Contents
July/August 2015 1 A Note From the Editor
6 Recruiting Tune-Up
MSEC’s Immigration Compliance Law Update
MSEC Placement Services
8 Employment Law Update: It’s a Wrap
2 Strategic Planning at Mountain States Employers Council, Inc.
9 Aid a Quick Recovery 10 MSEC Speakers Bureau
3 Member Profile: Arizona Humane Society
11 Putting the Candidates to the Test
Free Membership Meeting
4 Staff Spotlight: Christine Kuehnast
Testing & Assessment Services
12 The Return of Tuition Aid Programs
Organizational Development Consulting Services
5 The Receptionist is Not Exempt from Overtime
MSEC
TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS More than 3,000 organizations in 77 industries, representing nearly a million employees have chosen MSEC as their trusted business partner. We take that partnership seriously and are committed to making employers successful. In 2015 we are focused on helping you take care of business, by providing the expertise and tools you need to address your employment law and human resources challenges.
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A Note From the Editor
Lorrie Ray
Membership Development
In addition to all the great articles we have for you in the current issue, I just wanted to make sure you have heard our exciting news for anyone who is currently an HR certified professional through HRCI. MSEC and HRCI have partnered to offer MSEC members credit when obtaining or renewing their HRCI certification. You can earn up to four Recertification Credits each year, or 12 credits each renewal cycle. You can obtain one credit per full quarter of MSEC membership (to a maximum of four credit hours per year) and use these for the HRCI membership category. If you would like, one of these four credits each year may be a Business Credit (this allows those with a SPHR certification 3 credits toward this requirement if membership with MSEC is maintained during that period) which are earned under the continuing education category. Of course, in order to receive credit, your organization must have been an MSEC member during your recertification period and you must have been employed during that entire time, be it a quarter, year, or the recertification period of three years. If you have questions or issues, there is a HRCI Concierge to quickly resolve them. Our concierge at HRCI is Bilen Teklezghi, Bilen.teklezghi@hrci.org, 571. 551.6742. Reach out to Bilen if you have any issues with HRCI. You might also want to check out our upcoming nationally recognized HR certification prep classes we offer. We look forward to supporting your ongoing membership and certification.
MSEC’s Immigration Law Update is back! The number one source of information on worksite compliance developments AND changes in visa programs, including the new H-2B! Join us on September 25th at 9:00am for in-depth presentations on the changes and updates that you need to implement in your workplace this year. Watch for more details!
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Strategic Planning at Mountain States Employers Council, Inc. Deborah Dale Brackney, Executive Vice President
Growing up in Los Angeles meant spending a lot of time in the car. We even took car vacations. Whenever a family car vacation was contemplated, my mother would visit the Automobile Association of America (AAA) to request a personalized TripTik. It was exciting to see our journey mapped with highlighted yellow lines, and the accompanying books filled with tips on what to see and where to stay helped us as we motored to our vacation. Planning the journey always got us to our destination, albeit with a few detours and stops along the way. And while today our TripTiks are Google Maps or Siri, the goal is still to get where we are going. So it is with Strategic Planning. Mountain States Employers Council goes through a Strategic Planning process every five years, and this year we are creating our Strategic Plan for 2016-2020. Like most organizations, we do Strategic Planning for several purposes. It helps us drive direction, provide organizational focus, and most importantly, make sure we are aligned with our mission and vision to serve our members. Our planning process has four stages. In the first stage we review our mission, vision, and values. We are making sure that what we do, who we are, and how we act are in unity to our core purpose, and our business aligns with our vision of “effective, successful employers.” In the next stage, we scan both our internal and external environments, which involves gathering lots and lots of data. We are looking at projections of growth and change in the Human Resources profession and industry for the next five years and beyond. We have done a competitive analysis, marketing analysis, member and employee focus groups, and a member-satisfaction survey. We are so grateful that 1500 members responded to that survey. Not only did we get positive reinforcement in the areas where you told us we excel, but you also pointed out where you need guidance in the future. We will present our findings in our monthly Bulletin, but it is clear that our legal advice, survey data, leadership development, and human resource information is what you need from us going forward. It’s also clear that you will want that support in all sorts of formats: via website, phone consulting, and face-to-face. The third stage is the development of the plan. We will take the data from the second stage to create a document that sets goals and objectives for the next five years. The final stage of the planning process is where the plan comes alive, and that is in implementation. We do this by setting annual corporate, departmental, and individual goals based on the strategic plan. Our living plan doesn’t gather dust on the shelf or in the computer. Each year, all MSEC employees are asked how to improve what MSEC does, and that information is compared with our strategic plan and added to our business planning. We benefit from our strategic and business planning by knowing where we are going so we can serve our members, grow our organization, and maintain our quality and excellence.
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Member Profile
is not done and they will continue to work with their animal welfare and alliance partners to continue to fight pet overpopulation in Arizona while also providing more second chances to homeless animals.
Founded in 1957 by a compassionate group of volunteers, the Arizona Humane Society (AHS) is the state’s largest nonprofit animal welfare and protection agency.
For more information on the Arizona Humane Society’s programs and services or to view a gallery of AHS’ adoptable pets, please visit azhumane.org.
AHS believes that every pet deserves a good life. This passionate belief has driven AHS to serve a unique and critical role in the community. They rescue, heal, adopt, and advocate for homeless, sick, injured, and abused animals through an Emergency Animal Medical TechnicianTM rescue team and Second Chance Animal HospitalTM, a trauma center for homeless pets.
Thank you AHS for being a member since 2014!
TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS Free Membership Meeting
Their emotional, lifesaving work would not be possible without their loyal supporters, compassionate adopters, dedicated volunteer force of nearly 2,000 animal lovers, and their collaborative, innovative partnerships. “Just as important as the pets we strive to save and adopt into wonderful homes is our commitment to doing what is best not only for pets, but also the people in their lives,” says AHS Spokesperson Bretta Nelson. “We are very fortunate to be able to offer a variety of resources and affordable services to the community in an effort to keep pets safe, healthy, and in their loving homes.” These include a Pet Resource Center, dog training classes, and behavior tips, to name a few, as well as affordable and accessible veterinary services and public clinics. In addition to affordable spay/neuter services offered Tuesdays through Thursdays, AHS also offers low-cost vaccine clinics every Friday on a first-come, first-served basis. In the past year, AHS has launched more new initiatives than ever before (think kitten nursery/ ICU, Waggin’ Wheels Mobile Adoption Vehicle, and Working Cat Program!) which has resulted in saving the lives of an additional 8,600 pets. Yet, their work
August 6, 8am-9am Breakfast Included! Let us show you how we take care of business. Employment law posters are required of every employer. This session will walk you through those requirements, explain some of the laws behind the requirements, and help you with a strong foundation of support so that you understand the requirements, and the purpose of employment law posters. Where: MSEC Denver Office, 1799 Pennsylvania Street
To register, call 800.884.1328 or go to MSEC.org.
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Staff Spotlight Christine Kuehnast and given briefing sessions such as those on new FMLA regulations and the ADA Amendments Act.
Born and raised in Colorado, Christine Kuehnast received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Colorado State University and her law degree from the University of Colorado. After law school, Christine clerked for two Colorado District Court judges in Fort Collins. After clerking for the court, she was an associate attorney for a Fort Collins law firm.
Christine is licensed to practice law in Colorado and Wyoming. She also received her Senior Professional in Human Resources designation in 2011 and her Certified Healthcare Reform Professional designation in 2015. Christine’s favorite part of her job is helping members. She really appreciates all our MSEC members, and she likes working with and getting to know them. She also enjoys knowing that she is able to help members either prevent or work through problems, and hopefully help them sleep better at night.
In 2007, Christine joined Mountain States Employers Council at our Fort Collins office. Christine regularly counsels employers in all areas of employment law compliance and has advocated on their behalf before a variety of state and federal agencies. She has taught classes on many employment law topics
In her free time, Christine likes to do Crossfit, run, dance (especially hip hop), read, travel, and spend time with her family.
Need a Happier Workplace?
Try our services that help employees work together better: Coaching • Team Building Mediation • Facilitation Let us guide you towards smoother waters. For more information call 800.884.1328 or go to MSEC.org.
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The Receptionist is Not Exempt from Overtime Jennifer England, Employment Law Services
The Fair Labor Standards Act is complicated, confusing, and antiquated, which can easily lead to misunderstanding and legal risk for your organization. The white-collar exemptions, which allow employers to pay a salary of at least $455 per week to employees performing certain qualifying, exempt duties (and not pay overtime for hours worked over 40 per week), are often misinterpreted and overused. Exemption confusion comes from a variety of sources. Sometimes, when an employer is very small and just starting out, it needs fixed costs. This can lead to paying everyone a monthly salary and the belief that overtime pay is not necessary. Other times, an understanding of an industry practice may be stronger than an understanding of the exemption regulations, leading employers to assume what others in the industry do is correct. Sometimes it is the employee who requests a salary—often associated with higher status—which leads to a violation. Finally, some jobs change over time, and a formerly exempt job becomes nonexempt because the duties become highly technical or the employee no longer supervises others despite a “manager” title. The US Department of Labor will propose changes to the white-collar exemptions in 2015. This announcement has created fear and confusion. Employers can count on the DOL to propose rules that narrow, not expand, the availability of the white-collar exemption. Very likely, the salary requirements will increase and exemption-eligible duties will change. Of course, MSEC will guide you through these changes and how they will impact your business, but in the meantime, consider reviewing positions that are likely classified incorrectly. Here are some jobs that are not exempt: Receptionist
Inside Sales
IT Help Desk
And, here are some positions that are unlikely to be exempt: Administrative Assistant
Office Manager
Meeting Planner
Are you concerned that some of your job titles are misclassified as exempt?? We can help. Your MSEC membership includes advice and consultation regarding your job classifications. If you want a full compliance review of your exempt positions or other pay practices, we can do that for an additional fee. We want to help you make sure you are an employer who understands the law and doesn’t receive any unwelcome surprises.
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Recruiting Tune-Up James McDonough, Membership Development
Millennials are now the largest demographic group of applicants, and recruiting this group requires a new approach. Is your recruiting vehicle up to the challenge? This summer, look under the hood and start a diagnosis with this question: How effectively are we finding talent? MSEC research offers this recruiting checklist to help you successfully compete for a shrinking pool of qualified applicants: CHASSIS AND ENGINE: Is your recruiting housed in rusty old technology? Outdated systems are clunkers that bog recruiting down, repelling desirable candidates who are hired by nimbler competitors. Rev things up with cloud systems. Mobile, smooth interfaces with onboarding/HRIS systems will avoid timewasting, duplicative tasks. Curb Appeal: If your organization does not attract attention and excite passersby, you are a hard sell. Today’s best candidates are passively, not actively searching for work, and are drawn to organizations by reputation, networks, and online connections. Tinker with your website and social media: make it userfriendly, authentic, accurate, engaging. Prove diversity is welcomed with pictures and videos of real employees of different ages, skin colors, and genders. Applicants will be drawn to “THIS IS A GREAT PLACE TO WORK!” Steering Alignment: Identify who drives recruiting at your organization. Give them the keys, provide support, and hold them accountable for two basic tasks. Task 1: Alignment between hiring managers, HR, and recruiters on processes and the essential skills/attributes of qualified applicants. Task 2: Develop and execute a recruiting strategy they drive forward (see GPS). Bells and Whistles: If you’re a Honda Civic and not a Little Red Corvette, embrace and celebrate that! Each model reflects a company culture that attracts a unique driver, so leverage your strengths and explain them to applicants. Road Feel: No one likes a bumpy ride, so test out your job application process. Burdensome online application systems discourage applicants, especially millennials who prefer a mobile app option. Is your interview process respectful with trained interviewers? Do you regularly communicate with applicants and update them? Offer applicants a chance to kick the tires by offering a test drive experience (shadowing, internship or similar) to encourage a good fit. GPS: If you don’t know where you are going or what you’re really looking for, pull over and recalibrate! Successful recruiting requires a strategy with clearly defined goals. Dashboard: Accurate measurements of key recruiting efforts (advertising, job fairs, referral bonuses, etc.) keep you on track. Measure to identify and expand what works, ditch what doesn’t! Sticker Shock: Budget carefully with a focus on strategic efforts to identify and attract the right candidate for specific jobs. Throwing a wide net hoping to snare a good catch is costly and ineffective. Be prepared with accurate and timely salary data to talk numbers with applicants. Today’s best talent does not come cheap.
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Baggage: Is there junk in your trunk? Dump what you can and start fresh and light. Community Reputation and Organizational Culture may be helpful or a hindrance; prepare to discuss openly and candidly past (or current) problems with applicants. Strive for authenticity: replace glossy stock images with photos of real employees and actual offices, facilities. Applicants research companies and know the real deal; they’ll respect honesty over PR “messaging.” Rearview Mirror: Leave behind comfortable but outdated processes and expectations. Focus on where you need to go. Passengers: When all employees are aware of job opportunities within your organization and rewarded for referrals, their networking will keep you running on all cylinders! Books to help, available for checkout from the MSEC Library: • Who: The A Method for Hiring • Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers From Everybody Else For more information, contact me at 800.884.1328 or jmcdonough@msec.org.
Try MSEC’s Placement Service
We will identify, interview, screen, and provide you with a list of ideal candidates specifically suited to your organization and the open position. Only if you hire one of the candidates will we invoice you the 12.5% of the position’s first-year base salary. Contact Kristen at kborrego@msec.org for more information.
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Employment Law Update: It’s a Wrap Tim Settle, Director, Employment Law Services
I hope I saw you at our 2015 Employment Law Update. Nearly 1200 of you attended at our five locations. We provided information on a variety of topics, with follow-up panel discussion to answer any lingering questions about how our topics could impact you and your business. We opened the program with an update on the year’s most important cases and regulatory and legislative changes. We covered Young v. UPS, solidifying the employer’s obligation to accommodate pregnant employees; Mach Mining v. EEOC, determining the court’s authority to review EEOC conciliation decisions; Integrity Staffing Solutions v. Busk, answering the question of compensability of security screening time; and the recent Supreme Court decision in EEOC v. Abercrombie & Fitch, addressing an employer’s obligation to accommodate religious beliefs. The National Labor Relations Board has been targeting guidelines used by non-union-employers, including social media and employee handbook policies, and we highlighted steps and best practices to avoid running afoul of the new rules. Meanwhile, the Americans with Disabilities Act continues to vex employers with layers of complexity. We helped attendees chart a course to compliance and reduced liability. Our luncheon speaker presented an entertaining and informative session on getting the most out of teams. Following that, attendees learned about the complicated topic of joint employment, a growing area of liability for employers and a tactic plaintiffs’ attorneys use to gain access to multiple defendants and money from deeper corporate or organizational pockets. Our speaker provided tips and strategies for limiting liability. In an interesting and innovative session titled “How Can We Be Certain?” attendees heard about the difficulties employers and HR professionals face in getting to the right answer when making day-to-day employment decisions. Our speaker highlighted common credibility assessment mistakes with the goal of getting more accurate decision-making and an accompanying reduction in successful lawsuits or liability. As always, we enjoyed bringing you the most critical, up-to-date information in the areas of employment and labor law as well as human resources. We hope we helped you run your organization a little more smoothly, and we look forward to seeing you again next year.
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Aid a Quick Recovery Jennifer Vold, Labor Relations
As an employer, you should also be communicating with your workers’ compensation insurer and the medical providers to fully understand the claim and get any questions you have answered.
Your employee has a work-related injury and is restricted from performing some of the functions of her regular job. What do you do? As the employer, how do you best position yourself for a relatively easy, fast, and successful workers’ compensation claim and return to work? Be Prepared Successful management of work-related claims starts with a good foundation of employer policies and practices. Work with your workers’ compensation insurer to develop solid claims management practices, from prompt reporting of the injury to initial medical treatment with one of four designated providers to continued communication with the employee, insurer, and medical provider. Make sure you also consider your obligations under applicable employment laws, such as the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. For your employees active in claims management, provide clear, written guidelines for the steps, procedures, and considerations involved in managing each claim.
Return to Work Injured workers who miss more than six months of work have about a 50 percent chance of returning to work. That figure drops to only 25 percent for workers out for more than a year. So it’s in your best interest as an employer to develop a return-to-work program to get your employees back on modified duty as soon as possible. Getting employees back to work helps them feel more engaged and productive, helps them recover physically, and makes them less likely to be at home watching TV ads imploring them to retain an attorney. Identify modified job duties that might work, have the doctor sign off on the job description, and provide a modified duty job offer to employees to re-engage them in the workforce. Not all workers’ compensation claims will go smoothly, even following these steps, but you will be better-positioned to have happy, productive employees if you take some time to consider and develop your claim-handling process.
Communicate Communication should be a top priority in your claims management, starting with communication with the injured employee. Let your employee know that you are concerned about her well-being and recovery. Check in periodically to see how she is doing and if she has questions. The injured worker should understand both the process and any expectations you have as an employer, such as communicating medical information and restrictions after doctor’s visits, returning to modified duty, etc.
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MSEC Speakers Bureau Paula Henry, Membership Development
• When your grandmother grew up she could smoke marijuana
legally. Today, so can your Colorado employees. What can you do as an employer?
• Robot employees are in your future; are you ready to manage them alongside humans?
• Predicting employee behaviors, like who will quit and when, may become a reality with new analytical tools driven by Big Data. How can you benefit?
• Expanding from Cheyenne to Shanghai? What will you need to do differently to recruit, manage, and retain successful employees?
These are the kinds of topics covered by the MSEC Speakers Bureau. We provide our members topical expertise via presentations on employment law, HR, employee development, and total rewards survey data for conferences, trade meetings, panel discussions, forums, and association events. With a broad range of speakers from HR professionals to attorneys to organizational development experts, MSEC is ready to deliver presentations that meet your specific needs. As an added bonus, for many of our presentations, attendees are eligible to receive CEU, CLE, and SHRM credits. Just give us a call so we can discuss the objectives and logistics for your upcoming event. Any fees or expenses will be determined for each specific engagement. Sample topics from our Speakers Bureau include:
• Marijuana in the Workplace • The Future of HR • HR Analytics
• Global HR • Millennials in the Workforce
For more information on the MSEC Speakers Bureau or to request a speaker, please contact Paula Henry, Membership Development Manager, at 800.884.1328 or phenry@msec.org. One final example. Which generation active in your workplace grew up listening to these lyrics? “People try to put us down Just because we get around Things they do look awful cold Hope I die before I get old.” It depends! If you’re a Boomer, you know The Who wrote and sang “My Generation” back in 1965. If you’re a Gen X’er, the 1991 cover by Green Day may have come to mind. And if you’re a Millennial, you may have started humming the 2004 cover by Hilary Duff. All correct!
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Putting the Candidates to the Test Brittany Johnson, Pre-Employment Screening
It is important to collect relevant information about the candidates you consider hiring. Testing is often overlooked in favor of more traditional methods, such as interviews, resume review, and background checks. But evaluating your candidates with appropriate, valid, reliable, and relevant tests and assessments can provide valuable insight into your potential candidates’ skills and behaviors, and ultimately, their job performance and success. Mountain States Employers Council has a wide variety of affordable tests and assessments that can be easily administered to your candidates to give you an edge in hiring. If you are not sure which test is best for your situation, don’t worry! We will tailor our recommendations to your circumstances, based on the position you’re hiring for. We can also provide you with demos of our products to help you find the ones that best meet your organization’s needs. Our tests and assessments can be used for a variety of different jobs and positions (for example, administrative, management, medical, accounting, etc.) All are administered electronically, and the results are available within 24 hours of completion. There will always be an element of luck in every hiring decision. But science can help minimize the role of chance in your employees’ success. Contact MSEC’s Pre-Employment Screening specialists at 800.884.1328 for more information.
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The Return of Tuition-Aid Programs: Will Starbucks
Influence Other Organizations to Offer Tuition Benefits? Sue Wolf, Surveys
Starbucks recently announced they will offer employees who work at least 20 hours per week full tuition for four years of online schooling through Arizona State University. This program is now available to more than 140,000 Starbucks employees in the U.S. This is a strategic decision to make them an employer of choice in the competitive market for retail and fast-food workers. This article made me wonder whether more MSEC members were offering tuition-aid programs since the recession. According to MSEC’s Miscellaneous Benefits and Pay Practices Surveys, there has been a slight decrease in the number of employers offering tuition aid programs since 2007, which was just prior to the recession. In the chart below, each geographic area shows a slight decline in the percentage of organizations offering tuition aid. Between 2007 and 2013, there is a 4-percent decrease in Colorado employers offering tuition benefits. Wyoming had the greatest decrease with 11 percent fewer employers offering the benefit during the same period. Arizona has dropped from 49 percent of employers in the 2011 survey to 41 percent in the 2013 survey for an 8-percent decrease.
79% 62%
78%
77%
68% 61%
60%
58%
49% 41%
2007
2009
2011
Arizona Colorado Wyoming
2013
Source: MSEC’s Miscellaneous Benefits and Pay Practices Surveys
According to the survey data above, tuition-aid programs have not bounced back since the recession. Why might employers consider offering a tuition-aid program like Starbucks’? A tuition-aid program can help employers attract and hire employees, develop employee loyalty, and be used as an employee-retention tool. In a tight labor market, this benefit might differentiate an employer from its competition when candidates are choosing where to work.
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An employer’s tuition-aid program typically pays all or part of an employee’s costs for college-degreed courses, vocational classes, and job-related continuing education programs. Most programs cover tuition, books, and other costs, such as lab fees.
81%
Arizona Colorado Wyoming
76% 60%
57%
43% 33%
63% 51% 48%
43% 34%
6% 1 year service req to use benefit
set dollar amount/year
no req. to remain part-time w/company employees eligible post course-work
Source: MSEC’s 2013 Miscellaneous Benefits and Pay Practices Survey
According to results from the 2013 survey, $2,575 was the average yearly dollar amount reported by Arizona respondents, while Colorado respondents reported an average of $2,548 and Wyoming respondents reported an average of $4,375. MSEC will update the 2015 edition of the Miscellaneous Benefits and Pay Practices Survey in September. We’ll have to wait to see whether there is a “Starbucks” effect on the increase of employers offering a tuition aid program when we finalize results in January 2016.
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