately, both listing agencies are silent as to what an evaluation should be, what form it should take, or how it should be conducted. Small wonder therefore, that an "evaluation" can take almost any form, from an informal discussion about how the group is doing, to a full, detailed, peer-to-peer 360 degree assessment. For some directors, such a fully revealing look can be quite uncomfortable.
“…My impression is that (this) group is the largest.”
I meet with many directors, and have had numerous one-on-one conversations. Always implicit is the expectation of confidentiality about their experiences and expectations. The topic of their peers' performance in the boardroom is often brought up in discussion. It’s interesting to note (but perhaps not surprising) that where individual directors believe that board evaluations are productive and have “moved the needle” in a positive direction, they are eager to invest in developing and conducting better evaluations. I've seen and heard all sorts of approaches to evaluations. Some board members put on a brave face, go through the motions or adopt a "let's get it over with” check-off-thebox approach. Those who conduct evaluations on a regular basis rarely change the
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process, using the same evaluation tool over and over again. Occasionally evaluations are conducted with a moderate level of fresh substance. Few offer thoughtful, pertinent reflection on the questions posed, follow up on findings, and use the results to ignite positive advances.
When the risks associated with doing the bare minimum grow greater than the effort to actually improve, evaluations will take on a more
universal
importance.
My impression is that most boards consider evaluations uncomfortable and a waste of time. It still amazes me when, to minimize the inconvenience, boards use the same approach and questions year after year. Unfortunately, as the saying goes: if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always gotten. That, of course, may grant you a “pass” while the winds are blowing in your favor, but in times of uncertainty and change, using last year’s (or last decade’s) evaluation tool is neither wise nor helpful. Why are boards failing so miserably in this area? I suppose it comes down to how much “pain and bother” directors expect to be subjected to during the evaluation.
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There also may be a risk and reward consideration: how much the personal risks of the evaluation stack up against the anticipated rewards from the effort. Few directors can argue against being better engaged and more productive in their roles and a greater asset to the CEO, management, and stakeholders. Well-structured and well administered evaluations can help directors improve their effectiveness in all these areas. But frankly, the preferred option is to do almost nothing with regards to evaluations, while creating the perception of actually doing something. These days, with a myriad of complex issues around strategy, technology, financial oversight, risk, compensation, compliance and the potential liability associated with a misstep, how many board members are going to publicly admit what they don't do or what they don’t know?
The best hope is pressure from shareholders for
transparency
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Granted, there are many board members who do understand the value of regular evaluations and are more than willing to go through with them for the right reasons. Many will use the process solely to solve a particular problem, such as removing a difficult board member. And, then there are those who see and glibly vocalize about the value of a substantive evaluation, but will only reluctantly get involved with the process,
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all the while avoiding focus on outcomes, root causes, and improvements. My impression is that this last group is the largest.
So, how can we work to overcome that mindset, and make the world of board governance at least a little better? Perhaps more detail is needed about the requirements of a board evaluation? But there is no push for further clarification of what a "board evaluation" really is. Perhaps directors' and governance organizations and associations can encourage evaluations and educate boards on their importance? Again, no. Boards see those groups being more motivated by wanting to sell services or to push for conformity (one-size still does not fit all).
Education on evaluations and their benefits is better than nothing, but it doesn’t improve individual and board group performance.
The best hope is pressure from shareholders for transparency. Reluctant boards and directors will take notice when shareholders start demanding basic information on board performance from the directors they elect, and pressing for accountability. But again, at what price? When the risks associated with doing the bare minimum grow greater than the effort to actually improve, evaluations will take on a more universal importance. Shareholders (led by institutional and other large investors) need to ask more pointed questions, such as •
What evaluation method did you use this year?
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What methods changed from last year?
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Did you use outside assistance?
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How were results measured? And, most importantly:
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What governance and performance improvements did you put in place since the last evaluation?
Happily, as I alluded to earlier, some forward-thinking boards are already doing this. However, until shareholders and investors see these answers in proxies and corporate website governance sections, the question of the board performance evaluation will remain far down on the agendas of too many corporate boards. This article was submitted by Nancy May, President and CEO of BoardBench Companies, LLC. Nancy can be reached at nmay@boardbench.com
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A R E
MILLENNIALS FROM
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MERCURY
BOOMERS FROM
PLUTO? Jim Finkelstein with Melissa Mead
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F U T U R E S E N S E I N C. L i g h t i n g
t h e
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Igniting the Power of People
If you are a reader of blogs and articles about the workplace, you will note that articles are all about “Tips for Managing Millennials”, “The Millennials are Coming”, “How the Millennials are Going to Change the World”. Opposite there are articles about “Are Boomers Still Relevant?”, “When are the Boomers Going to Get With It?” and “Maybe its time we Baby Boomers Step Aside”.
In fact, most articles are focused on generational differences and how radically different the world will be once millennials inherit the earth. And those Boomers – boy, are they out of it. Makes it seem that Millennials must be from Mercury and the Boomers from the other side of our solar system and must be from Pluto.
But wait a minute. Pluto is no longer a planet, so that can’t be the case.
Here We Go Again with Stereotypes People love categorization. For some odd reason, they find great pleasure in comparing things -- especially other people.
Let’s be honest for a minute. All too often we do more contrasting than comparing. But why is that? Is it perhaps more fun to point out the negatives? It’s no surprise that society has a reputation for bringing differences to the surface when it should really be honing in on similarities.
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Case in point: the Boomer generation vs. the Millennial generation. Two completely different species of people, right? Wrong! In fact, it’s almost frightening how similar the
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two groups are to one another, despite the fact that people keep insisting that we’re E R C U R Y
from completely different planets altogether.
Hiding the years that separate the two generations isn’t an easy task. But time and time
M
again, we realize that age is nothing but a number, and stereotypes tend to be nothing
F R O M
but deceptions. It’s no mystery that we grew up eras apart from one another. Our
And just for the record, youth is not necessarily wasted on the young… and you can certainly teach all dogs new tricks! After all, isn’t 60 the new 40?
We present for your consideration five areas of stereotypical differences that are rapidly becoming mashed-up similarities between the generations.
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minds are practically siblings from the same cradle of thought.
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Tech-Savvy Reputation? Huh?
The first big “difference” people shoot for when comparing Boomers and Millennials seems to be the tech-savvy-ness that Millennials were supposedly born with, and that Boomers supposedly lack.
The only real difference however, is that Millennials grew up playing around with today’s technology in the sandbox. Needless to say, they got a head start! Just because Boomers weren’t surrounded by today’s technologies from the moment they exited the womb, hardly means they haven’t been able to become just as tech-savvy as Millennials are perceived to be.
Benchmark studies now show that 46 to 64 year olds now spend more money on technology than any other age group. Media surveys show that an estimated 66 percent of Boomers use text messaging to stay in touch. And if that isn’t a wake up call, the average social media user today is above forty years of age! Go figure.
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For whatever reason, Millennials seem to be the ones to get harped on about saving money or paying off debt.
Perhaps youth attracts an image of irresponsibility and ill preparedness for the real world. But why people assume the Millennial generation knows little about financial savings, or investing their earnings is
Millennials have actually have been saving at an
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Put it in My Savings Account‌Or Please Pay Down My Debt
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unprecedented rate. And today’s Boomers are also now finally aboard the savings train desperately trying to catch up for time
lost with limited savings. Despite criticism from their elders, some might say that Millennials have more of a knack for putting their money into savings at an earlier age thanks to economic challenges during the last decade. Not only are they learning by their parent’s example (or lack thereof) but also they’re literally learning the value of a dollar through experience. Boomers have been aboard the savings train for a much longer ride. And they tend to not dawdle when it comes to stashing away savings. It makes sense, because they’re hoping to soon do a little something called “retire.”
Obviously, most Millennials aren’t quite thinking of retiring just yet, but it’s something that definitely creeps into the back of everyone’s mind at some point.
And for those of all generations, if there is no money to save, there is still a ton of debt to pay off – homes, college tuition, and other loans for the Boomers, and for Millenials, student loans for those not fortunate enough to have Mom and Dad absorb the cost of college.
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Inventors and Entrepreneurs - Bridging the Age Gap
Everyone knows about the Mark Zuckerbergs and the other sub-30-aged kids who have graced Forbes’ attention. But in truth, there are only a handful of them.
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The truth is that, yes, more and more youngsters are popping up in the inventive and entrepreneurial world. But we’re all getting older. One day, as the world keeps turning
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and only time will tell, the number of companies sparked by Millennials will certainly catch up with, and perhaps even surpass those started by Boomers.
As far as general entrepreneurship is concerned, according to a fairly recent article in Forbes Magazine, it’s quite apparent that despite dark economic times, we keep seeing young success stories accompanied by the launching of world-changing companies by the purported old retreads. In fact, there are an equal number of companies being funded by VCs for both Millennials and Boomers.
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and neither does Under-employment . . .
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Unemployment Knows no Age;
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That’s the beauty (and demise) of the workforce. We’ve all worked that job where there’s the co-worker who’s older than the manager. You’ve also worked alongside the college student who has class on alternate Wednesdays, and then there’s another guy who has three degrees from Yale and could be supposedly doing something much better with his life.
At one point or another, people of all ages get sucked into the real world, and have to muster up a game plan.
We weather bouts of unemployment, success, unusual situations where we might even be over-qualified for certain positions. It’s all variable and ever changing. But the interesting thing here is that age is truly insignificant. It’s oddly poetic, but it’s the truth. Workers in all generations could gather around the campfire and hold hands on this one, because they constantly deal with the same issues, regardless of age. Unemployed, underemployed, unhappy.
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The Socially Conscious Who Want to Change the World… Can you say Vietnam and Iraq in the same breath?
Just for a moment, let’s check our egos at the door. We all secretly want to change the world. Even if it is in the slightest of ways. We want to somehow put our imprint out there. Something that will survive us and continue to make a difference long after we’re gone. This is not something new that is just in the domain of the Millennials.
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The Love Generation and the Me Generation both have strong socially conscious compasses… from organic sustainable farming to climate change to ending
them. It is human nature – to change, to fix, to leave the campground cleaner than when we got there.
Oh, yes, and each generation still seeks the nirvana of happiness – that somehow elusive work-life balance. Where family time matters, renewing one’s energy is important, and where we have time to give back or pay it forward.
Why Does it Matter, Anyway?
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hunger. Every generation has aspired to make better that which has come before
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Think about this: at 49 years old, Brad Pitt stars as a young father to save the world in World War Z (2013). Wilford Brimley, at 51 years old, starred as an old grandpa in Cocoon (1985).
By acknowledging the fact that we truly are one society, and not just a plethora of individuals trying to make it on our own, we’ve already taken a step in the right direction. The challenge is getting Boomers and Millennials to see more eye-to-eye.
Often times it feels as though everyone is only looking out for himself or herself. Why not combine the forces of the young with the experienced? Leverage the assets rather than focus on the liabilities of the inter-generational mash-up. Become a true Cogenerational Workplace Ž. We’d be unstoppable.
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Jim Finkelstein is the President and CEO of FutureSense, Inc. (www.futuresense.com) a consulting firm s a consulting firm specializing in the areas of organization and people. They advise their clients on how to build and sustain their human capital capacity and improve organizational performance by attracting, developing, engaging, motivating, and retaining people. Jim is the author of FUSE: Making Sense of the New Cogenerational Workplace (www.fusethebook.com) published by Greenleaf Book Group in October 2011. Jim can also be followed @futuresense on Twitter. Melissa Mead is a freelance writer for FutureSense.
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Speed of Thought, Speed of Action, Speed of Results™
FutureSenseÂŽ Inc. is a consulting firm specializing in areas of organization and people. We advise our clients on how to build and sustain their human capital capacity and improve organizational performance by attracting, developing, engaging, motivating and retaining people.
For further information, contact: Jim Finkelstein, President and CEO 415-453-1514 jim@futuresense.com www.futuresense.com
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The Politics of Fair Pay:
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Submitted by Michael Dennis Graham | Grahall, LLC m i c h a e l . g r a h a m @ g r a h a l l . c o m
Wait, what? What is the standard for pay gap? Is our current “wage gap problem” measured at about $.77 on the dollar going to be the standard? We can hope not. The only really acceptable standard is $0.
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the W A G E Gap Last April the country celebrated (read that word with great sarcasm) “equal pay day”, the day that women had to work to in 2014 to be paid as much as men were paid in 2013. Equal Pay Day inspired legislators to push for a vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act that fell short of Senate consideration last April by just six votes. According to the New York Times, “In the last round, in April, 42 Republicans voted to prevent the act from reaching the Senate floor for consideration. Half of those votes were cast by Republican senators from states where the gender pay gap exceeds the national average.”
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about equal pay and perhaps remind women voters of the “insensitivity” by Republicans on the wage gap. But in a strange set of circumstances, should this bill be up for consideration and again be thwarted by the Republicans that would potentially work in the Democrat’s favor in November. Even though the Dems want this bill to move forward, if Republicans were to prevent that, it gives the Democrats stronger messaging around Republican “insensitivity” leading up to the mid-term elections. So it seems that neither the Republicans nor the Democrats really want to consider the Wage Gap this fall. Ah politics!
Complexities come in many forms: differences in pay by location, job classifications, tenure and seniority of workers, and comparability (or lack thereof) of jobs all add to the challenges.
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With mid-term elections around the corner, the Dems see another chance to make a point
On the other side of the coin, in August President Obama signed an Executive Order requiring that all government contracts (including construction companies) file annual pay data. Contractors will be required to submit to The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) a pay report that provides summary information “…in a calendar year by sex, race, and ethnicity under each of the existing ten job categories...” In a press release OFCCP said it will use the compensation data to “direct its enforcement resources towards contractors whose summary compensation data suggests potential pay violations.” But it is likely that the enforcement efforts will focus on contractors “...with pay
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gaps that are greater than the standard.” Wait, what? What is the standard for pay gap? Is our current “wage gap problem” measured at about $.77 on the dollar going to be the standard? We can hope not. The only really acceptable standard is $0.
But fixing the problem even with organizations committed to wage gap eradication is no simple task. Consider the challenges faced by McGill University in Canada.
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US$19 million to address the issue. And even now, according to the WSJ “McGill says it can't say how much the pay-equity program has changed the salary landscape for its employees. It hasn't conducted an analysis to determine what impact the program has had on median pay for women or for its employees overall.”
Why is it so difficult to fix this problem even for companies committed to do so? Complexities come in many forms: differences in pay by location, job classifications, tenure and seniority of workers, and comparability (or lack thereof) of jobs all add to the challenges. Back to the WSJ article, McGill had to ask itself if female secretaries and male landscapers should be paid the same or different amounts.
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According to an article in the Wall Street Journal it took McGill 13 years at a cost of
Let’s look at a hypothetical example. A company operates in downstate New York and the Cleveland Ohio area. Managers are predominantly male in the New York location and predominantly female in the Ohio location (this wasn’t planned, it just happened that way). The New York location was the first to be opened, and its employees have longer tenure than do those in Ohio. The cost of living in New York is higher than Ohio. All these managers have the same job classification, the same responsibilities, and the same opportunities, except those in NY are paid more than those in Ohio. Does that constitute a wage gap? What do you think?
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An easier example is to look at a hospital where there are male and female nurses. Just one location or geographic area to consider and just one job classification. In this case it should be simple to see if there is a wage gap. But consider this, if there are overtime opportunities and women can’t accept them because of responsibilities to home and child care, does that constitute a wage gap? What do you think?
And the wage gap isn’t just about “take home” pay. Lower pay means lower social security accumulations and potentially lower retirement plan contributions. That makes the wage gap a lifelong problem for women. For more on The Wage Gap see our article in the April issue of PSX. This article was submitted by Michael Dennis Graham, Grahall, LLC. Michael can be reached at Michael.graham@grahall.com.
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T URN K EYS FOR L ARGE -S CALE C HANGE :
BY MARVIN L. SMITH
A Short Story About g r o u p
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Top Down | Bottom Up | Middle Out
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“…all participants realize(d) that no one entity could solve this issue alone…”
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ecently I facilitated a retreat of 90 Physicians and Administrative Leaders.
My experience there is the centerpiece for this short story. The task at the retreat was to create an alliance and make this a large-scale change happen. Large-scale change typically creates Discomfort, Dissatisfaction and Discontinuity. These elements can be a formula for frustration and anxiety. They cause participants to act like hostages rather than open-minded and hands-on contributors. My role as outside facilitator was to manage this group. That was no small task as the participants all had distinctly different “DNA’s”: some entrepreneurial, some researchers, all hard working, and all with plenty else to do on that chosen Saturday. The weather was beautiful, and it was clearly a sacrifice to be inside for this activity. The change planning team had spent a solid month doing data collection, conducting analysis, and establishing rapport with key participants, some of whom were “outliers”. We had to assure these outliers that their voices would be heard, and they would have a key and early role in setting the stage for change. They assured us that they would not hesitate to voice their concerns, and we should “get ready”. The planning team knew the only way to insure success was to prepare, focus on the right things and relax, relate, and react.
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principles that would be necessary to make the sought after alliance a success. We wanted each leader to connect with the audience when his or her time came to speak. We prepared leadership to converse with and show empathy toward this
We invited outsiders experienced in developing alliances to come and speak with our group. We allowed participants to ask tough questions, which these outsiders
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group, rather than “present”. So, no slides were used.
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answered directly. This resulted in many rich exchanges. All of the speakers showed passion and openness to different points of view. They revealed what worked for them while sharing that in this exact form “it may not work for you”. This offered opportunities for participants to engage in “connection making” (i.e., making sense out of something that happens outside of your normal value system). The biggest challenge the group faced was how to achieve parity and partnership in different geographical areas. Strangely enough, this challenging issue, coupled with the willingness by all participants to show empathy and openness allowed all participants to realize that no one entity could solve this issue alone. This situation gives raise to something I learned from a colleague of mine, Robert Boyer, who described it as Top Down, Bottom Up & Middle Out.
TOP DOWN leadership in a vacuum is not enough to address today’s business complexities, especially with the turmoil in healthcare where this alliance was being formed. • From my perspective, Top Down means that the view from the top is unique; leaders can stand at the periphery of the organization and look in at the strategy, culture, and results. Leaders must look at the trends, competition and government relations that create distinct boundaries. The hard-earned experiences and credentials to get to the top is still not enough. One entity dictating to (rather than involving) the other is taking a big chance that implementation will come off without a hitch. Partnership is essential.
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In this case, we are talking about physicians, hospitalists, nurses, and administrators who directly interface with patients, their families, insurance companies and key outsiders such as needed vendors. They see what is happening and very often can bring ideas and perspectives that are extremely valuable.
• Here is an example of bottom up perspectives. At a large hospital patient surveys revealed that the rooms were not thoroughly cleaned.
the impression that other parts of the hospital were not clean either. A
housekeepers asked patients if they had missed anything so it could be
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change in process was recommended. Before leaving a patient’s room
taken care of immediately. It turned out that patients had unique points of view from their hospital beds and could see things that the housekeeper could not. Generally patients were happy to offer guidance to the housekeeping staff. This change in procedure created only minimal additional activity for the housekeeping staff but significantly increased the patient survey ratings.
MIDDLE OUT In many cases MIDDLE OUT represents the pivot roles and fills the gap between the vision (Top Down) and the operation (Bottom Up). • These Middle Out roles bridge the “here and now” with the “desired future state” and are often required to interpret (for operations) the system, structure, boundaries, and realities of the organization. They have to buffer the thinking and action on the part of top leadership while they themselves are leading and managing people who need validation and motivation every day. The middle is where compassionate thinking is critical.
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SUMMARY
It takes all three entities to make large-scale change happen. Your innovation strategy as well as your people strategy needs a hands-on approach that involves and captivates individuals on all three levels. On a more detailed basis, all three entities need to look out of the organization for important collaborations that yield clues on how to be better. Marvin L. Smith of Deliberate Synergy can be reached at marvin.smith@comcast.net
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An Interview with Michael Graham and Bruce Brownell
From Total Rewards to Total Value Exchange
A Mandate to Engage Key Stakeholders
in the Organization’s VISION MISSION
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e w e r than one in five companies say that its compensation,
benefits, and rewards programs are meeting their objectives, according to research conducted by Grahall LLC and reported in both a research report and the book co-authored by Michael Graham, Creating a Total Rewards Strategy : A Toolkit for Designing Business-Based Plans. The notsurprising result: instead of motivating employees, the majority of rewards plans are ineffective and often counterproductive.
How can you get better results from your firm's compensation and benefits plan? In an interview, Graham, of Grahall LLC and Bruce Brownell of Fulcrum Partners LLC discussed how a Total Rewards Strategy ties employees' success to the company's success, unleashing a CEO's most powerful tool: compensation and rewards. They suggest instead of thinking in terms of total rewards strategy, organizations need to consider the new concept of total value exchange strategy.
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What is the difference between “Total Rewards” and total value exchange? Graham: A Total Rewards approach means leveraging all the ways an organization has to reward its executives and employees. You start with the traditional monetary rewards (base salary, short- term incentives, long-term incentives, benefits and perquisites) then factor in nonfinancial rewards, such as culture, training, recognition, casual dress, flexible work schedules, elder care and such, and you get the idea. Total value exchange strategy is a holistic approach that is aligned with the company's overall business and key stakeholder engagement strategy. Treating reward elements holistically made organizations more efficient in the last decade or two and sent more effective and much stronger messages about what's expected of employees, but a total value exchange strategy communicates to all key stakeholders how they can exchange (and create mutual value) with an organization. Brownell: When we implemented Total Rewards Strategies, we answered many employees' most burning question, which was "What's in it for me?” by aligning the success of the company with that of the employee. In a total value exchange strategy the organization needs to consider how not just the employee but how all stakeholders can create and exchange mutually beneficial value.
What’s the downside to not taking a holistic approach? Brownell: The alternative to a holistic total value exchange strategy is to remain at the total rewards strategy level with a restricted, non-holistic, and scattered approach – dealing with one reward program at a time (which happens a lot because often compensation and benefits disciplines are separate areas of the company) and dealing with one key stakeholder (employees, for example) at a time. There are several downsides to this. First, individual programs aren't integrated into the overall value exchange package and you can end up with elements that are out of balance. Second, costs can spiral out of control when you don't look at each program in terms of its costs over the program's life. Third, you run the risk of offering and paying for rewards that employees and other key stakeholders no longer value. Graham: Historically we saw a tremendous number of organizations with a patchwork quilt of reward programs. These organizations haven't taken away any reward components, and instead layered new programs on top of existing ones. The result is a confusing set of rewards that aren't focused on driving desired business results. What we now see is that each major function within the organization treats key stakeholders as if there was now overlap in the sets. In
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instance.
What drives a company to move from a total rewards approach to a total value exchange approach?
overlap and there is untapped value in treating them holistically. With a little bit more effort, compensation and rewards programs can be broadened into value
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exchange programs to motivate not only employees but all key stakeholders to accomplish the organization’s strategy and even vision. It’s typically a question of impact; they are not looking for a cost saving measure.
Rewards strategy and design has typically been the province of HR. Why should C-suite executives be involved in the increased scope from total rewards programs to total value exchange programs? Graham: Primarily to unlock all of the return on the investment made across all of the different unconnected programs. For instance a Total Rewards program is the largest and one of the most manageable items on a company's expense sheet. You can't control the marketplace or the competitive landscape, but you have virtually 100% control over your rewards program. By asking human resources to work with sales, marketing and customer service on the value exchange between the organization and customers both functions will gain new insights and quite likely new returns on their historically separate endeavors. By asking human resources to work with shareholder relations there could be new and important insights for both functions. These two examples are just the beginning. CEOs often complain that their new organization strategy doesn’t have any “traction� with employees. But the key is, you get what you pay for. If you value customer satisfaction, for example, then your rewards strategy needs to be designed around rewarding those behaviors that drive customer satisfaction and loyalty. Just as important, CEOs bring a different perspective to rewards decisions
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than HR executives. CEOs focus on driving business results. HR often has to focus on making things equitable among employees. But if total rewards are stretched to total value exchange and designed to communicate organizational exchanges, being equitable isn’t a main driver.
How important are non-cash value exchanges to today’s key stakeholders?
Graham: Actually take pay, for example, which is No. 8 on the list of employees’ motivators! While it's true that most people work for a paycheck, base pay isn't the biggest motivator. And think about it this way: cash is a commodity, so it can’t differentiate one organization from another. It is the intangibles that distinguish. Besides, when it comes to money, someone will always pay more. The opportunity lies in differentiating your organization with additional programs that are of value to all key stakeholders not just employee stakeholders.
Brownell: For example, we had a client that started out as a fast-growth company and was transitioning to an operationally focused company. We worked to change their compensation programs because their messages and corporate objectives
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changed. For them, the relative value of stock options decreased because executives were less interested in company stock and more interested in building wealth and diversification. So we devised a supplemental retirement plan that acted like a defined benefit plan, but was tied to long-term company performance
metrics. We rotated them away from stock options and toward wealth building, which communicated that they were in it for the long haul and offered the diversification that executives wanted.
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be considered in place of a total rewards strategy and whether it is having the desired effect?
Graham: There is not a single measure, but in general, companies that use a total value exchange strategy for all key stakeholders in place of a total reward strategy for just employees typically have a higher return on investment. They get continual improvement in their stated objectives. It's not because of the additional layer of strategy in a total value exchange strategy nor is it the inclusion of all key stakeholders (rather than just employees), but improvements result from the focus on essential organizational strategies and reinforcing behaviors that support these strategies.
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What metrics show whether or not a total value exchange strategy should
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You can also see results in everything from employee attitude surveys (where employees view their leadership team as being well-organized and well-deployed) to customer and supplier satisfaction levels. Without a good total value exchange strategy, leaders tend to be more focused on just the contribution their own function can make to organizational performance.
How important is communication to a strong total value exchange strategy? Brownell: Communication is key. You can’t stop delivering the message until the last key stakeholder is engaged. And as companies strive to be recognized as employers and organizations of choice, they need their employees and key stakeholders to really understand the value of all the value exchanges they offer.
Graham: Communication of the value exchange concept goes above and beyond the compensation and benefits programs. The communication has to demonstrate how the value exchange supports the accomplishment of organizational visions and organizational strategies which in turn helps to sustain the organization and enhance the value all key stakeholders can receive. Communications fall on deaf ears when they only contain the facts about the plan
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or organization strategy, that it's good or that it’s competitive and not about the organization’s vision, mission, values and beliefs. Those aren't "impact" messages. If you don't design all the value exchanges for all key stakeholders together to support the organization strategy, and you don't communicate them all together in the context of the organization strategy, there's no sizzle in the steak, no icing on the cake!
How critical is process to the overall success of a total value exchange strategy? Graham: It's not about the end of the journey; it's about the journey itself. Process is extremely critical because the management team has to be in consensus about the value exchange program and it has to build consensus among all the critical stakeholders. These can include the board, key customers, partners, rank-and-file employees. The process should involve their input. If it reflects only the input from an outside consultant, it’s probably doomed to failure.
Should value exchange be tailored with different key stakeholders? Brownell: Absolutely. What motivates a 30-year-old is different than what motivates a 50- or 60-year old. Also, value exchange plans for highly sought after
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employees should be very different than those for the general population. Employees that are customers, stakeholders and even champions or ambassadors need to be specific to the relationship.
Vision M I S S I O N
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Graham: This is really the heart of the issue. No two organizations deliver value in the exactly same way - some may be focused on the back end of the value chain, others may be more “customer focused�. They are each striving to accomplish
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all” approach when you design a value exchange strategy. How does a total value exchange approach differ from a one-off decision about total rewards or even compensation? Brownell: Say a company needs to change its deferred compensation plan to comply with 409A regulations. You can make fixes to the program to solve that issue. A total rewards approach would look at what the deferred compensation plan is designed to provide in terms of the business strategy, how it is part of the overall compensation strategy and if it would be better to look at how you're paying your executives overall. A total value exchange strategy might look at how these executives were also shareholders and customers of the organization. Most executives are also champions for the organization’s products and services. What’s the typical shelf life for a total value exchange program?
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different things. That's why you need a surgical approach versus a “onesize-fits-
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Graham: There's a rule of thumb that says if you go more than three to five years without looking at your organization’s strategies, results, environment, along with how well your rewards are working, you're probably on the edge of insanity. If you don’t have or aren’t considering moving from a total rewards program for
employees to a total value exchange program for all key stakeholders you are already losing ground to the competition. Brownell: The greater the pace of change, the greater the need to update and enhance your reward plan to a total value exchange plan. And change takes many forms: What legislation is being enacted? Is the company going to move from growth to value? Has the organization recently become profitable, or will they have losses to carry forward for some time? Are they acquisitive or divesting unproductive business units? The bottom line is that you change from a rewards program to a value exchange program when the company's goals, strategy and financial positions change or when you want to take advantage of the opportunity to manage the entire value exchange with the entire key stakeholders on a coordinated and therefore a higher return on the organization’s investments in this area. Are there any latest trends in total value exchange programs? Graham: Focusing on “trends� can be misleading because the vast majority of organizations aren't doing what the elite, high-performing organizations are doing. How many Apples are there? That being said, I believe the important
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compensation and benefits. Take a trend like mass customization, which focuses on delivering personalization and customized solutions to a broad population at a mass production price. We're realizing that one set of compensation and benefits resources are not effective to meet the needs for an entire employee population. What's important for someone who's single is different than what's important for someone with a family, so you need to have programs that people can easily customize for their needs. Branding is another example. That's a trend that started in the marketing world, but has huge implications for HR, because branding your rewards strategy is an effective way to communicate what your company stands for and its position in the marketplace. Why should our readers consider implementing a total value exchange strategy?
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trends to interpret are the ones starting outside the areas of HR and
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Brownell: If organizations build their reward plans in silos, they'll do a great job on individual programs, but to maximize all the tools they have to play with, they need an integrated approach. Think of a sailboat race. As the skipper, you can trim only one sail, and still make headway, but by trimming all the sails together, you are maximizing your speed. All organizations are in a race against their
competitors, market trends, the business cycle, and so on. It should stand to reason that there needs to be a comprehensive and coordinated review in order to ensure they are not only the most cost effective and tax efficient suite of compensation and benefit plans but also that they facilitate the best overall value exchange between all key stakeholders and the organization.
Graham: I believe that total value exchange strategies are going to be the differentiator of great organizations versus good ones. It’s the most powerful way to motivate not only key employees to accomplish organizational results but
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to fully engage all key stakeholders in accomplishing the organization’s mission, vision, values and beliefs. The Grahall Value Exchange Hierarchy For the visual learners among you, we have designed The Grahall Value Exchange Hierarchy to help you better understand these value exchange and engagement concepts. It begins much as Dr. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Diagram does, at the bottom with Employment Needs (this in place of Maslow’s Psychological Needs). It flows up the chart with Employment Safety and Trade Security Needs, then to Organizational Belonging, then Esteem Needs, followed by Cognitive Needs, then Aesthetic Needs and Finally Transcendence Needs. ◘◘◘ Bruce Brownell, of Fulcrum Partners, LLC can be reached at Bruce.Brownell@FulcrumPartnersLLC.com; Michael Dennis Graham of Grahall, LLC can be reached at Michael.Graham@Grahall.com. Securities offered through ValMark Securities, Inc. Member FINRA, SIPC, 130 Springside Drive, Suite 300, Akron, OH 44333-2431, Tel 1-800-765-5201 or NFP Advisor Services, LLC a Broker/Dealer, Member FINRA/SIPC and a Federally Registered Investment Advisor. ValMark Advisers, Inc. is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Fulcrum Partners LLC is a separate entity from ValMark Securities, Inc. and NFP Advisor Services, LLC.
Securities offered through Registered Representatives of NFP Advisor Services, LLC or ValMark Securities, Inc., Members FINRA/SIPC.
Investment Advisory Services offered through Investment Advisor Representatives of NFP Advisor Services, LLC or Valmark Advisers, Inc.
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THE EXCHANGE FOR PEOPLE STRATEGY
PART TIME RECOVERY for Economic Reasons B Y M I C HA E L D ENN I S G RAH A M
T HE EXC HA NG EFORPEOPLEST RA TEG Y SEPT EM BER2014
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improving road of job creation, wealth creation, and stability. The Bureau of Labor
created that month alone. But beneath this seemingly compelling good news is the
news from June), the August jobs report showed an alarming decrease in
frustration of 7.5 million workers who were in June “employed part-time for economic reasons”. And since no good news can go unpunished (even the qualified good-ish
unemployment and the lowest job creation rate since January. How can a decrease in unemployment be alarming? Well, it is alarming when it represents 3 million people dropping out of the labor force because they simply don’t believe that jobs are available.
But let’s turn our attention away from unemployment and look at underemployment. In June the jobs report was challenged as biased, or at least misleading, because the jobs gained (or many of them at least) were part time (which further inspired pundits to incorrectly seize upon Obama care as the reason).
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Statistics (BLS) jobs report for June 2014 indicated that over 288,000 jobs had been
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But this change in the American “workscape” from full time to part time isn’t new news. And it seems like it may be here to stay. Certainly in past recessions companies have turned to part time and contract workers to temporarily fill employment gaps, but mostly these part time positions converted back to full time as the economy regained momentum. It doesn’t seem to be happening that way this time.
An article published on August 5 in SeekingAlpha brings into stark contrast the changes in the US labor market since the start of the great recession in 2008. The article by Ellen Terry What's Driving The Part-Time Labor Market? Results From An Atlanta Fed Survey shares this stunning graphic: An article published on August 5 in SeekingAlpha brings into stark contrast the changes
In this graph the X axis is obviously years (2004-2014). The Y Axis is percentages with 2007 indexed at 100% and the movement of the lines referring to percentage increase (above 100) and decreases (below 100) since that time. This graph shows approximately a 12% increase in part time jobs since 2007 with about a 3% decrease in full time jobs.
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jobs (the blue line) are increasing, but so too are part time positions (the green line), and this green line has a steeper glide path than the blue one.
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Take a magnifying glass to the far right side of the graphic and you can see that full time
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In total (and according to the BLS August report) there are just over 146 million American employed with about 27 million of them part-time and as of August 7.3 million of those part timers are “employed part time for economic reasons�. One important
thing to note is that the BLS designates part time workers as those employed for less than 35 hours a week. So that leaves us with the question of what this expansion in part time employment means to America. Cleary we have seen economic growth and a slow but now less rocky recovery. The unfortunate outcome is that we are facing an enormous challenge as the recovery has America’s richest (remember the 1%?) get richer while the 99% aren’t sharing so much in the wealth creation. There are two distinct challenges.
FIRST MANY OF THE 1% ARE FOCUSED ON WEALTH CREATION FOR THEMSELVES RATHER THAN VALUE CREATION FOR THE ECONOMY.
Think hedge fund managers who, according to an
article in the Harvard Business Review by Roger L. Martin, now make up 31 of the Forbes 400 richest people. (For an entertaining look at that literal 1% click here)
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SECOND, THE “TRICKLE DOWN” FROM THESE BILLIONAIRES DOESN’T SEEM TO BE HAPPENING. It
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is value creation that creates jobs which America’s un- and under-employed desperately need. And not just them but our economy as a whole would recover more quickly and more successfully with a fully employed middle class who have money to spend on products, services, and entertainment. Yes, we all know this, we have heard it time and again. This is nothing new or revolutionary. But it is critical to our country’s continued prosperity. The dichotomy is growing between the wages of our skilled and unskilled labor. Occupy Wall Street might be old news at this point, but those who were there are still here and without some improvement to the prospects of tens of millions of Americans we would not be surprised to see an “American Spring” of discontent bloom. Michael Dennis Graham of Grahall, LLC can be reached at michael.graham@grahall.com
THE EXCHANGE F O R
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Find out what its all about: press anywhere on the image below for a brief YOUTUBE summary of the solutions offered in our Online Solutions workbook‌
PRESS To reach our FREE online solutions workbook
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The 7 steps This is the first in a series of articles that will assist you in successfully utilizing Grahall’s On-Line solutions .
for
successful projects
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b y
Ch a r l e s
P a t t o n ,
G r a h a l l ,
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As the title implies, years of consulting experience with public institutions and private corporations of all sizes and industries has led us to discover a pattern and order to successful implementation of Human Capital projects. Like the “7 Habits of Highly Successful People” we have found that there is a general formula that works. And just like a cooking recipe, the order of activities is important! Omitting seemingly unimportant process steps can be disastrous. For example: in some recipes there is a “resting” step: a point in the process where you are expected to do apparently nothing! Just let the bread rise, the jello set, or the cake cool before applying the icing. You get the point. Hurrying past even the “do nothing” step can result in failure.
These solution “Roadmaps” are designed to give you a foundation for undertaking major Human Capital projects on your own or providing you with a comprehensive overview that can be used as a tool to evaluate and measure the progress of your work partner if you have decided to outsource phases of the project.
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I encourage you to examine some of the Grahall On-Line solutions such as our People addresses at least one of the seven steps required for successful projects – the ability to answer Why?, What?, Where?, How?, When? By Whom? For Whom?. This seemingly obvious check list should be applied liberally and often.
Please click on any of the above images to access a sampling of the Grahall online solutions workbooks.
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Strategy Tool Kit or our Executive Total Rewards Tool Kit . You will find that each item
Let’s begin with WHY? Why are you about to take action or inaction? This is the first step that needs to be addressed. WHY? This favorite and sometimes frustrating question asked by children is often overlooked in the fast paced, compliant, authoritative world of adults. The answer is assumed to be obvious: Because the “authority” demands it be done. And because the “authority” is presumed to be more knowledgeable and intelligent, able to examine
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the possibilities, and make decisions, the command for action should not be questioned. ‘Just do it’ becomes the mantra. It is important to note that often the “authority” is not known. The “authority” may have been a rumor that emerged from a committee meeting. Can you see where the seeds of failure have been planted? There are some organizations that are purposefully structured to operate in a command and control fashion where explaining why is not required and not expected. It is widely known that the culture of the organization is to act first, ask questions later – maybe. The military is perceived as this type of organization. Interestingly, even at this type of organization the WHY question is answered at the highest levels of the organization, often in excruciating detail. The rationale is just simply not communicated once the decision has been made. It is sufficient merely to identify who is requesting the action. For organizations with this culture the response to the WHY? Question is quick, easy, and justification enough. “Because the authority said so.” However, most organizations have stakeholders identified as managers, customers, employees, shareholders, and suppliers who behave much more predictably if they are given the WHY? rationale. From a Human Capital perspective there are several other reasons at the outset of a project to determine the WHY? rationale. The response to the WHY? question properly describes the results expected to be achieved by this action and how those results impact the overall mission of the organization AND the impact on individuals. Taking the initiative to thoroughly explain why a project is being undertaken instills a sense of confidence that the decision to proceed was thoughtful, other and priorities were considered, it is a ‘fit’ for our organization, a plan is in place, the time, effort and expense costs have been considered and the cost: benefit
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ratio points to a successful outcome. Of course, this information should be the mind of the project proponent or decision maker. He/She knows the whole story, but most others do not. Letting the information leak out gradually or only providing it upon request creates distrust.
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communicated. But you might be surprised at how often this information resides only in
In addition to the elements described above, a complete answer to the WHY? question will be responsive to: Why now? Why here? Why me? The clear cut ability to provide this business case is in itself an indicator that the project can and likely will be successful. On the other hand, if significant disagreement develops in this stage of the project, then you will know early on where there are obstacles to success. The next step becomes an assessment of whether the obstacles can be overcome so the project does not crash and fail.
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If you (or your organization) is struggling to provide answers to the broad WHY? question, this is evidence of a lack of agreement (or commitment or confidence) within the organization that the project is necessary. Grahall On-Line solutions content can assist you with accurately determining whether your organization has the capacity, capability, and commitment to proceed.◘◘◘
Charles Patton can be reached at Charles.Patton@grahall.com
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PEOPLE STRATEGY Written
JDKF
by: Michael Dennis Graham
SKDJF
REVOLUTION
ISBN: 978-1-304-81498-2
Click anywhere on the screen to preview this edition‌
$49.95