• March 12th (Dinner) – Topic: Creative approaches to benefits and recent developments in health insurance. Presenter: Chris Bartnik, Wachovia, Focus: Benefits
• April 16th (Breakfast) – “Action Learning in Action – A Powerful New Tool for Solving Problems and Building Leaders, Teams and Organizations” Presenter: Mike Marquardt, President, World Institute for Action Learning, Focus: Performance Management
• May 21st (Dinner) – Topic: Hiring and Terminating Presenter: Theresa Burke Wright, Jackson Lewis Law Firm, Focus: Hiring and Terminating
• June 18th (Dinner) – “New Leader Integration” Presenter: Lynn Lorenz, AOL, Focus: Training and Development
• July 16th (Breakfast) – “The Hidden Dimensions of Organizational Change” Presenter: Bob Marshak, Professor, American University, Focus: Organization Culture
• August 20th (Dinner) - TBD
• September 17th (Dinner) – Topic: Employment law issue to be determined after annual member interest survey. Presenter: Misti Mukherjee, Odin, Feldman & Pittleman, Focus: Employment Law
• October 15th (Breakfast) – “Challenges in Integrating Cultures During a Merger or Acquisition” Presenter: Terry Mellendorf, Retired VP, Human Resources, Nextel, Focus: Mergers and Acquisitions
• November 19th  (Dinner) – “Get ‘Em Started Right – Enhancing Performance and Retention Through Effective On-Boarding” Presenter: Ilona Birenbaum, The Wynhurst Group, Focus: Retention
• December 3rd (Dinner) – Holiday Party

Chapter Discussion Group
" Four Generations in the Workplace
Thursday, February 7, 2008

Managing and motivating a diverse workforce can be very challenging. As more people from the youngest generation enter the workforce alongside the most senior employees, it is obvious that a one-size-fits-all management style is not effective. That's because each of the four generations now working together bring unique viewpoints to the table and let generation specific values guide their daily actions.

In preparation for this discussion, please reflect on the following questions:

• Is this an issue you and your managers are facing?
• Have you identified specific situations where the generational issues are apparent?
• Has your generational mix found strategies that work for them, using their strengths and weakness to effectively support each other, or are they more a source of conflict?

Come share your experience with us and facilitator, Shira Harrington. Shira is an executive recruiter with Positions Inc, and has been tracking and presenting this evolving topic for many groups in the DC area. To prepare for the discussion, take a look at this website, focused on this very topic: http://www.generationworkplace.com/forum/

If you have had no previous experience in this area, consider this an opportunity to learn from your colleagues. There is no charge for attending.

Please confirm your participation by registering on-line, at least 24 hours in advance, on the Dulles SHRM web site, Career Growth/Chapter Discussion Groups (www.dullesshrm.org). If you have questions, feel free to call Janet Geib at 703-303-4427. Participation is limited to the first 25 people who sign up.

Date: Thursday, February 7
Time: 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m.
Place: AgustaWestlandBell, LLC
11700 Plaza America Drive, Suite 900
Reston, VA 20190
Contact: Tina Strasheim 703.373.8357

Directions:

From points east:
Take Toll Road (VA 267) to exit 12 (VA602 – Reston Parkway)
Right on Reston Parkway
Right on Sunset Hills Road (1st light)
Right at 2nd light into Plaza America
Around circle, take 3rd right into parking garage. We are on 9th floor.

From points west:
Take Toll Road (VA 267) to exit 12 (VA602 – Reston Parkway)
Left on Reston Parkway
Right on Sunset Hills Road (2nd light)
Right at 2nd light into Plaza America
Around circle, take 3rd right into parking garage. We are on 9th floor.

New Compliance Alert!
New Medicare Law with Severe Penalties Adds to Employer Reporting Requirements in 2009

Congress recently passed a new Medicare law that beginning in 2009 can potentially add a substantial reporting requirement with severe penalties to employers for noncompliance. The President is expected to sign the legislation. Lockton Companies, LLC has provided an alert. Some details of the alert are: A bill imposing a new and potentially burdensome reporting requirement on insured and self-funded employer health plans cleared Congress just before it adjourned for the holidays. The Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 adds another weapon to Medicare’s “secondary payer” enforcement program at the expense of employer-sponsored health plans. The law requires health insurers and third-party administrators (“TPAs”) of self-funded plans to submit enrollment information to the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) to allow it to identify when the employer’s plan should be the primary payer of benefits with respect to enrollees also covered by Medicare. Corollary reporting requirements apply to liability insurance programs (including self-insurance), no fault insurance and workers’ compensation programs.

On its face, the law appears to obligate employers to identify employees and dependents who are covered by Medicare, then supply this information to the plan’s insurer or TPA. Few employers currently have systems in place to accomplish this. It’s true that the Medicare Part D rules require employers to issue creditable coverage notices to Medicare enrollees, but employers have dodged the administrative hassle of identifying these individuals simply by issuing a “shotgun” notice to all employees. Sadly, there appears to be no expedient dodge of the new requirement, at least not yet. The President is expected to sign the bill. The new law would apply on the first day of the calendar quarter that is one year after the date of enactment (meaning that the new law will likely apply January 1, 2009). A deferred effective date applies to the bill’s corollary provisions concerning liability and workers’ compensation coverage. It is too early to tell precisely how the new reporting requirement will affect employers. Will health plans actually be required to collect Medicare coverage information from enrollees, or will HHS notify plans when a person is covered under Medicare? How rigorously will the government enforce the $1,000 per day penalty? These and other questions remain to be answered. We will keep you advised as HHS supplies additional information regarding implementation of this new reporting obligation.

For more information or a copy of the full report, contact Hoyt Connell, Vice President, Lockton Companies, LLC, 1110 Vermont Avenue, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005, 202-414-2603 Direct, 301-509-3447 Cell, or email at hconnell@lockton.com

Note from Lockton Companies, LLC: Not Legal Advice: Nothing in this Alert should be construed as legal advice. Lockton may not be considered your legal counsel and communications with Lockton's compliance services group are not privileged under the attorney-client privilege. Circular 230 Disclosure: To comply with regulations issued by the IRS concerning the provision of written advice regarding issues that concern or relate to federal tax liability, we are required to provide to you the following disclosure: Unless otherwise expressly reflected herein, any advice contained in this document (or any attachment to this document) that concerns federal tax issues is not written, offered or intended to be used, and cannot be used, by anyone for the purpose of avoiding federal tax penalties that may be imposed by the IRS.

Best Resolutions for HR in 2008
By Martha I. Finney, President and CEO of Engagement Journeys, LLC

I suppose it’s fashionable to outwardly groan at the idea of New Year’s resolutions. They’re usually a rehash of the things we meant to do last year. But if the concept of New Year’s resolutions is too hackneyed a habit to stomach, consider this: Q1 is upon us. And, consequently, so is the first day of the quarter. Now is as a good a time as any – if not urgently better – to consider steps you can take to move your HR career forward. Sounds like a good time for resolutions to me.

The year 2008 carries with it that old Tweedle-dee and Tweedle-dum of crisis and opportunity. We’re seeing layoffs, economic shifts of weight around the world, new demands and roles rise to the surface with new demands, while old ones drift and sink away. So, again, this seems like a pretty good time for resolutions. Resolutions for cultivating and sustaining a relevance – an essentialness, for the matter – that will see you through many quarters to come.

To prepare this article, I sought out successful HR leaders inside global companies and consultancies for their advice. Here are just a few their suggestions for the Best Resolutions of 2008:

I will remember that work is personal. With the increasing emphasis on metrics, balanced scorecards, return on investment, talent management, etc., it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that each job represents someone’s dream for security, for bills that get paid, for children who get educated, for potential that gets fulfilled. Yes, we could be talking about everyone in your company, but we’re also talking about you.

Says Eva Sage-Gavin, executive vice president of Human Resources and Communications, Gap Inc.: “The employee value proposition is really an individual value proposition. This is critical to understand. Especially when you have a cross-generational workforce. You must sustain a level of fluency about how passionate your people are about their own jobs. And keeping this in mind will make your own job in HR so much more fulfilling.”

I will continuously take my boss and partners by surprise. If you operate strictly from an HR frame of reference, the people you work with already know what you’re going to say before you open your mouth. If that’s the case, they probably only half-listen to you; which reduces your effectiveness significantly. Surprise them. Look at your job through the lens of a general manager of a company division and approach everything you do, every suggestion you make, every decision you must come to from a general business perspective. That will make your partners pay attention!

“HR people are either pigeon-holed into stereotypical roles, or they’re not,” says Jim Wiggett, director of The Jackson Hole Group, and formerly Executive Vice President of Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH) Retail Group. “You’re not pigeon-holed when you’re perceived as a business person; when you understand the metrics of the business; when you’re looking at your business on a daily basis and when the CEO sees you as one of the people who are helping him or her run the business.

“If what you’re doing is running back to turnover numbers, or cost-per-hire, or training dollars, if that’s your frame of reference on the business, you’re in trouble,” he says. “HR professionals successfully reposition themselves and multiply their impact on the company when they’re suddenly seen as a business person who just happens to be in HR.”

That’s where the surprise element kicks in.

I will know my industry inside and out. While you’re studying up on the business model of your company and the essential variables that drive the unique decisions within your own walls, also commit 2008 to gaining fluency about the industry you’re in.

Says Peg Wynn, former senior vice president of Adobe: “The more engaged you are in your company’s business, the more engaged your company’s leaders will be in your business. Subscribe to the trade magazines of your business. Track how the competition is doing. Attend as many industry conferences and meetings as you can – at least as many industry meetings as HR meetings in 2008. Volunteer to staff your company’s trade show booth.

“Once you help the people in your company see that your interest in the industry itself puts you on common ground with them, you can work together to move the world. And that’s what you want to have happen.”

I will strengthen my organization with flexibility. “I don’t think there’s a widget in the world that can’t be duplicated by another organization,” says Sharon Klun, director of Work-Life Initiatives for Accenture, which was named as one of Working Mother’s 100 Best Companies in 2007 for the fifth year in a row. “But it’s the people who are critical because of the intellectual capital that they bring with them. All those elements that enable them to be successful in their work lives are essential to their personal lives as well.”

Klun says that organizations that embrace the flexibility necessary to allow employees lead balanced and successful personal lives will see measurable outcomes in their ability to gain a competitive advantage with healthy and fulfilled people. “Flexibility has the most ability to change and serve the outcome of the organization at an incredibly good price. It’s the cheapest thing to do for the highest ROI that you’ll ever have at your fingertips.”

I will stay positive and strong so I’ll continue to keep up with business as it unfolds around me. Says Tom Mathews, Senior Vice President for Corporate HR for Time Warner Cable, “As I look to 08, there are going to be no fewer challenges than we’ve seen so far. We’re going to continue to see the escalation of costs. And competition is going to get more global and more challenging. It’s important to look beyond such countries as China and India toward places like Panama, Philippines, Costa Rica. Wherever there is a market that will offer the same services more cheaply, there is going to be competition for our businesses. So we have to stay with what’s going on in the world, above and beyond HR.

“I like to sign my emails with, ‘Onward!’ While it’s important to understand what has happened in the past, it’s essential to keep looking forward.”

I will remember the passion that brought me to HR in the first place. The true gift of HR is its ability to inspire people to believe in themselves; to passionately seek the gold in every single person; and help each person find, develop and celebrate that gold, says Mike D’Ambrose, senior vice president, Human Resources, for Archer Daniels Midland.

“Every single person has something unique and wonderful to contribute,” he says. “It’s my job to ask our people, ‘What are the things that you do great? How do we help you become this wonderful, unique contributor – not only to the company but also to yourself?’”

As companies increasingly focus on employee engagement in 2008, it’s essential that you remember that engagement must begin with you in HR. That is the gold of your profession. And that is the gift you bring to all the people you work with every day.

Happy Holidays and have a fantastic HR career in 2008!

Bio: Martha I. Finney, president and CEO of Engagement Journeys, LLC., helps companies attract and keep high-passion, high-performing talent. For a sample chapter from her new book, The Truth About Getting the Best From People, email her at Martha@marthafinney.com

Dulles SHRM Members: Look for chapters from Martha’s book in upcoming newsletters!

DOL's Office of Disability Employment Policy Promotes a Workplace Inclusive of People with Disabilities

Contributed by Evelyn Kaiser, Diversity/Workforce Education Director

The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) is leading a 21st century federal response to the historic underemployment of people with disabilities. ODEP is first and foremost a policy office, which leads policy, drives change and creates opportunity through the development and implementation of policies and practices necessary to achieve a fully inclusive workplace. ODEP's work falls into three categories: workforce systems, employers and the workplace, and employment–related supports. ODEP's approach is collaborative, evidence based, and universally designed. The agency works in collaboration with the private and public sector, puts its policy to the test through demonstration projects in the workplace, and seeks policy solutions that will be applicable to all people, not just people with disabilities.

On February 1, 2001, President George W. Bush announced his landmark New Freedom Initiative (NFI), which is a set of proposals designed to ensure full inclusion for Americans with disabilities in all aspects of community life, including employment. ODEP responded by taking the lead in addressing the NFI's employment aspects – to ensure that individuals with disabilities have the opportunity to develop skills and engage in productive work.

ODEP was authorized by Congress in DOL's FY 2001 appropriation. Recognizing the need for a national policy to ensure that people with disabilities are fully integrated into the 21st Century workforce, in 2001 Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao delegated authority and assigned responsibility to the new position of Assistant Secretary for Disability Employment Policy.

DOL encourages organizations to seize the exciting educational opportunity that Drug-Free Work Week presents--this week, and all year long. Those who observe the week and conduct activities, however small in scope, are encouraged to let Working Partners know to assist in planning for next year’s Drug-Free Work Week.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) wants to remind employers and employees that Sunday, October 14, marked the start of the second annual Drug-Free Work Week, October 14-20, 2007. The purpose of Drug-Free Work Week is to highlight the fact that working drug free is key to protecting workplace safety and to encourage workers with alcohol and drug problems to seek help.

The true spirit of Drug-Free Work Week lies in activities conducted by individual employers and their employees, and DOL’s Working Partners Web site offers a number of specific suggestions on how organizations can participate. Working Partners also is distributing various educational materials, including drug-free workplace fact sheets, “tool box talks” for construction sites, and posters and stickers with the slogan “Working Drug Free Works.” These, and other helpful materials, are available on the Working Partners Web site.

DOL encourages organizations to seize the exciting educational opportunity that Drug-Free Work Week presents--this week, and all year long. Those who observe the week and conduct activities, however small in scope, are encouraged to let Working Partners know to assist in planning for next year’s Drug-Free Work Week.

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!

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