Join Us For Our Year-End Holiday Event And Party! Party! Party! On Wednesday, December 7 (5:15-8:00 P.M.)
Embry Rucker Shelter Donations Update
November Community Speaker Assists With Career Development
Volunteer Opportunities Available
Getting It Right - A Retirement Plan Compliance Assistance Seminar For Small Businesses
Looking Back On San Diego National Convention
Mark Your Calendar
Welcome To New Members
Board Meeting Minutes
Chapter Membership Promotion
Dulles SHRM Sponsorship Opportunities
Planning Continues For Upcoming Washington, D.C. Area Business Survey
Chapter Discussion Group
Demographic Profile Report
IBM Looking Ahead At IT For Maturing Workers
Use Of Exit Interviews Grows, Gets More Sophisticated
Herman Trend Alert: Workforce Palnning Will Engage Educators
Join Us For Our Year-End Holiday Event And Party! Party! Party! On Wednesday, December 7 (5:15-8:00 P.M.)
For Details on the Program: Click Here
Embry Rucker Shelter Donations Update
Members who attended the October breakfast meeting donated $24 for the Embry Rucker Shelter. Donations were used to purchase Target gift certificates for the homeless. 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.
November Community Speaker Assists With Career Development
November Community Speaker Ilka Johnson, GCDF, is an Employment Services Specialist with the Arlington Employment Center (AEC), a full service, One-Stop career center. Since 1989, AEC, has been assisting residents and businesses in Arlington County and the Greater Washington Metropolitan area with their career development and employment needs. From assisting job seekers with improving their job search skills or job placement…to supporting businesses with their recruiting needs…AEC is your one-stop connection to great people and better opportunities for a dynamic workforce.
To learn more, go to www.arlingtonva.us, or call 703-228-1414.
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).
"Matching Natural Talents and Interests in Today's Job Market" The Northern Virginia Transition Coalition is a partnership of area schools assisting students with disabilities. Future Quest is a biennial career and college symposium for students with disabilities held at George Mason University, Fairfax Campus, on November 19, 2005. Approximately 700 individuals attend, including students, families, staff and community leaders. A panel presentation will be provided by Northern Virginia Employers from the Information Technology, Construction Trades, Retail and Hospitality and the Health Care Industries. The panel will discuss “Employment Opportunities within your Community.” There are two sessions; 12:40 to 1:30 and 1:40 to 2:30. If you can participate in this important event, please contact Evelyn Kaiser at (703) 277-3511, evelyn.kaiser@drs.virginia.gov.
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.
The Commonwealth Workforce Network is an alliance of workforce development professionals including public and private organizations in partnership with the business community. The NETWORK provides easy, cost-effective access to a diverse applicant pool through a variety of incentives and resources.
THE NETWORK ADVANTAGES
- Save time and money
- Profile your company at monthly meetings
- Post job openings
- Learn about community resources, assistive technology in the workplace and local labor market trends
- Reduce recruitment costs
- Gain quick and easy access to screened, qualified candidates
- Referrals are FREE and with NO OBLIGATION
- Gain from Financial Incentives
- Tax Credits
- Subsidized On-the-Job training program
- Hire from under-utilized labor sources
- Mature workers
- Persons with disabilities
- Down-sized/displaced workers
- Economically disadvantaged persons
See how a diverse selection of workforce candidates can meet your needs! For additional information contact Evelyn Kaiser at (703) 277-3511, evelyn.kaiser@drs.virginia.gov.
Getting It Right - A Retirement Plan Compliance Assistance Seminar For Small Businesses
December 8, Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel
Join Hampton Roads SHRM Chapter in the Getting it Right Seminar December 8. Strong fiduciary oversight and protecting workers’ benefits is one of the highest priorities of the U.S. Department of Labor. The best way to protect workers’ benefits is by preventing problems before they start. Our newest compliance assistance program - Getting It Right - Know Your Fiduciary Responsibilities - will increase awareness and understanding about basic fiduciary responsibilities when operating a retirement plan.
To register for this free seminar, visit www.hrshrm.org. Registration must be completed no later than November 29, 2005. The seminar is open to the first 200 registrants. It will be held at:
Sheraton Norfolk Waterside
Waterside Hotel Drive
Norfolk, VA 23510
(757) 622-6664
This program has been approved for 5.5 recertification credit hours toward PHR and SPHR recertification through HRCI. For more information, visit www.hrci.org.
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 7 (Dinner Meeting) - Holiday Party
- 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 September and October:
Michael Amiri, Senior HR Specialist - US Region, Curtiss Wright Controls
Scott Chatelain, Leadership & Org. Development, Equant
Christina Farver, Manager - Administration, Federal Home Loan Bank
Teresa Fleming, Business Office Manager, Terremark Federal Group
Michael J. Knapp, SPHR, Director of Employee Services, Quest Diagnostics
Dee Lowe, Director, Human Resources & Administration, Diakon Logistics
Deanna L. Lyons, PHR, Human Resources Manager, Technica Corp.
Laurel L. Mitchell, PHR, Compensation and Benefits Administrator, Middleburg Financial Corp.
Mark Peckham, HR Assistant, Reston Associates
Dennise Promise, Director of Human Resources, LISCR, LLC
Kristi Skain, Employment Representative, Northrop Grumman
Narayanan Thattai, Sr. Resource Manager, V.L.S. Systems, Inc.
Ann Weihsmann, Human Resources Manager, USEC
Renee Zimmer, Analyst, America Online
Chapter Membership Promotion
Contributed by Bonnie Little, Vice President, Membership
We the members of the Dulles SHRM Chapter would like to invite you to join our local chapter FREE for the remaining 2005 fiscal year. If you pay your 2006 dues between October 1, 2005 and December 31, 2005, you do not have to pay for 2005. Annual dues are only $30.00.
If you would like to join the chapter now, please Click Here. Or, email Bonnie Little at blittle@mrketr.com for more information or with any questions.
This is a great opportunity to get 3 months of FREE membership and get affiliated with a growing, diverse chapter, dedicated to the Human Resource profession. You can also attend our Orientation program on November 16 from 4:30pm - 5:15pm. Longtime chapter supporter Cornelia Gamlen will give a short presentation on the benefits of joining the Dulles chapter of SHRM. There is no charge to attend the orientation program, though we do ask that you register with Bonnie prior to the program. You would be required to pre-register online and pay the meeting cost should you decide to stay for the chapter meeting directly following orientation.
Dulles SHRM Sponsorship Opportunities
We invite you to join us as a sponsor in 2005 and 2006.
Dulles SHRM offers you and your company three ways to market your products and services to our members. We have over 200 Human Resource professionals who are interested in hearing about what you have to offer. Please consider one of the following sponsorship opportunities:
Dinner Meeting Sponsorship
For a cost of only $500 ($250 for Dulles SHRM members) you’ll receive:
- Direct contact with 50 or more chapter members
- A display table set up next to our registration area during the reception/networking time prior to the meeting
- An introduction following dinner with an opportunity to briefly overview your products and services
- Exposure on the Dulles SHRM website for one month with mention of your sponsorship, a brief description of your organization, and a link to your website
Website Advertising
For a cost of only $250 you’ll receive:
- Your logo on the front page of our website for one year
- A link from your logo to a paragraph describing your company’s products or services and contact information
- A link from your ad to your website
Holiday Party Sponsorship
The holiday party is another great way to show your support of Dulles SHRM and our members. We appreciate cash, certificates, and products to be raffled off during our end-of-the-year celebration. We’ll mention your company’s generosity to everyone in attendance.
We hope you will consider sponsorship of our organization. If you need additional information or have any questions, please contact: Mary Walter Midkiff, Assistant Vice President of Programs, at (703) 787-7932 or mwmidkiff@aol.com.
Thank you for your support of Dulles SHRM!
Planning Continues For Upcoming Washington, D.C. Area Business Survey
Dulles SHRM to Participate as Sponsor
WTPF, NOVA SHRM, and Dulles SHRM are proud to announce their collaboration with Wachovia Insurance Services | Palmer & Cay and Washington Work Life Coalition to conduct a comprehensive Washington, D.C. Area Benefits Survey. The survey will be conducted during January 2006 for distribution in spring 2006, which will give adequate time to study results prior to 2006 open enrollment.
We extend our thanks to members who participated in the Flash Survey conducted this past summer in preparation for the upcoming survey. Flash Survey results indicate that 71% of responding companies would participate in the survey, with 27% undecided.
The three most significant factors in the decision to complete the survey were 1) amount of time it would take, 2) specific content, and 3) survey cost. Based on these responses the survey will:
- Require only a nominal amount of time for HR professionals to provide valuable information to their peers in the local area.
- Be comprised of comprehensive benefits data for employers in Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia.
- Be provided free of charge to survey participants.
Among possible survey elements, health-related topics such as health benefits, life insurance, disability, wellness, and current trends received the strongest responses. Other topics of interest included retirement programs (70% of respondents), paid and unpaid absences (81%), education assistance and training (67%), telecommuting (53%), and employee referral awards (51%). A strong majority of participating companies (88%) indicated that the planned April distribution would be useful to them.
A comprehensive benefits survey has not been available in the Washington, D.C. area for many years, and we are hopeful that all Chapter members will participate.
If you have feedback or suggestions, please send your comments to Steering Committee Representative Nancy Streeter (nabss@aol.com ).
Demographic Profile Report
Fairfax County • Loudoun County • Prince William County • Fairfax city • Falls Church city • Manassas city • Manassas Park city
Submitted by Evelyn Kaiser, Diversity/Workforce Education Director
This report provides a demographic, economic, and educational profile of Workforce Investment Area XI (WIA XI), Northern Virginia. It was produced by the Virginia Employment Commission, with assistance from the Virginia Community College System and the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, at the request of the Special Advisor to the Governor for Workforce Development. It is intended to assist on-going strategic planning efforts within the Workforce Investment Boards by providing a solid, data-driven, foundation for strategic decision-making. For more information, go to the following link: www.vec.virginia.gov.
IBM Looking Ahead At IT For Maturing Workers
By John K. Waters
Submitted by Denise Henderson, Communications Director
Healthcare providers and insurance companies won't be the only ones facing challenges brought on by our aging population. Software developers are increasingly called upon to provide applications and systems that take into account age-related disabilities and other physical limitations. Accessibility is a hot topic at IBM Research Labs, says Marc Goubert, manager of IBM’s alphaWorks group.
"IBM has been studying this area for some time," Goubert says. "We’ve got such a large population of our workforce maturing that it’s going to be more and more important for businesses to provide them with information technologies designed to keep them productive and happy in their work."
Accessibility is the latest research topic on IBM's alphaWorks Web site, the company's emerging technology showcase for software developers. A component of IBM’s developerWorks, alphaWorks is where Big Blue publishes early implementations of technologies and research prototypes, primarily for early adopters.
Earlier this year, the company began using the site to provide a kind of window on cutting-edge research underway in its research labs through what it calls research topics. Research topics provide a means of organizing downloads, demonstrations, articles and researcher profiles to help developers and academia learn about these new technologies and trends. So far, IBM has established three research topics: visualization, semantics, and now, accessibility.
IBM hopes accessibility will foster an ecosystem of developers, business partners and academics who will make applications more accessible to the maturing workforce, Goubert says. "We feel that early adopters who grasp this material can also help to foster the real adoption and growth of the technology in a much more important way," he says. "The early adopters who are taking a serious look at accessibility will help to create a more accessible environment for the public."
IBM is showcasing four new technologies for the maturing workforce under the accessibility rubric. These include:
- Keyboard Optimizer helps users adjust their keyboard accessibility settings to suit their typing style. For example, it adjusts settings for one- or two-handed typing, and for long or short key presses, characteristics that could be caused by a disability. It allows users to demonstrate how they type, determines what accessibility settings would be best, and sets them.
- Web Adaptation Technology dynamically adapts Web pages to meet the needs of individuals with visual and motor limitations. The software can magnify the contents of a Web page and adjust font, image, and page layout to improve readability. It also features a text to speech feature for those with vision impairments and eases typing for people who have difficulty with a keyboard-users with tremors, arthritis or those recovering from a stroke-by detecting errors and automatically adjusting keyboard sensitivity to accommodate typing. This technology, which was developed with the input of seniors to be particularly easy to use, is the basis of WebAdapt2Me, which is now being sold to companies, organizations and educational institutions.
- Mouse Smoothing Software enables people who suffer from hand tremors to eliminate excessive cursor movement, thereby allowing more normal use of PCs. Users can download the software, and it filters out the shaking movements of the hand-in a similar way to how the image stabilizing systems of some camera lenses work. The software, which is designed to work with any PC and operating system, can benefit users in homes and offices, as well as in public places like libraries and universities.
- Reflexive User Interface Builder helps developers build applications that feature popular GUIs that are still accessible to people with disabilities and to mature workers. Powerful graphics pose a particular challenge to users whose eyesight is fading from age or other causes. The tool is of particular interest to developers that create and sell applications to government agencies and must comply with sophisticated accessibility regulations.
IBM recently contributed accessibility software to the Mozilla Foundation's Firefox Web browser. The company is also offering universities a free license to a disability simulator that helps Web designers ensure their Web pages are accessible and usable by the vision impaired.
IBM has impeccable timing: The new research topic hits the alphaWorks site in October, which Congress has designated as National Disability Employment Awareness Month. The legislators hope to increase the public's awareness of the contributions and skills of American workers with disabilities.
John K. Waters is a freelance writer based in Palo Alto, Calif. He can be reached at john@watersworks.com .
Use Of Exit Interviews Grows, Gets More Sophisticated
Companies are using exit interviews to decrease turnover, often by comparing their results to engagement surveys. They're also finding exit interviews useful in luring ex-employees back.
By Eilene Zimmerman
Submitted by Evelyn Kaiser, Diversity/Workforce Education Director
The HR metric of the moment may be employee engagement, but many companies have also placed a new emphasis on employee disengagement by reinventing the exit interview and acknowledging there’s much to be learned from a departing employee. The development and implementation of these surveys is increasingly being outsourced, and the data compared with other workforce surveys.
Vendors that provide these services say demand is rising because outsourced exit interviews are often more comprehensive and strategic than internally devised surveys, which can be incomplete or haphazard. Beth Carvin is CEO of Nobscot, a Web-based software provider whose products include WebExit, which was introduced in 2001. She has seen growth in both the number of her business's clients as well as her revenue of between 20 to 50 percent a year since then. "Exit interviews are the one process that companies haven’t really figured out how to do well," says Carvin.
Like Carvin, Diane Irvin has seen demand for her firm’s exit interview services grow rapidly in the last few years. Irvin, senior vice president for the HR research and consulting firm Strategic Programs, says the Denver-based company has been growing more than 70 percent a year for the past three years, largely due to its exit interview work. "Right now it’s trendy to do employee engagement surveys, but to engage employees you have to understand them. Comparing your exit data to your engagement data helps you do that." Irvin and others in the exit interview business find employees are both more likely to participate and to be more honest when someone unconnected to their employer asks the questions.
Nobscot, Strategic Programs and most other vendors provide clients with detailed reports that correlate responses from departing employees and analyze data, breaking it down by age, seniority, gender and other demographics. The number of questions ranges from about 35 to 70. For larger organizations, the questions are generally quantitative rather than qualitative, although most surveys contain a section for open-ended comment.
Since January, Black & Veatch has been comparing data from its newly designed exit interviews with its workforce engagement surveys in order to accurately gauge how employees feel about their jobs. The engineering consulting firm hopes the information gleaned from its surveys will help senior management find ways to increase employee productivity and, ultimately, profits. The company may discover, for example, that supervisors need a specific kind of training or development to better manage their teams.
Michael Harris, a professor of human resources at the University of Missouri-St. Louis’ College of Business, says that’s a smart move. "Think of your employee as your customer," he says. "Most companies want to measure customer satisfaction, but it’s important to also find out why your customers are leaving."
Black & Veatch changed its old set of exit interview questions--which B.J. Holdnak, vice president of organization effectiveness describes as "kind of hit or miss"--to a standardized survey that identifies high performers and categorizes the reasons they leave. Black & Veatch’s exit survey also tracks demographics. "Are younger people leaving us more often than those with a longer tenure? If so, why? Is it compensation? Their team? The environment? The culture? We are looking for patterns," says Holdnak.
Some of the same questions asked in Black & Veatch’s exit interviews are also asked in their engagement survey, so that the responses of those currently in the workforce can be compared to those who are leaving.
Richard Wellins, a senior vice president at human resources consulting firm DDI, says asking exit interview questions before people actually exit--in engagement surveys--can help a company prevent people from leaving. "The idea is that the questions you ask for a current employee are very similar to what you ask a person who is leaving. For example, on an engagement survey you might ask, ‘Do you feel you have opportunities to expand your knowledge and learning? Are we meeting your needs for learning and growth?’ and on the exit survey it’s the same questions, only past tense," says Wellins.
Richard Harding, director of research at Kenexa, says this kind of comparison across surveys is relatively new for businesses. "You’re looking not just at why people are leaving, but why they are staying," says Harding. "Then you give your managers actions they can take to keep their people. Just doing exit interviews after someone leaves is like shutting the door after the horse has left the barn."
Expansion plans
Black & Veatch has an aggressive expansion plan in place, a response to dramatic growth in worldwide energy and water markets that began about three years ago. Its work is concentrated in those industries, says Holdnak, and the firm wants to capitalize on the opportunity for growth by hiring people that are a good fit and will stay put.
"We are going to have to increase the number of people we hire and retention is also going to be an issue. If [energy and water] markets are better, people are more likely to jump ship," says Holdnak.
Black & Veatch hasn’t been collecting data long enough to know how it will use the information to make changes, but as the firm grows, a big concern is fostering a globally inclusive corporate culture.
Between 30 and 35 percent of Black & Veatch’s 7,000 employees work outside of the U.S. "Having policies and processes that resonate with employees in different countries across a variety of cultures is a challenge for us and we’re hoping the data we get from these surveys will help us achieve that," says Holdnak.
Increasing participation
Sutter Health, a healthcare network based in Sacramento that serves northern California and Hawaii, overhauled its exit interview process when it developed a nursing retention and recruitment plan four years ago. The data is being used to help stem the turnover of newly hired nurses, which is very high compared to Sutter’s general nursing population, says Diane Lahola, director of workforce planning and retention at the company. Turnover of new nursing school graduates is high throughout the healthcare industry, says Lahola, and Sutter wants to find out "what it will take to create a more satisfactory work environment for nurses, because the cost of turnover is very high and they are difficult to recruit."
Sutter’s affiliates--the members of its network--have been allowed to either internally redesign their exit interviews or contract with third-party vendor Strategic Programs. "It made sense to use a third party because you tend to get better participation rates and more [candid] data," says Lahola. The first year, between 40 and 50 percent of affiliates outsourced exit interviews; this past year 75 percent did. Lahola says for affiliates who conduct the interviews themselves, participation among departing employees is between 0 and 12 percent. With a third party, average participation is about 70 percent.
The new exit surveys give Lahola more accurate information than she had previously. "A lot of times someone will say they are leaving because they are getting more money across town, when the real reason is that you can’t pay them enough to work for their manager," says Lahola.
In an effort to get at the true reasons employees leave, Lahola compares exit data to the data she gets on annual employee opinion surveys. She was surprised to learn this fall, after the most recent opinion survey, that the orientation and assimilation period was a sore spot for new nurses. It wasn't the structure of the orientation program itself. It was other things, such as current employees not being prepared for a new employee’s first day on the job. "Although it wasn’t happening at all our affiliates, I didn’t realize the degree to which this was a problem," says Lahola. "New nurses and other employees would show up for their first day and staff may not have been prepared to orient and assimilate them."
Also surprising was the issue of competitive pay. Employees currently with the organization are actually less satisfied with their pay than those who leave. "That tells me people aren’t leaving because of money," she says. "And I can drill down by affiliates to see where the problem is most acute."
Sutter Health’s affiliates are just starting to make changes based on the exit data. New nurses are now surveyed about their work experience at the 30, 60 and 90-day mark and several affiliates have begun mentor or buddy programs. Another reason nurses were leaving, says Lahola, was a perceived lack of career opportunities, despite the fact that Sutter offers a variety of programs that allow employees to move from one affiliate to another or attend management and leadership programs. "We need to connect the dots better to show employees these opportunities exist," says Lahola. "Now we focus on that in all of our communications."
Sutter does hear from employees in other ways. Hundreds of its employees are currently on strike over a number of issues; the Service Employees International Union has said employees want "a voice in staffing decisions, a training fund and protections for speaking out for patients."
Hiring alumnae
Jeppesen, an Englewood, Colorado company that provides aviation data such as maps and flight plans, redesigned its exit interviews in 2000 with the help of an outside vendor. Information from the exit surveys spurred the company to offer more training for managers and change the way management jobs are posted. "There was a perception here that people got jobs through who they knew rather than what they knew," says Alice DiFraia, the company’s director of human resources and organizational development.
The changes had a profound effect: by 2003, turnover was down to six percent, which was DiFraia’s goal, and the company stopped performing exit interviews. This year, however, turnover began rising again--it’s 12 percent now--and the company has reinstituted the interviews.
Data from exit interviews is also used in less obvious ways. United Risk Partners, for example, a firm that does background checks, is finding that about 40 percent of companies also use it to conduct exit interviews. Craig Lawrence and Marco Confuorto, partners in the suburban Chicago firm, are both trained investigators and use the interviews to gain information about a company that management can’t find on its own. "From a risk management standpoint, you can find out things about sexual harassment, drug and alcohol abuse, intimate relationships and criminal activity," says Lawrence. "To investigate a criminal allegation you would have to hire an investigator to go under cover for a 90- or 120-day investigation. Exit interviews are a way to obtain inside intelligence about operations without having to make those significant investments."
Boomeranging--getting highly valued employees who leave voluntarily to return--can also be facilitated via exit interviews. Exit questions for those employees focus on what it would take to get them to stay. Beth Carvin of Nobscot recalls an insurance company client that was able to do just that. "They called an employee who had left to say, ‘All the great things you liked about working here are still here, and the things you didn’t like? They are gone.’ They hired this guy back within two weeks," she says.
Richard Harding of Kenexa says because employees sometimes find the grass isn’t necessarily greener at another company, doing exit interviews a few weeks or even months after valued employees leave can help a company find out what it will take to bring them back. Harding says Kenexa asks departing employees if they'd consider returning to the company, and under what conditions. About two-thirds say they would consider returning if the circumstances changed. Often, employees don't say they want more money--they just don't want to work for the same manger.
Herman Trend Alert: Workforce Palnning Will Engage Educators
Submitted by Evelyn Kaiser, Diversity/Workforce Education Director
Corporate leaders develop carefully conceived plans to determine what their organizations will do in the future. Typically, planning periods emphasize the next five years, but often extend ten years ahead. These plans, when done thoroughly, include a vital staffing component. Without the right people in the right place with the right skills and experience, employers will not be able to accomplish their plans. Wise employers invest in serious long-range human capital planning to assure that they will have the right people with the right skills when needed.
Where will these future employees come from? How many are employed by the company today? What competencies will they need? How will they be educated, trained, prepared for the work they must accomplish in five years? Eventually, these critical questions will be addressed seriously by employers. However, few employers have created plans for building the employee strength they will need, and even fewer have made any significant progress.
Very soon now, employers will become aware that they do not have the people they need to meet future---or even present---requirements. Some will react with panic, with various members of management blaming each other. Others will continue in denial, certain that this condition is not affecting them. Smart employers will plan and act.
Concerned employers will work with high schools, colleges, universities, and technical colleges to prepare young people with the knowledge and skills they’ll need. More and more employers will offer future jobs as part of a learn-earn-turn sequence. Employers will invite promising student-employees to learn particular bodies of knowledge, earn as a co-op or intern, and turn their education and experience into rewarding careers. The Think-Big Program with Caterpillar dealers is a shining example of this type of partnership.
Collaborating with educators to prepare young, entry-level workers will be an essential part of the strategic staffing process, but not the only answer. Older workers will participate in retraining programs. In many cases, they will be preferred over younger workers who lack experience---any kind of experience.
Employers will become increasingly proactive in building their future workforce in cooperative relationships with educators.
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!
Kurt Cowles
President
Dulles SHRM
kcowles@mitre.org
