Workforce - August 2016 by Workforce

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August 2016

A NEW ‘GIG’

TO MARKETING WE GO Why recruiting and marketing should go hand in hand nowadays.

D.C. GAMERS M

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Workforce announces the 2016 Game Changers, including these four from the District.

The employment world is changing; it’s time for benefits to catch up.

2016

From Our Editors

On the Scene with 2016 Game Changers Catalina Andrade, second from left, and Gretchen Van Vlymen stopped by the Workforce offices to record videos and take a few pics. They are flanked by James Tehrani, Workforce’s managing editor, on the left, and Rick Bell, the publication’s editorial director, on the right.

People often ask: How do you come up with stories? We have lots of ways of making people talk, and sometimes the best ideas come through casual conversation.A year ago at SHRM 2015, I chatted with iCIMS’ SusanVitale. I’ve known Susan since we first met at an Onrec recruiting conference in 2008, so I always look forward to catching up with iCIMS’ ace CMO. During our chat I asked her,“What’s the hot trend in recruiting?”Without hesitation she responded: “Recruiters need to act more like marketers.” Sure enough, Susan’s simple statement has morphed into a fullblown feature story in this issue. Read longtime Workforce scribe Sam Greengard’s excellent piece titled “Recruit Like a Marketer!” p. 22. FYI, I chatted with Susan at this year’s SHRM confab, too.What’s the next trend in recruiting? Guess you’ll have to keep reading Workforce to find out. — Rick Bell, Editorial Director 4

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READER FEEDBACK Recently retired HR professional Mark Eichinger commented on the June story “The Debate Over HR Credentials,” p. 40: ‘I have always supported continuing education for the HR professionals/managers/directors who worked for me. So I found this article of interest and thought I would share my opinion and observations. I believe that certifications, no matter the source, can add skills and knowledge to the capabilities of HR professionals. But in the end it is all about application of those. And they are applied by all of us through our behavior, behavior that is observable in meetings, presentations, projects and teamwork, and reports to name a few.Those behaviors are sometimes referred to as “effectiveness competencies.”The ultimate measure of how successful we are as HR’s executives depends on our ability to, using the well-worn phrase,“earn a seat at the leadership table.” So skills and knowledge are important but professionals need a commanding ability and mastery of effectiveness competencies. I call them delivery vehicles. We display these effectiveness competencies or behaviors in some way almost on a daily basis; they are vehicles that present the accumulated learning of business-world professionals.There are many. My favorites: integrity, business acumen, adaptability, flexibility, courage, professional presence, humor, analytical ability, judgment, drive, influence, risk-taking, communications, humility and passion in no particular order. I do not include leadership on the list as I

believe leadership results from having a command of all of those and more. And it takes very little time for peers, superiors or any employee to observe if we have a command of effectiveness competencies. Effectiveness competencies are critical career-makers (or breakers) as they are observable, open doors (professional presence), impact co-workers’ careers and daily work environment (compassion, talent management, leadership), are a factor in our ability to learn (listening) as well as have others learn from us (patience, business acumen, understanding), and display our energy and enthusiasm for our work and our company. Effectiveness competencies make or break more careers than a lack of functional skills and technical knowledge. And they are excellent forecast factors of a professional’s future capability in higher-level positions. Certifications, training and professional development are all critical to career advancement. However, my observations are that the mastery of effectiveness/behavioral competencies is the defining factor of professional success and leadership.’ Mark Eichinger Havelock, North Carolina 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! august

2016

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August 2016 | Volume 95, Issue 8 PRESIDENT John R. Taggart jrtag@workforce.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Bravetta Hassell bhassell@workforce.com

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

COPY EDITOR Christopher Magnus cmagnus@workforce.com

MANAGING EDITOR James Tehrani jtehrani@workforce.com CONTRIBUTING EDITOR Frank Kalman fkalman@workforce.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Andie Burjek aburjek@workforce.com ASSOCIATE EDITOR Lauren Dixon ldixon@workforce.com

DIGITAL MANAGER Lauren Lynch llynch@workforce.com DIGITAL COORDINATOR Mannat Mahtani mmahtani@workforce.com

EVENTS MARKETING MANAGER EDITORIAL ART DIRECTOR Anthony Zepeda azepeda@workforce.com Anna Jo Beck

VICE PRESIDENT, CFO, COO abeck@workforce.com Kevin A. Simpson EDITORIAL INTERNS ksimpson@workforce.com AnnMarie Kuzel akuzel@workforce.com VICE PRESIDENT, GROUP PUBLISHER Sarah Foster Clifford Capone sfoster@workforce.com ccapone@workforce.com VICE PRESIDENT, VICE PRESIDENT, RESEARCH AND EDITOR IN CHIEF ADVISORY SERVICES Mike Prokopeak Sarah Kimmel mikep@workforce.com skimmel@workforce.com EDITORIAL DIRECTOR RESEARCH MANAGER Rick Bell Tim Harnett rbell@workforce.com tharnett@workforce.com GROUP EDITOR/ RESEARCH ANALYST ASSOCIATE EDITORIAL Grey Litaker DIRECTOR clitaker@workforce.com Kellye Whitney kwhitney@workforce.com

EVENT CONTENT MANAGER Ashley Collins acollins@workforce.com

RESEARCH ASSISTANT Kristen Britt kbirtt@workforce.com MEDIA & PRODUCTION MANAGER Ashley Flora aflora@workforce.com PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Nina Howard nhoward@workforce.com

LIST MANAGER Mike Rovello WEBCAST COORDINATOR hcmlistrentals@infogroup.com Alec O’Dell BUSINESS aodell@workforce.com ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER Melanie Lee mlee@workforce.com

EVENTS GRAPHIC DESIGNER Tonya Harris lharris@workforce.com

LEAD GENERATION ADMINISTRATOR Nick Safir nsafir@workforce.com

BUSINESS MANAGER Vince Czarnowski vince@workforce.com REGIONAL SALES MANAGERS Derek Graham dgraham@workforce.com Marc Katz mkatz@workforce.com Daniella Weinberg dweinberg@workforce.com ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Brian Lorenz blorenz@workforce.com DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, EVENTS Kevin Fields kfields@workforce.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Marty Denis Kris Dunn Scarlett L. Freeman Sarah Fister Gale Samuel Greengard Jon Hyman Mark T. Kobata Gary B. Kushner Rita Pyrillis Daniel R. Saeedi Sarah Sipek Peter A. Steinmeyer Jeff Wald

AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT VICE PRESIDENT, EVENTS DIRECTOR Cindy Cardinal Trey Smith tsmith@workforce.com ccardinal@workforce.com

John R. Taggart PRESIDENT

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

FREE LIVE

ONLINE EVENTS

CONTENTS

ON THE COVER BELTING IT OUT IN THE BELTWAY

Four of our 2016 Game Changers — from left: Jennifer Duff, Tania DaSilva,Alexe Weymouth and Jason Hite — are standing tall in Washington, D.C. COVER PHOTO BY GREG POWERS

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GAME CHANGERS CLASS OF 2016

Domestically and internationally, the 2016 Game Changers are standouts and standardsetters in the HR field.

26 SPECIAL REPORT 44 SETTING THE SCREEN

Candidate experience and automated data capture top the list of background checking requests.

FEATURES 22 THE BENEFITS OF THE ‘GIG’

As more employees shift their focus from full-time to contract work, it’s time for benefit rules to follow.

40 RECRUIT LIKE A MARKETER!

Today’s HR professional must think and act like a marketer.

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CORRECTIONS Workforce is retracting the article “Smile Wide for the Camera,” July 2016, p. 15.After an editorial review, quotes attributed to Dr.Terry O’Toole were not said by O’Toole.Additionally, a paraphrased quote attributed to O’Toole,“The hygienists and dental assistants work from temporary clinics that are set up in schools, community centers or nursing homes and perform routine procedures such as cleanings or fillings,” is not true according to the American Dental Association.The ADA told us in an email that:“Teledentistry does provide for the greater availability of various preventive dental services to patients through indirect supervision. It should not be implied or construed irreversible procedures such as dental restorations (fillings) are performed using this delivery medium by dental hygienists or dental assistants.” Also, because of an editing error, the percentages were wrong for the Employee Benefit Research Institute survey in the “Retirement Predicament” story, June 2016, p. 18. It should have said:“Three-quarters of people surveyed said they are ‘confident’ or ‘very confident’ with what they are doing to save for retirement.The number shoots to 84 percent for workers with a retirement plan at their job with 44 percent for those without a plan at work.”

In the June 2016 Workforce 100 list, p. 24, Southwest Airlines Co.’s top human resources person should be Julie Weber.The company also has 50,000 employees. august

2016

ON THE WEB

SPEAK UP!

The Workforce online community provides you with virtual meeting places to chat about issues and trends affecting you and your workplace. LIKE US: facebook.com/workforce.magazine

JOIN THE GROUP:

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workforce.com/LinkedIn

WATCH US: workforce.com/youtube

FOR YOUR BENEFIT 14 MINORITIES AND WELLNESS

COLUMNS 4

YOUR FORCE

Where do we get our ideas for stories?

12 WORK IN PROGRESS

The best HR pros ship every week.

17 ACING THE ACA

The EEOC’s ill wellness stance.

20 THE PRACTICAL EMPLOYER

A humane approach to layoffs.

50 THE LAST WORD

A focused Flickinger.

august

2016

Dealing with health disparities in the workforce is an integral part of a thorough wellness initiative.

15 DOUGHNUTS AND DIALOGUE

There are many ways to creatively communicate perks and benefits to employees.

15 BIG COMPANIES POOL BIG DATA IN NEW HEALTH ALLIANCE

The Health Transformation Alliance was formed earlier this year.

16 WE’RE HEADED FOR OVERTIME

Employers can’t wait until the eleventh hour to start prepping for the upcoming overtime changes.

10 THE INTERNET OF THINGS

IoT could change the way you manage your workforce.

11 FROM THE WEB, PEOPLE MOVES AND BY THE NUMBERS

Bullying is color blind; Davis to NFP; the weather.

13 Q&A

Sam Adams’ Jim Koch offers tasty advice on talent.

LEGAL 18 CLOSER LOOK AT NONCOMPETES More courts examining restrictive covenants.

19 LEGAL BRIEFINGS

Constructive discharge claims; protected activity.

w o r k f o r c e . c o m | Workƒorce

TRENDING

Internet of Things Could Be Next Talent Management Thing By Sarah Fister Gale

he internet of things, or IoT, is going to change the way you manage your workforce — and the revolution has already begun. IoT involves connecting people, sensors, machines and devices over a single network to automatically transfer data without manual interference. It is often thought of as an efficiency tool used in manufacturing and logistics environments to track equipment performance and monitor the supply chain. But it can be just as beneficial in managing people, said Kevin Cornelius mobility services leader at EY. “It can help the HR function adopt smarter systems to drive operations and innovate the way they deliver training, learning and people development.” Wellness Initiatives and IoT Companies that adopt wearables for wellness initiatives are already participating in IoT for workforce management. When HR gives employees sensor-driven devices to track the number of steps they take, their heart rate or o t h e r health data,

they are harnessing the power of IoT to reduce health care costs and improve productivity, said Debbie Krupitzer, the IoT practice lead for consulting and technology company Capgemini. “By implementing a program whereby employees wear activity trackers and are rewarded for their activity and movements, HR executives not only promote and incentivize healthy lifestyles among employees, but also can leverage the program to negotiate prices with their health care insurers to reduce premiums.” It is a gateway use of IoT for HR, but there are many other potential applications. IoT connectivity could be used to track the productivity of workers in the field, to assign tasks based on the nearest expert or service rep to a job, to improve site scheduling based on customer flow, and to push out real-time training based on an employees’ time or performance on a task. Activity trackers can also provide HR professionals with a new way to promote training and educational experiences among employees, Krupitzer said. “If an employee is working on a particular machine for the first time, the worker could get an alert with a tutorial on how to use the equipment and perform the task most effectively.” Harnessing the Tech Companies can also harness IoT to capture a real-time picture of where their people are and where they are needed and to support a more flexible workforce management approach, Cornelius said. “Any business with a footprint in more than one place will need to innovate their mobility strategies and approaches, not only to drive efficiencies but also to help create tomorrow’s leaders,” he said. That doesn’t mean HR leaders should

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attach sensors to all of their workers and start tracking their every move. First of all, there is a fine line between performance enhancement and stalking, Krupitzer said. But more importantly, you need a business case for using IoT that aligns with specific business goals if you want it to be effective.

COMPANIES THAT ADOPT WEARABLES FOR WELLNESS INITIATIVES ARE ALREADY PARTICIPATING IN THE INTERNET OF THINGS FOR WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT. As with all technology-driven initiatives, having a purpose and clear metrics will improve your outcomes and make it possible to demonstrate the value of these technologies to the business. Once you have your business case, then you can think about the technology. It may be as simple as buying Fitbits to support wellness goals or using GPS apps to track workers, or it may require the help of an IoT consultant to establish a network of custom-coded sensors to capture more specific data. HR leaders interested in testing IoT concepts should also consider what information they already have access to from employees’ connected devices, suggested David Ludlow, group vice president of solutions management for SAP. “That data can help you understand who your workforce is, what they are doing and what they need,” he said. “A lot of that data is already being collected; the question now is what are you going to do with it to improve the workforce process.” august

2016

TRENDING

FROM THE WEB BULLYING IS COLORBLIND Edward Stern, a former U.S. Labor Department analyst who has studied workplace bullying extensively, weighs in on four states, two red and two blue, that have recently addressed workplace bullying. Workforce.com/ StatesonBullying BLOGIVERSARY Longtime Workforce blogger Jon Hyman reflects on the ninth anniversary of “The Practical Employer.” Over the years Hyman has written more than 2,400 blog posts to put your minds at legal ease. Workforce.com/ blogiversary DON’T DRINK TO THAT JUST YET? Rick Bell and Frank Kalman discuss whether alcohol should be included in corporate culture in a recent edition of “5 Minutes of Management.” Workforce.com/ 5MinutesonAlcohol WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE The Workforce team was in Washington, D.C., in June covering SHRM’s annual conference. James Tehrani had the chance to interview many people in the HR field as well as famed zoologist Jack Hanna. Workforce.com/ HannaSHRM august

2016

PEOPLE

moves

D. SCOTT DERUE The University of Michigan named D. Scott DeRue as dean of the Stephen M. Ross School of Business. DeRue, currently associate dean for executive education and the Gilbert and Ruth Whitaker Professor of Business Administration, replaces Alison Davis-Blake as the ninth dean of the business school, effective July 1. KIM DAVIS Insurance broker NFP named Kim Davis to executive vice president and chief human resources officer. Most recently, Davis played an integral part in launching the NFP Women in Leadership Council, which seeks to empower female leaders across the organization. Davis has over 25 years’ experience in HR and held leadership positions within several industries before joining NFP in 2012. HILL FERGUSON Bay area-based telemedicine provider Doctor On Demand named Hill Ferguson as CEO. Hill is a former PayPal senior executive who has experience leading companies at every stage of growth, from founding a company to serving as senior executive in a high-growth public company. Ferguson replaces Adam Jackson. To be considered for People Moves, email a brief announcement and a high-resolution color photo to rbell @ workforce.com. Include People Moves in the subject line.

By the Numbers compiled by Rick Bell

The Weather Outside Is … Whether the weather is frightful or delightful, the forecast is 100 percent all business.

Commercially Speaking commercial weather companies

350 50%

$3 billion in annual revenue

Source: Knowledge@Wharton

Weather satellites’ share of weather forecasting systems market Source: MarketsToMarkets

Weather, man? Meteorologists study the weather and climate and how those conditions affect human activity and the Earth. Median pay: $89,820 (May 2015) Number of jobs: 11,800 (2014) Job growth: +9 percent (2014-2024) Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

What’s the Forecast? On TV

41%

Does It Feel Warmer to You? say 73% Americans that “global

47% Via weather apps

warming is affecting weather in the United States.”

2 billion adults have never heard of climate change Source: Yale Project on Climate Change Communication

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

THE BEST HR PROS SHIP EVERY WEEK By Kris Dunn

et’s face it:We all have good days and bad days as HR pros. On the bad or average days, it usually feels like all you have time to do is put out fires or move email around. Those days suck, but they happen. It’s when you find that type of day bleeding into multiple weeks (or even months) that you realize you have a problem. You’re in a rut.You’ve ceased to add value as an HR pro at the manager, director or vice president level. What you do next is up to you. Our companies hired us with the greatest of intentions. The assumption was that we were going to create a progressive people platform, mixing industry best practices with our own experiences as HR pros to come up with an approach that best met the talent needs of our company. Then we got caught up in what I’ll call “activity.” Emails. Meetings. Employee relations. You know the drill — all the busy work means you didn’t have time to get to what was most important — the project work that maximizes the return your company gets on its investment in people. Just like the best software departments ship new products or updates every week, the best HR pros ship products on a consistent basis as well. When’s the last time you created something from scratch as an HR pro? It’s been too long hasn’t it? Whether you’re OK or frustrated says a lot about your capacity to be a great HR pro. Great HR pros create new stuff and ship on a regular basis. If you’re OK not shipping, stop reading now. If you’re frustrated about it, the rest of this column is for you. The first thing you need to ship more work product in HR is to protect your time to be creative.To get organized and protect that time, I’ve tried to start an organization system called GTD (Getting Things Done, a great time and task management system) four different times. Like a smoker who tells you he’s getting ready to “quit again” (irony), I need to implement the GTD system again. It’s my best defense against the “whirlwind/vortex” of activity that sucks you up and prevents you from creating value. Look to a similar system to protect your creative time. Repeat as necessary. Last but not least, you need an appreciation of what “product” is — especially in the world of HR and intellectual capital. When I was fresh out of grad school, I worked for IBM

Global Services as a project manager for market research engagements. One of the challenging things about that job was staying up until 4 a.m. the morning of the final presentation with a partner pouring over my slides and generally being a huge @#$ about things that I thought didn’t matter. Then we’d walk into clients like the Chicago Tribune and General Motors and present at 9 a.m. The partner had a reason for the grill sessions. As a research firm, I still remember him saying, “The only product we have is the intellectual capital on those slides.” He was right, and he taught me a lot about shipping work product. I know that now. We all have different work experiences. I learned to ship work product in the knowledge sector at a former employer. If you didn’t have a similar experience, you’ll need to look at peers, thought leaders or colleagues in different departments for inspiration. What do you ship? Well, you’re the expert, right? The HR area you focus on is probably best defined by the following intersection: what you like to do best in the world of HR and the area of need at your company. A new recognition program? A new approach to recruit your hardest-to-fill position? The area of focus matters less than your determination to make something better — this week. One of the key elements to you becoming one of the best HR pros in your city is the ability to ship. No excuses. You set the date, and you do whatever you need to do to get your product or service where you want it to be, but when the date comes, you ship, deliver and communicate what’s changed to the rest of your company. Stop whining. No saying, “It has to be perfect” before you’ll ship. Set the date, then get the product out the door. Then improve it over time after it’s launched.Without that approach, chances are you’ll never ship. Me? I still have way too many days where I don’t ship anything. I need to change that, and so do you. Ship something today. You’ll feel better and the people who hired you to lead will feel better as well.

WHEN’S THE LAST TIME YOU CREATED SOMETHING FROM SCRATCH AS AN HR PRO? IT’S BEEN TOO LONG HASN’T IT?

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

august

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THE GODFATHER OF CRAFT BREWING By Rick Bell

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What started out as a modest plan to become a local brewer at a time when the craft beer industry was still in its infancy can be labeled as a great American success story. Jim Koch is the founder of the Boston Beer Co., which brews the popular Samuel Adams beers. His new book, “Quench Your Thirst,” is loaded with anecdotes, business tips and a pint or two of serious beer geekage. Rick Bell, Workforce’s editorial director, spoke with Koch for a beer during his recent book-signing tour.

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Workforce: You have a chapter titled ‘Look Hard for Talent. Then Look Again.’ Is talent that hard to find? Jim Koch: At many companies, the best candidate does not always get hired. The candidate with the best education or the best résumé does. It’s important before making a final hiring decision to think of the total package.

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WF: Besides the beer, what makes Boston Beer’s culture so unique?

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Koch: The Boston Beer Co. culture is unique because of the people. None of the stories in ‘Quench Your Own Thirst’ could have been possible without colleagues, past and present, who have contributed in some way to The Boston Beer Co. to do things better.

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To read a longer version of this interview, go to Workforce.com/ JimKoch.

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FOR YOUR BENEFIT

Minorities and Wellness Dealing with health disparities in the workforce is an integral part of a thorough wellness initiative. By Rita Pyrillis

n 2002 Prudential Financial’s employee wellness program had a participation rate that many employers would envy, but when executives examined who was signing up, they discovered that African-Americans were greatly underrepresented. They developed a new communications strategy to get more African-American workers on board, but another problem emerged. As they looked more closely at the company’s health care data, they found that African-American employees had much higher rates of diabetes and hypertension than those from other racial and ethnic groups, according to Dr. K. Andrew Crighton, chief medical officer at Prudential Financial. In order to address those disparities, the company created a data warehouse to collect and analyze employee health information by race, ethnicity, gender, age and job levels and to track chronic conditions like diabetes, cardiac disease and asthma. Armed with that information, Prudential launched the Healthy Diabetic program in 2011 to address the disproportionate incidences of the disease among various employee groups. Prudential is part of a small but growing number of employers that are addressing inequities in the health status of their workforces. Racial and ethnic disparities in health care — whether in access, insurance coverage or quality of care — is typically thought of as a public health concern, but awareness among employers is growing, according to LuAnn Heinen, a vice president at the National Business Group on Health. “As the U.S. workforce becomes increasingly diverse and company operations globalize, health disparities in the workplace are also becoming more common,” she said in an email. “By addressing health care disparities and health equity, employers are improving the value, quality and effectiveness of the services their employees receive through health care benefits and productivity programs.” According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, African-Americans are 60 percent more likely to develop diabetes and 30 percent more likely to die of heart disease than non-Hispanic white people. While insurance coverage and access to care affect health outcomes, disparities exist even among those with insurance. For example, when it comes to cardiac care, insured African-Americans are significantly less likely than white people with health insurance to undergo angiography, which identifies blockages in the heart’s arteries, according to an NBGH report on health care disparities. As a result, African-Americans are less likely to undergo heart bypass surgery and other potentially life-saving procedures. “Employers are coming to see that this is really critical,” said Ron Goetzel, vice president at Truven Health Analytics, which helped Prudential develop its data warehouse. “Even companies that offer very good health benefits, even those in the Fortune 500, when you begin to analyze the data and look at different racial and ethnic groups, you will see differences in prevalence. 14

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“It doesn’t start when you enter the workforce, it starts way before that. Your childhood, your education, the environment you grew up in, all of those factors come with you into the workplace. To the extent that employers can address those factors, it’s going to benefit the employee and the organization.” In 2015, Goetzel co-authored a study of racial and ethnic health disparities at 46 large companies and found that even among employees with good health benefits, higher incomes and a safe work environment, disparities existed. The study points out that some differences may be attributed to social, environmental and economic differences that were not measured in the analysis. At Prudential, on-site nurses provide personalized coaching to help diabetic employees manage their blood glucose levels. First-year results showed declines for all groups with 61 percent of diagnosed employees joining the program.The company also provides cultural competency training for all health and wellness professionals. Unlike many employers, Prudential eschews outcomes-based wellness incentives like financial rewards for employees who complete weight-loss or fitness challenges because such practices could unfairly discriminate against those with conditions associated with race and ethnicity, according to Crighton, who also co-authored the 2015 study, which was published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Employers who are concerned about health care disparities in their workforce must look beyond the physical and take into account factors such as an employee’s social and cultural environment when designing a wellness program, he said. “It’s about focusing on those nonmedical barriers to health and really sitting down and meeting the person where they are to find the best approach for them,” he said. “It’s not the old medical model of, ‘Here’s what you need to do.’ Even among minority groups there are differences. Not everyone is the same.” august

2016

FOR YOUR BENEFIT

Doughnuts and Dialogue: Something to Chew on to Communicate Benefits There are many ways to creatively communicate perks and benefits to employees. For Walker Sands, it involves doughnuts. By Sarah Foster

t all started with a doughnut. For PR firm Walker Sands Communications, that round, sometimes frosted dessert didn’t just pack a lot of cream — it packed a lot of punch as well. Mike Santoro, president of Walker Sands, wanted to learn how news traveled across his company. He turned his head toward the regular internal employee newsletter, wondering if it was an effective communication tool. “When you’re a small company, it’s easy to spread the word. You stand up in the middle of the floor and yell, ‘Attention!’ As we’ve grown, it’s definitely been more challenging,” Santoro said. “We wanted to do an actual experiment to find out how they [employees] behave.” Then, he thought about that popular breakfast treat. Santoro said he thought to himself, “What can we do with doughnuts?” Besides making Homer Simpson the happiest man in the world? At 9 a.m. on a Friday, two different versions of the same e-newsletter went out. One read, “Donuts in the Conference Room” at the top; the second placed the same phrase toward the bottom. By 10:30 a.m., 91 percent of the newsletter’s recipients were aware of the information but in a way that interested Santoro. Nearly half of the employees in the conference room had heard about the pastries from a source other than the newsletter. Santoro learned that the office newsletter is only slightly better than word of mouth — and that word of mouth only travels so far. Walker Sands’ recent study raises an interesting question about effective perks and benefits communication strategies, which can be just as tricky and sticky as the icing on that pastry. How can employers effectively spread the word? “Today’s employee and the ways of communicating have changed,” Santoro said. “It used to be, you could do direct mail, face-to-face. You could do phone calls. Now, people are consuming information” through many different kinds of outlets. “As much as you can, communicate with pictures and video,” Santoro said. “That’s really important to be able to tell that story.” Social media sites, Santoro said, are great methods of doing just that. “Our own employees tend to be younger people,” he said, “who tend to communicate across Snapchat, Facebook, Instagram.” But just because the digital age provides more communication tools, Santoro said the traditional in-person meetings should not be overlooked. “We have quarterly meetings; we have monthly town halls where we gather everyone in the company together and tell them: ‘This is what’s most important for the month.’ Then you have these other secondary mechanisms, like the newsletter and active social channel,” Santoro said. But communicating those perks and benefits doesn’t always have to revolve around “Who’s bringing the doughnuts?” David Daskal has also seen some unique strategies as director of business development at The Jellyvision Lab Inc., a business that creates interactive software to help employees learn about workplace benefits. “Being human means you also have the freedom to have a little fun,” Daskal said. “Engaging posters and fliers in the break room, a raffle for everyone who participates in a benefits webinar.We’ve even worked with HR teams who have dressed up in costumes to help promote open enrollment.” august

2016

Big Companies Pool Big Data in New Health Alliance By Rita Pyrillis

nother group of large employers is banding together to tackle rising health care costs. This one is composed of 20 of the largest U.S. employers, including American Express Co., Caterpillar Inc. and IBM Corp. The Health Transformation Alliance was formed earlier this year joining groups like the National Business Group on Health, the National Business Coalition on Health and a multitude of regional business and employer groups working to improve employee health care. The alliance, which was founded by the American Health Policy Institute in Washington, D.C., will focus on eliminating inefficiencies in the supply chain by using data collected from 4 million covered lives. “The initiative focuses on reforms to the supply chain that are designed to reduce redundancies and waste, all of which drive up the cost of health care coverage,” said Tevi Troy, CEO of the American Health Policy Institute. “By coming together to share expertise, the companies seek to make the current multilayered supply chain more efficient.” The group, which spends more than $14 billion collectively on health care for employees, their dependents and retirees will use the data to propose more effective strategies. Troy, a former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said that the alliance’s financial resources and the amount of health care data it can access distinguishes it from other business groups with similar aims. “The American health care delivery system is a patchwork of complicated, expensive and wasteful systems,” said Marc Reed, the chief administrative officer of Verizon in a news release. “We’ve done what we can as individual companies. By joining together, we can do more.We need to stop applying bandages to the system and address what’s fundamentally wrong.” w o r k f o r c e . c o m | Workƒorce

FOR YOUR BENEFIT

We’re Headed for Overtime With new Labor Department rules on the horizon for overtime pay, employers can’t wait until the eleventh hour to start prepping for the upcoming changes. By AnnMarie Kuzel

f you’re an employer with a bunch of workers making just under $50,000 a year, prepare to work overtime to get your company ready for the new overtime rules. Under this new ruling, which was announced May 18 and is set to go into effect Dec. 1, overtime pay will automatically be extended to more than 4 million Americans in its first year in effect, according to the U.S. Labor Department. All employees earning less than $47,476 per year and working more than 40 hours per week will be considered eligible for time-and-a-half overtime pay.This new standard is set at the 40th percentile of earnings and will be automatically reapplied every three years. With that said, are there any companies that won’t be significantly affected by these changes? Brian Baxter, vice president of human resources at Modere, a personal care company based in Springville, Utah, said, “Organizations with operations in states with higher costs of living [and] with

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generally higher wages will not have have on salaries and budgets is important, many adjustments to make.” it is not the only factor that employers Still, not all companies will be so should consider when preparing for fortunate. changes in their company. According to Even with these changes being final- Bales, employers need to look at the ized, the future of this overtime regula- overtime rule from business operations, tion is still daunting, and its effect on the workforce management and legal standworkforce is uncertain. Scott Bales, se- points, and employers should also be nior director of customer success at conscious of how changes might affect Replicon Inc., a time-keeping software employee morale. company based in Calgary, Alberta, CanEven after examining these factors, ada, which provides services to many many employers will still be left wonderlarge U.S. companies, has examined the ing how exactly they can prepare their new overtime rule. business for the rapidly approaching overReplicon data found that an employee time rule. Bales said employers have from a small to medium-size business four options. works on average 25.5 hours more overThe first option requires employers to time per year than a worker from a large reclassify jobs as nonexempt and pay for employer. For a business with employees excess overtime hours worked, and this, who regularly log overtime hours, Bales Bales said, is the easiest of the four options. suggests examining the type of work that The second option is employers can reis being completed during these extra classify jobs as nonexempt, and by definhours. For instance, “If someone is consis- ing what constitutes overtime hours, tently working over 40 hours but is companies can maintain a tighter grip on spending a lot of time on adminis- costs. However, Bales warned: “This can trative tasks, this [could] be dele- be difficult to curtail, and managers will gated to another person to not also need to be more proactive and vigionly reduce costs but lant in monitoring hours.” also support that person The third option is to classify jobs as in focusing on more exempt and raise employees’ pay to meet strategic and career de- the new salary threshold. velopment opportuniThe fourth option, Bales said, is one ties,” Bales said. “role could be divided into two jobs to Baxter shares a simi- attempt to reduce overtime payments. lar mindset. He said, Depending on the role, it may make sense “The biggest concern is to delegate tasks and look at how this cost.” Before the new could also support greater efficiencies.” overtime rules go into Even with an upcoming presidential effect, “a detailed analy- election, the new overtime rule isn’t likely sis will have to be done going anywhere. Bales said, “The overto determine if it’s bet- time rule is an executive rule change, not ter to simply move sala- legislation. If the next president, however, ries above the new is against the new rule, it can be reversed threshold or to move — although this will take a long time them to nonexempt to do.” and bite the bullet of Whether an employer supports or opovertime pay.” poses the new overtime rule, it sounds While re-examining like their best option is just to get used to the financial effect that it — and start putting in some overtime the overtime rule will to get ready for it. august

2016

FOR YOUR BENEFIT

Acing the ACA

THE EEOC’s ILL WELLNESS STANCE By Gary B.Kushner

he Affordable Care Act had much to say about employer-sponsored group health plans from both a design and operational perspective. The ACA gave oversight to three federal agencies: the IRS, the U.S. Labor Department and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to write regulations and enforce the provisions in the ACA. Included in that charge to the three agencies was the implementation and expansion of wellness incentives provided either within a group health plan or as a stand-alone plan. In a final regulation under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act issued on May 16, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission weighed in on its interpretation of wellness program designs as either a stand-alone program or as part of an employer’s group health plan. To use a baseball analogy, it was a swing and a miss. First, it decided that at least two federal district courts were wrong when they ruled against the EEOC on its interpretation of the intersection of wellness programs and the ADA and GINA, despite strong separate judicial opinions that the EEOC had overreached. Both the ADA and GINA contain exceptions that allow employers to ask health-related questions and conduct certain medical examinations (e.g., biometric screenings) to determine risk factors as part of a voluntary wellness program that is reasonably designed to promote health or prevent disease. To meet this standard, a wellness program cannot require an overly burdensome amount of time for participation, involve unreasonably intrusive procedures, be a subterfuge for violating laws prohibiting employment discrimination or require employees to incur significant costs for medical examinations. Over the years, most employers have designed wellness programs to meet the requirements of the ADA and GINA to avoid the statutory pitfalls. But the EEOC believes that a wellness program isn’t voluntary if the biometric screenings would act as a gateway to an employer’s group health plan. That is, if nonparticipation in the screening results in an employee not gaining eligibility to participate in a plan for which they were otherwise eligible, or would be required to suffer a significantly large financial penalty to join the health plan, then the EEOC believes it’s a violation of the ADA and GINA, despite the statutes’ clear language to the contrary.

Second, because we all know how well our employees read the dozens of notices we’re required to deliver each year, the EEOC imposes a new notice requirement in order for a wellness program to be considered voluntary and thus meet the ADA regulations. Employees participating in wellness programs that involve disability-related inquiries or medical examinations must be given a notice that describes: the type of information to be collected; the purpose for which the information will be used; the restrictions on disclosure of the information; any employer representatives or other parties with whom the information will be shared; and the methods used to ensure the information will not be improperly disclosed. Last year, the EEOC completely rewrote the ACA and previous guidance by changing the clear meaning of the incentive limitations in HIPAA that the ACA updated. The EEOC spent much time in the final regulation comparing different scenarios and whether the incentives were for nontobacco-related risks, tobacco-related risks or both. In essence, the ACA had amended HIPAA to allow for additional incentives for tobacco cessation programs, up to 50 percent of the cost of employee-only coverage in the employer’s plan. Jumping into the fray, the EEOC contradicted the HIPAA nondiscrimination regulations. It decided that additional incentive is available only if the employer asked the employee to certify whether they used tobacco or not, and did not perform any medical examination, like a cotinine test administered as part of a biometric screening or on a stand-alone basis. If the employer did so, then the nontobacco incentive cap of 30 percent is to apply. The bottom line is that the EEOC, shut down twice by the courts, is trying to step into an area for which it has limited authority. Of course it has oversight on the ADA and GINA, but the existing rules for those two acts as well as the guidance provided by the IRS, Labor Department and HHS on the ACA as it relates to wellness programs has been very clear. Employers are now left shaking their collective heads about how to design and operate programs intended to increase the health status of their employees and their dependents. This is not what the ACA contemplated regarding employer-based wellness programs.

THE EEOC BELIEVES THAT A WELLNESS PROGRAM ISN’T VOLUNTARY IF THE BIOMETRIC SCREENINGS WOULD ACT AS A GATEWAY TO AN EMPLOYER’S GROUP HEALTH PLAN.

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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

Legal Too Restrictive? Courts Taking Closer Look at Noncompete Clauses Recent decisions show a willingness to challenge existing notions of consideration when it comes to restrictive covenants. By Peter A. Steinmeyer and Scarlett L. Freeman

ompanies seeking to enforce post-employment restrictive covenants — agreements restricting an individual’s ability to compete with their former employer or solicit its customers or employees — should be aware of current litigation trends surrounding what constitutes “adequate consideration” for a restrictive covenant. Consideration — the mutual exchange of something of value — is an essential element of an enforceable contract. As with all other contracts, restrictive covenants must be supported by “adequate consideration” to be enforceable. In the past few years, courts have been re-examining what constitutes adequate consideration for a restrictive covenant. In 2013, the Illinois Court of Appeals held, contrary to longstanding precedent, that in the absence of other considerations, mere employment constitutes adequate consideration for a restrictive covenant only if the employee remains employed for at least two years after signing the restrictive covenant. This two-year rule applies regardless of whether the employee signed the restrictive covenant as a new or existing employee and regardless of whether the employee voluntarily resigned or was fired. Notably, multiple federal district courts in Illinois subsequently declined to apply the bright-line rule, instead considering other factors such as compensation, raises and bonuses, and the terms of the employee’s termination. Similarly, since 2014, Kentucky, North Carolina and Pennsylvania courts have each issued decisions requiring some consideration beyond mere continued employment to enforce a noncompete. For example, in Employment Staffing Group v. Little, the North Carolina Court of Appeals upheld as adequate a $100 payment made to the defendant employee in conjunction with signing a midemployment noncompete. The court upheld the

$100 direct deposit payment to the employee in exchange for signing the restrictive covenant, even where the payment was not directly referenced in the agreement terms. On the other hand, in 2015, the Wisconsin Supreme Court held in Runzheimer International v. Friedlen that employers may require existing at-will employees to sign noncompete agreements without offering additional consideration beyond continued employment, although the court did not provide clear guidance as to the period of time that the employment must continue after the noncompete is signed. The court reasoned that although an employer could theoretically terminate an employee’s employment shortly after having the employee sign a restrictive covenant, the employee could challenge the enforcement of the restrictive covenant through other contract formation principles such as fraudulent inducement or good faith and fair dealing. All of these decisions demonstrate the recent willingness of parties to challenge existing notions of consideration when it comes to restrictive covenants; additional challenges are anticipated nationwide. What then should an employer do to ensure that a restrictive covenant is supported by adequate consideration? First, depending on the state of employment, employers may want to provide consideration in addition to an offer of initial or continued employment. Examples of possible “additional consideration” include a cash payment; stock options; training; education; a raise; additional paid time off; guaranteed severance; or a promotion. In the absence of judicial guidance, it would be prudent to be as generous as possible and to provide consideration that is more than de minimis. Regardless of the “additional consideration” ultimately decided upon, the restrictive

In the past few years, courts have been re-examining what constitutes adequate consideration for a restrictive covenant.

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covenant itself should both explicitly recite the consideration provided to the employee for signing it and further provide that the employee acknowledges the consideration and its adequacy. Second, the employer may agree to continue the employee’s salary during any restricted period, thereby alleviating concern about consideration being illusory. Third, employers may consider trying to evade consideration concerns entirely by having employees agree to a “garden leave” or “required notice” clause, rather than a traditional noncompete or nonsolicit clause. Under such a provision, an employee is required to give advance notice of their resignation (e.g., 30 to 90 days) and, during the notice period, the employee remains on the payroll and owes the employer a fiduciary duty of loyalty (and therefore cannot work for a competitor during that period). Because the employee remains on the payroll and because garden leave provisions tend to be shorter in duration than traditional restrictive covenants, they are less onerous to the individual and thus more likely to be enforced. Fourth, when drafting a restrictive covenant, employers should include a contractual choice-of-law provision that specifies which state’s laws will govern the agreement. Ideally, there will be a reasonable connection to a state with favorable laws regarding the enforceability of restrictive covenants, and that state’s laws can be designated as the governing laws. Examples of possible states to be chosen include the state where the employer’s headquarters is located or where the employee actually works. Unless the choice-of-law provision violates the fundamental public policy of a state with a materially greater interest in the situation, or the parties and contract do not have a substantial relationship with the chosen state, courts will generally enforce such provisions. Finally, on an annual basis, employers should have their restrictive covenants reviewed by a knowledgeable attorney to make sure they are still up-todate and fully compliant with current court decisions and state statutes. As courts increasingly address challenges to the adequacy of consideration in restrictive covenants, employers can take measures to ensure that a restrictive covenant will be enforced. By simply remaining aware of fluctuating state laws, employers can structure employment agreements to incorporate adequate consideration under applicable state law. Peter A. Steinmeyer is a member of the law firm Epstein Becker & Green in the Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practice. Scarlett L. Freeman is an associate in Epstein Becker & Green’s litigation practice. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.

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Legal Legal Briefings GETTING MORE ‘CONSTRUCTIVE’ To bring a claim for discrimination or retaliation, an employee must timely file their claim with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (usually within 180 days). The timeliness of their claim depends, however, on what constitutes the final discriminatory act in a given case. The U.S. Supreme Court in Green v. Brennan recently defined the last discriminatory act in constructive discharge claims in a way that does not benefit employers. “Constructive discharge” occurs when an employer makes an employee’s working conditions so unpleasant that a reasonable person in the employee’s position would feel compelled to resign. A constructive discharge is treated similarly to a termination for purposes of Title VII and most state laws. The plaintiff in Green alleged constructive discharge, claiming his employer had created an untenable working environment for him. The employer moved for summary judgment, alleging that Green had failed to file his claim timely. While Green’s claim was clearly timely if measured from the date of his resignation, the claim was untimely if measured from the date of the last allegedly discriminatory act. The trial court and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals both found that Green’s time to file started running with the last alleged discriminatory act. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed, finding that the time to file actually started with Green’s resignation. Green v. Brennan, Postmaster General No. 14-613 (May 23, 2016). IMPACT: Because of the Supreme Court’s decision, employees now have more time to file their claims for constructive discharge.

CAN’T YOU READ THE PROTECTED ACTIVITY SIGNS? The plaintiff in Heffernan v. City of Paterson, New Jersey, et al., did not engage in protected activity. Jeffrey Heffernan’s employer, however, thought he had and demoted him. Heffernan sued claiming retaliation, and both the trial court and the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the employer by holding that because Heffernan had not actually engaged in protected conduct, his demotion was not unlawful. The U.S. Supreme Court reversed, finding that the employer’s motive, not the employee’s actual behavior, determines whether retaliation has occurred. Heffernan worked as a police officer for Paterson. The chief of police and Heffernan’s supervisor were appointed by the city’s mayor, who was locked in a re-election contest. Heffernan played no role in the election, but picked up a campaign sign for the mayor’s opponent on behalf of his bedridden mother. Heffernan’s supervisors found out and demoted him. Heffernan sued, claiming that the city wrongly retaliated against him in violation of the First Amendment. The city contended it had not violated the amendment. Because Heffernan did not actually take sides in the election, he was not protected from his employer’s mistaken belief that he had done so, the trial court and 3rd Circuit found. But the Supreme Court reversed. Heffernan v. City of Paterson, N.J., et al., No. 14-1280 (April 26, 2016). IMPACT: An employer’s improper motive determines whether an employment action is unlawful. Employers must carefully analyze their employment decisions to ensure that they are not influenced by unlawful motives. 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.

w o r k f o r c e . c o m | Workƒorce

Legal

A Humane Approach to Layoffs Jon Hyman |

The Practical Employer

ur life experiences dictate our worldview. Such is the case with my opinion on the corporate layoff, as it has recently hit very close to home. For the sake of anonymity, I’ll speak in hypotheticals. An employee (I’ll call her “Jane”) has worked for Company X for nearly a decade over two different tenures. By all accounts, Jane is a good employee and well-regarded by her peers. Company X recently agreed to acquire Company Y, which, unfortunately, has made Jane’s position redundant. As a result, Company X decides to eliminate Jane’s position. So far, so normal. Here, however, is where the story takes a turn. Company X, for lack of better description, sandbags Jane. It made the decision to eliminate her position in March, yet doesn’t communicate it to her until May, when it calls her into a conference room, tells her she has been laid off, and that it’s her last day of employment. Jane, shell-shocked, packs her office, takes her severance agreement and leaves. Jane later discovers that the negative and unwarranted performance review she received in April was part of a plan to support Company X’s decision to include her in the May layoff. Employers, we need to approach layoffs differently. Employees caught in the net of a corporate downsizing aren’t necessarily bad employees. More often than not, they are victims of circumstance. Yet, too often we treat them like hardened criminals. I know of employers that perp-walk the recently laid off out of the building with armed escorts. What message does this send to the laid-off employee and to the employees left behind? That we don’t think of you as a person, but as a cog in the machine, which we likely don’t trust.This mindset needs to change. What happened to treating employees with dignity, fairness and respect? Just because we are laying people off doesn’t mean that we should stop exhibiting these values. How can we treat employees more like human beings in handling layoffs? Let me offer four suggestions. 1. Overcommunicate with all of your employees. Be open and honest in why your employees are losing their jobs. Explain how the layoff will affect them, including the timing of the layoff and, for those losing their jobs, the severance benefits available. Keeping your employees informed will help squelch the rumor mill, which will undermine everything you are otherwise trying to accomplish. 2. Treat everyone equitably. As best as possible, use

objective criteria to determine who stays and who goes. Employer X used negative subjective criteria in Jane’s performance review to justify including her in the layoff. Jane did not perceive those subjective criticisms as warranted, especially when she was an objectively high performer, and no one had ever before similarly criticized her for the reasons expressed in her negative review.The use of these subjective criteria left Jane with the (not unreasonable) belief that Company X purposely lowballed her review to justify her inclusion in the layoff. This gamesmanship not only reflects poorly on your organization, but it could also lead to pretextual challenges to your decision-making in later discrimination lawsuits. 3. Help people find jobs. Consider laid-off employees for other opportunities within your company. Provide written job references that will help them land on their feet. Offer outplacement that will assist them in writing effective résumés and networking to find new employment. And, for goodness sake, if you (practically) promise a specific position to a laid-off worker, don’t later give it to someone else.That’s just plain mean. 4. Don’t toss people out onto the street. When someone loses a job, time is their best asset. Provide them as much as you can afford. If Company X knew in March that it would have to lay off Jane (an otherwise quality, longstanding employee with good character) in May, what was the harm in telling her in March? It would have provided her two extra months to find another job, and it wouldn’t have left Jane with such a bad feeling about Company X. Companies claim concerns about confidential information excuse such (mis)behavior. If that is a legitimate concern for a specific employee, you might be justified in treating that employee differently. Otherwise, you have no reason to treat a laid-off employee like a criminal. Even the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, or WARN, Act provides 60 days’ notice before a mass layoff.You can simultaneously protect your information and treat people humanely. The bottom line? Treat your employees like human beings throughout the layoff process, and everyone will be better as a result.

What happened to treating employees with dignity, fairness and respect? Just because we are laying people off doesn’t mean that we should stop exhibiting these values.

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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.

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2016

THE BENEFITS — or Lack Thereof —

OF THE ‘GIG’

BY JEFF WALD

As more employees shift their focus to contract work, it’s time for benefit rules to evolve.

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here’s a reason the on-demand economy — also known as the “gig,” “sharing” or “freelance” economy — is flourishing. The gig economy is a near-frictionless system that enables both workers and businesses to be more flexible, and therefore allows capital and time to be allocated more efficiently. It also allows workers to create their own schedules and work, charge what they want, and create their own work-life balance. In other words, it creates a nation of entrepreneurs. As with every shift in the labor market throughout history, from industrialization to assembly-line production, the

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w o r k f o r c e . c o m | Workƒorce

on-demand revolution raises many points of contention between labor and the owners of capital. Worker protections and benefits have long been the central point of disagreement in workforce management, and today’s change in the labor force is no different. In the on-demand economy, the incentives for — and protection of — workers has to find the right balance for both sides to benefit. This challenge is being addressed in an on-demand economy that is booming. Nearly 50 million Americans now self-identify as independent professionals in some form or another. A recent report from the nonprofit Freelancers Union reported that 34 percent of the U.S. workforce is freelancing. Work Market’s own “2016 Corporate On-Demand Talent Report” found that 27 million people are engaged with enterprises in nontraditional work engagements. (Editor’s note: The author is president of Work Market, which is a platform that connects freelancers and employers.)

WITH COMPANIES UNSURE HOW TO PROCEED AND WORKERS LEFT WITH A LIMITED SAFETY NET, BOTH WANT NEW POLICIES TO UNLEASH THE ON-DEMAND ECONOMY. Additionally, the freelance trend is only accelerating. Market analysis indicates that the number of Americans freelancing will continue to rise in the coming years. Research firm Gartner Inc. expects 50 percent of the U.S. workforce to be freelancing in some way within the next two years. Given this approaching societal shift, the issue of protecting workers has become magnified. As more and more people enter the on-demand economy and take it upon themselves to manage their careers, the lack of a fair and sensible safety net is becoming increasingly problematic.

A Brief History of Benefits Current U.S. labor laws were written in an age when there was a clear imbalance of power between companies and workers.The call to regulate the labor markets and offer protection for workers was delivered through an aggressive legislation process, centered around the Federal Insurance Contribution Act of 1935 and the Fair Labor Standard Act of 1938. This legislation set into law a so-called “social safety net” that encompassed protections such as minimum wage, overtime payment, unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation. Under the FLSA, workers are guaranteed certain protections. It established the 40-hour workweek and ensured reasonable work hours, especially for minors.The right to rea24

Workƒorce | w o r k f o r c e . c o m

sonable pay certified that workers would be compensated fairly. The FLSA would also manage employer compliance with laws affecting wages and fair work conditions. However revolutionary these reforms were then, they now fall short of addressing the needs of the modern workforce. In fact, in the original acts for the National Labor Relations Board and the FLSA, there’s no definition of what constitutes an employee. According to employment and labor lawyer William Hays Weissman who is a shareholder at the law firm Littler Mendelson, “It was just assumed at the time everybody knew who was who.” Lawsuits ensued asking basic questions such as: Is this person working for me actually my employee or not? And by the 1940s, policymakers had to look anew at the definitions and began to consider the concept of “economic reality.” The economic reality test tries to determine who is an employee based on whether someone’s economically dependent upon someone else. Unfortunately, that is a rather nebulous statutory definition. Weissman added: “ ‘To employ to suffer or permit to work,’ that’s a meaningless phrase, but that’s what the FLSA says. For the IRS though, an employee ‘is someone who under the usual common law rules is an employee.’ So regulators define the words with the word they’re defining, which doesn’t make a lot of sense, and we have this situation where you have a variety of tests, definitions that are very unclear, and you have the same problem of trying to figure out who is an employee and who is not.” The bottom line is that federal, state and local laws are out of alignment with one another. And in the case of the on-demand economy, these laws are out of alignment with the new realities of the evolving employer-worker relationship. This creates confusion for companies and gaps in protections for workers. We don’t believe the law’s intent was to expose workers to risks simply because of how they are classified.

Barriers to Entrepreneurship Explosion The biggest disadvantage for those seeking to join the freelance workforce is the combination of benefits with an employment model based on IRS Form W-2. The social safety net is almost entirely delivered through the W-2 fulltime employment model. However, with up to 50 million working Americans spending time outside this W-2 model (and using IRS Form 1099-MISC) some are being shut out of the social safety net. As a freelancer, an individual has no access to such protections as: • Overtime pay rules • Unemployment insurance • Workers’ compensation insurance • Paid vacation time • Sick days • Family medical leave • Right of assembly • Minimum wage • Americans with Disability Act protections august

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In addition, as an entrepreneur, a person in the on-demand economy is responsible for their own development, training, health care, marketing and monetization of their skills, and planning for their retirement. These are new crafts these independent professionals will need to master to be effective working in an on-demand capacity. Combined with the above lack of protections, these new skills represent a significant barrier to workers entering and thriving in the on-demand economy. Another barrier to growth in the on-demand economy is the uncertainty companies face. Because entrepreneurs can file their taxes differently (writing off their home office and business expenses), the government believes there is several billion dollars in lost revenue from workers being classified as freelancers instead of as employees. This “tax gap” has led to a series of highly public crackdowns that, when combined with the opaque regulatory environment described above, leaves companies unsure of when and how they can engage on-demand labor. With companies unsure how to proceed and workers left with a limited safety net, both sides are clamoring for new policies to unleash the on-demand economy.

A Path Forward “This next generation, where they are in the ‘sharing economy,’ the millennials, 80 million strong, they have no safety net at all: no unemployment, no workman’s comp, no disability,” Sen. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, told USA Today last year.“Somebody may be doing very, very well as an Etsy seller and Airbnb user and Uber driver and part-time consultant ... but if they hit a rough patch, they have nothing to stop them until they fall, frankly, back upon government assistance programs.” In an effort to empower workers currently engaged in the on-demand economy, while also protecting those seeking to take charge of their own work and earning potential, it will be necessary for all parties involved — including the government, employers and workers themselves — to be a part of the solution. There is much talk of a new classification of labor somewhere between a 1099 contractor and a W-2 employee. While many of these policy proposals have merit (the dependent contractor and the independent worker are both well-reasoned), we believe they are too far-reaching and complex to have any chance of becoming actual law.What is needed are a series of actionable changes to amend existing laws. We have some suggestions on how members of each party in the on-demand economy can take certain steps to unleash the entrepreneur in every worker. 1. Extend basic labor protections to independent workers. Legislation should be amended to extend provisions that today only cover full-time employees. Thus, independent contractors will be eligible for minimum wage protection, overtime payment, freeaugust

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dom to organize and collectively bargain, and civil rights and ADA protections in the same way as fulltime employees. 2. Enable portability of benefits. Freelancers should have the option to purchase annual social services, such as unemployment insurance, which are not tied to a specific workplace.These services could be subsidized for certain income levels, but also allow workers to buy into national and state safety nets to protect them when there is no work.The Affordable Care Act is a step in this direction, as it removes the bond between your job and your health care. However, the on-demand economy needs this bond broken in other areas as well. New legislation should enable freelancers to purchase unemployment insurance, disability insurance and workers’ compensation as individuals during the same open-enrollment construct as health care. 3. Encourage personal responsibility. Any new legislation should be focused on encouraging freelancers to take responsibility for their own personal and professional future. The greater the percentage of freelance labor in the U.S. economy, the less employers are responsible for workers’ personal development and retirement savings. Therefore, freelancers should be encouraged by legislation to continue their professional development throughout their career and to save for retirement. A program of tax deductions should be crafted to maximize the benefit of education spending and retirement savings by entrepreneurs. 4. Provide clarity. Both freelancers and companies should have a clear understanding of the distinction between full-time employees and freelancers. Such clarity is required for companies to avoid unnecessary risks, and for workers to know when they are misclassified.The current structure is contradictory from state to state and between different federal agencies — to say nothing of the tangle of case law. By providing specific quantitative guidelines, such as number of hours per month/year or percentage of income from one company, every company and worker would at least understand the rules of the road.

A Secure Future of Work The new on-demand economy allows countless skilled professionals new opportunities for additional income and nontraditional career growth. As this model of work and professional engagement becomes a system on which workers and employers increasingly depend, it is up to every party involved to ensure that protections are in place. Only then can this new economy flourish into an institution that is a vital and viable part of our daily lives. Jeff Wald is the co-founder and president of Work Market, an on-demand labor platform that helps enterprises compliantly manage their freelance and contract workforce. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.

w o r k f o r c e . c o m | Workƒorce

E C H A N GE

G C Game

Changers 2016

IN OUR SIX YEARS OF AWARDING GAME CHANGERS, we’ve never had a group quite like this one. What was eye-opening to us initially was the quality of applications from companies in India. Three of those fine applicants are among this year’s Class of 2016 Game Changers. The fact that the program is becoming recognized internationally is exciting in that we always envisioned this as a global mark of excellence, and companies outside of the United States are starting to recognize that. Speaking of excitement, we decided to change things up a bit this year and, for the first time, ask all of our 25 Game Changers to submit selfies to show off their personalities, and boy did they deliver. We got a photo of one Game Changer skydiving as well as one diving on a bed while holding a phone to mention a couple of the standout images. Some of those photos you’ll see in this issue; others will appear online. We also asked our Game Changers to answer a series of questions and submit their FROM LEFT: GAME CHANGERS answers in short videos, and many of them TANIA DASILVA, JENNIFER did. Look for those to become available on DUFF, JASON HITE AND Workforce.com in the weeks ahead. We also ALEXE WEYMOUTH WERE had the privilege of meeting two of the Game PHOTOGRAPHED AT THE LOBBY OF THE ARENA STAGE THEATER Changers in Chicago, Catalina Andrade and IN WASHINGTON, D.C. Gretchen Van Vlymen, and interviewing them for a video shot in our studio. Another first was that one of our Game Changers from India, Sabera Patni, changed jobs before this issue went to press, and Jonathan Flickinger was laid off (see “The Last Word,” p. 50.) from a coal mining company. It’s a good reminder that the workforce is constantly changing. This is an outstanding group of young talent, and we are proud to call them our 2016 Game Changers. Congratulations to all of them. —James Tehrani

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PHOTOS BY GREG POWERS

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SPOTLIGHT: GREATER D.C. AREA JASON HITE

TANIA DaSILVA Director of human resources, Paradyme Management Inc., Greenbelt, Maryland Prior to hiring Tania DaSilva as director of human resources, data management consulting company Paradyme Management Inc. struggled with disjointedness. It had a slew of manual processes and disparate systems that operated as separate entities. The company’s corporate support team, which is composed of departments such as accounting and finance, office management, quality and recruiting, found the setup especially challenging. Some improvements were needed, including a streamlining of processes. DaSilva, 35, was quick to respond to the challenge in a number of ways. She linked Paradyme’s benefits to a single platform for employees to access easily. She worked to open up the channels of communication across units for employees to connect with each other seamlessly, which has continued to improve co-worker relationships. Additionally, she created a system to award points to employees for completing certain activities such as attending voluntary meetings. Employees could cash in these points for rewards such as a three-month gym membership or even a massage. In uniting once-disconnected departments and streamlining company processes, the contributions DaSilva continues to make at Paradyme are enhancing the company’s culture and improving employee engagement with each other and the organization. “Tania is the next generation of Game Changer,” said Diana Hunter, Paradyme’s office manager, in her nomination letter, “because she isn’t worried about what has been done in the past. She is more concerned with what can be done in the future.” —Bravetta Hassell

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Vice president, Xcelerate Solutions, McLean, Virginia In many ways, HR is all about politics: balancing expectations, delicately handling a conflict between two parties and knowing when to say the right thing at the right time. Jason Hite knows politics and human resources. Hite, 37, has an impressive professional track record for a person of any age. Currently the vice president of Xcelerate Solutions, a government counseling organization, he previously worked in the HR department of the U.S. House of Representatives for about 10 years. He started as an HR generalist and worked his way up to director and eventually chief human resources officer. He also served as a key confidant for three successive chief administrative officers at the House. “One aspect that is hard to balance in the CHRO role, which Jason does extremely well, is the balance between the needs of the organization and that of the employee,” said Tim Blodgett, deputy sergeant of arms at the U.S. House of Representatives, in his recommendation letter. “While in the perfect world those two interests should align, in a practical sense they can be at odds with each other. Jason was able to act effectively on both fronts.” Hite, whom Blodgett described as the “definition of a consummate professional,” showed impressive HR expertise in the government. Just like he balanced the needs of the individual and the organization, he also was always skilled at balancing his own types of projects. He understood the importance of working in the group setting with stakeholders and at the same time working autonomously on individual initiatives. One of his many accomplishments was to help the deputy chief administration officer turn around the struggling payroll and benefits team — a problem that needed a speedy resolution. “Jason worked tirelessly to stabilize the organization and once again proved his value,” said Ali Qureshi, vice president of consulting services at Xcelerate Solutions and former colleague of Hite at the House, in his nomination letter. “His project management skills were put to the test, and Jason led the turnaround, earning the respect of his peers, management and stakeholders on Capitol Hill.” After Qureshi left the government position to work for Xcelerate Solutions, Hite eventually joined as well. At the government counseling organization, he first made his mark by using his personable approach and analytical acumen to obtain important certifications at a quick and impressive rate. “I can confidently say,” Qureshi said, “that we have the best human resources executive in the industry.”

—Andie Burjek august

2016

JENNIFER DUFF

Senior director, Eagle Hill Consulting, Arlington, Virginia At Eagle Hill Consulting, Jennifer Duff uses a “large transformations with small conversations” approach with both clients and colleagues. Her portfolio includes the implementation of organizational change at organizations such as the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Transportation Security Administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Commerce Department. Duff’s approach to change management is always grounded with an interest in increasing communication and transparency to engage staff and leadership, secure buy-in and guide employees through the various transitions necessary for successful, lasting change. In a recent project, the 38-year-old Eagle Hill senior director led a customized change strategy for an organization wherein she oversaw leadership and staff training, stakeholder outreach efforts and communications support. The large-scale business assessment and process initiative yielded a 65 percent increase in internal hiring satisfaction metrics as well as halved the organization’s hiring timeline. Duff is considered invaluable for her ability to both promote the company’s culture of collaboration, creativity and unconventional client delivery and empower her colleagues to create an environment of shared ownership. “Jen takes an unwavering personal interest in the growth of her team members,” said Eagle Hill Manager Jordan Henry in his recommendation letter. She “has challenged me to go outside my comfort zone, try new approaches and grow professionally.” —Bravetta Hassell august

2016

ALEXE WEYMOUTH

Lead associate, Booz Allen Hamilton, McLean, Virgina There’s a talent war going on — and millennials are the main target. Most companies are well-aware of the fact that millennials will make up 50 percent of the workforce by 2020. This generational shift, combined with the increasing demand for companies to find top STEM talent, has resulted in an all-out brawl to attract and engage the most qualified employees. Thankfully for consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, Alexe Weymouth has a battle plan. Weymouth, 34, is a lead associate at the professional services firm responsible for the creation and implementation of the company’s Millennial Project. The multifaceted program begins with research initiatives on the millennial generation as well as the development of quantitative ways to select university partnerships so that the right talent is being filtered into the company. Weymouth also developed the company’s “Summer Games,” a competitive internship program in which college students collaborate in teams to develop solutions to multidimensional challenges. The 10-week program allows students to build new technical skills and network with industry thought leaders. Students also explore new areas through the Student Incubator. Senior leaders and clients select the most promising ideas, and finalists are invited back during the academic year to develop their idea into a proof of concept. “Through Alexe’s leadership and vision, the Summer Games has provided the firm with intern-to-full-time conversion rates of 90-plus percent,” said Kristen Panichella, senior associate at Booz Allen Hamilton, in Weymouth’s application, “compared to an industry average of 51 percent.” Weymouth didn’t stop at the college level, though. Recognizing the untapped talent and low number of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, she led a weeklong event in partnership with Girls Inc. — a nonprofit dedicated to helping girls succeed in their future careers — to introduce middle school and high school age students to career options in STEM fields. Women from across Booz Allen joined in support of the event by helping through curriculum development, instruction and mentoring. “Alexe is a model for inclusive leadership in action,” said Cheryl Wade, senior associate at Booz Allen Hamilton, in her reference letter. “Her energy, millennial expertise, collaboration and leadership continue to be vital to the success of multiple people programs across the firm.” —Sarah Sipek w o r k f o r c e . c o m | Workƒorce

JAY CALDWELL

Vice president of talent solutions, ADP, Roseland, New Jersey Jay Caldwell’s hard work and innovative mind earned him two promotions in only 18 months at ADP. He greatly influenced a coveted pay-forperformance culture, which came from his work in creating ADP’s performance management philosophy, strategy and framework. Other projects include creating a strategic workforce planning discipline; change management philosophy, strategy and training; a real-time feedback tool and conducting webinars. Even the CEO of this 55,000-person company noticed Caldwell’s contributions, said Jill Altana, vice president of global talent and development at ADP. “In my entire 30-year career, I have never come across a more talented individual,” she wrote in his application. She added that his innovative thinking, thought leadership and collaboration skills make this 34-year-old a true game changer. —Lauren Dixon

KRISTEN BAGWILL

Employee development manager, Missouri Department of Transportation, Jefferson City Kristen Bagwill doesn’t see herself as a game changer. In her mind, she’s doing what makes sense. And what makes sense is listening to the employees she’s managing. When she first stepped into the role of employee development manager for the Missouri Department of Transportation three years ago, the first thing Bagwill did was get out into the field to visit with managers and employees to get a firsthand experience of what training and development could look like from the user’s perspective and needs. “I knew going into the role that I had the potential to make a lot of changes for the better, but I couldn’t do it alone,” Bagwill said. “I wanted to give employees what they need to be better at their jobs so I went to them and asked what those things were. The logic was as simple as that.” Another one of Bagwill’s achievements has been her development of the MoDOT Employee Enrichment Zone, also known as the “MEE Zone,” a blog to provide health and wellness information to employees.

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“I’ve always been passionate about health and wellness, so getting information to employees on how to stay well was important to me,” Bagwill said. “I’m also working with a very small budget, so I knew social media and blogging was a great and cost-effective way to get my message out to employees across the company.” Bagwill posts weekly blogs, inspirational messages and videos and work-life balance articles. Additionally, Bagwill and her team provide monthly MEE Zone seminars on subjects such as Alzheimer’s disease, cancer awareness, suicide prevention and financial well-being. Those seminars are live-streamed to remote employees and later posted as videos. Her efforts resulted in MoDOT winning ComPsych Corp.’s Health at Work award in 2014. While Bagwill, 31, has found great success in her short career, she was promoted to the role of employee development manager just 13 months after joining the organization, she is still the first to credit those around her. “I work with a great team,” Bagwill said. “We’re remote throughout the state, but not being in the same place doesn’t stop us from implementing great programs. I wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything without them.”

—Sarah Sipek august

2016

NATE THOMPSON

Assistant vice president, organizational effectiveness, OppenheimerFunds, Centennial, Colorado “I’m a catalyst, innovator and healthy disruptor,” writes Nate Thompson in the third sentence of his résumé. Indeed. The 39-year-old OppenheimerFunds executive helped change the culture at the investment banking company by implementing a performance management program that might better be called a disruption-eliminating disruption. As Workforce has written time and time again, the annual performance review just won’t get the job done for retention and engagement, but the system Thompson helped put into place has done a much better job. According to Thompson’s application, employees now have four to 12 conversations per year with their managers, and both manager and employee get to add notes to an online system after each chitchat so there are no surprises. In her letter of recommendation, Christine Menard, OppenheimerFunds’ human resources relationship manager, said: “Nate builds trust, operates with intention, appropriately disrupts, invests in partnership and adeptly influences and empowers positive change.” Translation: No need to pardon the “disruption.” —James Tehrani august

2016

BROOKE DOLBARE

Compensation analyst, AM/NS Calvert, Calvert, Alabama When ThyssenKrupp sold its steel mill in Calvert, Alabama, to a partnership of ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel in February 2014, the new company — AM/NS Calvert — learned its compensation system was antiquated. This reality would soon place the company in a tough spot when it came to retaining top engineers and other employees. To bring order to the program, AM/NS Calvert turned to its compensation team that includes analyst Brooke Dolbare, 30. With the challenge in hand, Dolbare, who previously worked as a “one-woman engine,” advancing the growth of the Washington County Chamber of Commerce as executive director, went as far as obtaining professional certifications in compensation and visiting other parent company offices in the U.S. and Canada to develop an extensive database comparing compensation practices across the steel industry. Dolbare would go on to play a key role in AM/NS Calvert’s rollout of a modern compensation system for the company’s more than 600 employees whose salaries and benefits are based on performance metrics. Her colleagues value her resourcefulness and entrepreneurial spirit. She does not let up in coming to the table as a manager consistently pressing the company to provide innovative solutions. “She maintains meticulous records,” said Anna Scully, an associate at the law firm Burr & Forman, in her nomination letter, “carefully tracks every affected employee’s compliance dates and is sensitive to the cultural nuances that often come into play when hiring foreign nationals.” —Bravetta Hassell w o r k f o r c e . c o m | Workƒorce

JONATHAN FLICKINGER

Human resources executive, Pittsburgh

CHAD RYAN

Senior director of global retirement plans and financial wellness, PepsiCo Inc., New York In his 10 years working at PepsiCo Inc., Chad Ryan has affected the lives of hardworking employees around the world, including in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Netherlands. By customizing programs to meet the standards of each country’s specific financial wellness expectations, Ryan has plans to expand his global influence even further. When Ryan, 36, stepped into his role of assisting PepsiCo employees with making sound financial decisions, the company-provided programs at the time focused largely on retirement planning. Ryan worked tirelessly to change this through his leadership in the Healthy Money program. Healthy Money aims to help employees and their families take control of their personal finances through a variety of available educational opportunities, such as one-on-one counseling, workshops/webinars, personalized financial need assessments and more. Those who work with Ryan attest to his dedication and passion. Cornell Staeger, a human resources consulting director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, has worked with Ryan for over 10 years and said, “Chad has taken [Healthy Money’s] mission to heart by being a driving force behind financial wellness services to help employees save more, manage financial consequences of life events and better maximize their benefit plans.” —AnnMarie Kuzel

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Jonathan Flickinger didn’t just get his foot in the door to begin his HR career — he undoubtedly kicked his way through it. His educational background alone boasts a unique combination of experiences. He has a doctorate from Duquesne University School of Law and an advanced certificate in strategic human resources management from Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations. While attending Duquesne University School of Law, Flickinger also immersed himself in real-world work experiences, working as a law clerk at the largest law firm in Pittsburgh, at a boutique law firm and at the district attorney’s office in his county. Besides his legal credentials, in 2012, Flickinger worked closely with the Ultimate Fighting Championship and the kickboxing organization K-1 after joining StarPR Las Vegas. Because of his widespread past educational and work experiences, Flickinger, 33, is a self-proclaimed “mixed martial generalist,” a title that seems to fit him perfectly. Most recently Flickinger worked at Swanson Industries, a mining company based in Morgantown, West Virginia. There he updated and expanded the company’s out-of-date recruiting methods — which previously consisted of using newspaper advertisements only — and increased the company’s presence on online platforms such as LinkedIn and Indeed. He then tackled Swanson Industries’ careers site, making it user-friendly and appealing to potential future employees. Perhaps most impressive is that, within his first year working at Swanson Industries, Flickinger was promoted from human resources manager to director of human resources. Flickinger willingly accepted his new title and the responsibilities that came along with it. He revamped the brand’s onboarding process, implemented cost-effective initiatives, worked on the shop floor to establish rejuvenated culture in the manufacturing atmosphere, created a stronger sales team, maintained a healthy relationship with its union workforce, and managed all social media accounts, among countless other responsibilities. In taking on these tasks, Flickinger helped increase Swanson Industries’ applications by a reported 1,000 percent in the first month, was responsible for saving the company over $200,000 on recruiting platforms and successfully hired multiple passive candidates to fill important company positions. But, as has been widely reported, times are tough for many mining companies. Flickinger said he was laid off from his job in May, but he remains upbeat — and is currently looking for his next HR opportunity. (See “The Last Word,” p. 50). —AnnMarie Kuzel august

2016

SPOTLIGHT: INDIA

ABHILASHA MALVIYA

Manager, human resources and essential services, Jindal Steel and Power, Raigarh, India

KHALID RAZA

Talent development manager, IBM India, Bangalore

SABERA PATNI

General manager and head of human resources, Sunteck Realty, Mumbai, India

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That there is bright young talent among India’s workforce is no surprise. The fact that there is a growing willingness with these young workers to seek external recognition for individual success is an indication that millennials’ budding India influence continues to grow. The Workforce Game Changers program has never had an India-based applicant in the competition’s six-year history. That drought ended in a big way this year. Not only were several Indiabased workers nominated for the honors, but also three now belong to the Workforce Game Changers Class of 2016. Abhilasha Malviya of Jindal Steel & Power, Sabera Patni of Mumbai’s Sunteck Realty and Khalid Raza of IBM India are showcasing their accomplishments for the world to see. Their Game Changer victories are another sign that India’s youth movement is creating a shift in the culture of the country’s workplace. Raza, 34, is IBM India’s talent management director and played a key role in developing its #SocialHRSuccess program, which is helping shift the company’s workplace culture into a more open, socially focused community. In his new role, Raza, an avid blogger, speaker and cricket player, creates the strategy under its talent transformation initiative to identify skills gaps, recruit, grow and sustain its workforce in India. He also focuses on learning and development, talent engagement and retention. “There is a renewed focus toward employee engagement not as an HR program but as a key driver toward talent management and development,” Raza said in an email. “Recognition takes forms of appreciation and awards; however, our intent is on engaging the workforce. Management today is looking at every opportunity to engage talent, and external recognition for work done internally is a great way of achieving it.” Malviya, 31, is a key member of Jindal’s learning and development team and recently began helping Jindal’s L&D transform from functional to a processbased organizational structure. She also is joint cultural secretary of the Jindal Power Officer’s Club Committee and is presiding officer of POSH, which is short

for the Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act Committee. “HR in India has upgraded its operating model through defined roles and improved relationships,” Malviya said via email. “It used to cling to clichéd processes, but HR today focuses on developing centers of expertise with deep, specialized insight. HR has made its way from being transactional to transformational in its approach.” Malviya became an “HR process champion” and was selected as a member of a high-performing process team that helped each team member discover their internal capabilities and reach new personal highs. “This initiative has offered a winning edge over our competitors and gained a competitive advantage,” Malviya said. Patni, 37, recently stepped into a new role as head of HR at Sunteck Realty. Previously, while at GVK Mumbai International Airport, she was a leader in the People Capability Maturity Model and launched an organizationwide learning agenda to enhance customer experience. She’s an advocate of youth empowerment and has worked with several universities to raise awareness of substance-abuse issues among young people. “The HR mandate will no longer remain the business of just the HR team,” Patni said in an email. “Every leader in organizations today will have a real and sizable HR agenda, every line manager will be an HR manager, and every employee will be the custodian of its people policy.” Patni said HR practitioners must take responsibility in this rapidly changing scenario of new-age people practices. Yet the biggest challenge facing HR leaders is to change themselves before they can change the world, she said. “Managing employees’ perception and expectations is the most important aspect in order to sustain change for the better,” she said. “Even simple changes can sometimes require a mammoth effort so as to get management buy-in. When all stakeholders of a business begin to see this upward shift in HR practices as necessary, when every employee becomes the champion of change is when a change agent should pat oneself on the back for a job well done.” —Rick Bell w o r k f o r c e . c o m | Workƒorce

SPOTLIGHT: CHICAGO

CATALINA ANDRADE

GRETCHEN VAN VLYMEN

If you’re happy and you know it, you might just be working with Catalina Andrade. After all, Andrade, 33, is in the business of keeping people happy as chief happiness director of wellness company Retrofit Inc. And, as Workforce has reported for years: A happy worker is often a productive worker. To boost the level of delight in Retrofit’s workforce, Andrade, who seems like a good egg herself, has implemented Good Egg Days to allow workers to take time off from work to volunteer. She has also gotten buy-in from the company’s CEO, Mary Pigatti, to allow workers to take days off for birthdays and during the holidays from Christmas to New Year’s. Perhaps more importantly, she’s established a weekly employee review program to eliminate the much-maligned annual review as well as a 401(k) match program to help workers build up their retirement reserves. Andrade “is candid, always innovating, driven to deliver, delighting our employees at every turn, and an all-around good egg,” said Pigatti in her recommendation letter. Good egg confirmed. —James Tehrani

Gretchen Van Vlymen knows something about setting the bar — and using a barre as well. In her nearly six-year tenure at StratEx, Van Vlymen has looked to improve employee engagement through initiatives like the company’s Culture Club where workers get together once a month to discuss what can be done to improve workplace culture. The 31-year-old has also played a part in creating more than 200 classes for staff to keep up-to-date on employment laws and regulations. Having that knowledge at their fingertips comes in handy with complex laws such as the Affordable Care Act. In her spare time, besides being an avid foodie, Van Vlymen said she’s a big fan of the Bar Method, an exercise routine that follows a ballet barre-based workout. “Gretchen is a true rock star,” said Adam Ochstein, StratEx’s founder and CEO, in his recommendation letter. “She is an instrumental force in mentoring employees, both younger and older, and helping them grow their careers.” That’s what we call a fantastic Game Changer — bar none. —James Tehrani

Employee happiness director, Retrofit Inc., Chicago

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Vice president account management, StratEx, Chicago

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DWAYNE WATKINS

Data administrator, East Lake Foundation, Atlanta

MOLLY DODSON

Director of human resources, NBKC Bank, Overland Park, Kansas Nowadays, how often do you find someone under 40 with 16 years of tenure at a single company? Hmm… “Let’s check with Molly”; it seems that’s what employees at NBKC Bank would do. So if you answered “never,” you haven’t met Molly Dodson. The 39-year-old Dodson has been at NBKC Bank, which has 200 employees and $600 million in assets, since 2000. Over that time, she has worked her way up from a customer service representative to her current position as senior vice president and director of human resources. Along the way she has developed and managed a performance management system as well as a comprehensive compensation plan and kept abreast of the best benefit offerings for recruiting and retention purposes. In his reference letter, Brian Unruh, the bank’s president and CEO said, Dodson “is a rare mix of ‘nose to the grindstone’ and ‘let’s continually find better ways,’ and her leadership helps set the course for those around her.” And, as Walt Disney, who grew up not too far from Overland Park in Marceline, Missouri, might have said: “sticktoitivity.” —James Tehrani august

2016

The East Lake Foundation, a nonprofit established in 1995, is a great example of community redevelopment. The East Lake community, which was once one of the nation’s most violent housing projects, has improved over the past 20 years through efforts to improve education, housing and community wellness. And Dwayne Watkins has done his part to make meaningful social change and innovate through data administration. Watkins, 30, has been a database administrator at the East Lake Foundation for almost three years. His history as a job coach and as a data analyst at the Center for Working Families Inc. has given him valuable background to his current role. Watkins is currently working on the ELF Database project for the East Lake Foundation. His task is to identify a database that best fits the needs of the foundation. He collaborates with software vendors to build a comprehensive database that shows the collaborative effect of that database in real time. He’s proud of this project because he says it will eventually change the way the organization addresses the holistic approach of revitalizing of neighborhoods. It was challenging for Watkins to change the data culture in the organization. How would he make data less daunting and more empowering? He approached the challenge by learning to be more creative in making data relatable to the stakeholders and by creating engaging charts and presentations. “Helping others to embrace data and see the value that it adds to direct service in nonprofit was more challenging than I initially thought it would be,” Watkins said. “However, to see an organization go from being afraid of data and barely using it to embracing it and data being at the forefront of all conversations made most of the long nights worth it.” His efforts have not gone unnoticed by his co-workers. Watkins’ previous experience as a career coach while also managing data has allowed him to better support the community workforce programs, track trends and make recommendations on process improvements in the foundation, according to Jennifer McCrary, program manager at East Lake Foundation. Watkins, she said in her nomination letter, “has been a driving force on data that has supported the community workforce programs leading to higher employment rates and income.” —Andie Burjek w o r k f o r c e . c o m | Workƒorce

MAIA JOSEBACHVILI Vice president of strategy and people, Greenhouse, San Francisco

McKENZIE MARX

Senior human resources business partner, Paycor Inc., Cincinnati Younger workers tend to do like 1990s hip-hop artists House of Pain notably rapped about: “Jump Around.” Getting young talent to stay at one company takes a solid plan, and Paycor Inc.’s McKenzie Marx has one. The 27-yearold campus recruiter at the payroll and timekeeping software company created an internal mobility program, which includes a mentoring initiative, to help with retention for Paycor’s “high-velocity” sales team. The group is composed of almost all (94 percent) millennial-age workers. According to Paycor, since the program began in January 2015, 25 percent of the associates have transitioned to new roles in the company, and the team has grown by 166 percent. That’s undoubtedly why Karen Crone, Paycor’s chief human resources officer, refers to Marx as Paycor’s “secret weapon in defending our very best earlycareer talent” in her reference letter. And its secret weapon in getting ’em to “stay around.” —James Tehrani

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Maia Josebachvili has a list of accomplishments that is extensive and impressive to say the least. And she’s only 32. Before she was 30, Josebachvili founded and served as CEO of a travel and events company called Urban Escapes. During that time, she was included on Inc. Magazine’s 30 Top Entrepreneurs Under 30 Years Old list. She then went on to sell Urban Escapes to an Amazon.com-backed e-commerce company where she served as director of new initiatives, launching and running three separate business units with an impressive $12 million run rate. Josebachvili eventually found her way to Greenhouse when one of her former Urban Escapes customers decided to sell his company in order to pursue a new venture. Daniel Chait, CEO of Greenhouse, is grateful that Josebachvili agreed to join him at his company where she serves as vice president of strategy and people. Chait views Josebachvili as an important member of Greenhouse, describing her as “an invaluable leader and executive on the Greenhouse team.” Even though Josebachvili has been at Greenhouse for less than two years, she has still been able to make a laudable and lasting impression on the company. Just last year, Greenhouse increased its number of employees by 130 people. This sort of hypergrowth can be daunting to any company, especially one that began the year with only 45 workers, but thanks to Josebachvili’s talent acquisition expertise, Greenhouse was able to successfully onboard those 130 candidates while also maintaining extremely low attrition rates. In addition to creating innovative human resources and employee engagement strategies, Josebachvili is also credited with developing a set of key performance indicators for recruiting. While Josebachvili’s dedication to HR and people strategies is apparent, her concern for creating a company culture at Greenhouse is equally admirable. As a result of Josebachvili’s Culture Committee, whose membership once contained 40 percent of Greenhouse’s employees, the company received various forms of praise from both company employees and other third parties. Greenhouse was awarded both Crain’s New York Business and San Francisco Business Chronicle’s Best Places to Work awards, has a five-star rating on Glassdoor, maintains impressive employee engagement scores and, according to the company, has a candidate satisfaction score for recruiting candidates above 90 percent . No matter where Josebachvili’s work takes her, her passion for HR and reviving company culture has had, and will continue to have, lasting benefits not only for her employers but for the employees she works so closely with as well. —AnnMarie Kuzel august

2016

DEBORAH LaMERE

Vice president, employee engagement, Ceridian, Minneapolis For Deborah LaMere, it really is all about the people. As vice president of employee engagement at human capital management software company Ceridian, LaMere, 39, was tasked with aligning the company’s people strategies with its business strategies. Her first step was moving away from once-a-year performance management meetings to more continuous coaching and people development discussions. While this is a move many companies are trying to make, LaMere developed performance development discussion guidelines for employees and managers as a way to lay the groundwork for productive conversations between managers and employees. This and other employee-centric initiatives — including a formal career path program that helps employees move both vertically and laterally throughout the company — have increased employee engagement by 21 percent over the past two years. “She worked with our IT partners to develop an amazing tool that includes traditional and nontraditional career paths, job profiles, alternative learning paths, tips for navigating and learning from internal experts plus more,” said Sara Hill, Cerdian’s former chief human resources officer, in her reference letter for LaMere. “I am sure it will be the prototype for the development of a Dayforce career pathing module in the near future.” —Sarah Sipek august

2016

DAN SCHAWBEL

Partner and research director, Future Workplace, New York Dan Schawbel, like most millennials, loves traveling, cooking and meeting new people. But unlike many millennials, he’s written a New York Times best-selling book, “Promote Yourself,” while still in his 20s. A self-described serial entrepreneur, Schawbel, 32, has not only written two books, but also blogs, speaks at events and contributes articles to major business media outlets like Forbes and Fortune. This year Future Workplace acquired his most recent project, workplacetrends.com. Schawbel’s research studies strive to better understand the millennial generation and what they want in a workplace. Schawbel raised almost $500,000 between 2012 and 2015 in order to conduct these 27 studies. He is also the managing partner of Millennial Branding, a research consulting firm that aids companies such as American Express Co. and NBCUniversal in understanding the millennial generation. Through his research, he understands how human resources needs to adapt to changing times, especially when it comes to generational differences and changes in technology. “With Gen Z entering the workplace and my generation becoming the next generation of leaders, what does that mean?” he said. “I’m constantly thinking about this whole leadership shift and how technology is [changing] how we behave and interact in the workplace.” —Andie Burjek

w o r k f o r c e . c o m | Workƒorce

ASHER (AJ) BRUSTEIN

Co-founder and COO, Wonolo, San Francisco

STACIE OSAKO Human resources manager, Van Meter Inc., Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Many organizations like to think their workplace promotes personal well-being. At electrical supply distributor Van Meter Inc., Human Resources Manager Stacie Osako takes personal well-being, well, personally. Under Osako’s direction, Van Meter has implemented a personal accountability plan that empowers employees to “recharge and refocus” themselves. Osako, 39, also helped introduce a one-time, monthlong employee sabbatical in 2014 for those workers who have clocked 20-plus years with the company. Recognizing the needs of new parents, Osako led an initiative to add six weeks of paid parental leave for mothers and fathers. A succession-planning program also has met with great success since Osako led its implementation. —Rick Bell

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The gig economy found a winner with Wonolo, an on-demand staffing platform. Finding freelance work with little notice is a challenge even large companies face, and Asher (AJ) Brustein rose to solve it. In his previous role as a brand manager at Coca-Cola Co., he and his Wonolo co-founder spoke with people throughout the business to understand their pain points. Because talent wasn’t always working at the right times, the company lost more than $1 billion a year in estimated missed revenue, said David Butler, CocaCola’s vice president of innovation and entrepreneurship. Brustein “identified a problem, gained consensus from other workers to define a need and created a solution that solves the unpredictability of demand and staffing in business,” Butler added. This tech solution, called Wonolo, launched in 2013, and the 35-year-old’s company has already placed about 15,000 workers with 50,000 on-demand roles. The company boasts a 40 percent cost savings over traditional temp staffing and an average fill rate of 90 percent. —Lauren Dixon

august

2016

KATHRYN MINSHEW

CEO and founder, The Muse, New York

SHEA COAKLEY

Co-founder, LeanBox, Boston Workplace wellness and stellar office cultures go hand in hand with Shea Coakley’s Boston-based company, LeanBox. As an alternative to a space-consuming cafeteria and expensive catering, the company brings customized assortments of healthy, fresh meals, snacks and beverages to clients. When using LeanBox, employees can use a touchscreen display on a refrigerator to buy products or select food purchased by their employer. Based on sales, votes and new product options, deliveries are customized to each client. Other products include a cold brew coffee station and a water cooler. Alex Baggio, Coakley’s business partner in another endeavor, PERKS Convention, said Coakley’s a great public speaker and is a thought leader on office cultures. “Shea’s continued focus on improving the overall workplace culture and employee perks has quickly made him a ‘game changer’ for the modern office,” said Baggio, the director of operations at 2020 On-Site Optometry and founder and co-chair of PERKS Convention. The 32-year-old entrepreneur gives back to his community, too. Coakley has been involved in several Boston-based organizations, including the ONEin3 Boston, an initiative by Boston’s mayor to engage the young people of Boston in city affairs. —Lauren Dixon august

2016

Children are often told that they can be anything they want to be when they grow up. It’s a lovely idea that is meant to encourage kids to dream big and try new things. But when the time comes to realize those dreams, the tools to discover and realize a satisfying career aren’t always available. At least that was Kathryn Minshew’s experience. After receiving her bachelor’s degree in political science and French from Duke University, Minshew began working as a management consultant at McKinsey & Co. But when she began contemplating the next steps in her career path, she struggled to find a resource to guide her. “I began having these conversations among small groups of close friends, and we came to the realization that there needed to be a resource that addressed millennial needs in particular,” Minshew said. “This group wants and needs something different from the career experience than in years past.” That frustration led to inspiration and the eventual creation of The Muse, an online career resource that offers a behind-the-scenes look at job opportunities with hundreds of companies, expert career advice and access to personalized career help. Unlike traditional career sites, The Muse creates photo and video profiles of companies that provide in-depth insight into a company’s culture and mission. “Job hunting is like dating,” Minshew said. “I’m not romantically compatible with every person in the world. In the same way, a single applicant is not compatible with every company. These photos and videos are meant to provide insight into how an applicant will fit in at a company. It’s about more than the ability to perform a job task.” This focus on culture has made the site wildly popular with millennials, who value culture highly when making career decisions. The company has helped over 50 million people in their job searches and career planning. While that number and the company’s subsequent success is impressive, Minshew, 30, said she is more concerned with the individual lives her efforts are changing. “Being satisfied with your career path is such a huge part of a person’s life,” Minshew said. “Career is paramount to how people see themselves. I see the job search as a human problem, so it’s exciting to build tools to help people find satisfaction in their lives.”

—Sarah Sipek w o r k f o r c e . c o m | Workƒorce

RECRUIT

LIKE A

Marketer! Digital technologies are driving changes in recruiting and hiring. Today’s HR professional must think and act like a marketer.

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BY SAMUEL GREENGARD

august

2016

t’s no secret that marketing has pervaded almost every corner of society. In an era of branded stadiums and high-rise buildings, apps and highly targeted social media strategies, the ability to grab so-called “mindshare” and market share is everything. Of course, it’s tempting to think about human resources outside the tractor beam of today’s marketing frenzy. For decades, HR executives and recruiters quietly went about their job of matching candidates with positions, often through old-fashioned networking based on contacts and handshakes. But that was then. As social media has emerged as a

august

2016

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force and sensibilities have changed — particularly among millennials weaned on electronic devices and social sites — the dynamics of hiring and recruiting are shifting. “HR professionals must start thinking about themselves as marketers and embrace the tactics used in the B2B and B2C spaces,” said Susan Vitale, chief marketing officer at applicant tracking firm iCIMS. Call it the rise of the consumer candidate. An iCIMS report, “Recruitment Marketing: Fad or Future?” found that 90 percent of HR professionals agree that having a strong employment brand is more important today than it was five years ago. What’s more, 84 percent agree that recruitment marketing is a worthwhile investment for companies. Yet, only 48 percent have made any plans to hire someone to oversee such a task. Today, an effective recruitment marketing strategy means moving beyond LinkedIn and job boards and viewing marketing in a more holistic and broad way by including videos offering chats and using platforms like Snapchat to connect with job seekers. It may encompass so-called “nurturing” techniques used by traditional marketers — essentially keeping a prospect “warm” through email and other communication until they are ready to make a move. This, in turn, requires more detailed tracking and analytics tools for social media, email click-through and open rates and more. Finally, there’s a growing need to build a strategy around reputation management and online reviews at sites like Glassdoor and Fairygodboss, a job site tailored specifically for women. “About 80 percent of recruiting professionals have said that their techniques have changed or evolved over the last three years because of the influence of marketing,” Vitale said. Additionally, Ryan Healy, founder and president of Brazen Technologies, which offers a chat product used for recruiting, said: “Today, it’s necessary to think about candidates as leads or prospects and make sure they engage with your brand in one way or another. Increasingly, job candidates do not come through listings and other traditional methods.”

Shaping the Message In reality, marketing has always played a role in hiring and recruiting. Brand image and the way an organization presents itself at job fairs, industry conferences and other events can influence how job seekers perceive a company — and whether they choose to apply for a job. But today, the stakes have been ratcheted up exponentially. “It’s important to create a funnel along with content to attract and interest potential candidates,” Healy said. This may take the form of an e-book, e-brochures, videos, blog posts, wikis, social media content and other materials. In some cases, these materials could appeal to an audience by focusing on a topic of interest, such as lifestyle, sports or personal tech, rather than directly promoting the company. It may also incorporate videoconferencing and live chat functions that let a person ask questions, exchange 42

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In the Pipeline Building a talent pipeline is nothing less than critical. Today, 75 percent of job seekers want to join a talent pool in order to stay more informed about company news and information, according to an iCIMS study from earlier this year. Moreover, 6 in 10 indicated that they would be interested in joining a talent pool for receiving updates from an organization where they would like to work. Meanwhile, a 2014 Glassdoor survey found that 76 percent of today’s job seekers want details about whether the firm is an attractive place to work. Not surprisingly, human resources organizations face a number of key challenges in pulling off the task and building a recruitment marketing program. According to iCIMS, half cited budget constraints, 29 percent said they lack the necessary technology, 28 percent lack an understanding of how to approach marketing, 26 percent cited company disinterest, and 18 percent said they cannot garner necessary support from the marketing department. Finally, 65 percent of HR professionals agreed that hiring a dedicated recruitment marketing specialist would make their company’s recruitment efforts more successful. “It’s not a question of whether to use marketing techniques, the issue is how to approach the task the best way,” said Susan Vitale, chief marketing officer at iCIMS. —Samuel Greengard

thoughts and discuss opportunities in real time with a company representative.“The goal,” Healy said,“is to create content and contact points at the top of the funnel to draw people in — even if they aren’t ready to apply at that time.” Facebook, LinkedIn, Google and other online tools are also key components. As individuals click on highly targeted ads and view the associated online materials, they may get a sense of what the company is about, what it offers and what types of candidates it hopes to find. For instance, a Facebook user may view an ad in their news feed based on previous click activity online. Clicking on the ad might send the individual to a YouTube or website video that features a hiring manager, engineer, business executive or field technician discussing their job or depicting a day in the life. In some cases, the video could be tied to the field in which the candidate has displayed interest, whether it’s engineering, sales, accounting or what have you. At the center of everything is an ability to track prospects and ensure that they are receiving what they need, when they need it. Just as conventional marketing ataugust

2016

tempts to monitor a prospect and keep the person engaged until the candidate is ready to pull the string on a purchase, HR marketing hopes to create a spark that may eventually lead to a fire. It’s often not about a specific time period or hard sell; it’s about creating a framework that allows users to engage and learn at their own pace — and stay in the pipeline. “At some point, sometimes months or years later, you may have the right position open and the person may decide it’s the right time to make a move,” said Brian Kropp, HR practice leader for consulting and technology firm CEB. Not surprisingly, a growing number of organizations take the concept seriously. “You can’t just put an ad in the newspaper or an online job board and have people apply. There’s a need to connect with people in a more organic and meaningful way,” said Shaunda Zilich, global employment brand leader for General Electric Co. “As a company, we have to realize we are not only selling products and services; we’re also selling opportunities for employment — and people now choose companies based on their lifestyles and interests, including social issues and corporate responsibility. You have to catch them at the moment they’re receptive with the right message.” GE uses everything from television ads designed to market the company broadly to targeted social media messages and advertisements, including on social media sites such as Snapchat and Facebook. “We see a lot of activity through the ads we place on Facebook. We’re meeting people who may not necessarily be looking for jobs, but sometimes they become interested,” Zilich said. Another company flexing its muscles in the recruitment marketing space is Gold’s Gym, which operates about 500 company-owned and franchised facilities worldwide. Wendy Moran, director of talent management, said that the fitness company also has focused on developing content that intersects with prospects and what interests them. “You really have to think of people as customers of the brand and develop content that is relevant for them.” That has translated into everything from e-newsletters to posts, ads and content at Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. The firm also posts video clips at YouTube that focus on lifestyle issues such as nutrition and exercise. “People who subscribe to our YouTube channel are passionate about fitness,” Moran said. “These people are actively engaged with the brand, and some of them will apply for a job. By connecting with them on a personal level, we increase the odds of making a good match.” At Lake County Schools in Florida, the competition for

teachers has pushed the district of approximately 41,000 students and 45 schools to combine traditional recruiting with digital marketing. Like many districts, it recruits college graduates at job fairs. It recently used a “Star Wars” theme, for example, to attract attention and build brand awareness at an open house. “We are a relatively small district, and most people have never heard of us,” said Instructional Recruitment Partner Quiana Peterson. “In many respects, we are at a disadvantage.” The district also places ads on Facebook and LinkedIn, and participates in the Troops to Teachers program that reaches out to veterans. When district recruiters spot someone who displays interest, they use Brazen’s chat function to engage in a one-on-one chat session through a conventional web browser or their smartphone. “We take a very personalized approach and try to build a nurturing kind of relationship,” she said.

Reputation Matters Online sites such as Glassdoor have also altered the HR equation by serving up ratings and reviews. To be sure, job seekers have a much broader picture of a company than at any time in the past — as well as exposure to online diatribes and rants. Just as reviews on Yelp or TripAdvisor may or may not deliver an accurate picture, comments posted online may encourage or dissuade a candidate. Studies show that consumers — and job seekers — increasingly depend on reviews to guide decision-making. “It’s critical to monitor ratings and reviews and understand what’s out there. It’s now a foundational component of business,” said Jeff Tomlin, co-founder and CMO for Vendasta Technologies, which offers a digital platform for small and medium-size businesses’ reputation management. Ratings “are an important part of the business landscape. It’s something that businesses cannot ignore,” added Rick Ducey, managing director at marketing and media consulting firm BIA/Kelsey. He said that organizations must take a proactive stance by monitoring sites, addressing comments when possible, and acknowledging that they might also provide valuable feedback about how to improve. In the end, how can HR professionals and recruiters formulate a strategy that works? Building a hiring framework based on marketing principles requires an organization to rethink, rewire and reinvent an array of processes and systems. In many cases, conventional marketing tools from Salesforce.com Inc. and Oracle Corp. are too rigid or not designed for the needs of human resources. Meanwhile,

BUILDING A HIRING FRAMEWORK BASED ON MARKETING PRINCIPLES REQUIRES AN ORGANIZATION TO RETHINK AND REINVENT AN ARRAY OF PROCESSES AND SYSTEMS.

august

2016

MARKETER continued on page 49 w o r k f o r c e . c o m | Workƒorce

SPECIAL REPORT

Background Checking Providers

Setting the Screen Candidate experience and automated data capture top the list of things employers want from background checking vendors, but not at the expense of compliance risks. By Sarah Fister Gale

oday’s recruiters face tough competition for good talent — and they worry about losing good candidates to long, drawn-out screening processes. Recruiters are also facing increased pressure to fill more roles faster as 3 out of 4 companies plan to increase hiring. “With hiring on the rise, there is always a time challenge,” said Clare Hart, CEO of SterlingBackcheck, a background-checking provider. “The war for talent has enabled people with skills to change jobs more frequently, which is creating anxiety for recruiters tasked with filling those roles.” At the same time, recruiters can’t afford to skip this vital step in the hiring process, especially with trends showing candidates are misrepresenting themselves more than ever. “I don’t want to be responsible for hiring someone with an unacceptable background,” said Kimberly Martin, senior human resources manager for Dentsply Sirona, a global dental supply company based in York, Pennsylvania. “People falsify their applications all the time.” Mary O’Loughlin, vice president for global customer experience for HireRight, attributes this rise in part to the recession. “A lot of candidates were unemployed, and they are trying to expand previous jobs to cover those gaps,” she said.

AUTOMATE EVERYTHING To meet the needs for faster, better and more seamless screening, employers are looking to their background-checking providers to streamline the screening process and make it as transparent and easy as possible for both the candidates and hiring managers. In response, vendors are revamping their technology and processes with a focus on improving the can-

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didate experience from start to finish, and eliminating much of the manual entry and administrative tasks that bog recruiters down.“It’s all about addressing the pinpoints in the screening process,” O’Loughlin said. These upgrades include integrating user platforms with clients’ applicant tracking systems in order to automate candidate data capture, offering tools that enable candidates to enter their own data from any device rather than requiring recruiters to do it, and providing text and email alerts to let the candidate and hiring manager know where they are in the screening process. Some vendors are also working with clients to develop candidate-facing tools including videos for their hiring sites to educate candidates about the screening process. “It helps set their expectations, which helps them build their brand as a great place to work,” she said. To demonstrate the effect of these new tools, they are also offering more metrics to help customers understand how the screening process is functioning and to track key trends such as where red-flag candidates might be sourced from, said Christine Cunneen, CEO of Hire Image, a national background screening firm, and a member of the board of directors for the National Association of Professional Background Screeners. “Employers want more metrics about screening because it helps them to hire faster,” she said.

CONTINGENTS TO MARIJUANA Along with streamlining the screening process, employers are also turning to their screening vendors to help them manage a number of emerging trends in the broader recruiting world. One of the most notable trends is the tremendous august

2016

HOT LIST Background Checking Providers Listed alphabetically; compiled by AnnMarie Kuzel; editors@workforce.com Company name & web address

Number of individuals screened in the most recent 12 months

Number of corporate clients using employment-related screening services

ACCURATE BACKGROUND accuratebackground.com

12.8 million

9,000

AURICO, A CAREERBUILDER CO. aurico.com

1.5 million

4,500

519,200

1,375

EMPLOYMENT BACKGROUND INVESTIGATIONS ebiinc.com

1.7 million

5,820

FIRST ADVANTAGE fadv.com

14.2 million

46,300

GENERAL INFORMATION SERVICES geninfo.com

9.2 million

2,350

GLOBAL HR RESEARCH, A PATRIOT NATIONAL CO. ghrr.com

1.8 million

3,200

HIRERIGHT hireright.com

13 million

40,000

INFO CUBIC EMPLOYMENT SCREENING infocubic.com

150,000

2,500

INFOMART infomart-usa.com

1.5 million

5,500

INTELLICORP RECORDS intellicorp.net

2.5 million

11,163

ORANGE TREE EMPLOYMENT SCREENING orangetreescreening.com

417,530

350

PEOPLEG2 peopleg2.com

300,000

5,000

PRE-EMPLOY.COM pre-employ.com

250,000

3,000

11.3 million

50,000

833,216

4,263

CORPORATE SCREENING SERVICES corporatescreening.com

STERLINGBACKCHECK sterlingbackcheck.com UNIVERSAL BACKGROUND SCREENING universalbackground.com

Note: ADP, HireImage, Justifacts Credential Verification and Talentwise either declined to participate or did not respond. EmployeeScreenIQ was acquired by SterlingBackcheck. Source: Companies

august

2016

w o r k f o r c e . c o m | WorkÆ&#x2019;orce

SPECIAL REPORT

Background Checking Providers

uptick in use of contingent labor. In 2015, the U.S. Labor Department found that 65 percent of employers anticipate an increase in the use of flexible staffing arrangements to meet their future talent needs, and consultancy Ardent Partners anticipates that 50 percent of the workforce will be contingent by 2020. Yet, less than half of organizations screen these workers, which exposes them to increased risks of negligence, fraud, theft and violence. O’Loughlin said that interest in screening these workers is rising, though it can be more difficult to track down data

DATA BANK Let It Grow … Most companies say they intend to grow in the coming year.

Shrink

No change

Grow

77%

Source: HireRight’s 2016 “Employment Screening Benchmark Report,” which surveyed 3,459 human resources professionals worldwide

about serial contracts, particularly because of how they record their work history. “They may say they worked at IBM, but really they were part of Beta Staffing Co. doing a project for IBM,” she said. “It’s a challenge to sort out.” There is also the question of how to handle the data, and what you can screen for with contingent laborers, said Chris Dyer, founder and CEO of PeopleG2, a background checking company. “In most cases you can evaluate more data for contract workers because they have fewer protections,” he said. However, as contingent labor becomes a more dominant aspect of the workforce, that’s likely to change. Employers should pay attention to shifting regulatory trends. “If compliance rules for screening contract labor changes, it could impact the business,” he said. Then there is the issue of drug screening, which Cunneen believes is an area of the background-checking process that is “ripe for change.” The big issue: marijuana. In many states marijuana use is legal in some or all cases, but it is still a federally banned substance, and unlike alcohol there are no tests to determine whether someone is using on the job because the drug stays in a person’s system for a long time. Employers are already asking how they should address marijuana testing if at all, she said, and she anticipates that there will be a lot of lawsuits as employers and regulators figure out how to handle this issue.

LAX COMPLIANCE PUTS EMPLOYERS AT RISK Check, Please Less than half of organizations screen contingent, contract and temporary workers, which exposes them to increased risks of negligence, fraud, theft and violence. Full-time salaried employees Full-time hourly employees Management level (director or above) Part-time hourly employees Part-time salaried employees Senior executive-level employees Contingent, contractors or temp workers Volunteers and other unpaid workers Other

23%

45%

86% 84% 79% 76% 71% 71%

Source: SterlingBackcheck “Background Screening Trends & Best Practices Report 2015-16,” which surveyed 1,403 of its customers

Keep on Growing The $2 billion background checking industry is expected to experience annual growth of 2.2 percent over the next 10 to 15 years.

2.2

percent

Source: Employment Screening Resources

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$2 billion

One area that employers are less worried about than they should be are general compliance rules. Less than one-fifth of employers say they are extremely concerned about compliance issues and related lawsuits despite the ongoing risk of lawsuits tied to mishandled screening processes. In 2015 alone, BMW Manufacturing Co.; Chuck E. Cheese, also known as CEC Entertainment; Food Lion; Home Depot Inc.; and Whole Foods Market Inc. paid substantial Fair Credit Reporting Act class-action lawsuit settlements ranging from $716,400 to $3 million for conducting illegal background checks, failing to disclose background checks to applicants and breaking other FCRA rules. Cities and states might also have a unique set of regulations governing what employers can screen for, how far back they can look, what constitutes a personal intrusion, and how exactly an employer needs to notify a candidate about the screening process. And when employers “screw up,” they face serious consequences, Cunneen said. “It is the employers’ responsibility to follow these rules, but they need to be able to rely on their background-screening provider to let them know what’s going on.” This risk will only increase as more employers use these firms to screen employees in other countries where data can be less accessible, rules vary and information is harder to track down. Employers also need to be concerned about where screening data is stored when screening global candidates.“If a vendor’s data center is overseas, employers should be aware of their security protocols and their liability if that data is breached,” she said. august

2016

The issue of global compliance is becoming more important in light of the rapid growth of this $2 billion industry where several leading vendors have been acquiring competitors in order to quickly grow their global footprint. In the past two years alone, Accurate Background acquired fellow background checking company Hirease; HireRight acquired Powerchex, a pre-employment screening firm in the United Kingdom; and SterlingBackcheck acquired EmployeeScreenIQ then merged with cloud-based TalentWise earlier this year. The industry has also seen HR tech firms from other areas of the workforce management software world moving into the background checking space through deals such as CareerBuilder’s acquisition of Aurico, a global provider of background screening and drug testing services. “Background screening is an essential part of recruitment and a natural extension of CareerBuilder’s product line,” CareerBuilder CEO Matt Ferguson said in a news release about the deal. And this is just the beginning, said SterlingBackcheck’s Hart. “The industry is definitely consolidating, and we will continue to make future acquisitions as opportunities arise.” Hart said that the consolidation trend is being driven by demands for better, faster and cheaper screening. “You gain advantages with scale,” she said, arguing that larger firms have the talent and resources to upgrade their platforms and provide a global service to meet the needs of international customers. Vendors need to be thoughtful about their acquisitions and how they will continue to meet the needs of clients during the often tumultuous integration process, Dentsply Sirona’s Martin said. Martin previously worked with a background screening vendor who provided great service until it was acquired by another firm. Suddenly the technology stopped working as well, links were broken or timed out, the screening process was delayed with no explanation, and in one case the vendor asked a candidate to travel 200 miles to do a drug screening. “It was frustrating for the applicant, and it took up a lot of my time,” Martin said. It also caused a few good candidates to move on to the next job offer because the screening process took so long. “We hung in longer than we wanted to make sure the next vendor would be a good fit,” she said. Martin now uses HireRight, which she said eliminated a lot of the technical glitches, automated much of the data entry, and in most cases completed the screening process in 10 days or less. “Background screening should feel seamless,” she said, adding that vendors need to stay on top of that customer experience or risk losing business. “If it’s not done well, customers will feel it,” she said, “and they have a lot of other options to choose from.” Sarah Fister Gale is a writer based in the Chicago area. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.

august

2016

Minimizing the Risk of Workplace Violence By Daniel R. Saeedi Violence in the workplace is one of the most challenging issues that an employer might face. It can expose a company to significant liability and harm company morale. An effective job applicant background screening process is crucial to helping avoid workplace violence by eliminating job applicants who pose significant risks. What are the early warning signs indicating that a job applicant poses a potential risk of workplace violence?

Criminal Record A job applicant’s criminal history is often a starting point for understanding if the applicant poses a risk of potential workplace violence. There are several types of convictions that provide warning signs including, but not limited to, crimes involving use of a weapon, physical assault or battery, or any other crimes involving physically aggressive acts. Employers should also look at applicants’ civil records; oftentimes domestic violence incidents and restraining orders might be found in these records. Also, driving records may reveal instances where a job applicant disregarded the safety of themselves or others, or failed to be cooperative with law enforcement. Companies should be aware that there are several state and local laws across the country dictating when and how an applicant’s criminal history should be considered. Also, there are so-called “ban the box” laws recently enacted in several states and municipalities.

Employment History Employers should look for instances where the applicant was disciplined or reprimanded for being insubordinate. Other warning signs include instances of physical threats, destruction of property, disregard for safety or any other behavior perceived as threatening.

Reference Checks Oftentimes, employers fail to contact job applicants’ listed references, former job supervisors and even police officers who have interacted with the applicant. Reference and supervisor checks often reveal subtle details about an applicant that a paper application simply cannot show.

Pre-employment Interviews The interview process will reveal information as to the applicant’s personality, ability to interact with peers and physical appearance/ nonverbal communication cues. Furthermore, well-trained interviewers will be able to make judgments as to the applicant’s truthfulness and comfort.

Drug Tests Finally, employers should consider whether to have a pre-employment drug screening. The U.S. Labor Department has recognized that one of the primary indicators for potential future workplace violence is employee drug and/or alcohol abuse. Employees and job applicants that excessively use alcohol or use drugs are more likely to exhibit depression, behavior swings and disregard for their peers.

Daniel R. Saeedi is an attorney at Taft, Stettinius & Hollister. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.

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MARKETER continued from page 43 applicant tracking systems may or may not have all the necessary features and hooks to social media and other tools. And a collection of best-of-breed software tools may pose challenges related to IT integration, managing data and tracking prospects. It’s also crucial for an organization to understand today’s digital environment and how pieces and data fit together to create a more relevant and customized experience for the end user. This includes using search engine optimization, Google Analytics and pay-per-click advertising data in a more sophisticated and integrated way. As Kropp puts it: “Today, the best quality employees are often bombarded by recruiters using LinkedIn and other tools. It all becomes a lot of noise. However, if you are creating value and you have the processes and systems in place to deliver the right content and information at the right time, the fish-

ing pond becomes a lot less crowded.” Make no mistake, times have changed and HR professionals must change with them. GE’s Zilich said that today’s recruiters and hiring executives must be more open to experimentation and more aware of reputation management. “Marketing has become a crucial part of hiring and recruiting,” she said. Creating an ongoing dialog with the talent pool is mission critical, added Gold’s Gym’s Moran. “It’s not about the number of followers or subscribers. It’s making sure you have the systems in place to keep in touch with prospects — particularly those with the right knowledge and skills — and deliver value to them. At some point in the future, they may want to work for you.” Samuel Greengard is a writer based in Portland, Oregon. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.

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LAST WORD

J a m e s Te h r a n i

A FOCUSED FLICKINGER

s I was Googling a Game Changer, I learned from Jonathan Flickinger’s LinkedIn profile that he was no longer working at Swanson Industries. I immediately emailed him, and he confirmed he had been laid off in May 2016. In six years, Workforce has given out 140 Game Changer awards to people in the HR field, and this is the first time a Game Changer was let go during the vetting process. But we never considered taking the recognition away. Just because Jonathan was laid off doesn’t mean he’s no longer a Game Changer. He clearly is. His nomination blew us away from his legal background — he holds a law degree from Duquesne University — to entering the combat sports industry, representing professional fighters and organizations to his time at Swanson as a self-proclaimed “mixed martial generalist.”

IT’S EASY TO GET DOWN ON YOURSELF AND BE BITTER AND ANGRY AFTER GETTING LAID OFF, BUT I DIDN’T GET THAT SENSE FROM GAME CHANGER JONATHAN FLICKINGER. In addition, Steve Weidenmuller, Swanson’s former senior vice president of human resources, who has since left the company, wrote in Jonathan’s application: “Only days after his hire, he took a stale, reactive recruiting method and transformed it into a much more proactive and visible system.” Definitely game-changing stuff in our eyes. HR is not immune to economic pressures, even if the job outlook is fairly positive for HR specialists (The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a 5 percent growth in HR positions available through 2024 to 503,900 jobs from 482,000 in 2014).The only difference is one day HR practitioners could be laying someone off and the next be laid off themselves. It’s a tough position to be in from both sides of the desk. I called Conor Tobin, Swanson’s current senior vice president of HR, to get the company’s side of the story, but Tobin declined to comment. He did, however, want to make it clear he wasn’t declining because I was asking questions about Jonathan, but rather because it was company policy. While the HR field might be seeing desirable growth, the mining industry on the other hand has hit hard times. That’s especially true for the coal mining industry, which is Morgantown, West Virginia-based Swanson’s realm. The industry has had to deal with increased environmental regulations and competition from cleaner energy sources. 50

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In March, the U.S. Labor Department reported that the mining industry in general had shed 171,000 jobs since September 2014, and 2,000 coal miners and 16,000 mining support personnel lost their jobs in February 2016 alone. While Jonathan knew the difficulties facing the coal mining industry when he was interviewing for the Swanson position a couple of years ago, he said he wasn’t fazed. Like a cruiserweight ready to go up in class and take on a heavyweight, he told me he was ready to take on the challenge. He seems to have that “no obstacle is too great” mentality. Indeed, the first thing that struck me in our conversation was his upbeat attitude. It’s easy to get down on yourself and be bitter after getting laid off, but I didn’t get that sense. Perhaps it was leftover euphoria from celebrating his third anniversary with his wife, Jenna, the night before our interview or getting to spend more time with his daughter, Lydia, who will soon be 2, but I don’t think so. Jenna left her banking operations job after she gave birth to their daughter to raise their child, so the Flickingers are currently unemployed. That’s scary stuff, but I don’t think Jonathan will be out of the HR ring very long. I asked him how he keeps up with regulations — like the upcoming overtime rule changes — while looking for a new job, which can be a full-time job on its own. He told me: “It goes back to [my] personality. Whether you view your chosen field as actual work or whether you view it as your passion and what you like. For me, it’s kind of funny to say it, but I’ve really never worked a day in the past few years. I love what I do. It’s fun. I like wearing a variety of hats and keeping up on the industry best practices and regulations and changes and stuff like that.” Loves reading regulations? That should be on every HR person’s résumé. So who is Jonathan Flickinger? I’ll let him answer that. “Everybody seems to find it interesting that I have a nontraditional background. I went to law school, but I’m not a cookie-cutter attorney like everybody seems to come out and be. I got out of law school, and the first thing I did was go out West in California and Las Vegas to work with professional athletes. Everybody always finds that interesting, and ‘How’d you get to Swanson?’ or ‘How’d you get to Pittsburgh?’ The one thing that somebody said to me the other day, and I’ll share it with you is: I used to work with fighters, I used to work with combat sports people, and they said: ‘You’re exactly like those people.You might get knocked down every once in a while, but you’ll get up again in even better shape and push forward.’ ” And he’ll be changing the game along the way. James Tehrani is Workforce’s managing editor. To comment, email editors@workforce.com.

august

2016