Workforce - June 2016

workforce.com

June 2016

GET CERTIFIED?

THIRD TIME’S STILL A CHARM

Meet the companies, like AT&T, that have made the Workforce 100 list every year.

A problem arises when it comes to measuring certification value.

GIVE ’EM A BREAK

A well-designed break room can help idea generation and recruiting.

One platform to improve employee health, well-being and performance Invest in the well-being of your employees and they'll invest in the well-being of the company.

With Limeade, it's totally possible. www.limeade.com

From Our Editors

On the Scene with We’re Making Headlines

Here at Workforce, I work with some really talented people.

If you look at the picture on the right, you’ll see two of those incredibly talented folks — Managing Editor James Tehrani and Copy Editor Frannie Sprouls. Congratulations to them for being the best of the best when it comes to distilling an 1,800word story into four words in 30-point type.

I also want to mention another colleague’s national recognition.Associate Editorial Director Kellye Whitney, who helms Workforce’s sister publication Chief Learning Officer, was tapped as one of Folio magazine’s Top Women in Media. Kellye was named along with the likes of Harvard Business Review Editor Katherine Bell as well as other executives in the Director-Level Doers category.

Talented people, all right.

Their hard work and dedication to their craft is all right here for you to enjoy.

— Rick Bell, Editorial Director 4

Workƒorce | w o r k f o r c e . c o m

At the 20th annual American Copy Editors Society conference, which took place in Portland, Oregon, from March 31 to April 2, two of Human Capital Media’s editors were recognized for headline writing in the individual non-newspaper category.

Human Capital Media is Workforce magazine’s parent company.

James Tehrani, left, Workforce’s managing editor, took first place, while Frannie Sprouls, right, the magazine’s copy editor took second place.

READER FEEDBACK James Tehrani’s “Whatever Works” blog post titled “No Encores, Please: Bruce Springsteen’s Right About a Law, Wrong About a Boycott” on Workforce.com drew a lot responses. Terri Green emailed: ‘Being from Mississippi, I read your article with interest. Imagine my disappointment at your comments about our law. It does not give people the right to withhold services from transgender and married homosexuals on a random basis. It allows people of faith to not participate in what they see as a sinful act of ‘gay marriage.’ A baker will sell cakes to gays, just not bake wedding cakes. Florists will still sell flowers, just not stage a wedding.

There is a huge problem in this country with the media’s reporting of these laws and what they contain. I would have expected a magazine with your usual high standards to at least read these bills before you paraphrased what you thought was in them.’

Terri Green Columbus, Mississippi

Arthur Friedman also emailed: ‘In his blog concerning Bruce Springsteen’s decision to boycott North Carolina in response to their enactment of HB2, James Tehrani says that while he opposes this new law, he also opposes Springsteen’s boycott.

Unfortunately,Tehrani offers no proposals for actions that will hit North Carolina legislators and its governor where it hurts them most. Actually, he offers no proposals whatsoever for putting pressure on these bigots to do the right thing.While some North Carolinians may be inconvenienced by the cancellation of the Springsteen concert, there is no physical or emotional

harm that will befall these concert-goers.

That is not true for the LGBT community.

The only thing legislators recognize are those that affect the bottom line of their state. Boycotting North Carolina by Springsteen will cause a significant loss of revenue for the state. If others follow suit and cancel or refuse to hold their meetings, conferences, conventions, etc., in the state, it will certainly wake these characters up from their stupor. ’ Arthur Friedman Nassau Community College Garden City, New York

Online reader D responded: ‘Those who planned on going to a concert to see a ‘legend’ are being punished. If Bruce wanted to make a statement, how about meeting his appointment as scheduled, like all workers are supposed to do. Once there, he’s welcome to make his stance known. I’m not a fan of being forced to listen to someone’s soapbox speech, especially if I am stranded in a huge concert venue, but Bruce could have said, ‘I am against this state’s HB2 law,’ then went on to explain what it was. He then could have pleaded with everyone to speak up and support human decency, equality and vote for those that want to truly be for the people.’

Workforce.com/Springsteen We welcome your comments on these stories and others on our website.

Be sure to follow us and give us a shout on Twitter at @Workforcenews, too.

Hope to hear from you! june

2016

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June 2016 | Volume 95, Issue 6 PRESIDENT John R. Taggart jrtag@workforce.com

ASSOCIATE EDITORS Lauren Dixon ldixon@workforce.com

EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, CREATIVE SERVICES Gwen Connelly gwen@workforce.com

Bravetta Hassell bhassell@workforce.com Sarah Sipek ssipek@workforce.com

COPY EDITOR VICE PRESIDENT, CFO, COO Frannie Sprouls Kevin A. Simpson fsprouls@workforce.com ksimpson@workforce.com EDITORIAL ART DIRECTOR VICE PRESIDENT, Anna Jo Beck GROUP PUBLISHER abeck@workforce.com Clifford Capone EDITORIAL INTERN ccapone@workforce.com Andie Burjek VICE PRESIDENT, aburjek@workforce.com EDITOR IN CHIEF VICE PRESIDENT, Mike Prokopeak RESEARCH AND mikep@workforce.com ADVISORY SERVICES EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Sarah Kimmel skimmel@workforce.com Rick Bell rbell@workforce.com RESEARCH MANAGER GROUP EDITOR/ ASSOCIATE EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Kellye Whitney kwhitney@workforce.com

Tim Harnett tharnett@workforce.com

MANAGING EDITOR James Tehrani jtehrani@workforce.com

RESEARCH ASSISTANT Kristen Britt kbirtt@workforce.com

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Frank Kalman fkalman@workforce.com

MEDIA MANAGER Ashley Flora aflora@workforce.com

RESEARCH ANALYST Grey Litaker clitaker@workforce.com

John R. Taggart PRESIDENT

PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Nina Howard nhoward@workforce.com VICE PRESIDENT, EVENTS Trey Smith tsmith@workforce.com

AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Cindy Cardinal ccardinal@workforce.com DIGITAL SPECIALIST Lauren Lynch llynch@workforce.com

EVENT CONTENT MANAGER Ashley (Wynne) Collins awynne@workforce.com

DIGITAL COORIDINATOR Mannat Mahtani mmahtani@workforce.com LIST MANAGER Mike Rovello hcmlistrentals@infogroup.com

EVENTS MARKETING MANAGER Anthony Zepeda azepeda@workforce.com

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATIVE WEBCAST COORDINATOR MANAGER Alec O’Dell Melanie Lee aodell@workforce.com mlee@workforce.com BUSINESS MANAGER LEAD GENERATION Vince Czarnowski ADMINISTRATOR vince@workforce.com Nick Safir REGIONAL SALES nsafir@workforce.com MANAGERS CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Derek Graham Kirsten Davidson dgraham@workforce.com Cary Donham Marc Katz Kris Dunn mkatz@workforce.com Sarah Fister Gale Daniella Weinberg Samuel Greengard dweinberg@workforce.com Jim Hall ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Richard Y. Hu Brian Lorenz Jon Hyman blorenz@workforce.com Patty Kujawa DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS Gary Kushner DEVELOPMENT, EVENTS Mark Phillis Kevin Fields kfields@workforce.com Rita Pyrillis

Gwen Connelly EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT

Kevin A. Simpson CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Norman B. Kamikow CO-FOUNDER (1943 - 2014)

WORKFORCE EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Arie Ball, Vice President, Sourcing and Talent Acquisition, Sodexo Angela Bailey, Associate Director and Chief Human Capital Officer, U.S. Office of Personnel Management Kris Dunn, Chief Human Resources Officer, Kinetix, and Founder, Fistful of Talent and HR Capitalist Curtis Gray, Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Administration, BAE Systems Jil Greene, Vice President, Human Resources and Community Relations, Harrah’s New Orleans Ted Hoff, Human Resources Vice President, Global Sales and Sales Incentives, IBM Tracy Kofski, Vice President, Compensation and Benefits, General Mills Jon Hyman, Partner, Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis Jim McDermid, Vice President, Human Resources, Cardiac and Vascular Group, Medtronic Randall Moon, Vice President, International HR, Benefits and HRIS, Lowe’s Cos. Dan Satterthwaite, Head of Human Resources, DreamWorks Dave Ulrich, Professor, Ross School of Business, University of Michigan

Workforce, ISSN 2331-2793, is published monthly by MediaTec Publishing Inc., 318 Harrison Street, Suite 301, Oakland, CA 94607. Periodicals Class Postage paid at Oakland, CA and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Please send address changes to: Workforce magazine, P.O. Box 8712, Lowell, MA 01853. Subscriptions are free to qualified professionals within the U.S. and Canada. Nonqualified paid subscriptions are available at the subscription price of $199 for 12 issues. All countries outside the U.S. and Canada must be prepaid in U.S. funds with an additional $33 postage surcharge. Single copy price is $29.99.

Workforce and Workforce.com are the trademarks of MediaTec Publishing Inc. Copyright © 2016, MediaTec Publishing Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reproduction of material published in Workforce is forbidden without permission.

Printed by: Quad/Graphics, Sussex, WI

CONTENTS

ON THE COVER MEET THE THREE-PEATS

Despite changing criteria, several companies have made the Workforce 100 list all three years.

AT&T’s Bill Blase and Cynt Marshall credit the company’s willingness to develop talent.

COVER PHOTO BY STEWART COHEN

30 24

40 THE UNCERTAINTY OF CERTIFICATIONS

FEATURES 24 THE WORKFORCE 100

SPECIAL REPORT 44 NOT EVEN EAPs ARE FREE

Employers must actively be involved in choosing EAPs to provide a valuable benefit to their employees.

8

Workƒorce | w o r k f o r c e . c o m

Find out which company topped the list in the third-annual Workforce 100.

34 ROOM SERVICE

A well-designed break room can help workers collaborate on ideas and perhaps help with recruiting, too.

With a growing focus on obtaining HR certifications, measuring the value remains a challenge.

CORRECTION The May 2016 profile on David Novak,“Finger Lickin’ Meets Rubber Chicken,” p. 40, had an incorrect age for Novak as well as his position at Yum Brands. Novak is 63 and he guided Yum as CEO until stepping down from that role in 2014.

He is retiring from his current role as executive chairman of the company in May.Also, Jonathan Blum is a former senior vice president at Yum. june

2016

ON THE WEB SPEAK UP!

The Workforce online community provides you with virtual meeting PHOTOS CO places toE CUchat about issues and trends UR TESY OF TH BS affecting you and your workplace.

40

LIKE US: facebook.com/workforce.magazine

FOLLOW US: twitter.com/workforcenews

JOIN THE GROUP:

34

Upper left: As a compli- workforce.com/LinkedIn ment to its interactive

WATCH US:

group offices, the Las

workforce.com/youtube

Vegas Sun’s break room

TRENDING 10 ZENEFITS’ HARD TIMES

Zenefits’ bad fortune is a boon for other companies.

encourage employee engagement with an air

june

2016

COLUMNS 4

YOUR FORCE

Editorial Director Rick Bell works with talented people.

14 WORK IN PROGRESS

The trap of big data in HR.

19 ACING THE ACA

Use ‘metal’ to fix this ‘Cadillac.’

22 THE PRACTICAL EMPLOYER

Some problems ahead for the ADA.

26 BEING THE BEST TAKES HARD WORK Workforce 100 companies don’t happen overnight..

50 THE LAST WORD

For greatness’ sake.

june

2016

FOR YOUR BENEFIT 16 THE LOAN RANGERS

w o r k f o r c e . c o m | Workƒorce

Companies offer programs to ease financial stress and protect workers seeking cash loans.

17 SPECIAL NEEDS, SPECIAL BENEFITS Employers can ease parents’ burden by offering a new benefit that increases access to treatments.

17 BUILDING A WELLNESS PROGRAM 101 The U.S. Chamber of Commerce released a step-by-step guide to designing a wellness program.

18 RETIREMENT PREDICAMENT

An EBRI survey finds most people feel good about their retirement prospects.

11 FROM THE WEB, PEOPLE MOVES 35

AND BY THE NUMBERS

Oracle’s CEO; Lamb to Landmark Theatres; SHRM.

12 THE WORKFORCE IN 2100

Thomas DeRosa talks about the aging workforce.

12 PAYSA MAKES A COMP PLAY

Paysa is the latest to bring salary data into the mainstream.

LEGAL 20 IS YOUR WORKPLACE INCLUSIVE? Diversity programs don’t automatically mean inclusion.

21 LEGAL BRIEFINGS

Unpaid intern’s benefits; donning and doffing.

w o r k f o r c e . c o m | Workƒorce

9

TRENDING

Zenefits’ Hard Times Means Good Times for Rivals As the once benefits ‘unicorn’ reorganizes, startups such as Namely and Justworks are grabbing venture money, customers and attention.

By Michelle V. Rafter

B

efore Zenefits nearly derailed earlier this year, it was upending the human resources and insurance industries by giving away cloud-based core HR management software to small companies as an incentive to become their benefits broker of record.

Zenefits might be going through a tough stretch, but the so-called “freemium” concept the former high-flier popularized is alive and well. Strike that; it’s booming.

As Zenefits reorganizes, competitors such as BambooHR, GoCo Inc., Gusto, Justworks Inc., Namely Inc. and a host of others are marketing their own core HR tech for small and midsize businesses, including a handful with “freemium” services where the software is free but you pay for certain features.

There’s a lot at stake. Small businesses comprise the bulk of the country’s economy but have long trailed larger enterprises in adopting any HR technology more sophisticated than Excel spreadsheets. That’s changing as small companies are buying enterprisewide HR software at a much earlier stage than before, according to Sierra-Cedar Inc.’s 2015-16 HR Systems Survey. That could be based on a need created by the Affordable Care Act for smaller employHR Tech Contenders

As Zenefits tries to right itself, rival HR tech startups are wasting little time raising capital to compete for SMB customers.

Customers

Total funding to date (Millions)

Gusto

$117.7

Namely

$110.6 $53 $1.81

■ Companies

Justworks GoCo

25,000 Not disclosed 400 60,000 Not disclosed Approx. 6,000 Not disclosed Not disclosed

■ Employees

Sources: CrunchBase, Owler Inc., companies listed

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ers to adopt better benefits accounting.

GoCo and WebHR have their own free Zenefits was among the first to capital- or low-cost cloud-based core technology ize on those trends. The company grew for small and midsize businesses, and othfast by promising to ers offer extended streamline HR profree trials so potencesses such as ontial customers can try boarding and trackbefore they buy. ing paid time off After Nir Leibothrough a free app. It vich sold a software attracted $500 mildeveloper he’d lion in venture co-founded to a funding, tripled relarger company, he curring revenue in used Zenefits to 2015 to $60 million, manage the busiand almost quadrunesses’ 75 to 85 empled its workforce ployees. He loved to close to 1,500. the software until “They attacked the the day his wife complacency of the called from the denmarket,” said Mark tist’s office saying Stelzner, managing Mark Stelzner, Inflexion Advisors their insurance had principal at HR tech been denied — a consultant Inflexion Advisors. Zenefits problem he traced back to Zenefits. It put benefits advisers on notice that they inspired him to start GoCo Inc., which had to do more than just advise. “The he said is built on popular open-source downstream impact has been wonderful software code used by Facebook Inc. for the market,” he said. “It’s fantastically and Netflix. hot right now.”

Concurrent with introducing its Zenefits’ fortunes plummeted after cloud-based HR suite late last year, revenue fell short of projected milestones, GoCo raised $1.8 million from benefits customers complained about fumbled broker Digital Insurance Inc., a subsidibenefits, Fidelity Investments downgraded ary of Fidelity National Financial Inc. As the value of its interest in the business part of the deal, Digital Insurance is and news reports alleged unlicensed em- pitching GoCo to its base of 30,000 cusployees were selling insurance. tomers, Leibovich said.

In February, Zenefits founder and Other HR tech startups have raked in CEO Parker Conrad resigned and was even more venture backing, though replaced by Chief Operating Officer none has raised as much as Zenefits, David Sacks. After the longtime Sili- which is a “unicorn” in the investment con Valley executive and investor took world because it is a startup valued at over, Zenefits revealed employees used more than $1 billion. In the first quarter computer programs to stay logged of 2016, Justworks closed a $33 million into online training they needed for deal in a third round of financing for a insurance licenses. In an effort to right total of $53 million, and Namely raised the company, Sacks eliminated an en- $30 million, bringing its total funding terprise sales group, cut other staff and to $110.6 million. Gusto, which put an end to its now-infamous changed its name from ZenPayroll, frat-party atmosphere. raised $91.6 million during the year, Today, competitors such as Deputy, bringing its total to $117.7 million. june

2016

TRENDING

FROM THE WEB AN ENGAGING TALK Blogger Rick Bell sat in on Oracle Inc. CEO Mark Hurd’s talk at the Oracle HCM World conference in Chicago. Did Hurd talk up tech? A little, but not so much. Engagement drives productivity, Hurd told attendees in his keynote speech.

Workforce.com/ HurdSpeech SPORTS TALK In a recent edition of the video series “5 Minutes of Management,” Workforce editors Rick Bell and Frank Kalman discuss the U.S. women’s soccer team as it fights for equal pay.

Also, the Los Angeles Lakers’ trust issues brought a workplace issue to light as the NBA’s season came to a close.

Workforce.com/ SoccerHoops ALL RIGHT, HAMILTON! No matter what the producers of the hit Broadway musical “Hamilton” tell you, race is never a bona fide occupational qualification, blogs Jon Hyman. “Although actors may be hired by physical characteristics, the law expressly prohibits consideration of race as a BFOQ. Racial discrimination in hiring is illegal, even if the hiring is to cast an actor in a race-specific role, period.”

Workforce.com/ Hamilton june

2016

PEOPLE

moves

JULIE LAMB Landmark Theatres named Julie Lamb as executive vice president for human resources and will oversee all aspects of HR. She also oversees HR at all of the Wagner Cuban companies including Magnolia Pictures, Magnolia Home Entertainment, 2929 Entertainment, Chideo, Spotlight Cinema Networks and The Westside Tavern.

SEAN HUURMAN Service King Collision Repair Centers named Sean Huurman as chief human resources officer. Huurman joins Service King with more than 25 years’ experience, most recently as the chief administrative officer at Imagine Communications and as executive vice president and chief people officer at software-maker Genband.

MARY STAGAMAN The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber named Mary Stagaman as senior inclusion adviser, a new position. Stagaman most recently served as executive director of Agenda 360 for the chamber. She will continue to lead chamber initiatives such as Diverse by Design and the development of the Center for New Cincinnatians, a welcoming portal for immigrants.

To be considered for People Moves, email a brief announcement and a high-resolution color photo to editors@workforce.com. Include People Moves in the subject line.

By the Numbers compiled by Rick Bell

Putting the HR in SHRM SHRM 2016 kicks off on June 19 in Washington, D.C. Here is a look at the organization and its 68th annual shindig.

285,000 members

165

Countries with

SHRM members

353

Full-time U.S. employees

9

Number of people in SHRM’s HR department

Hosts With the Most

5

(tie) Las Vegas & Chicago lead as destination hosts

Began in Ohio

1949

Washington, D.C.

3

Where Were You?

Cleveland hosted the inaugural event

On the Floor

650 Exhibiting companies in 2016 People working exhibitor booths 3,500

SHRM conference attendance

2010 San Diego: 11,265 2011 Las Vegas: 13,875 2012 Atlanta: 13,561 2013 Chicago: 15,128 2014 Orlando, Florida: 13,068 2015 Las Vegas: 15,619

The Volunteer Spirit

900

Members helping at SHRM 2016 Source: SHRM Media Relations

Exhibit Space Cost 2015

10'x10' corner booth: $5,100 10'x10' in-line booth: $4,900

2016

10’x10’ corner booth: $5,300 10’x10’ in-line booth: $5,100 Source: shrm.org

w o r k f o r c e . c o m w| oWorkƒorce r k f o r c e . c o m |10 Workƒorce

11

TRENDING

Paysa Makes a Comp Play

By Sarah Fister Gale

ENVISIONING THE WORKFORCE IN 2100

By Rick Bell

T Thomas DeRosa, CEO and director of Welltower Inc.

Thomas DeRosa is CEO and director of Welltower Inc., an S&P 500 company based in Toledo, Ohio. DeRosa also is governor of the World Economic Forum and this year joined a panel discussing,“What if You Are Still Alive in 2100?” Workforce Editorial Director Rick Bell caught up with DeRosa regarding an aging workforce via email.

Workforce: ‘What if You Are Still Alive in 2100?’ is a mind-blowing topic, given we’re still in the teens decade. What would you expect as a senior living at the turn of the century?

Thomas DeRosa: I am a strong believer that as long as a person has a strong and sharp mind and willingness and ability to contribute to the workforce, he or she should not be discriminated or confined by their age. I am certainly planning to work into my 70s and 80s. We don’t need to wait until 2100 to see the changes in the labor market. Labor Department projections show that in 1992, 1 in 12 women worked past the age of 65. That number is now around 1 in 7. By 2024, it will increase to almost 1 in 5, or more than 6 million workers.

WF: You’ve spoken passionately regarding the aging population. How will this translate to the business world?

DeRosa: The experience and wisdom that many individuals accumulate during their professional careers can be an added benefit to a business or a public sector organization. Both private and public sectors will need to look at how they adapt the marketplace to include more seniors with no cognitive constraints, but possibly some physical ones, in the workforce. We can think of simple solutions — such as having nap rooms in the offices to allow older colleagues to take a short rest break during the day.

WF: The employee life cycle is start working in your 20s then retire in your early 60s to make room for the next generation. Still viable?

DeRosa: I don’t think that this model is valid today. We are looking at increased lifespan and increased productivity for many individuals, which calls for a new career model. Perhaps, contrary to the existing societal expectation of young people joining the workforce immediately after college in their early 20s, we can envision them embarking on a few years of public service and volunteering (domestically and around the world), allowing them to grow professionally and give back to the society.

WF: We hear so much about wellness programs. How will they need to evolve as the workforce ages?

DeRosa: We need to put a strong emphasis on the well-being of the employee, especially as the lines between home and work become more blurred. Having a wellness coach provide resources and information on healthier living or guest yoga instructors come into the office once a week can provide significant productivity benefits for people of all ages.

To see the full Q&A, go to: Workforce.com/TomDeRosa

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he packed field of salary comparison platforms has a new entry seeking to provide tech candidates with an advantage in compensation negotiations.

Paysa is the latest in a series of companies to bring salary data into the mainstream. The company, which launched in February and recently secured $4 million in seed funding from New Enterprise Associates and other investors, joins the likes of Glassdoor Inc., Hired Inc., PayScale Inc. and Vault Inc. vying to provide salary reports and employee reviews on company culture, compensation and other benefits.

The Palo Alto, California-based Paysa uses data from more than 90 million employee profiles to define a candidate’s current worth based on their education, experience, job title, job market and other career factors.

The site lets employees understand their real market value while enabling employers to figure out what they will have to pay to secure top talent, said Krishna Kolluri, a general partner at New Enterprise Associates, one of Paysa’s investors. “Everyone is competing for the same talent. Paysa levels the playing field a little.”

The service is free to consumers, and the company says it will generate revenue through referral fees from job-listing partners and training providers.

Paysa is using machine learning algorithms to come up with a unique number for each individual, CEO Chris Bolte said. “It’s not ‘what a director of software makes.’ It’s personal to who you are and your experience.”

Sites like Paysa that bring new technology and algorithms to the salary transparency conversation have grown increasingly popular, especially among millennials. Many of them have no qualms about sharing their own compensation and other workplace data. june

2016

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Questions? Visit humancapitalmedia.com/research. #ResearchHCM

TRENDING

Wo r k i n P r o g r e s s

THE TRAP OF BIG DATA IN HR

By Kris Dunn

A

s it happens with so many things in life, big data has not only come to human resources, but it’s also rapidly making its way from the HR executive suite to the HR trenches.

What could go wrong?

Whether you call it “big data,” “small data” or “HR analytics,” odds are that HR pros in your organization all the way down to the manager level are actively being pitched on the benefits of making data-driven decisions.

If you’re an HR leader contemplating big data in the world of HR, I’ve got good news and bad news for you.

First the good news. If you’ve got control over the systems used in your HR practice, you’ve got a unique opportunity to train your minions and make big data work for you — companywide.

But with every silver lining comes a thunderstorm.

Even if you control the analytical solution set across your HR practice, you’ve still got the challenge of making sure your teams can accurately engage the operations side of the business related to what the data mean and what adjustments are necessary to maximize the effect of talent on the business.

Did you just gulp?

Your HR pros in the trenches are all good people. To make sure you give them data and analytics that don’t blow up in their face, let’s talk about what’s real and what’s not.

One of the biggest lies the data devil ever told was that we can base talent analytics on our performance management process. Don’t get me wrong; I’m pro performance management. It’s just that we all struggle with rater bias, calibration issues on ratings, etc.

Big data based on performance ratings is a dumpster fire outside a two-star restaurant in the bad part of town.The only exception is for lower-level positions that have clear production metrics. If that’s you, shine on you crazy diamond. The rest of us need to look elsewhere for analytics that matter.

And what about quality of hire? I know, you really want to talk about it.You’re right about one thing: It’s the holy grail. But it’s too linked to performance data for you to pull off across the enterprise.

At this point, I’m the world’s biggest data buzz kill. But wait! I do have good news.

There are two keys to launching HR analytics. To succeed, you need to focus on how the data are sliced for re-

porting purposes, then you need to train your HR pros in the field about how to be consultative with the operations leaders they support.

Let’s focus on data slices first.To truly maximize the effect of any data sets you report, you need to be brave. Courage with big data in HR means that you set up reporting to establish scoreboards designed to put pressure on managers in your organization. Key choices in this regard include the development of reports that compare locations, functional areas and, yes, even managers against each other across your company.

Need an example? Here’s a favorite analytical track of mine: hiring manager batting average.This average assumes any employee who leaves before their one-year anniversary is a hiring miss. Regardless of what caused the bad selection process, it’s all embedded in the calculation.

Calculating the hit-miss percentage on this data point across the past 12 months at your company is easy. Develop scoreboards that show which department or hiring manager is the best at this and you’ve got a shot at having meaningful conversations about how to improve.

But the big data secret sauce in HR is the negotiation and consultative skills of your HR pros in the field. If your trench-level HR team can’t perform in these areas, any analytical platform you’re trying to develop will be dead on arrival.

The skill set needed by your HR pros in the field isn’t complicated, but it requires confrontation. First, they need to be able to review the data for the groups they support and identify underperforming units using analytics.

The next step is more complex.Your line HR pros have to be confrontational with the operations side of the house, tell them where they have a problem, and then offer consulting services to help the underperforming manager or unit improve.

Big data in HR can thrive, but only if you understand and develop the consultative skills necessary for your field HR pros.

Without these skills and a willingness to engage or confront, big data is just a fancy phrase for another report that no one is going to use.

TO MAKE SURE YOU GIVE YOUR HR PROS DATA AND ANALYTICS THAT DON’T BLOW UP IN THEIR FACE, LET’S TALK ABOUT WHAT’S REAL AND WHAT’S NOT.

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Workƒorce | w o r k f o r c e . c o m

Kris Dunn, the chief human resources officer at Kinetix, is a Workforce contributing editor. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.

june

2016

FOR YOUR BENEFIT

The Loan Rangers Companies offer programs to ease financial stress and protect workers seeking cash loans.

By Rita Pyrillis

The Baton Rouge General Medical Center in Louisiana.

L

ike so many Americans living paycheck to paycheck, many he said. “We all know that stress leads to many diseases, and evlow-wage employees at Baton Rouge General Medical Cen- eryone understands that you can’t always leave your personal ter in Louisiana were struggling to stay afloat forcing some to take life in the parking lot.” on two jobs or turn to predatory payday loan shops to pay the bills.

Stagnant wages, escalating health care costs, the growing Hospital administrators worried that the stress would take a number of millennials starting their careers saddled with stutoll on not only employee health and the hospital’s bottom line dent loans are just a few of the factors prompting employers to but also patient care.Traditional financial wellness programs that look for innovative solutions, said Kent Allison, national head of focus mostly on education or retirement planning did nothing the financial wellness practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers. to help workers in dire straits, according to hospital Chief FiAccording to a recent study by PwC, more than half of emnancial Officer Kendall Johnson. So the hospital turned to a ployees surveyed are stressed about money, and 45 percent say unique solution: allowing employees to take out small advances that their stress has increased in the past year. Adding to the on their paychecks. problem is the fact that employees who are struggling financially “A lot of employees were stressed out because of financial often make poor decisions, like withdrawing from their 401(k) pressures, like a car that needed to be fixed or a home repair,” plans or turning to payday lenders, Allison said.

Johnson said. “We realized that, without a solution to offer them, they frequently turned to those cash-checking places on the corner that had very ‘A LOT OF EMPLOYEES WERE STRESSED high fees and some committed fraud by selling the checks. We were looking for a solution to help OUT BECAUSE OF FINANCIAL PRESSURES, employees during these tough times.”

LIKE A CAR THAT NEEDED TO BE FIXED.’ The hospital partnered with a tech startup called PayActiv Inc. that developed a platform allowing — KENDALL JOHNSON, BATON ROUGE (LOUISIANA) employees to receive up to 50 percent of their GENERAL MEDICAL CENTER paychecks in advance for a $5-per-transaction fee.

“The reason there are so many payday lenders and small-dollar programs is because it turns out that it’s very At Mercury Insurance Group in Los Angeles, employee stress hard to get a $200 or $300 loan when you need it,” said Safwan levels have been at an all-time high since 2009 when the famShah, founder and CEO of PayActiv, which is based in San Jose, ily-owned firm had to lay off employees for the first time in its California. “It’s harder to get a small-dollar amount than a 60-year history, said Bill Medina, director of payroll. This year, large-dollar amount. This is about getting money in the hands the company launched a financial wellness program that reof working people without them having to take on debt.” wards employees who complete financial risk assessments and Financial health seems to be the next frontier for employee other activities with contributions to their health savings acwellness programs as more companies make the connection be- counts or toward their insurance premiums. It has also beefed tween fiscal health and physical well-being, and stress tops the up its financial education programs. list of concerns, said Carlos Hernandez, a vice president at the “The crash in 2008 was a huge shock, and our people are on consulting firm Acclaris. edge about their finances for the first time,” Medina said. “The “In the last several years, stress in general has been at the fore- markets have not really stabilized since then, and we haven’t front of what employers have been trying to find solutions for,” seen a recovery.We have a lot of nervous people.”

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june

2016

FOR YOUR BENEFIT

Special Needs, Special Benefits Employers can ease parents’ burden by offering a new benefit that increases access to treatments.

By Sarah Sipek

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ny parent would agree that raising a child is a full-time job. But when that child has special needs, the caregiving required places an additional burden on an already daunting task.The more responsibility parents have outside of the workplace, the more they struggle just to make it through their workday.

As the parent of a special needs child, Laura Francis, the director of marketing at River Software, knows firsthand what it’s like to suffer in silence. She understands it’s not employers’ intent to make parents like herself feel excluded, but given her child’s specific needs, she requires an intervention more tailored than over-the-phone counseling and extra days off.

Employers have made strides in supporting employees who care for aging loved ones.

Many offer flexible work schedules and partner with employee assistance programs to provide the emotional and financial counseling necessary to complete estate planning and make other end-of-life decisions, said Kathleen Greer, founder of KGA Inc., an employee assistance, work-life and training firm based in Framingham, Massachusetts.

The solutions that work for this specific employee caregiver group are not universal. One in six children in the U.S. is diagnosed with a developmental disability, according to Dan Etra, CEO of Rethink Benefits, a global provider of research-based resources for individuals with developmental disabilities and those who support them.

Laura Francis with her husband, Gary, and their son According to a study conducted Dominic on Aug. 1, 2015. by the National Business Group on Health, 50 percent of working parents with autistic children lose 250 hours in workplace productivity a year caring for their children.That adds up to an estimated 3 billion hours of lost productivity annually. The solution, according to Etra, is access to treatment and resources.

Applied behavioral analysis — the process of understanding how an individual learns and uses that knowledge to alter their social behaviors — is recognized by the Congressional Autism Caucus as the leading treatment for autism-spectrum disorder and can cost roughly $45,000 per year if performed by a board-certified behavior analyst.

The only benefits provider dedicated to assisting parents and caregivers of special needs children, Rethink Benefits uses a Web-based platform that can augment behavioral analysis therapy appointments to improve outcomes and support caregivers by connecting the circle of care. Employers can offer access to the platform the same way they would any other employee assistance program for as little as several dollars per employee.

The “game changer,” according to Etra, is the care coordination offering.

“Our online platform allows parents to connect with therapists, teachers and other family members to both plan out a daily care schedule for a special needs child, but also to track progress and make visits to the doctor more efficient,” Etra said. “We house all the medical information in one spot to make care management that much easier and less stressful on the parent.”

Parents like Francis will take all the support they can get.

“They don’t give you a manual for raising a special needs child,” Francis said.“Having access to resources and information helps me make the best decision for my child.That helps put my mind at ease so that when it comes time for me to work, I can focus on the task at hand knowing that my child is taken care of.” june

2016

Building a Wellness Program 101

By Rita Pyrillis hile large employers are leading the way in corporate wellness, smaller companies that have been struggling to catch up are getting some help from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which recently released a step-by-step guide to designing a successful wellness program.

“This speaks to the small midmarket companies,” said Jenn Roberts, a wellness expert and Mercer consultant based in Houston. “There’s so much going on with wellness since the passage of the ACA, but there are still a lot of employers that don’t really have a wellness program.

The chamber asked us to come up with five to 10 steps to help them.”

Roberts and her co-authors contributed a chapter to the 40-page report highlighting best practices for employee wellness, including “10 essential steps” for developing a workplace wellness program. The guide takes employers from the first step of assessing their organization’s readiness for a wellness program to developing a multiyear plan to creating the right incentives for specific behaviors and ultimately to conducting a financial analysis of the program.

“If someone is just getting started in wellness or has a wellness program but maybe is not measuring outcomes, this guide speaks to them,” Roberts said.

“It’s also useful for large employers who are already doing those things but need a refresh.”

Other chapters focus on how well-designed programs can benefit both the company and employees and how to create incentives that comply with federal, state and local laws, including the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996; Americans with Disabilities Act; and Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. The report, titled “Winning With Wellness,” is a collaboration of leading experts and academics. Employers can download a free copy through the Chamber of Commerce website.

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FOR YOUR BENEFIT

Retirement Predicament An EBRI survey finds most people feel good about their retirement prospects — even though they don’t know how much cash they’ll need to save.

By Patty Kujawa here’s a lot of guesswork going on when it comes to retirement savings. Many Americans are continuing to feel pretty good about their financial path to retirement, but actual data show the majority of workers have no idea how much they will need later in life.

Almost three-quarters of people surveyed by the Employee Benefit Research Institute said they are “confident” or “very confident” with what they are doing to save for retirement.The number shoots to 74 percent for workers with a retirement plan at their job compared with 39 percent for those without a plan at work.

Here’s the kicker: More than half of those surveyed said they or their spouse have not calculated how much money they need to save for retirement. Nearly half guessed that they will need about $500,000 to retire, but 54 percent reported they have less than $25,000 in savings.

“People would get a more realistic number if they would just do the numbers,” said Craig Copeland, senior research associate and co-author of the report, the 2016 Retirement Confidence Survey.

The responses were part of the 26th annual survey, which was conducted with market research firm Greenwald & Associates.

It is the longest-running survey of its kind, gathering responses from 1,000 workers and 505 retirees. Retirement confidence was at record lows between 2009 and 2013, increased from 2014 to 2015 and plateaued this year. Even though confidence has leveled off, people are feeling better about their ability to pay for daily needs as well as their ability to pay for medical expenses in retirement, Copeland said.

“This report is more positive, but there are people who could be doing more” to save for retirement, Copeland said.

Lack of confidence spiked when workers said they carried

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debt. Only 9 percent of workers who say they have a major debt problem are very confident about their retirement savings plan. Forty percent say they need to put off retirement savings to pay for daily expenses.

This is an opportunity for companies, said Virginia Maguire, director of retirement product and solutions at human resources consulting firm Aon Hewitt.

Companies need to show workers, “Yes you can save and pay off debt,” Maguire said. “They may not perhaps do it all at once, but they can live for today, plan for the future and for the unexpected.”

‘PUTTING SOMEONE THROUGH A FORMAL FINANCIAL ASSESSMENT WILL HELP THAT PERSON UNDERSTAND HOW TO IMPROVE THEIR FINANCIAL STATE.’ —VIRGINIA MAGUIRE, AON HEWITT Aon Hewitt estimates that workers will need to have saved 11 times their pay at age 65 in order to have a comfortable retirement. Only 1 in 5 people at large corporations will have more than enough money at retirement, according to statistics from Aon Hewitt’s 2015 study titled “The Real Deal.” Plus, Aon Hewitt estimates workers will have to wait until they are 68 to have enough retirement money saved up. About 16 percent will have to wait until age 75.

These are pretty dreadful statistics, but Maguire said companies can improve the situation by providing a clearer picture of what retirement will look like for workers. For many, retirement is so far away, and college bills or other payments are coming due much sooner; it’s hard to see how much is really needed.

Often, workers can get a false sense of confidence when they see a big number in their account balance.

“Drawing the picture of what retirement looks like today is really important,” Maguire said. “So often, people don’t have enough saved.”

Today, more companies are focusing on financial wellness, another Aon Hewitt study showed. Giving workers access to tools that will help them with household budgeting, managing health care spending and debt can ultimately help them see what they can do about saving for retirement, Maguire said.

“Having a plan is going to help [people] get to where they need to be,” she said. “Putting someone through a formal financial assessment will help that person understand how to improve their financial state.” june

2016

ILLUSTRATION BY MIKE CENTENO

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FOR YOUR BENEFIT

Acing the ACA

USE ‘METAL’ TO FIX THIS ‘CADILLAC’

By Gary B.Kushner

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nternal Revenue Code Section 4980I, better known as the “Cadillac” tax, was postponed from implementation until 2020. And while that may seem far away (think the next presidential election, for which I’m sure campaign ads will begin early next year), it needs to be fixed and fixed now to provide greater certainty for employers and their employees.

Whether you agree with the idea of a tax on richly designed health plans, the idea behind the tax has long been debated.

Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that employer-provided health benefits are the highest revenue drain of all tax deductions and credits.Think about that for a minute: It represents more revenue loss to the U.S.Treasury Department than the home mortgage interest deduction (the second highest tax expenditure) and even the third place employer provided retirement plans (a dubious calculation since, unlike health benefits or the mortgage interest deduction, they are eventually taxed upon distribution). Nevertheless, as part of the Affordable Care Act, Congress decided to cap how much of the health plan cost could be free of tax to participants. And that’s where it starts to get sticky.

Congress, and later the Treasury, with the best of intentions, set a hard dollar cap on what that maximum tax-free amount should be. Simple, right? Well, as it turns out, not so much. Congress included all forms of health care spending in the cost calculation, not just the premium costs of the plan itself but things like employee salary reduction contributions under IRC Section 125, aka Cafeteria Plans, to a health care flexible spending account or health savings account as well as employer contributions to health reimbursement accounts or HSAs. Really?

It gets worse. Health care costs more in New York than Boise, Idaho, for the exact same plan design. And when combined with another new ACA concept — age band rating resulting in separate age rates that are no greater for a 64-year-old participant than three times that for an 18-year-old — it gets really complicated.

Two employers across the street from each other with the exact same benefit plan design but where one employer has predominately 20-year-olds and the other predominately 60-year-olds will find that the former has no Cadillac tax obligation and the latter a significant one.

This tax policy would cause employers to think twice

before hiring or keeping older, experienced workers.

That couldn’t possibly have been the intent of Congress when it enacted the ACA. I’ve seen the impact of this misguided tax policy. A small manufacturing employer in Michigan that has an older workforce (the average age is 51) was offering its employees not a Platinum-level plan nor a Gold-level plan, but a Silver plan. The plan had deductibles over $2,000 for employee-only coverage and $4,000 for family coverage, with an 80-20 coinsurance level after that. If the Cadillac tax were in effect today (forget about four years from now when I suspect the cost of the plan will be somewhat increased), the insurance carrier would be subject to the Cadillac tax, which would be passed onto the employer.

Let’s give Congress the benefit of the doubt. It didn’t realize how the interaction of the various provisions of the ACA would affect Section 4980I’s Cadillac tax. But now we know what the ramifications are, and if Congress doesn’t fix it, and soon, employers will begin considering dropping health care flexible spending accounts, HRAs and HSAs altogether, putting millions of employees at risk for higher health care costs and now without a few meager tools to try to help control them. And then they’ll reduce coverage — if they offer it at all — to Bronze levels.

I have a solution for Congress (if it truly would like to fix the problem). It would continue to meet the goal (if it is still a goal) of removing the tax-free benefit of super-rich health plans. And it uses another construct first introduced in the ACA: the metal tiers.

Instead of using a hard-dollar cap for employee-only and family coverage, which will unfairly tax employers with an older workforce or who happen to be unfortunate enough to be located in a higher health care cost geographic area, or heaven forbid both, why not consider all Platinum plans to be rich, regardless of cost, and tax their premium cost (and only their premium cost) for Section 4980I purposes at 10 percent of the plan cost? That way, from a tax policy standpoint, a rich plan design is taxed not based on age or geography but rather on plan design.

Wasn’t that the point in the first place?

THE ‘CADILLAC’ TAX POLICY WOULD CAUSE EMPLOYERS TO THINK TWICE BEFORE HIRING OR KEEPING OLDER, EXPERIENCED WORKERS.

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2016

Gary B. Kushner is the president and CEO of Kushner & Co., a benefits consulting firm. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.

w o r k f o r c e . c o m | Workƒorce

19

Legal You Have a Chief Diversity Officer, But Is Your Workplace Inclusive?

Having diversity programs in place is not sufficient. Companies must go beyond to ensure the office is welcoming to all employees.

By Mark Phillis

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any companies tout their efforts at ensuring their workplaces are diverse and inclusive.

It has become a common refrain for companies to claim that their diversity and inclusion initiatives lead to a more welcoming workplace and improved bottom-line performance through improved retention and better alignment with an increasingly diverse customer base.

Unfortunately, merely having a chief diversity officer or a diversity and inclusion council as well as sponsoring companywide employee resource groups or affinity groups is not sufficient to create and foster a truly inclusive work environment.

Diversity professionals and companies need to go beyond merely establishing committees and affinity groups to ensure their workplaces are both diverse and inclusive.

In academic experiments published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, researchers identified what they described as an unusual effect that organized diversity and inclusion initiatives had on perceptions of workplace fairness by what researchers referred to as high-status groups, white Americans and white men specifically.

The researchers found that for members of high-status groups, the mere presence of diversity councils, targeted mentoring initiatives and affinity groups created an impression of fairness when it came to assessing the treatment of members of under-represented groups in the workplace.

The authors found that members of these high-status groups retained this belief in enhanced workplace fairness even when presented with information that brought into question the effectiveness of these initiatives and even when they were shown anecdotal information of possibly unfair treatment of members of underrepresented groups.

While the perception of a fair workplace is a laudable goal, 20

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creating and maintaining a fair and inclusive workplace is the actual objective of most diversity and inclusion initiatives.

A 2015 Catalyst study reported that both men and women who felt included in the workplace were more likely to suggest new ideas and be more productive than those employees who do not feel included.The study defined inclusion as both recognizing and valuing team members’ different talents and experience and creating a sense of belonging or sharing of certain common goals or attributes.

Other studies have highlighted the cost of failing to have a diverse and inclusive workplace. For example, a study by the Center for Work-Life Policy published in the Harvard Business Review in 2011 reported that closeted lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees were 73 percent more likely to state they planned to leave their current employer within the next three years than employees who were out at work.

What questions can employees ask to assess whether their june

2016

workplaces are inclusive? While corporate cultures vary widely, some basic principles apply across industries and corporate cultures. Does the company ensure that all employees know what the expectations and performance standards are for their current job? Is there transparency when it comes to defining career paths?

Do the company’s training and development initiatives include programs that coach managers on ways they can foster an environment in which sharing different perspectives and experiences is encouraged? Does workplace training on discrimination and harassment include scenarios that cover the full spectrum of today’s workplaces and not focus exclusively on heterosexual sexual harassment? Is upper management actively involved in seeking talented people with different backgrounds and experiences and ensuring they have the tools to succeed?

Studies have found that conflict may increase in teams of people from different backgrounds, but teams on which people know each other and establish personal connections see less conflict and tend to be more creative.

It has been known for a long time that, regardless of the management structure of the company, to have an effective diversity and inclusion initiative, there must be an ongoing commitment from the top. Such support includes not only the backing of companywide diversity and inclusion initiatives but also personal investment in being an inclusive leader.

How can leaders demonstrate a commitment to diversity and inclusion? The same Catalyst study revealed that employees felt included when their leaders empowered them to develop their skills, held their direct reports accountable for their decisions and outcomes they could control, sought different points of view, acknowledged their own limitations, and stuck to their principles even when doing so might be contrary to the leader’s personal interests.

Fostering an inclusive workplace requires consistent effort and commitment to broaden the pool from which talent is drawn not only at the hiring stage but also at every stage of career progression. It requires leaders’ personal involvement and investment in fostering an inclusive environment.

Companies will begin to truly reap the rewards of their diversity and inclusion efforts if they continually re-examine how their efforts are shaping the workplace.

Mark Phillis is a shareholder in the Pittsburgh office of Littler Mendelson, where he handles a wide range of employment issues with a focus on those related to the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.

june

2016

Legal Legal Briefings GAWKER’S INTERN POLICY ISN’T GAME OVER Aulistar Mark worked as an intern for Kotaku, a video game blog operated

by Gawker, from May to August 2010 while he was pursuing a journalism degree, and received academic credit for his internship. While interning, Mark’s work included assisting the blog’s editors and writers, taking photos and videos, writing and editing posts and articles, covering events and monitoring article comments. Mark filed a complaint against Gawker alleging that its failure to compensate him was a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York dismissed Mark’s complaint, finding that under the “primary beneficiary test,” Mark benefited more from the skills he learned during his threemonth unpaid internship with Kotaku than the economic benefits Gawker received from the 34 blog posts Mark wrote during his time there. The court also held that “the fact that Mark’s work could be published (after editing) on Kotaku benefited defendants, but it benefited Mark as a journalism student at least as much.” Mark was also was unable to show that Gawker used interns to displace paid employees. Mark v. Gawker Media LLC, et al., Case No. 1:13-cv-04347 (S.D. N.Y.) (March 29, 2016).

IMPACT: Unpaid interns who receive significant vocational and educational benefits will be hard-pressed to challenge the validity of the internship, even if the company using the interns derives some economic benefit from the intern’s work.

ADDRESSING DRESSING TIMEKEEPING POLICY Because of the dangerous nature of their work, Tyson Foods Inc. employees are required to wear protective gear on the job. The nature of the protective gear varies, but in all cases the employees were expected to don and doff their protective gear off the clock. The plaintiff employees filed a class-action lawsuit claiming that Tyson failed to compensate them for time spent donning and doffing the protective gear. Tyson opposed class certification, arguing that the amount of time employees spent donning and doffing varied from employee to employee. Recognizing that the time varied, the trial court allowed the plaintiffs to submit evidence in the form of a statistical study performed by an expert witness regarding the average amount of time needed. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiffs and Tyson appealed, claiming that the trial court erred in allowing statistical evidence to prove damages. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the verdict, finding that the plaintiffs could satisfy their burden of proving damages using statistical evidence. The Supreme Court specifically noted that one of the reasons the plaintiff employees had to use statistical evidence was that Tyson had failed to track the employees’ time spent donning and doffing.

Tyson Foods Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, 14-1146 (March 22, 2016).

IMPACT: Employers must be prepared for employees seeking to use statistical survey data to prove damages in class-action litigation. Employers should work to ensure that their timekeeping systems record all hours worked, including time spent donning and doffing necessary protective gear.

Mark T. Kobata and Marty Denis are partners at the law firm Barlow, Kobata and Denis, which has offices in Beverly Hills, California, and Chicago. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.

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Legal

Overweight and Overprotected Jon Hyman |

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The Practical Employer

rue story: On a recent flight, I watched the horror-struck faces of my fellow plane-mates as a 400-pound man walked down the aisle boarding the plane.

Everyone’s face told the same story: “Please, do not sit next to me.” It’s not that anyone is obese-ist, or holds something against our fellow passenger because of his weight. It’s just that the seats are so narrow, and flying coach is uncomfortable enough without having to inadvertently share your seat with the fellow sitting next to you.

Let’s take this story to the employment context. Many employers have lots of reasons not to want to employ people who are overweight.

For starters, the cost of health insurance is high enough without adding the cost of some medically high-risk employees. Also, lots of employers might have legitimate job-related reasons for not employing those who are medically obese.

If an employer deploys a “no obese workers” policy, is that employer potentially exposing itself to risk under the Americans with Disabilities Act? The answer likely depends on whether the employee’s obesity is idiopathic or is tied to an underlying medical condition.

For example, in Morriss v. BNSF Railway Co., the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals recently rejected a claim that the ADA protects “obesity” as a disability.

Melvin Morriss had applied for a machinist position with BNSF and was extended a conditional offer of employment contingent on a satisfactory medical review. Morriss completed BNSF’s medical questionnaire, reporting that he was 5-foot-10 and weighed 270 pounds, that he had once been diagnosed as “pre-diabetic” but was not currently diabetic.

Two subsequent physical examinations by BNSF doctors pegged his weight between 281 and 285 pounds, and his BMI between 40.4 and 40.9. (A body-mass index of 18.5 to 25 is considered normal weight.) BNSF’s policy was not to hire for a safety-sensitive position if the applicant’s BMI was 40 or greater. Thus, BNSF revoked its conditional offer of employment, and Morriss sued.

The court ultimately concluded that obesity “not linked to or caused by” an underlying medical condition is not an ADA-protected disability. The court heavily relied on the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s ADA Interpretive Guidance in distinguishing between a protected physical impairment and an unprotected physical, psychological, environmental, cultural or economic characteristic.

In the court’s words, “We conclude that a more natural reading of the interpretive guidance is that an individual’s weight is generally a physical characteristic that qualifies as a physical impairment only if it falls outside the normal range and it occurs as the result of a physiological disorder.

Both requirements must be satisfied before a physical impairment can be found. In other words, even weight outside the normal range — no matter how far outside that range — must be the result of an underlying physiological disorder to qualify as a physical impairment under the ADA. … Taken as a whole, the relevant statutory and regulatory language makes it clear that for obesity to qualify as a physical impairment — and thus a disability — under the ADA, it must result from an underlying physiological disorder or condition.”

Morriss is consistent with legal conventional wisdom, which has been that normal, run-of-the-mill obesity, unlinked to an underlying medical condition such as diabetes, is not a disability protected from discrimination by the Americans with Disabilities Act. A recent decision by the American Medical Association may flip that conventional legal wisdom on its head. The AMA recently reclassified obesity as a disease. The ADA, as amended in 2008, is so broad that it covers virtually any diagnosed medical condition as a “disability.” If “obesity” is, indeed, an ADA-protected disability, employers will have to consider reasonable accommodations for anyone with a body mass index of 30 or above. Also, anyone who appears to have that BMI will have potential protections from terminations and other adverse actions related to that perceived “disease.”

The goals of the ADA are commendable. Yet, as we expand the ADA to cover nontraditional medical conditions, a backlash is inevitable.

Protecting the unworthy will erode the desire to protect the worthy. Every time an overweight worker sues for disability discrimination will cost those suffering from illnesses that deserve to be protected. Congress was correct in amending the ADA to restore the original intent of the statute. The potential for obesity protections, however, illustrate that perhaps those amendments went too far.

If ‘obesity’ is, indeed, an ADA-protected disability, employers will have to consider reasonable accommodations for anyone with a body mass index of 30 or above.

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Jon Hyman is a partner at Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis in Cleveland. To comment, email editors@workforce.com. Follow Hyman’s blog at Workforce.com/PracticalEmployer.

june

2016

1

American Express Inc.

Industry: Financial services New York Employees: 55,000 Performance Index: 9.653

American Express, which has made the list all three years, takes the top spot in this year’s list of top companies for HR.

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Compiled by Workforce editors

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o excel at everything from talent management to recruiting to benefits to diversity is not an easy task.To shine in those areas year after year is exemplary.

Now in its third year, the Workforce 100 recognizes companies that excel in various areas of human resources during the course of the previous year.To determine which companies make the list, Workforce editors work with researchers from the Human Capital Media Advisory Group, the magazine’s research arm.

To find out which companies are the best for HR management, the research team created a statistical formula to shift through publicly available data on HR performance to separate the best from the rest. This year, to give employees more of a “say,” we’ve asked recruiting and job review website Glassdoor Inc. to provide data on what workers are saying about the companies that made our short list. From there, we combined that information with the public data available to create our 2016 Workforce 100 list.

American Express Inc. was the top company on this year’s list, and it has made the list all three years.Thirty-three other companies have also made all of the lists.

What interested us was that, even though the criteria have changed each year, there are a number of companies that continue to make the Workforce 100 list.

We decided to take a closer look at what some of these companies are METHODOLOGY doing to create a culture that their people can be To create the Workproud of. To get the force 100 ranking, the Huscoop, Associate Editor man Capital Media AdviSarah Sipek interviewed sory Group collected executives from compapublic data from established nies such as AT&T Inc., programs and partnered Accenture and Cisco with Glassdoor to include Systems Inc. employee satisfaction data.

We congratulate all To read more about the the companies that methodology, see page 48. made this year’s Workforce 100 list.

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Google Inc.

Laszlo Bock, SVP, people operations World’s Best Multinational Workplaces; Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For; Forbes America’s Best Employers; Glassdoor Best Places to Work; Fortune Most Admired for Ability to Attract, Develop, and Retain Talent; HRMBA Most Innovative Corporate Human Industry: Technology Resources Departments; HRE Most Admired Mountain View, California for HR; Bloomberg Best 401(k) Plans Employees: 62,000 Performance Index: 9.561

3

Accenture

Industry: Consulting services Chicago Employees: 373,000 Performance Index: 9.432

4

Ellyn Shook, CHRO Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For; Forbes America’s Best Employers, Chief Learning Officer LearningElite; Hay Group Best Companies for Leadership; Chief Executive Best Companies for Leaders; Bloomberg Business 20 Best Companies for Leadership; HRE Most Admired for HR; Military Times Best Companies for Vets; Working Mother 100 Best Companies; Diversity Inc Top 50 List; NBG Best Companies for Healthy Lifestyles

USAA

Industry: Insurance San Antonio Employees: 28,000 Performance Index: 9.176

5

L. Kevin Cox, CHRO World’s Best Multinational Workplaces; Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For; Forbes America’s Best Employers; Aon Hewitt top companies for leaders; HRE Most Admired for HR; 2015 Working Mother 100 Best Companies; Black Enterprise 40 Best Companies for Diversity; NBG Best Companies for Healthy Lifestyles; Bloomberg Best 401(k) Plans

Mark Reid, CHRO Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For; Forbes America’s Best Employers; Chief Learning Officer LearningElite; ATD Excellence in Practice Awards; ATD Best Awards; Training Top 125; HRMBA Most Innovative Corporate Human Resources Departments; Military Times Best Companies for Vet; Great Place to Work for Diversity; Fortune 10 Best companies to retire from

AT&T Inc. William A. Blase Jr., senior EVP Forbes America’s Best Employers 2015; Chief Learning Officer LearningElite; Aon Hewitt Top Companies for Leaders; Military Times Best Companies for Vets; AAPD DEI; Black Enterprise 40 Best Companies for Diversity; Industry: Telecommunications Diversity Inc Top 50 List; Talent Board Dallas Candidate Experience Awards; Bloomberg Employees: 281,000 Best 401(k) Plans Performance Index: 9.066

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2016

6

IBM Corp.

7

General Electric Co.

8

Procter & Gamble Co.

9

Nike Inc.

Employees: 378,000 Armonk, New York Performance Index: 9.048

23

Quicken Loans Inc.

Employees: 305,000 Fairfield, Connecticut Performance Index: 9.042

24

Salesforce.com Inc.

Employees: 110,000 Cincinnati Performance Index: 8.729

25

U.S. Bank

Employees: 63,000 Beaverton, Oregon Performance Index: 8.695

26

Apple Inc.

Employees: 174,000 Amstelveen, Netherlands Performance Index: 8.690

27

Comcast Corp.

Employees: 126,000 Bethesda, Maryland Performance Index: 8.654

28

3M Co., The

Employees: 127,000 New Brunswick, New Jersey Performance Index: 8.642

29

Verizon Communications

Employees: 14,000 South San Francisco, California Performance Index: 8.583

30

Qualcomm Inc.

Employees: 225,000 New York Performance Index: 8.559

31

Boston Consulting Group

Employees: 13,000 Menlo Park, California Performance Index: 8.543

32

Cummins Inc.

Employees: 37,000 New York Performance Index: 8.536

33

Royal Dutch Shell

Employees: 128,000 Bethesda, Maryland Performance Index: 8.504

34

PricewaterhouseCoopers

Employees: 107,000 Santa Clara, California Performance Index: 8.496

35

EMC Corp.

Employees: 45,000 McLean, Virginia Performance Index: 8.452

36

Wells Fargo & Co.

Employees: 71,000 San Jose, California Performance Index: 8.361

37

SAS Institute Inc.

Employees: 123,000 Atlanta Performance Index: 8.204

38

Boeing

Employees: 235,000 New York Performance Index: 8.086

39

Booz Allen Hamilton Inc.

Industry: Technology/consulting services Top Ranking HR Person: Diane Gherson Industry: Power/consumer products Top Ranking HR Person: Susan Peters Industry: Consumer products Top Ranking HR Person: Mark Biegger Industry: Consumer products Top Ranking HR Person: David Ayre

10

KPMG

11

Lockheed Martin

12

Johnson & Johnson

13

Genentech Inc.

14

Deloitte

15

Facebook Inc.

16

Goldman Sachs

17

Marriott International Inc.

18

Intel Corp.

19

Capital One Financial Corp.

20

Cisco Systems Inc.

21

Coca-Cola Co.

22

JPMorgan Chase & Co.

june

Industry: Professional services Top Ranking HR Person: Bruce Pfau Industry: Aerospace/defense Top Ranking HR Person: Patricia Lewis Industry: Pharma, consumer products Top Ranking HR Person: Peter Fasolo Industry: Biotechnology Top Ranking HR Person: Nancy Vitale Industry: Consulting services Top Ranking HR Person: Mike Preston Industry: Social media Top Ranking HR Person: Lori Goler Industry: Financial services Top Ranking HR Person: Edith Cooper Industry: Lodging/hospitality Top Ranking HR Person: David Rodriguez Industry: Technology Top Ranking HR Person: Richard Taylor Industry: Financial services Top Ranking HR Person: Jory Berson Industry: Technology Top Ranking HR Person: Francine Katsoudas Industry: Consumer products Top Ranking HR Person: Ceree Eberly Industry: Financial services Top Ranking HR Person: John Donnelly 2016

Industry: Financial services Top Ranking HR Person: Erin Reynolds Industry: Software Top Ranking HR Person: Cindy Robbins Industry: Banking Top Ranking HR Person: Jennie Carlson Industry: Technology Top Ranking HR Person: Denise Young Smith Industry: Telecommunications Top Ranking HR Person: William Strahan Industry: Consumer products Top Ranking HR Person: Marlene McGrath Industry: Telecommunications Top Ranking HR Person: Marc Reed Industry: Telecommunications Top Ranking HR Person: Michelle Sterling Industry: Consulting services Top Ranking HR Person: Matt Krentz Industry: Manufacturing Top Ranking HR Person: Jill Cook Industry: Energy Top Ranking HR Person: Ronan Cassidy Industry: Consulting services Top Ranking HR Person: Thomas Codd Industry: Computer storage Top Ranking HR Person: Erin McSweeney Industry: Financial Services Top Ranking HR Person: Hope Hardison Industry: Information technology Top Ranking HR Person: Jenn Mann Industry: Aviation Top Ranking HR Person: Heidi Capozzi Industry: Consulting services Top Ranking HR Person: Betty Thompson

Employees: 12,000 Detroit Performance Index: 8.070 Employees: 19,000 San Francisco Performance Index: 8.060 Employees: 65,000 Minneapolis Performance Index: 8.001 Employees: 110,000 Cupertino, California Performance Index: 7.910 Employees: 153,000 Philadelphia Performance Index: 7.908 Employees: 89,000 St. Paul, Minnesota Performance Index: 7.889 Employees: 173,000 New York Performance Index: 7.888 Employees: 33,000 San Diego Performance Index: 7.863 Employees: 11,000 Boston Performance Index: 7.807 Employees: 55,000 Columbus, Indiana Performance Index: 7.789 Employees: 93,000 The Hague, Netherlands Performance Index: 7.780 Employees: 208,000 New York Performance Index: 7.770 Employees: 72,000 Hopkinton, Massachusetts Performance Index: 7.765 Employees: 265,000 San Francisco Performance Index: 7.748 Employees: 14,000 Cary, North Carolina Performance Index: 7.746 Employees: 159,000 Chicago Performance Index: 7.715 Employees: 23,000 McLean, Virginia Performance Index: 7.707

w o r k f o r c e . c o m | WorkĆ’orce

25

A BEST WORKPLACE TAKES HARD WORK

By Kirsten Davidson

T

o give readers a deeper dive into what companies like these are doing to create a cool culture, Workforce asked jobs and recruiting website Glassdoor to dig into its data to provide insight into what common traits employers should look to emulate to become better workplaces themselves.

What do companies like Facebook Inc., Delta Air Lines Inc. and Nike Inc. have in common? These companies all share one key attribute: People love working there. They have all been featured on Glassdoor Inc.’s Best Places to Work list, based entirely on employee feedback, and they all appear on this year’s Workforce 100 list as well, and they all have things in common.

7 Common Traits of a Best Place to Work 1. Mission and values matter. A well-articulated mission gives employees a sense of purpose and motivates them to come to work every day. Research by Josh Bersin, principal at Bersin by Deloitte, shows that mission-driven companies have 30 percent higher levels of innovation and 40 percent higher levels of retention, and they tend to be first or second in their market segment.

Does your company have a clearly defined mission?

Once it has one, use it to cultivate company values, which dictates workplace culture.

2. Invest in culture.

Top-performing companies tend to have high marks for culture as well as overall experience. Glassdoor economic research shows a positive company culture accounts for nearly 25 percent of employee satisfaction. Career opportunities come in second at 22 percent and strong senior leadership third at 16 percent. Unfortunately, culture isn’t something one entity can create. If you’re trying to improve company culture, make sure to incorporate feedback from across your organization.

3. Put people first. If culture is all about the group mentality that makes an organization great, a focus on people is about empowering individual employees. A people-focused organization helps its employees grow to become their best. Putting people first means giving credit where credit is due, saying thank you and encouraging employees to bring their whole selves to work.

4. Embrace transparency. Making any top-company list doesn’t mean being perfect.This transparency is reflected in management’s approach, and in the companies’ willingness to engage on job sites by completing a robust profile and responding to reviews. In a Glassdoor survey from January, nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of users said that their percep-

tion of a company improves after seeing an employer respond to a review.The changing business landscape requires companies to get involved in the conversation and embrace transparency. Make sure key departments understand what is expected of them from a communications perspective.

5. Believe in career opportunities. Top companies offer great career advancement opportunities. The average employee rating for career advancement of all Glassdoor-rated companies is 3.0, but Best Places to Work winners scored an average of 3.9. How can you ensure all employees have access to the best opportunities for career growth? Instigate employee and manager training programs, schedule weekly employee-manager feedback loops and regular reviews, create employee recognition programs and promote people from within.

6. Promote strong leaders. Data prove what everyone knows intuitively: No one wants to work for a jerk.The quality of upper management makes a statistically significant effect on whether a company is a good place to work; furthermore, employees rate senior leaders most highly when they set a positive tone for the company’s culture and values. In fact, some of the lowest-ranked companies on Glassdoor have one thing in common: many complaints about tone-deaf, negative and uninspiring leaders. Look to hire leaders who are smart, visionary and compassionate, and give them opportunities to grow.

7. Understand it’s not all about pay. We know that pay tops the charts when it comes to getting a candidate in the door, but it’s not the most important factor to keeping and engaging your employees. A recent study by Glassdoor Chief Economist Andrew Chamberlain found salary does have a statistically significant effect on job satisfaction, but it’s quite small. In fact, it’s toward the bottom. The most important factors influencing satisfaction are culture and values, career-advancement opportunities and the opinion of senior leadership. So make sure employees are paid fairly, but focus on cultivating culture and opportunities to foster long-term satisfaction.

Becoming a Workforce 100 or Best Place to Work company doesn’t happen overnight. By applying these lessons, your employees will feel more embraced and excited to come to work every day, which is the first step in becoming a top workplace.

BECOMING A WORKFORCE 100 COMPANY DOESN’T HAPPEN OVERNIGHT.

26

Workƒorce | w o r k f o r c e . c o m

Kirsten Davidson is head of employer brand at Glassdoor. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.

june

2016

40

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co.

Employees: 33,000 Columbus, Ohio Performance Index: 7.678

57

Prudential Financial Inc.

41

PepsiCo Inc.

Employees: 263,000 Purchase, New York Performance Index: 7.668

58

Amazon.com Inc.

42

Walt Disney Co., The

Employees: 185,000 Burbank, California Performance Index: 7.621

59

Twitter Inc.

43

Delta Air Lines Inc.

Employees: 84,000 Atlanta Performance Index: 7.597

60

LinkedIn Corp.

44

Bain & Co.

Employees: 6,000* Boston Performance Index: 7.594

61

Eastman Chemical Co.

45

Publix Super Markets Inc.

Employees: 180,000 Lakeland, Florida Performance Index: 7.587

62

Unilever

46

MasterCard Inc.

Employees: 11,000 Purchase, New York Performance Index: 7.553

63

Adobe Systems Inc.

47

Starbucks Corp.

Employees: 238,000 Seattle Performance Index: 7.498

64

EY

48

UPS Inc.

Employees: 444,000 Industry: Package delivery/freight Atlanta Top Ranking HR Person: Teri Plummer McClure Performance Index: 7.453

65

Fidelity Investments

49

Monsanto Co.

Employees: 23,000 St. Louis Performance Index: 7.427

66

HP Inc.

50

Southwest Airlines Co.

Employees: 51,000 Dallas Performance Index: 7.416

67

Microsoft Corp.

51

BASF

Employees: 112,000 Ludwigshafen, Germany Performance Index: 7.412

68

Kaiser Permanente

52

Dell Inc.

Employees: 109,000* Round Rock, Texas Performance Index: 7.366

69

Kimberly-Clark Corp.

53

Wegmans Food Markets Inc.

Employees: 45,000 Rochester, New York Performance Index: 7.358

70

Roche Diagnostics

54

Chevron Phillips Chemical

Employees: 5,000 The Woodlands, Texas Performance Index: 7.320

71

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

55

Hyatt Hotels Corp.

Employees: 97,000 Chicago Performance Index: 7.319

72

T-Mobile International

56

QuikTrip Corp.

Employees: 20,000 Tulsa, Oklahoma Performance Index: 7.297

73

Colgate-Palmolive Co.

Industry: Insurance Top Ranking HR Person: Gale King Industry: Consumer products Top Ranking HR Person: Cynthia Trudell Industry: Mass media/entertainment Top Ranking HR Person: Jayne Parker Industry: Airline Top Ranking HR Person: Joanne Smith Industry: Consulting services Top Ranking HR Person: Russ Hagey Industry: Retail Top Ranking HR Person: John Hrabusa Industry: Financial services Top Ranking HR Person: Ronald Garrow Industry: Consumer products/retail Top Ranking HR Person: Scott Pitasky

Industry: Agricultural biotech Top Ranking HR Person: Steven Mizell Industry: Airline Top Ranking HR Person: Randy Babbitt Industry: Chemicals Top Ranking HR Person: Manfredo Rubens Industry: Technology Top Ranking HR Person: Steve Price Industry: Retail Top Ranking HR Person: Kathleen Fitzgerald Industry: Chemicals Top Ranking HR Person: Greg Wagner Industry: Lodging/hospitality Top Ranking HR Person: Robert Webb Industry: Retail Top Ranking HR Person: Ron Jeffers

Note: Information current as of May 2, 2016 june

2016

*2014 numbers

Industry: Financial services Top Ranking HR Person: Sharon Taylor Industry: Retail Top Ranking HR Person: Anthony Galbato Industry: Social media Top Ranking HR Person: Adam Bain** Industry: Social media Top Ranking HR Person: Pat Wadors Industry: Chemicals Top Ranking HR Person: Perry Stuckey Industry: Consumer products Top Ranking HR Person: Leena Nair Industry: Software Top Ranking HR Person: Donna Morris Industry: Consulting services Top Ranking HR Person: Nancy Altobello Industry: Financial services Top Ranking HR Person: Doug Fisher Industry: Technology/consumer products Top Ranking HR Person: Alan May Industry: Software/consumer products Top Ranking HR Person: Kathleen Hogan Industry: Insurance/health care Top Ranking HR Person: Chuck Columbus Industry: Consumer products Top Ranking HR Person: Lizanne Gottung Industry: Medical technologies Top Ranking HR Person: Cristina Wilbur Industry: Insurance Top Ranking HR Person: Darrell Middleton Industry: Telecommunications Top Ranking HR Person: Larry Myers Industry: Consumer products Top Ranking HR Person: Daniel B. Marsili

Employees: 49,000 Newark, New Jersey Performance Index: 7.286 Employees: 231,000 Seattle Performance Index: 7.266 Employees: 4,000 San Francisco Performance Index: 7.255 Employees: 9,000 Mountain View, California Performance Index: 7.246 Employees: 15,000 Kingsport, Tennessee Performance Index: 7.238 Employees: 172,000 London Performance Index: 7.214 Employees: 14,000 San Jose, California Performance Index: 7.213 Employees: 212,000 London Performance Index: 7.212 Employees: 42,000 Boston Performance Index: 7.208 Employees: 240,000 Palo Alto, California Performance Index: 7.175 Employees: 118,000 Redmond, Washington Performance Index: 7.154 Employees: 186,000 Oakland, California Performance Index: 7.149 Employees: 43,000 Irving, Texas Performance Index: 7.148 Employees: 4,000 Basel, Switzerland Performance Index: 7.141 Employees: 8,000 Detroit Performance Index: 7.139

Employees: 45,000 Bellevue, Washington Performance Index: 7.134 Employees: 38,000 New York Performance Index: 7.130

**Adam Bain is temporarily filling this role at Twitter following the departure of top HR executive Brian “Skip” Schipper earlier this year.

w o r k f o r c e . c o m | Workƒorce

27

Nominations Opening

AWARDS

Got an HR management initiative that’s achieving business results? Workforce magazine’s Optimas Awards help recognize it!

Awards granted across 11 categories: u General Excellence (not open to general nominations) u Benefits u Business Impact u Corporate Citizenship u Global Outlook

u Innovation u Managing Change u Partnership u Recruiting u Training u Vision

Nominations open May 20.

Visit workforce.com/optimas to apply. #OptimasAwards

All Three Years Here are the 34 companies that have made all of the Workforce 100 lists to date.

Accenture American Express Inc. Apple Inc. AT&T Inc. BASF Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Capital One Financial Corp.

Cerner Corp.

Cisco Systems Inc. Deloitte

Genentech Inc. Google Inc. Hyatt Hotels Corp.

IBM Corp.

Intel Corp.

JP Morgan Chase & Co. Johnson & Johnson Kaiser Permanente KPMG Lockheed Martin Corp.

Marriott Corp.

Mayo Clinic McDonald’s Corp.

84

Cerner Corp.

85

World Wide Technology Inc.

86

Exxon Mobil Corp.

87

Mayo Clinic

88

Workday Inc.

89

Nielsen

90

Enterprise Holdings Inc.

Employees: 117,000 Issaquah, Washington Performance Index: 7.128

91

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.

Employees: 73,000 Seattle Performance Index: 7.124

92

Hyland Software Inc.

Employees: 57,000 Moline, Illinois Performance Index: 7.103

93

SolarCity

Employees: 15,000 Jacksonville, Florida Performance Index: 7.095

94

McDonald’s Corp.

Employees: 13,000 Vienna, Virginia Performance Index: 7.084

95

Stryker Corp.

Employees: 41,000 Bagsværd, Denmark Performance Index: 7.060

96

Cardinal Health Inc. Industry: Health care Top Ranking HR Person: Carole Watkins

Employees: 35,000 Dublin, Ohio Performance Index: 6.882

Employees: 65,000 Bloomington, Illinois Performance Index: 7.059

97

Union Pacific Industry: Transportation Top Ranking HR Person: Joseph O’Connor Jr.

Employees: 47,000 Omaha, Nebraska Performance Index: 6.863

Microsoft Inc. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. PricewaterhouseCoopers Procter & Gamble Co. Qualcomm Inc. Quicken Loans Inc. Salesforce.com Inc. Unilever USAA (United Services Automobile Association) Walt Disney Co. Wells Fargo

Industry: Technology Top Ranking HR Person: Ann Marr

Industry: Health care Top Ranking HR Person: Cathy Fraser Industry: Software Top Ranking HR Person: Ashley Goldsmith Industry: Research Top Ranking HR Person: Mary Liz Finn Industry: Consumer services Top Ranking HR Person: Edward Adams

Costco Wholesale Corp.

75

Nordstrom Inc.

76

Deere & Co.

77

Baptist Health South Florida

78

Navy Federal Credit Union

79

Novo Nordisk

80

State Farm

81

Merck & Co.

Employees: 68,000 Industry: Pharmaceuticals Kenilworth, New Jersey Top Ranking HR Person: Mirian Graddick-Weir Performance Index: 7.058

98

JM Family Enterprises Inc.

82

Texas Health Resources

Employees: 18,000 Arlington, Texas Performance Index: 7.036

99

Dow Chemical Co.

83

Schlumberger

Employees: 95,000 Houston Performance Index: 6.998

100

BP

june

Industry: Retail Top Ranking HR Person: Christine Deputy Industry: Consumer products Top Ranking HR Person: Marc Howze Industry: Health care Top Ranking HR Person: Adriene McCoy Industry: Financial services Top Ranking HR Person: Tisa Head Industry: Health care Top Ranking HR Person: Jacqueline Scanlan Industry: Insurance Top Ranking HR Person: Annette R. Martinez

Industry: Health care Top Ranking HR Person: Michelle Kirby Industry: Energy Top Ranking HR Person: Gerard Martellozo 2016

Employees: 3,000 Maryland Heights, Missouri Performance Index: 6.980

Industry: Energy Top Ranking HR Person: Malcolm A Farrant

74

Industry: Retail Top Ranking HR Person: Patrick Callans

Employees: 22,000 Kansas City, Missouri Performance Index: 6.983

Industry: Health care technology Top Ranking HR Person: Jeff Townsend

Industry: Lodging/hospitality Top Ranking HR Person: Matthew Schuyler Industry: Software Top Ranking HR Person: Debbie Connelly Industry: Energy Top Ranking HR Person: Damien Scott Industry: Restaurant Top Ranking HR Person: David Fairhurst

Employees: 74,000 Irving, Texas Performance Index: 6.975 Employees: 64,000 Rochester, Minnesota Performance Index: 6.970 Employees: 5,000 Pleasanton, California Performance Index: 6.969 Employees: 43,000 New York Performance Index: 6.936 Employees: 93,000 St. Louis Performance Index: 6.914 Employees: 164,000 McLean, Virginia Performance Index: 6.906 Employees: 2,000 Westlake, Ohio Performance Index: 6.905 Employees: 15,000 San Mateo, California Performance Index: 6.903 Employees: 420,000 Oak Brook, Illinois Performance Index: 6.902

Employees: 27,000 Industry: Health care technologies Kalamazoo, Michigan Top Ranking HR Person: M. Kathryn (Katy) Fink Performance Index: 6.896

Industry: Automotive Top Ranking HR Person: Carmen Johnson Industry: Chemicals Top Ranking HR Person: Johanna Soderstrom Industry: Energy Top Ranking HR Person: Helmut Schuster

Employees: 4,000 Deerfield Beach, Florida Performance Index: 6.854 Employees: 50,000 Midland, Michigan Performance Index: 6.841 Employees: 80,000 London Performance Index: 6.840

w o r k f o r c e . c o m | Workƒorce

29

Meet the

AT&T Inc.’s Bill Blase, senior executive vice president of human resources, and Cynt Marshall, senior vice president of human resources and chief diversity officer.

Despite changing criteria, several companies have made the Workforce 100 list all three years.

And while stats are important, it’s their shared commitment to people that sets these winners apart.

BY SARAH SIPEK

30

Workƒorce | w o r k f o r c e . c o m

june

2016

PHOTO BY STEWART COHEN

THREE-PEATS

L

et’s face it. It’s hard to be good at human resources.The bulk of that difficulty comes from the “human” part.

Truly understanding a workforce and delivering programs that meet employees’ needs is no small task.

It’s for that reason that this year’s Workforce 100 list includes data from Glassdoor Inc., a leading job and recruitment site that holds a growing database of 8 million company and CEO reviews. Generous paid time off programs and fancy workout apps look good on paper, but human resources is not successful unless the humans say so.

This year, they had a voice in the Workforce 100. And what they said is pretty revealing.

Despite the changing criteria for what qualifies a company to be named to the Workforce 100 list, 34 companies have received the honor all three years of the program’s existence. American Express Co., which has made the list all three years and is the top ranked company in 2016, declined to comment for this story.

So how do certain companies keep making the list despite changing criteria? The companies we spoke with had strikingly similar responses.

“We put our people first,” said Francine Katsoudas, senior vice president and chief human resources officer at Cisco Systems Inc. (No. 20 on the list).

“That means listening to what our employees have to say and taking action to improve their lives.”

AT&T Inc. (No. 5) takes a similar approach. Cynt Marshall, the company’s senior vice president of human resources and chief diversity officer, explained:“At AT&T, we believe that every voice matters, and we want to give our voices access to our leaders so the employees feel they are being heard and so their ideas can be put into action.”

Heidi Soltis-Berner, talent director for the evolving workforce at Deloitte (No. 14), echoed that sentiment.

“Deloitte is a people-centric business,” she said. “Our professionals are our greatest asset. We focus on what we need to understand and what matters most to the people we currently have and the recruits we are after.”

The programs and policies these organizations put in place to listen and respond to employees’ top concerns has put them in a position to create programs and initiatives that set them apart as leaders in the field of HR.

18 months ago to lay the groundwork for open communication.The program began with Cisco expressing what the company expects from its employees and what the employees can expect from Cisco, Katsoudas said. Cisco then created a platform on its intranet where employees could respond with what they expect from their company.

The results were almost immediate.

“This continuous employee feedback sparked our new initiative we call Moments That Matter, which addresses those career and personal moments that are important to our people,” Katsoudas said.

Employees identified 10 key moments in their career path with Cisco: My First Impression, My Innovation, My Leader, My Development, My Last Impression, My Rewards, My Workplace, My Technology, My Personal Experience, and My Making a Difference. From those benchmarks, Cisco began to develop programs and benefits that address key times and points of development that employees are concerned about.

AT&T took a different approach, but has sparked employee conversation just the same.As part of its commitment to diversity and inclusion, AT&T created employee resource groups to spark conversations among different subsets of the employee population about what the business can be doing to serve them better, Marshall said.

Groups of veterans, employees over age 50 and those with disabilities meet regularly throughout the year, but all 120,000 members come together annually for an employee resource group conference that Bill Blase, the company’s senior executive vice president of human resources, describes as a “church revival.”

Over the course of the year, “All our members gather together to engage with our leaders in fireside chats,” Marshall added.

GENEROUS PAID TIME OFF PROGRAMS AND FANCY WORKOUT APPS LOOK GOOD ON PAPER, BUT HUMAN RESOURCES IS NOT SUCCESSFUL UNLESS THE HUMANS SAY SO.

Hear Me Now Recognizing that employee feedback is important is one thing. It’s quite another to create a process through which employees are actually heard. For many of the companies on this year’s list, the first step is facilitating an open dialogue.

Cisco, for instance, launched its Our People Deal june

2016

Listen and Respond Follow through is the key differentiator among companies that have continued to make the Workforce 100 list.

Much like Cisco, Capital One Financial Corp. (No. 19) expressed its mission to employees and solicited feedback to make that mission a reality, said Lane Hopkins, chief diversity and inclusion officer at Capital One. One of the organization’s missions is to bring humanity into banking.

And employees have held the company to that promise.

“In 2014 alone, Capital One associates volunteered more than 360,000 hours in services working with thousands of nonprofits to support and engage local communities,” Hopkins said.“In response to their efforts, the company has made a commitment to community as well. Our Future Edge camw o r k f o r c e . c o m | Workƒorce

31

Deloitte employees gather in one of the conference rooms.

32

Workƒorce | w o r k f o r c e . c o m

Sarah Sipek is a Workforce associate editor. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.

june

2016

PHOTO COURTESY OF CISCO SYSTEMS INC. PHOTO COURTESY OF DELOITTE

paign is a five year, $150 million philanthropic initiative to help more low-income U.S. workers and entrepreneurs get the skills, tools and resources they need to succeed in a digitally driven economy.”

A community Cisco’s Fran Katsoudas, back row center, with Cisco Bangalore employees during the HR Breakathon in March. focus is not exclusive to Capital One. Cisco heard a similar sentiment from Provide a Chance to Grow its employees and followed through.

Developing a community is only one piece of the puzzle.

“We know that people want to work for a company with a The companies that have continued to make the Workforce social conscience,” Katsoudas said.“They want to be given the 100 list spend time developing employees in hopes that they tools and be empowered to innovate in their community.” will remain with the organization over the long haul.

In 2015, Cisco employees gave a combined $12 million Deloitte, for one, has made a sizable investment in this in donations and matching funds as well as 155,000 hours cause.The company’s $300 million investment in Deloitte of volunteer time to the nonprofits of their choice, Kat- University in 2011 is helping to develop its 70,000-persoudas said. In addition, their employee-led tactical oper- son workforce. ations team has provided emergency communications “The University is a vital center for networking, develduring more than 30 natural and man-made disasters free opment and innovative thinking,” Soltis-Berner said. “It of charge. delivers 5 million hours of learning annually. It’s a key Deloitte takes a similar approach, specifically with its re- part of achieving our goal of exposing our people to decruiting tactics. According to Soltis-Berner, Deloitte offers velopment in an inclusive culture and ultimately making alternate spring break options for college students at select an impact that matters.” universities such as Michigan State, Notre Dame, Gonzaga As a large organization, AT&T faces a similar talent deand Emory that offers the opportunity to make an impact velopment and talent acquisition problem. Blase said that matters.

AT&T hires 60,000 people a year. And while its culture is Students have the opportunity to both act as mentors and a great asset, it takes time and money to continually onhelp improve facilities at nonprofits, Soltis-Berner said. Of board that many new people. To solve that problem, the those students who participate, 99 percent say they are inter- organization began looking for talent on the inside. ested in pursuing a career with Deloitte after the experience.

AT&T’s approach is data-driven and relies on two large databases. One contains jobs that need to be filled. The other contains the résumés of all the employees.

“All our employees fill out a career profile that is basically a LinkedIn résumé,” Blase said. “We cross-reference that information with open positions to find candidates to send to our hiring managers.”

What sets AT&T apart is its willingness to develop talent.

Employees only need to meet 50 to 60 percent of the skill sets necessary for a position in order to qualify for the position, Blase said. AT&T will help them develop their skills through online courses so that all employees have the opportunity for vertical growth.

“We are very proud of what we’re doing in terms of inclusion and strengthening our corporate culture, but the training is what brings it all together,” Blase said. “It’s what allows us to keep great talent around, and at the end of the day employees want to work at a company that helps them succeed.”

INVEST IN YOUR BUSINESS WITH

Enhance your employees career experience by incorporating language learning into your workforce planning. Living Language online courses help build better communication both personally and professionally and are available as corporate subscriptions.

Living Language Business online courses cover essential topics such as how to write business emails and letters, as well as key phrases and useful vocabulary for various departments, including HR, IT, Marketing and Sales, Accounting, Design, Manufacturing, and more.

Business Spanish and Business Chinese are available now; Business Japanese and Business Portuguese are coming soon.

For more information about corporate subscriptions, visit LivingLanguage.com/corporate.

UN

Room Service O PHOT

S

OF T E SY C O UR

T HE L

GAS S AS VE

BY SARAH SIPEK

Employee break rooms aren’t just places to keep lunches cool and heat up snacks.

Some companies have found that a well-designed break room can help workers collaborate on ideas and perhaps help with recruiting, too.

cago ctures of the Chi f you Google pi andbr its er room and Cubs’ former lock t. ou e lg es might bu new one, your ey odie go a m far fro The oldie was ance ar pe ap bland, blah with a cramped, ed its purpose when serv that might have ar tnett tcher Gabby H ca e m Hall of Fa ’20s and the plate in the squatted behind p culture the energized, hi ’30s, but not for stars like ing with young the team is build w locker room looks ne ner’s Kris Bryant. The t of a party plan ou ious, like something ac sp a d an lighting ol co ith w m ea dr e players ot surprisingly, th futuristic feel. N

I PHOTO

34

COURTES

Workƒorce | w o r k f o r c e . c o m

Y OF ET

SY

june

2016

PHOTOS COUR TESY OF USAA

PHOTOS CO

URTESY OF TH

E CHICAG

O CUBS

Upper left: As a compliment to its interactive group offices, the Las Vegas Sun’s break room encourages employee engagement with an air hockey table and espresso machines.

Upper right: USAA’s break room is streamlined and includes tables and chairs for employees to gather at and share ideas.

Lower right: The Chicago Cubs brought its locker room into the 21st century to energize its younger, energized stars like Kris Bryant.

Lower left: Etsy’s break room, complete with pingpong table, embodies the artistic mission of the company.

june

2016

w o r k f o r c e . c o m | Workƒorce

35

It Might Be Hospital Food, but It’s Good Talk about a lunch and learn.

The roughly 1,200 administrative and clinical workers at Nemours Children’s Hospital in Orlando, Florida, have the opportunity to spend their lunch hour as a teachable moment that’s sliced, diced, skewered and served twice a month in a cozy kitchen on campus complete with all the fixin’s.

Wellness coordinators at the hospital, which opened its expansive new complex in 2012, want to entice employees out of their cubicle and into a cooking classroom for such scrumptious lunch fare as chicken chili, brown rice and beans and almond Waldorf salad. The classes are limited to 20 employees in the facility’s demo kitchen, said wellness program manager Krysta Kishbaugh. Staff members carefully watch executive chefs contracted through the hospital’s food vendor do all the prep work and cooking, then dig into the dishes in an adjacent conference room while the chef explains the tricks of their trade.

have expressed their approval in numerous interviews.

Most companies don’t have locker rooms for their workers, but most do have break rooms, which sometimes can resemble relics in today’s society. White walls, white goods, maybe a table and chairs and a bulletin board.

While work isn’t always fun and games, some companies are learning that a cool break room can be a tool for collaboration — and a differentiator in the recruiting process.

That was the case at Mesirow Financial, a Chicago-based financial services firm. According to Audrey Payne, facilities manager at the firm, the higher-ups made the decision to update the break room as a way to attract top talent in a competitive field.

“When you’re in the recruiting and interviewing process with a candidate, the top concern is typically what they can bring to your firm,” Payne said. “Companies want the right fit for them. But it’s equally important for the employee to want to work for you. So we took a look at our employee demographic and the types of lifestyle choices they make and used that vision to help create a space to refuel and energize the types of people we want to attract.”

In an effort to support employees during their long workdays, Payne said the company focused on two factors: open space and healthy foods.

“The concept was to get employees out from their cubicles where they spend the day hunched over computers and allow them room to breathe and connect with the people around them,” Payne said.“We wanted an open and airy space to simulate a deep, cleansing breath.”

Clamoring for More

“These are easy to prepare, healthy meals,” Kishbaugh said of the program. Now in its second year, the class is building a reputation as a five-star lunch hour that’s spreading campuswide thanks to word of mouth. “We’ve had a focus on employee fitness, and now we’re expanding to nutrition. We’ve heard comments like, ‘We didn’t realize the meals would be this easy to make.’ ” With the hospital’s commitment to employee health and wellness, Kishbaugh said she hopes to fill as many as 260 spots in the healthy eating class this year.

“Our employees can get away from work for a bit and not just be sitting at their desk,” said Kishbaugh, who has been in her role for 2½ years now. “It’s a chance for some team-building while they learn about and enjoy a healthy meal.”

—Rick Bell

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In a 2013 survey of 2,035 U.S. workers conducted by San Francisco design firm Gensler, only 25 percent of respondents said they believe they are working in an optimal workplace environment for productivity.

That means 3 out of 4 workers are struggling to work effectively, resulting in lost productivity, a lack of motivation to innovate and disengagement. This leads many companies to rethink the office environment.

In some cases, that means establishing quiet corners with high tables where people can meet. Other offices have a basketball court for pickup games.

But the goal is always the same: to stimulate interaction among co-workers and let the business profit from the creative flow of ideas and high morale, said Todd Heiser, a principal and design director in Gensler’s Chicago office.

“We have three goals when creating any workspace for an employer: collaboration, health and wellness,” Heiser said. “The end goal is to give employees everything they need, whether that is food, beverages or a comfortable space to take a break. We want the office to have everything employees need so they don’t have to leave as often.”

And a break room is a good place to start, said Doug june

2016

Sitzes, senior workplace strategist at office furniture company Haworth Inc. “Break rooms are a great place to drive employee interactions that spark ideas and engagement,” Sitzes said.“From that point of view, having a great break room can be as important as having the right office space.”

Listen to Employees Needs Like establishing any successful employee policy, designing a great break room takes engaging your employees. In its 2013 workplace survey, Gensler found that providing employees with choices and a voice in company decisions drives their levels of happiness and leads to greater motivation and performance.

According to Sitzes, design firms can spend months talking with employees and observing their patterns in the office to get a sense of where they spend their time and how to maximize their interactions before ever drawing up a plan.

“People’s memories are funny things,” Sitzes said.

“They’ll tell you what they do in a day, and, in my experience, if you go and actually watch them at work, the stories usually don’t match up. A good designer will put in the time to see how employees naturally use the space.”

One of the most common complaints Daniel Stein hears is that break room layouts don’t permit social interaction. When preparing for the redesign of investment banking and wealth management firm William Blair & Co., Stein, the co-owner and vice president of vending machine company Mark Vend Co., took into account the long hours and need to get away from the workspace for a mental and physical break.

The open-air space the firm created for William Blair has prompted hundreds of employees to leave their desks each day.

“Before updating our break room, our cafe was rarely used,” said Trish Rothman, William Blair’s global travel manager. “Now 200 to 300 people use our grab-and-go fresh market along with our office favorite, the espresso machine, each day.”

Break rooms often also serve as an impromptu place for small groups of employees to meet instead of having to schedule conference rooms in advance, Heiser said. That was the case at electronic trading company Trading Technologies International Inc. The break room Gensler designed helped drive continued collaboration among employees.

The redesign included many cozy alcoves tucked in the sides of hallways, perfect for more informal meetings.

No Need to Spend an Arm and a Leg Employers who don’t have the extra cash to knock down walls and put up big-screen televisions needn’t worry that they are doomed to have a disengaged workforce. There are simple steps employers can take to infuse the spirit of a great break room into the office space.

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A Mall of Choices Few will argue with the fact that, as the workday wears on, employees need to get away from their tasks to recharge their brains and bodies.

Easier said than done, given the average day’s workload and a lack of emotional and physical diversions in most workplaces.

Financial services giant USAA, a Workforce 100 company, is enticing some 15,000 of its workers to drift out from behind their workstations and ease into dozens of recharging stations spread across its sprawling 5 million-square-foot campus in San Antonio. Or wander into one of seven cafeterias. Or amble around a 1¾ mile indoor loop. Or do yoga or Zumba classes. Or …

“It’s like a big mall,” said Dr. Peter Wald, USAA’s enterprise medical director, population health and wellness.

“And it gets hot here. We have outdoor spaces but we try to do all we can to encourage people to get away from their desks whether it’s inside or outside.”

Wald said there are two styles of recharging zones — active and quiet. Both provide different options to amble away for a quick break. “Three 10-minute breaks are as good as one 30-minute break,” Wald said.

The building was constructed in the 1970s but didn’t undergo the dramatic shift to emphasize employee wellness until some three decades later, Wald said. And it wasn’t long until USAA was recognized for the overhaul. In 2006, USAA won the C. Everett Koop National Health Award for its wellness program.

“The recharge zones, the cafeterias, a lot of that started in 2002,” said Wald, adding that the shift coincided with his arrival at USAA. “It reflects how we want the building and campus to talk to employees. We want to encourage people to move around. No one can be productive if they’re at their desks for eight hours.”

—Rick Bell

Start with comfortable seating, said Patricia Curran, a principal in the National Clinical Practice at Xerox HR Services.

“Getting employees out of their standard office chairs where they’re in a hunched-over position is an almost instant stress reliever,” Curran said. “From there consider painting walls to break away from the humdrum whitewash of most office spaces. These simple changes are inexpensive and can do a lot to alter an BREAK ROOMS continued on page 49 june

2016

The Video Library offers 24/7 access for 90 days and brings the event experience to life on your desktop or mobile device.

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june

2016

HR Credentials The Debate Over

There’s a growing focus on HR practitioners obtaining certifications and degrees. But measuring their value remains elusive.

BY SAMUEL GREENGARD

A

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A Matter of Values?

Amid a dearth of data about the value of HR certifications for organizations, a March 2016 report from the HR Certification Institute and the Top Employers Institute, “Emerging Evidence: Business Performance and the Validation of HR Best Practices,” offers some insight into the value of certifications. Among other things, it noted that companies that place a premium on HR certifications outperformed the stock indexes in their respective countries by an average of 51 percent over the same five-year period and outperformed the industry average by 14 percent over the same period.

In addition, stock prices of companies with more than five HRCI-certified professionals increased an average of 95 percent between 2011 and 2015, while the relevant stock indexes increased an average of 38 percent over the same five-year period. Meanwhile, companies with more than five practitioners holding HRCI certificates outperformed relevant stock indexes by 57 percent over the five-year period.

On an individual level, the study found that the average rating for Top Employers’ certified companies on German job site Kununu is 3.5 stars (out of 5) vs. the overall Kununu average of 3.1. The average rating for Top Employers’ certified companies rated on Glassdoor is 3.5 stars (out of 5) compared with the overall Glassdoor average of 3.2.

According to Top Employers Institute CEO David Plink, the findings deliver a “clear message that exceptional human resource management — from applying HR best practices to the competencies of the HR professionals who design and implement them — can demonstrably and positively contribute to the bottom line.”

—Samuel Greengard

ment parted ways in an acrimonious breakup in May 2014, SHRM began offering its own credentials. Today, HRCI offers seven credentials, including the Professional in Human Resources and the Senior Professional in Human Resources, and SHRM offers two: the SHRM Certified Professional for those in the early stages of their careers and the SHRM Senior Certified Professional for practitioners with at least six years of experience.

And in April, the HR Open Standards Consortium Inc., a 17-year-old nonprofit based in Windermere, Florida, announced a new certification program for HR tech professionals.

Amid all the upheaval and the resulting confusion about what career and hiring decisions to make, there’s a need for HR professionals to face some tough choices. Peter Cappelli, a management professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, said that in today’s business and HR environment, it’s vital to understand how, when and where credentials and degrees matter. “It certainly complicates things for HR people,” he said.

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Paper Chase Most HR executives believe certifications are a good thing — particularly early in a career. And there’s some evidence to support it. A 2015 HRCI-HumPro study of about 12,000 practitioners holding certifications found that those with SPHR credentials earned $19,712 more annually than their peers while individuals holding a PHR pulled down $4,547 more than those without any certification. In addition, the report noted that 90 percent of people with PHRs and 87 percent of those with SPHRs were employed full time in an HR position compared with 69 percent of their noncertified peers. Finally, the report found that certified HR professionals reported greater income growth over time and higher career satisfaction.

While these results sound impressive, it’s unclear whether other factors and variables enter into the equation, such as whether those who pursue advanced learning and certifications are intrinsically more driven and productive. “Certifications definitely hold some weight. I would select a person with a certification vs. somebody who doesn’t have it,” said Deborah Gutman, human resources manager at Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. She holds an SPHR, SHRMSCP and a master’s degree in HR management. “Basically, it means you have gone through a process and you have taken steps to gain a foundation of knowledge that is applicable to the field. It adds a level of credibility.”

Lupe Mujica, chief people officer at First Service Residential, a Dania Beach, Florida-based property management services firm, also said she believes certifications have value.“They provide an excellent foundation for HR,” said Mujica, who holds a bachelor’s degree in organizational development and is a longtime member of SHRM and the National Human Resources Association. “For someone who is at an entry level or new to HR — basically, someone who has little or no experience, it shows a certain level of proficiency.”

In addition, “there is a tangible benefit for the business,” mostly revolving around the individual understanding HR concepts and basic tasks and managing work more effectively, she said. Like others, Mujica said work experience and graduate degrees — particularly in areas such as business, psychology and information technology — are far more important for individuals as they work their way up the corporate ladder.

Of course, there’s also the issue of which organization to choose: HRCI or SHRM.While HR executives may have preferences — Mujica likes SHRM because of its global presence, and Gutman said HRCI holds a great deal of credibility — one of the problems is that there’s no exact way to compare the two certifications. “One of the challenges is that the SHRM certification is relatively new, and it appears they are trying to make the process very inviting in order to attract people,” Gutman said.

She points to the fact that SHRM’s pass rate is about 68 percent for its SHRM-CP program and 56 percent for its SHRM-SCP, compared with 53 percent for HRCI as a june

2016

whole.Whether HRCI’s lower pass rate is a result of more rigorous standards or that it attracts a different group of people is debatable.

Not surprisingly, each organization believes its approach has advantages and that it is better aligned with the needs of today’s HR practitioner. “The primary difference,” said Linda Anguish, director of certification products for HRCI, “is that we are an independent certifying body with a core competency in the HR field. We have been doing this for 40 years and we have an accreditation from a third-party certifying agency.”

In addition, HRCI does not require a practitioner to take any particular program or learning track in college prior to taking a certification exam. Anguish holds SPHR and Global Professional in Human Resources certifications.

On the other hand, SHRM has adopted a competency-based model that more closely supports the way businesses and various organizations operate from an HR perspective, said Alexander Alonso, SHRM senior vice president of knowledge development, who holds a Ph.D. and a SHRM-SCP certification.

The 285,000-member organization relies on the SHRM Body of Competency and Knowledge, also known as the

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2016

SHRM BoCK, as the foundation for these certifications, which center on eight key behavioral skills and 15 HR functional areas that it deems critical to the success of any HR professional. As a result, Alonso said, SHRM is equipped to address core skill requirements represented in Fortune 100 organizations and beyond.

About 12 percent of HR professionals in the U.S. hold a certification. HRCI boasts about 145,000 current certifications and SHRM boasts about 50,000. According to Cappelli, a certification delivers niche benefits while a “master’s degree and experience dominate any credentials.”

Moreover, he said certifications serve partly to “compartmentalize” the profession and create “subfields.”

“In general, employers want to think of HR people more as ‘managers’ and ‘executives’ rather than ‘professionals,’ which is where credentials point them,” he said.

On top of all this, the HR Open Standards Consortium recently launched its training initiative geared toward HR tech professionals. “The HR Open Standards’ Individual Certificate provides an inaugural opportunity for HR Technology professionals to be recognized for their profiCERTIFICATIONS continued on page 48

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SPECIAL REPORT

EAP Providers

Nothing in Life is Free — Not Even an EAP Employers must be actively involved in choosing and managing an employee assistance program to provide a valuable benefit to their workers.

By Sarah Sipek

Y

ou get what you pay for.”This adage rings especially true in the business world. Low salaries generally attract mediocre talent. Cheap technology is often inefficient and can require costly repairs. And free employee assistance programs can incur high health care costs for employers.

The current EAP usage rate across the industry is 6.9 percent, according to the Chestnut Global Partners’ 2016 EAP industry trends report. With so few employees using a practically free service — the typical employer allots just 1 percent of its health care budget to EAP services — it seems counterintuitive that EAPs would cost employers a lot in the long run.

The cost of providing access to an EAP has dropped in recent years, but unfortunately so has the quality of the programs being provided, according to Kent Sharkey, president and CEO of Ulliance Inc., a Troy, Michigan-based human resources consultancy.

When Sharkey started his company 26 years ago, the average per-employee-per-month fee for an EAP was $2.50.

In order to stay competitive after the financial crisis of 2008, EAP providers have dropped that fee below a dollar, Sharkey said. Unfortunately, lower prices can often mean poorer services.

EAPs were originally developed to provide assessment and services for addressing a variety of personal problems and concerns that interfere with employees’ well-being and work performance. Interventions for issues such as depression and substance abuse were delivered in person, by telephone or over the Internet by licensed counselors. EAPs typically offered employees up to six of these sessions, said Dave Sharar, chief clinical officer at Chestnut.

The problem, Sharkey said, is that many of today’s free EAPs operate on an assess-and-refer model. Employees call the EAP phone number provided by their employer, but instead of receiving traditional telephonic counseling, they are referred to a long-term treatment provider outside of the EAP. This triggers a claim on the employer health care plan.

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And given the rising cost of health care to both employers and employees, the last thing either party wants is to trigger more claims.

“If you’re experience-rated — meaning every year your insurance company looks at the health care costs — then your premiums will go up or down based on utilization,” Sharkey said. “If your EAP is merely directing more traffic to your health care plan, then it’s costing you and your employees a ton in the long run.”

The solution is for employers to increase their level of engagement with the EAP, according to Matt Mollenhauer, managing director at Chestnut.

“I would suggest to an employer that what they really need to do is dig deep into EAPs and ask questions,” Mollenhauer said. “They may be falling way short of what they thought they had purchased.There needs to be employer investment in the product they are buying.”

KNOW WHY THEY’RE GOING The first thing every employer should do in regard to managing their EAPs better is look at the usage rates, Mollenhauer said.

“The sense we’re getting from our book of business and EAP colleagues is that utilization of the EAP is on the rise compared to the past,” he said. “But that’s just the outer layer. The larger issue is that there seems to be more stress in the workplace, and the severity of cases appears to be on the increase.”

According to Chestnut’s 2016 report, stress-related issues were the top reason employees in North America accessed an EAP in 2015, accounting for 21 percent of EAP usage in that region.

While the increase in usage could be because of employers’ efforts to increase awareness of their EAP offerings, it’s the increase in severity that’s troublesome to Mollenhauer and Sharar.

“Employees are trying not to use their health care benefits because of the expense,” Mollenhauer said. “They are going to june

2016

the EAP first. Stress within workplaces, either economic or work-related stress, is causing employees to a little ‘white-knuckling’ where they’re waiting too long to seek support.”

Providers such as Chestnut are seeing a response directly from employees that they need more than the standard six sessions to resolve their issues, Sharar added.

“More people are using their EAP because there’s no deductible or copay for it,” Sharar said. “Employees want to use it as much as they can.”

Free, or embedded EAPs as they are also known, are not flexible and typically don’t allow employers to make model changes midyear. Employers who are looking to be responsive to em-

ployee needs must stay on top of usage patterns and invest in standalone models that allow faster response times, Sharar said.

“Employers who are engaged with the EAP often invest in a ‘high touch’ program where they see the EAP integrated with an overall benefits strategy,” Sharar said. “When you understand how your employees use their benefits, you can ask for flexibility to meet those needs in a way that incurs the lowest possible costs.”

GET HR INVOLVED Even though EAPs are designed as a confidential service for employees, that doesn’t mean that a company’s human

HOT LIST EAP Providers Listed alphabetically; compiled by Andie Burjek; editors@workforce.com Company name & Web address

Revenue derived from EAP services

Number of EAP employer clients

Total number of employees covered

ACI SPECIALTY BENEFITS acispecialtybenefits.com

$13.3 million

929

8.6 million

BEACON HEALTH OPTIONS beaconhealthoptions.com

$125 million

21,500

15.1 million

CHESTNUT GLOBAL PARTNERS chestnutglobalpartners.org

Would not disclose

463

Would not disclose

CIGNA EAP cignabehavioral.com

Would not disclose

925

13.5 million

$401.8 million

31,000

83 million

Would not disclose

400

125,000

$16 million

26,000

2.7 million

$204.8 million

Would not disclose

14.1 million

Would not disclose

140

Would not disclose

$5 million

400

225,000

COMPSYCH CORP. compsych.com FIRST SUN EAP firstsuneap.com INTEGRATED BEHAVIORAL HEALTH ibhcorp.com MAGELLAN HEALTH magellanhealth.com MINES & ASSOCIATES minesandassociates.com PERSPECTIVES perspectivesltd.com

Note: Ceridian LifeWorks, E4 Health, FEI Behavioral Health and Harris Rothenberg International either declined to participate or did not respond to requests for information.

Source: Companies

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SPECIAL REPORT

EAP Providers

resources department shouldn’t be actively engaged with the EAP provider. Providers with HR and account management services are able to intervene before problems escalate., Sharkey said.

According to Ulliance’s book of business from 2015, performance issues ranked as the No. 3 issue among employees, behind substance abuse and anger management, respectively.

“We work with human resources to intervene with employees who have a personal problem that has developed into a performance problem,” Sharkey said. “We help employees get back on track before they seek medical help

DATA BANK Lots of Stress The most common reason cited for using an employee assistance program was stress, followed by relationships.

21% 16%

Stress

9%

Relationships

10%

Child behavior

9%

28 Anxiety %

Depression

DON’T LET TECHNOLOGY BECOME A DISTRACTION

8%

Occupation

Source: Chestnut Global Partners’ 2016 trends report

Putting EAPs to Good Use North America uses employee assistance programs more than other areas of the world.

Europe/Russia

2.2%

Asia-Pacific

4.4%

6.9% North America 6.1% Latin America Africa 1.8% Source: Chestnut Global Partners’ 2016 trends report

A Great Depression Just over 9 percent of U.S. adults aged 18 to 25 suffered from a major depressive episode in 2014.

10%

9.3% 7.2%

8%

5.2%

6%

6.6%

4% 2%

age 18-25

age 26-49

age 50+

Source: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 2014

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through the health insurance plan for issues including anxiety and depression.”

Developing a relationship in which HR personnel can directly refer employees to the EAP prevents a problem from festering, Mollenhauer added.

EAPs have also proven useful in dealing with a growing issue for HR managers: marijuana usage among employees.

While it’s legal is some states, marijuana remains illegal on a federal level.The conflict creates problems for employers with offices in several states that currently have a zero-tolerance drug policy, Sharkey said.

“In response to employer feedback, we developed a program through which we provide random drug testing,” Sharkey said. “It gives employers an alternative to either terminating or tolerating an employee who has marijuana in their system. An employee who tests positive is formally referred to the EAP and undergoes random drug testing and counseling.”

Unlike employer-sponsored drug rehab programs, EAP-provided services require the employee to release their personal information so that the employer knows whether the employee is attending counseling and passing drug tests, Sharkey said.

In addition, the counseling occurs face to face, which has proven to be a more effective method of delivery.

Overall

Like seemingly everything else in the workplace, technology is entering the EAP field with the promise of offering on-demand access to needed counseling services.

“The intent behind it is to create better-enhanced access for millennials and younger workers that are far more technology-driven,” Mollenhauer said.

Online counseling completed through synchronous or asynchronous emails and secure video conferences where counselor and client interact over a computer or mobile device are the first steps into implementing technology to modernize the offering, Chestnut’s Sharar said.

Sharkey thinks it’s an especially good outlet for millennials who are comfortable interacting on more of a digital platform, but he still believes in the tried-and-true method of face-to-face counseling.

“I believe it’s a great first step for people who are reaching out to the EAP, but there’s nothing like meeting face to face and developing a rapport with your EAP counselor and coach,” Sharkey said. “A lot of research and counseling suggests that the most important factor is the relationship between counselor and client.”

The American Psychological Association conducted a study in 2002 that found 31 percent of respondents reported an improved mental state after telephonic counseling compared with 54 percent with those who received face-toface counseling.

Sharar worries that an attempt by employers to save on costs might be hurting employees in the long run.

“People with more serious issues may think that they’re june

2016

getting things addressed with a telephone call or online chat when they actually have a more serious issue with a substance-abuse problem or marital issue that is not being dealt with,” Sharar said. “EAPs need to be careful of when technology is being used as a supplement vs. when it becomes a replacement.”

There is also a clear distinction between the type of technology being used. Mollenhauer is comfortable with the telephone and videoconferencing that have typically been used, but is more leery of the use of apps.

“Tracking mood and looking up marital tips on an app has a flashy appeal, but as fancy as all of those are and as engaging as they are in the short run, there is little research to suggest their long-term sustainability or that they are even clinically valid,” Mollenhauer said.

At the end of the day, there is clear value in the direct interaction provided by going in to see a counselor.

Sharkey compares his counselors with coaches who observe employee behavior and are able to offer suggestions and support after developing a rapport with an employee client.

“We use a solutions-focused counseling model,” Sharkey said.“Sometimes people aren’t aware that what they are doing is harmful.We do an assessment and develop a personal action plan that includes assigning homework throughout the week. An hour of counseling doesn’t change things. It’s when you apply it in the real world and see what actually works that makes a difference. In a counseling office, it’s always easier than when you talk to your significant other about a problem. You have to be agile, and face-to-face counseling allows that.”

While high-tech apps and videoconferences over cellphones could increase usage rates, Sharar warns against using “clicks” as a measure of an EAP’s effectiveness.

“We tend to get caught up on high utilization has the most important metric,” Sharar said. “But high utilization doesn’t speak to specific results or what happened with those people who used the service. Website clicks and phone calls don’t directly lead to an outcome.”

Return on investment calculates an investment purely on financial terms, Sharar said. The EAP is so inexpensive to begin with that employers should focus on getting fewer, more effective outcomes than trying to see how many employees they can cycle through.

“I hope we’re moving back into a trend where employers very consciously engage with the EAP as a valued business partner,” Mollenhauer said. “In the times of cost-cutting, employers have gone with free and I’m hoping that trend will reverse and employers will see that there is no value proposition in those ‘free’ programs.

EAPs need to evolve to the point where they’re being integrated to help solve employee performance and resiliency issues.”

Sarah Sipek is a Workforce associate editor. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.

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Assisting the Addicted in Your Workplace

By Richard Y. Hu Doug Conant, the former CEO of Campbell’s Soup once said, “[t]o win in the marketplace you must first win in the workplace.” One way to win is by implementing a successful employee assistance program, or EAP, that offers free and confidential assessments, short-term counseling, referrals and follow-up services to employees for their personal or work-related problems. Among the wide variety of options are programs that focus on substance abuse and alcoholism.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that, of the 58.5 million binge drinkers and 16.2 million heavy drinkers in in the United States, 76 percent of the people in both categories were employed either full or part time. On the other hand, the same survey found that of the 22.4 million people using illicit drugs, 69 percent were employed either full or part time. Illicit drugs include marijuana, hashish, cocaine (including crack) and heroin.

Addressing Substance Abuse and Alcoholism An EAP is the most common and effective method of addressing alcoholism and substance abuse in the workplace. A comprehensive assistance program should include a workplace substance abuse education component, a referral system, confidential screening by an EAP or health professional, treatment referrals to an EAP or health professional, and confidential follow-up care to support the employee in recovery.

A workplace substance-abuse education program can help the employees, their co-workers or their supervisors recognize that there might be a substance-abuse problem that needs to be addressed. A referral system can be based upon self-referrals, informal referrals or formal referrals. Although each referral type has its merits and drawbacks, a study has found that about 80 percent of referrals for alcoholism were informal.

Confidentiality is essential. As an HR professional, you should not obtain any information from the EAP counselor unless there is a signed written release of information from the employee. Your role is to advise management of appropriate adverse, disciplinary or other administrative actions that might need to be taken and to advise employees of their rights and procedures.

Leave and Return to Work An employee will normally be on sick leave, vacation or leave without pay during their absence for treatment, which may depend on an employment agreement or union agreement. After those types of leave are exhausted, an employee can also use 12 weeks of leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Upon completion of a treatment program, an employee may seek an accommodation from the company. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, an employer only has to provide an accommodation if it is reasonable and does not create an undue hardship on the employer. Normally, a reasonable accommodation is a modified work schedule so an employee can attend continuing outpatient treatment.

Richard Y. Hu is an attorney at Taft, Stettinius & Hollister in Chicago. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.

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WF100 continued from page 24

Methodology The Workforce 100 is the rank order and scores of the 100 companies that performed best in seven core areas: workplace culture, employee benefits, diversity and inclusion, employee development and talent management, human resources innovation, leadership development and talent acquisition. The working assumption behind the list is that high performance in these core categories provides a reasonable proxy for overall HR excellence.

To create the ranking, researchers at the Human Capital Media Advisory Group, the research arm of Workforce magazine, collected available public data from a representative list of established benchmarking and ranking programs in the identified categories and partnered with Glassdoor to include data on employee satisfaction in key areas. This allowed researchers to generate a score based equally on depth and breadth of outside recognition and internal recognition.

The reason for this change in methodology was to create a ranked list that made comprehensive HR participation and employee feedback on their respective employers the primary focus rather than excellence in one core area. Using this method, organizations that are recognized on multiple lists but do not perform perfectly will be ranked higher than organizations that are ranked in one area but perform better in a single discipline. In addition, organizations that are not as heavily represented in external recognition programs are still acknowledged for their HR efforts through the posted opinions of their employees.

To generate the score, researchers first looked at how many lists with HR relevance a particular company appeared on, which makes up half of the total score (maximum of 5 points). The other half of the score (also with a maximum of 5 points) was derived from an average of the company’s Glassdoor performance in areas pertaining to HR. These scores are then added together to create the final score.

Component Lists: Top Companies Lists, Overall: World’s Best Multinational Workplaces, 2015 (Great Places to Work Institute) Best Small Workplaces, 2015 (Great Place to Work Institute) Best Medium Workplaces, 2015 (Great Place to Work Institute) 100 Best Companies to Work For, 2015 (Fortune) America’s Best Employers, 2015 (Forbes) Best Places to Work, 2015 (Glassdoor)

Top Companies Lists, Benefits Candidate Experience Awards, 2015 (Talent Board) Best Companies for Healthy Lifestyles, 2015 (National Business Group on Health) The Best 401(k) Plans, 2015 (Bloomberg) 10 Best Companies to Retire From, 2015 (Fortune)

Top Companies Lists, Diversity Diversity Value Index, 2015 (Talent Management) Best Companies for Vets, 2015 (Military Times) Diversity Equality Index, 2014 (AAPD) 100 Best Companies, 2015 (Working Mother) Best Workplaces for Diversity, 2015 (Great Place to Work Institute) 40 Best Companies for Diversity, 2015 (Black Enterprise) Top 50 Companies for Diversity, 2015 (DiversityInc)

Top Companies Lists, Leadership: Best Companies for Leadership, 2014 (Hay Group*) Top Companies for Leaders, 2014 (Aon Hewitt) Best Companies for Leaders, 2015 (Chief Executive) 20 Best Companies for Leadership, 2016 (Bloomberg Businessweek)

Top Companies Lists, Talent Management World’s Most Admired Companies, category Ability to Attract, Develop, and Retain Talent, 2015 (Fortune) The World’s Most Innovative Corporate Human Resources Departments, 2015 (Human Resources MBA) The Most Admired for HR, 2014 (HR Executive)

Glassdoor Data Used: Career Opportunities Rating Compensation & Benefits Rating Culture & Values Rating Work/Life Balance Rating Recommend to a Friend Rating Note: Some of the component lists are compiled by active participation from the companies listed and therefore do not recognize companies that decline to participate. *Now known as Korn Ferry Hay Group

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CERTIFICATIONS continued from page 43 ciency in and experience with HR-XML and HR-JSON data exchange standards,” said Suneel Mendiratta, president of the consortium’s board of directors, in a news release. Certificates are currently being offered in assessments, recruiting and screening with other tech certificates in the works for areas such as recruiting, benefits and performance management, according to the organization.

On the Money?

One of the problems with the current environment, Indiana University’s Aguinis said, is that while the goal of making HR practitioners more proficient is a good one, and any programs and activities that elevate the field are a positive, there’s never been any objective research conducted about certification programs and what precise value they provide for various stakeholders. This would require access to databases — something he said he hasn’t been able to obtain. Meanwhile, students and others collectively fork over millions of dollars for certifications. “Nobody knows if practitioners get hired faster, promoted faster or make more money than their counterparts,” he said.

HRCI’s SPHR exam, for example, costs $475 plus a $75 application fee and is good for three years. SHRM charges $300 for members to take the SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP exam and $400 for nonmembers, and the certification is also good for three years.

Aguinis describes the situation as nothing less than a “conflict of interest.” He believes that greater transparency is essential. He would like to see research teams composed of both practitioners and researchers; conflict of interest disclosures that indicate whether these organizations paid a consulting firm or individual researcher to study a certification program; any findings from studies undergo a peer-review process; and data that are open to other researchers so that they can analyze and validate it.

“Now that SHRM and HRCI have split,” he said,“the situation is even more confusing. There are more choices and the question arises: ‘Do I need to be certified by both organizations?’ ” Among other things, Aguinis would like to know whether job candidates with credentials are hired faster than others, and whether an HR certification equates to better job performance and value for the company. Quixey’s Elkeles agrees that there’s a dearth of impartial data about the value of certifications — and without a standards body in place, results are somewhat vague and relative.

What’s more, she said she’s concerned about the quality of individual instructors and how well curriculum matches the skill sets required for a person to make the leap to an HR executive.

“These programs are huge moneymakers, and it’s in the best interest of these organizations to promote the concept that certifications are beneficial for practitioners and organizations,” Elkeles said. “The question is: Does the amount of time and money spent deliver a real-world return on investment?”

Whatever HR practitioners can do to advance their skills and knowledge is generally a good thing, HRCI’s Anguish said. In the end, “the most important thing is to make a commitment to personal development and the profession,” she said.

Samuel Greengard is a writer based in Portland, Oregon. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.

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BREAK ROOMS continued from page 38 employee’s mindset.”

Of course, there is the possibility of going overboard, too. Some company break rooms can get pretty “wonky,” said William Kahn, Boston University professor and employee engagement expert. Pool tables, big screen televisions and comfortable couches seem like more of a distraction than a way to ultimately drive employee production.

But for those employers who don’t think adding amenities is a good use of space, Kahn has this response: “Sometimes distance from work can help trigger engagement. The opportunity to stop thinking for a few minutes and divert attention to something fun helps shake employees out of the pattern of only doing what needs to be done in a day. The break room helps them re-engage.”

To help ease employer anxiety, Kahn recommends establishing areas of measur-

able return before going through a redesign. Creating employee surveys that measure satisfaction and engagement and distributing them before and after the redesign for a set number of months can establish data for CEOs that proves that the money was well spent.

“It’s also important to look at turnover rates and absenteeism before and after the redesign,” he said.

In the end, the most important factor is that a company’s break room design choice reflects its culture.

“Each break room is unique, and what works for one company won’t necessarily work at another,” Haworth’s Sitzes said. “It’s about understanding your workforce and providing them the type of space that will allow them to decompress.”

Sarah Sipek is a Workforce associate editor. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.

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w o r k f o r c e . c o m | Workƒorce

49

LAST WORD

J a m e s Te h r a n i

FOR GREATNESS’ SAKES

W

hat makes a great or best or supercalifragilisticexpialiLayoffs occur at strong and weak companies for various docious company? reasons.We had an internal debate, for instance, whether an Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer, and if I had one, employer like oil-company Schlumberger should make the I’d channel my inner Dr. Evil and sell it to you for $1 mil- Workforce 100 list despite laying off 20 percent of its staff lion dollars. last year. In January, the company announced North AmerSorry, $100 billion. ican revenue had declined 39 percent from the previous OK, maybe I wouldn’t. Pinkie promise. year, but the company also posted pretax operating inThe one constant seems to be that great companies come of $6.5 billion overall. Ultimately, we decided the take care of their workers, and while many employers numbers our research team used to create the list should don’t offer the paternalistic approach of yesteryear, there stick regardless of how things pan out for the company. are companies that go above and beyond to make things Today, with an improving economy, mass layoffs have begreat for today’s workers. come more of an anomaly. Although, there are some notaIn some areas, employers are much more progressive ble exceptions, including one from our list. Intel recently now. When my kids were born in the aughts, I asked for said it would reduce its workforce by a reported 11 percent. time off for paternity leave. My small employer at the time didn’t have a written policy on paternity leave, but it did grant me two days off. I wasn’t floored by that generosity, but it seemed like some time off was better than nothing.

Today, companies like Netflix are offering unlimited paternity and maternity leave during the year after a child is born or adopted. In the 1950s, when employer paternalism was at its zenith, men were rarely even allowed to be in the delivery room when their children were born, let alone take time off to help raise their ragamuffins.

Ten years ago in June 2006, there were 1,097 mass Beyond benefits, good companies tend to listen to and layoffs involving more than 50 workers that affected aldevelop their talent. As Sarah Sipek reports in our Work- most 120,000 people, even though the unemployment force 100 feature on page 30, Cisco started a program rate was at a modest 4.6 percent, according to the U.S. called the Our People Deal to promote communication Bureau of Labor Statistics. Mind you, this was still a year and develop benchmarks to help people at different stages and a half before the start of the Great Recession. In of their careers. And AT&T says it looks to promote from June 2008, there were 1,643 mass layoffs involving alwithin, even if candidates only have 50 or 60 percent of the most 166,000 people. required skill sets for a particular job posting.

As part of budget cuts, the BLS no longer keeps mass-layGetting good people to stay should be every company’s off statistics, but the unemployment rate at deadline was goal, especially because it’s so costly to hire and train new 5 percent, roughly the same as it has been since Aupeople. But sometimes things don’t go as planned. gust 2015, which is half as much as the 30-year high of In 2002, after finally finding a new job six months after 10 percent from October 2009. having been laid off when a dot-com went dot-bomb, I In other words: advantage employees. was hired to join a company that would soon become a Execu Search Group put it this way when it released its historical footnote.

“2016 Hiring Outlook” white paper: “Where employers While interviewing at accounting firm Arthur Andersen, once held most of the advantage, and offers were few and I knew of the Enron scandal rumblings, but I didn’t think far between for candidates, job seekers now have opportuthe problems would destroy a legendary 90-year-old ac- nities to be more selective about the offers they take and counting firm. the organizations they work for.”

Um, yeah.

To get workers to select your company will take the Things went south shortly after I started. Soon I was out creation of employee-focused programs, innovation and of a job, again. I remember the Friday afternoon I asked observation. And I know at least 100 companies you the division head if I were at risk of losing my job because should look at for some inspiration.

I was the new guy. After spending 20 minutes assuring me there was nothing to worry about, he quickly changed his James Tehrani is Workforce’s managing editor. To comment, tune and told me I would be laid off on Monday. email editors@workforce.com.

IN SOME AREAS EMPLOYERS ARE EVEN MUCH MORE PROGRESSIVE NOW THAN EVER.

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I’M

MORE

THAN MY JOB. I’M THE

HR teaches you to give feedback with EMPATHY.

FACE OF THE COMPANY.

My SHRM membership helps me examine HR situations as more than black or white. Local meetings and online forums provide an outlet for feedback, so I know I’m approaching issues with honesty and compassion. Online tools like sample policies and documentation templates help me put forth the best guidelines for our organization.

With SHRM, I’m a better HR practitioner and a better person.

Get more at shrm.org/more

Kristen Medlin, SHRM-CP

16-0265-KRISTEN/talent

Administrative Director of Human Resources Member since 2007

THE SCIENCE OF PERSONALITY

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