Join Us For "Generations At Work" On Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Embry Rucker Shelter Donations Update
December Community Speaker Assists With Career Development
Volunteer Opportunities Available
Mark Your Calendar
Welcome To New Members
Board Meeting Minutes
Greater Washington Employer Benefit And Work Life Survey To Launch Monday, January 18
Use Of Job Simulations Rising Steadily
Watson Wyatt Study Reveals Most Effective Communication Programs
Chapter Discussion Group
Initiatives Target Math, Science Instruction From Eschool News Staff And Wire Services

Join Us For "Generations At Work" On Wednesday, January 18, 2006

For Details on the Program: Click Here

Embry Rucker Shelter Donations Update

Members who attended the November dinner meeting donated $72 for the Embry Rucker Shelter. Thanks to Kurt Cowles for donating his 50/50 winnings. Donations were given to the Shelter to be used towards the purchase of metro cards, toiletries and other much needed items this holiday season. Thank you for your continued support. Reston Interfaith's programs address the most critical issues facing our neighbors, from financial challenges to language and cultural barriers-issues that prevent them from fully participating in our community and all it has to offer. Their programs focus on affordable housing needs and homelessness, nurturing and healthy environments for families, and social issues, such as domestic violence and substance abuse. For more on how to help, check out www.restoninterfaith.org.

December Community Speaker Assists With Community Shelter

Susan Samuels is the Employment Coordinator for the Embry Rucker Community Shelter. She supports the individualized work plans that are developed by case managers for residents. Work plans provide a structured productive stay, empower residents to attain specific goals and provide needed services to be fulfilled during residency. The Shelter supports residents with a variety of backgrounds, from all walks of life. She will share some of the challenges that residents face. She hopes to dispel some of the myths and answer questions as well as to collect some ideas.

Embry Rucker Community Shelter is one program of several programs administered by Reston Interfaith (a nonprofit social service agency founded in 1970). The Shelter opened its doors in 1987 and temporarily houses 60 people on a regular basis, including single men, women, and families. To learn more, go to www.restoninterfaith.org.

Volunteer Opportunities Available

The Skill Force Center in Reston (a Fairfax County agency) needs a volunteer to review resumes for job seekers. It requires a two-hour commitment once or twice monthly, or whatever time someone can give. Members who are interested should contact Mary Walter Midkiff (mwmidkiff@aol.com).

SHRM HR Conference and Exposition is coming to Washington, D.C. June 25-28, 2006. It’ll be held at the new Washington D.C. Convention Center and it’s going to be great. But before anyone can attend and benefit from this great conference, we need hundreds of volunteers to help make it happen! All members of SHRM Chapters in the DC metropolitan area are being asked to help support this event.

How will you benefit from volunteering? Well, besides knowing that you’ve given something back to the profession and have helped make this conference a winning event, you will receive one free conference day for this conference for every six hours of volunteering work. So you can help out and get the benefit of the conference programs!

Want more information? Visit our web site, www.shrm2006dcvolunteers.org or see your Chapter representative. At Dulles SHRM, your representative is Kurt Cowles, President, 2005.

Mark Your Calendars

Upcoming SHRM Conferences and Seminars

2006 Conferences

• June 25-28 SHRM Annual Conference & Exposition, Washington, D.C.

2005/2006 Chapter Breakfast/Dinner Meetings

• December 14 (Dinner Meeting) - Transition Board Meeting
• January 18 (Dinner Meeting) - “Can Generations Work Together?” with Barbara Mitchell, The Millennium Group, Focus: Management Development
• February 15 (Dinner Meeting) - “Rapid Recovery: “Leading and Mentoring Others through Hard Times” with Meredith Kimbell, President, Corporate Adventure, Focus: Professional Development
• March 15 (Dinner Meeting) “Lessons I’ve Learned Training 5,000+ Supervisors, Managers, and Team Leaders” with Fran Gillan, The Training Guy with Karen Reser, VP of HR, iDirect Technologies, Focus: Training
• April 19 (Breakfast Meeting) - “Changing Landscape of the Job Marketplace” Focus: Recruiting & Hiring
• May 17 (Dinner Meeting) - “Compensation and Rewards - Programs that Work” with Jane Weizmann, Washington Office Practice Leader, Strategic Rewards, Watson Wyatt Worldwide, Focus: Compensation
• June - No Meeting National SHRM Convention
• July 19 (Breakfast Meeting): TBA
• August 16 (Dinner Meeting) - “HR Trends” Presenter: TBA, Focus: HR Strategy & Direction
• September 20 (Dinner Meeting) - TBA, Presenter: Caryn Pass, Krupin O'Brien, Focus: HR Law
• October 18 (Breakfast Meeting) - “Straight talk…Crucial Conversations” with Marcia Riley, Chief Learning Officer and AVP Talent Management, INOVA Health, Focus: Career Development
• November 15 (Dinner Meeting) - "Contact Count: Networking Skills for HR Professionals" with Wendy Mack, T3 Consulting, Focus: Professional Development: Interpersonal Skills
• December 13 (Dinner Meeting) - Holiday Party

Board Meeting Minutes

The minutes from the Board meetings are available on our web site - please take a few minutes to review them in full. Click Here to View.

Welcome To New Members
Contributed by Bonnie Little, Vice President, Membership

The Dulles Chapter continues to grow. We welcome the following new members who joined the Chapter during November:

Christopher Carlson, Associate, Booz Allen Hamilton
Charnell Davis, PHR, HR Representative, Scitor Corp.
Kim Douglas, Spacenet Inc.
Karen Fanning, Human Resources Manager, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
Rosalinde Harper, Division Manager, The ServiceSource Network
Lynn McElhaney, Manager of Human Resources, FGM, Inc.
Maire E. Orndorff, PHR, HR Manager, SkyLink-USA, Inc.
Jennifer Regis, Accounting/HR Manager, BIAP Systems, Inc.
Gieardy Ritz
Hector J.Velez, Vice President, Business Development, HireStrategy

Greater Washington Employer Benefit And Work Life Survey To Launch Monday, January 18
Your Opportunity to Participate

Planning continues for the upcoming Greater Washington Employer Benefit and Work Life Survey. Dulles SHRM will join co-sponsors WTPF, NOVA SHRM, and the Washington Work Life Coalition in collaboration with Wachovia Insurance Services | Palmer & Cay.

The Survey will launch Monday, January 18 and close on Friday, February 10. Results will be published electronically no later than Monday, April 3. Survey results will be free to participants with a $500 charge to non-participants who wish to purchase results. There will be a small charge for hard copies and for special cuts.

Members will be able to access the survey via a web link provided by Wachovia. Most questions may be answered with a convenient “radio button” response. Participants should be able to complete the survey in approximately one hour. All members are strongly urged to participate to enable the survey group to publish up-to-date, competitive information on benefits policies and practices for a range of industry groups and employer sizes.

The survey content will include the full range of employee benefits topics: medical, prescription, dental, vision, plan design, rates and contributions, other medical questions, consumer driven health care, medical trends, flexible spending accounts, life insurance, supplemental life insurance, paid and unpaid leave, holidays, short-term disability, long-term disability, paternity leave, jury duty, bereavement leave, military leave, unpaid leave, telework, Internet connectivity, referral bonus, reduction in workforce policies, relocation, training, tuition reimbursement, 401(k), and outsourcing -- plus more.

If you have questions or suggestions, please contact Steering Committee Representative Nancy Streeter (nabss@aol.com ).

Use Of Job Simulations Rising Steadily
By testing employees out rather than just interviewing them, companies are finding they can reduce turnover, improve succession planning and improve the chances of hiring high performers. ~ By Eilene Zimmerman
Submitted by Evelyn Kaiser, Diversity/Workforce Education Director

Most job candidates can talk a good game when it comes to interviews, and it’s become difficult to verify someone’s past job performance because of a growing fear of lawsuits. That’s causing more hiring managers to use simulations, where candidates take part in activities that simulate the experience of the job for which they are applying. The data gives a realistic preview of what an applicant will be like on the job and separates those that interview well from those that interview and perform well.

Human resources managers have known about simulations since the late ’60s, and use of these assessments remained fairly steady for 20 years. But experts say they took a back seat to personality tests in the 1990s, and their use dropped further during the dot-com boom because of lean applicant pools--with fewer qualified candidates, there was less of a need for heavy screening. Now, however, simulations are again becoming a leading-edge hiring tool. "We have seen the use of these rising steadily over the last three years, and especially in the last 18 months," says Scott Erker, senior vice president of selection solutions at human resources consulting firm DDI.

Consultants say the use of simulations is rising in manufacturing, sales, health care and call centers. Matthew O’Connell, an industrial psychologist and co-founder of Select International, a Pittsburgh-based consulting firm that helps companies with their hiring processes, estimates that 30 percent to 40 percent of applicants don’t get hired because of their performance on simulations.

Companies are increasingly using simulations for executive positions as the workforce ages. Information from these simulations is used to identify leaders from within who can succeed those retiring and determine those potential leaders' weaknesses, so companies can provide additional training and education. "Executive simulations are a very aggressively growing part of our business," DDI’s Erker says.

In early October, Connie Freeman, vice president of assessment solutions for the Americas at global human resources consulting firm SHL, introduced to her colleagues two new executive-level simulations that SHL can offer to clients. Her firm has seen an upswing in demand for executive simulations, which can require candidates to sit in an office for a day or two handling simulated tasks, such as answering managers’ questions, presenting financial information to senior stakeholders, negotiating an alliance or fielding difficult questions from a reporter.

Andrew Lewis, director of human resources at Progressive Medical, a Columbus, Ohio-based company that facilitates managed-care services for workers’ compensation patients, began using simulations in 2004 for applicants in its client services department. Client services reps spend most of their time on the phone gathering information and entering it into computer forms. During a simulation, candidates field phone calls and put information from the phone into the right spots on various forms. The computer tracks accuracy in terms of typos, how many times the candidate needs information repeated and into what field information is entered.

"We used to just give them a typing test and check for speed and accuracy--that was it," Lewis says. He estimates that 15 percent to 20 percent fewer candidates are hired now that the company uses a simulation, and says the ones ultimately hired are easier to train.

His goal in implementing simulations was to increase the number of client service reps staying at least 90 days. "We want them to stay longer, of course, but within that time you can usually tell if it was a good fit, a good hire," Lewis says. In the past year, the 90-day success rate has hovered between 85 percent and 90 percent; before simulations, it was in the seventies.

Joe Turturica, vice president of human resources at RSC Equipment Rental in Scottsdale, Arizona, which rents equipment to the construction industry, uses simulations for inside and outside sales reps, general managers, district managers and executives. "Many people have all the qualifications on their résumé to do the job," he says. "But can they do it the way we want them to do it? It’s not necessarily about a quality hire; we want a more accurate hire."

Turturica has used simulations for hiring at two previous companies, though this is the first time he has used them for executive positions. He says that when he first implements simulations, about 50 percent of candidates that might have been hired previously get screened out. After that initial period, he finds that the percentage drops and stabilizes at about 20 percent.

Costs for simulations range from about $50 for an entry-level position to $7,000 for an executive simulation, with one-time setup fees ranging from $10,000 to $30,000. Some companies pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to build assessment centers for workplace simulations--as SHL has done for clients--but the savings potential is enormous.

SHL undertook a joint research project in 2004 with the Future Foundation, a global strategic consulting firm and think tank, to identify the cost of underperformance in business. In the U.S. alone, the cost was $153 billion.

"The hardest thing for companies to see is the price for poor performance," Select International’s Matthew O’Connell says. "There’s no line item every month for not being as good as you could be.

"You don’t write a check for that. But in reality, you do."

Watson Wyatt Study Reveals Most Effective Communication Programs
Submitted by Evelyn Kaiser, Diversity/Workforce Education Director

WASHINGTON, DC, November 8, 2005 - Companies that communicate effectively with their workers financially outperform those that do not, according to a major study of U.S. and Canadian employers by Watson Wyatt Worldwide, a human capital consulting firm.

Watson Wyatt's 2005/2006 Communication ROI Study found that between 2000 and 2004, companies with the most effective communication programs returned 57 percent more to their shareholders than companies with the least effective communication programs. According to the survey, companies with the most effective communication programs achieved a 91 percent total return to shareholders (TRS) between 2000 and 2004, while companies with the least effective communication programs earned a 58 percent TRS.

"The results of our study confirm that communication is a critical element in creating successful business results," says Kathryn Yates, global director of communication consulting at Watson Wyatt. "The more effectively a company communicates with its employees, the better off its shareholders will be."

The study also found that a significant improvement in communication effectiveness is associated with a nearly 20 percent increase in a company's market value. Specifically, the study identified nine communication practices that are directly linked to an increase in market value. The three practices associated with the largest increase in shareholder value are driving managers' behavior to communicate effectively, connecting employees to the company's business strategy, and following a formal communication process.

Effect of Communication Practices on Market Value

Communication Practice Estimated Increase In Market Value
Drive managers' behavior 3.8%
Connect to the business strategy 3.7%
Follow a formal process 3.4%
Facilitate change 2.8%
Create employee line of sight 2.1%
Focus on continuous improvement 1.5%
Use employee feedback 1.3%
Integrate total rewards 0.4%
Leverage technology 0.4%
TOTAL 19.4

The study also identified several best practices that differentiate companies with the most effective communication programs from those with the least effective. For example, companies that communicate effectively are much more likely to give workers the opportunity to provide input into how the business is run. High-performing companies also consistently measure the communication function's contribution to their strategic business goals.

"Having a powerful and successful employee communication program takes more than just having the right tools and vehicles in place," said Yates. "It requires building a strong foundation to ensure that employees understand their role in the organization and have a way to voice their opinions. It also requires that companies view communication as critical to their overall success and key to changing employee behavior."

Other key findings from the survey include:

Companies with high levels of communication effectiveness were 20 percent more likely to report lower turnover rates than their competitors.

The number of companies using "formal" communication measures increased 11 percent, from 73 percent in 2003 to 81 percent in 2005, primarily due to an increase in the use of focus groups and surveys.

Three-quarters of all respondents increased their use of electronic communication over the previous 24 months, while 30 percent decreased the use of print communication. Additionally, 7 percent of the high-effectiveness companies used "blogs" and "wikis" to help get their message across.

Copies of the Watson Wyatt 2005/2006 Communication ROI Survey can be found here.

About Watson Wyatt: Watson Wyatt (NYSE: WW) is a leading global human capital and financial management consulting firm. The firm specializes in employee benefits, human capital strategies, technology solutions, and insurance and financial services and has 6,000 associates in 30 countries. The firm is located on the Web at www.watsonwyatt.com.

Initiatives Target Math, Science Instruction From Eschool News Staff And Wire Services
Submitted by Evelyn Kaiser, Diversity/Workforce Education Director

The call for better math, science, and technology education in U.S. schools intensified last week with the announcement of two new initiatives--one from the private sector, one from the federal government--aimed at bolstering instruction in these areas. International Business Machines (IBM) Corp., worried the United States is losing its competitive edge, will financially back employees who want to leave the company to become math and science teachers, the company said on Sept. 16. And the U.S. Department of Education (ED) is forming a partnership with TechNet, a group of technology companies, to create workshops for math, science, and technology teachers in urban areas.

IBM's new program, announced in concert with New York City and state education officials, reflects technology industry fears that U.S. students are falling behind their peers from Bangalore to Beijing in the sciences. Up to 100 IBM employees will be eligible for the program in its trial phase. Eventually, Big Blue hopes many more of its tech-savvy employees--and those in other companies--will follow suit.

The goal is to help fill shortfalls in the nation's teaching ranks, a problem expected to grow with the retirement of today's educators. Forty percent of public school teachers plan to exit the profession within five years, the highest rate since at least 1990, according to a study released in August by the National Center for Education Information. The rate is expected to be even greater among high school teachers, half of whom plan to be out of teaching by 2010.

The projected turnover rate will deprive school districts of an enormous amount of teaching experience just as the U.S. pushes to get a top instructor in every class. Math and science are of particular concern to companies in many U.S. industries that expect to need technical workers but see low test scores in those subjects and waning interest in science careers.

"Over a quarter-million math and science teachers are needed, and it's hard to tell where the pipeline is," said Stanley Litow, head of the IBM Foundation, the Armonk, N.Y.-based company's community service wing. "That is like a ticking time bomb not just for technology companies, but for business and the U.S. economy."

While many companies encourage their employees to tutor schoolchildren or do other things to get involved in education, IBM believes it is the first to guide workers toward switching into a teaching career. The company expects older workers nearing retirement to be the most likely candidates, partly because they would have more financial wherewithal to take the pay cut that becoming a teacher likely would entail.

The workers would have to get approval from their managers to participate. If selected, the employees would be allowed to take a leave of absence from the company, which includes full benefits and up to half their salary, depending on length of service. In addition, the employees could get up to $15,000 in tuition reimbursements and stipends while they seek teaching credentials and begin student-teaching.

From then on, the IBM people would become school employees--the program will encourage them to work in public schools, but they can go private if they wish--and leave Big Blue's payroll. But IBM plans to offer a mentoring program that would give its former workers guidance and teaching materials over the internet. "It's not an easy transition to make," said Litow, a former deputy schools chancellor in New York City.

IBM's announcement reflects a growing trend in which math, science, and technology experts are being trained to teach, as school systems expand their recruitment beyond colleges of education to other career fields. Broadening this pool of prospective teachers will help fill the void of retiring teachers, said Michelle Rhee, president of The New Teacher Project, a nonprofit group that helps some of the largest school districts recruit teachers.

Teacher-to-Teacher additions

In contrast, ED's announcement--which aims to promote strong technology skills among teachers--focuses on training the current educator workforce. "TechNet believes one of the most significant threats America faces today is our declining commitment to math, science, and technology education," said Jim Hock, a TechNet spokesman. "As such, we must make improving our young people's ability in these disciplines a national priority."

Having teachers better trained in math and science will allow these teachers to reach out and educate others, Hock added. "Our goal is to train 100,000 teachers during the 2005-2006 school year in math, science, and technology, and to amplify the skills of elementary and secondary school teachers," he said. TechNet is lending its expertise, as well as financial support, to these efforts.

TechNet is a bipartisan political network of chief executive officers that promotes the growth of technology and innovation. ED's partnership with TechNet is one of several new additions to its Teacher-to-Teacher initiative, a program that offers educators professional development and research-based strategies.

Another new addition to the program is a Teacher-to-Teacher Training Corps, made up of teachers who will provide on-site technical assistance to school districts. Teachers and school leaders who use scientifically-based research strategies and who have data to demonstrate effectiveness may apply for membership in the corps. Corps members also will host regional workshops and will lead presentations at ED's 2006 Teacher-to-Teacher workshops.

In addition, a new department web site will feature information for teachers, along with a place to submit questions directly to Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. "Ask the Secretary" is a new web page that gives teachers the opportunity to ask the secretary questions and learn information about a range of subjects, including teacher quality, professional development, and state academic standards.

The Teacher-to-Teacher initiative offers workshops for teachers, teacher and principal roundtable discussions, regular eMail updates, and free online professional development. More than 4,500 teachers have participated in these workshops and roundtable discussions, and the Teacher-to-Teacher initiative in general has helped more than 200,000 teachers to date, according to ED.

All 50 states and the District of Columbia accept ED's Teacher-to-Teacher summer workshops and online professional development courses for credit. The free digital workshops have been expanded to include 32 courses and are available to teachers around the world. The next round of Teacher-to-Teacher workshops is scheduled for summer 2006 in Atlanta.

"Highly skilled teachers are the key to closing the achievement gap," Spellings said. "The U.S. Department of Education's Teacher-to-Teacher initiative is helping teachers strengthen their skills by increasing their opportunities to engage in frequent professional development."

Links:

IBM Corp.
www.ibm.com

National Center for Education Information
www.ncei.com

The New Teacher Project
www.tntp.org

U.S. Department of Education
www.ed.gov

Teacher-to-Teacher initiative
www.ed.gov/teachers/how/tools/initiative/index.html

TechNet
www.technet.org

That’s all for this month unless you have any ideas or suggestions? This is your chapter - let us know what’s on your mind!

Maggie Chan
President
Dulles SHRM
maggie.chan@bearingpoint.com