The Health Assessment

In 2008 our company instituted a new policy: every employee would have to go a health assessment to determine if they were going to have to pay a premium on their health insurance. The first year was a base year, but as long as the employee showed upward progress or scored above a certain amount, they were given the "subsidizied" amount.

The health assessment our company gives consists of a blood test (for cholesterol, glucose levels, nicotine, etc), weight (which, I'm pretty sure is calibrated incorrectly), height, and waist size. The first year went off pretty swimmingly, and even included company-paid counceling if you needed to improve your health in any way.

Then the sentiment around the office changed. Smokers realized they were being set up to fail the exam based on the points accrued for nicotine. Spouses who wanted to be on the health plan had to be tested starting in 2009, which many felt was too invasive. And, rumors abound that Human Resources was getting a hold of the test results which would have been in direct violation of the confidentiality agreement we signed when testing began.

Now, many employees try to find any way around the testing. Some have their doctors write notes. Others go on their spouses plans which are less intrusive. And a select few decided it was worth paying the extra money not to have their company perform tests on them.

This is a big issue. Companies need to make sure this type of process is a trustworthy one. If the information is shared, it not only violates laws and the agreements that employees entered into, but also creates friction between HR/management and employees. With soaring healthcare costs, many companies are looking for fair ways to reduce costs and this seems like a good one on the face. But unless a company can get voluntary buy-in from the employees, it's a system that is doomed to fail.

-Andrew

The Most Stressful Jobs (and other links)

Here on this Wednesday, as I get my health assessment done, I wanted to share a few links:

-From CNBC, we have America's most stressful jobs. Certainly quite a few on there that none of us would want to have. And, as Human Resources, some good jobs to know that fellow employees might be quite stressed at.

-11 Points gives us a top 11 list of famous people who were in the totally wrong career at age 30 showing all of us that career switches are possible.

-Although many of us cannot relate, Vault has some advice on how Tiger Woods' experience can help your career.

-Lastly, from Mike D. Merrill Blog, a new feature from LinkedIn which lets you follow company profiles.

Back tomorrow with some more great links (and maybe a thought or two from my health assessment)

Getting Rid of the Performance Review

I wrote earlier this week about changing the performance review scale, but the Wall Street Journal via Yahoo! Finance has an even better idea: eliminate performance reviews completely (H/T Sarah). The article's opening is a great call to arms:

It's time to finally put the performance review out of its misery.

This corporate sham is one of the most insidious, most damaging, and yet most ubiquitous of corporate activities. Everybody does it, and almost everyone who's evaluated hates it. It's a pretentious, bogus practice that produces absolutely nothing that any thinking executive should call a corporate plus.

And yet few people do anything to kill it. Well, it's time they did.

Just because everyone hates it, though, doesn't mean it should go. The ability to evaluate employees keeps everyone honest--including the reviewer, the reviewed, Human Resources, and upper management. Everyone hates it because it isn't fun to judge other people but like Valentine's Day reminds us once a year to say "I love you" when we should be doing it every day, performance reviews reminds us once a year that we should be giving constructive criticism, even though we should be doing that all the time as well. The key is to do it in a way that achieves a maximum comfort level for everyone involved and gets to a positive result.

Changing the Performance Review Scale

Recently my company sent out an e-mail: we are changing our performance review system in 2010. Specifically, we are moving from a three tier rating system to a five tier one.

The old one had to go. The only three things that a manager could write for an employee were "below expectations" (which normally would get you canned), "exceeds expectations" (which Human Resources highly discouraged anyone to use) and "meets expectations". Everyone--for the most--part got the latter grade. It made no sense.

Now we're moving to a 5-point scale. Excellent, great, good, average and below average (paraphrasing here because supposedly this is proprietary information). This is still extremely rigid, but it at least gives managers some flexibility. Some.

It's good to know we're moving away from an antiquated system, but I believe it's a system that can still be improved. What grades does your company allow on performance reviews? How closely does this grade tie to bonuses and promotions (ours is almost solely based on it)? Leave some ideas in the comments below.

-Andrew

Astronology - How to Deal:Difficult Employees

Astronology Volume XI Issue 4   April 20, 2010 Dear Andrew, Astron Solutions provides high-quality, low-cost, innovative human resources consulting services to organizations like yours. Call us for advice, innovative program design, and user-friendly Web/PC based software.   Fact or Fiction New York was at one time the Nation's capital. FACT! In 1789 The United States' first president, George Washington, took his presidential oath on the balcony of Federal Hall. Today, you can visit many historical sites in lower Manhattan, including the Alexander Hamilton US Custom House and Fraunces Tavern. If you find yourself in town, please be sure to stop by Astron's offices! We'd love to say hello in person.   The Astron Road Show On April 23rd, fresh after Income Tax Day, Jennifer will present to the Human Resources committee of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA) on the concept of Total Rewards. The FAE Conference Center (3 Park Avenue, at 34th Street, in Manhattan) will host the event. Attendees can also dial in through a teleconference number. CPAs can earn 1 CPE hour for attending! For more information, please contact Pei-Cen Lin, Chair, HR Committee, NYSSCPA.   How to Deal: Difficult Employees Starting with today's issue, Astronology begins a new three-part series called How to Deal. To kick things off we're exploring the topic of difficult employees. What do you do when your most productive employee is also someone who causes the most headaches when it comes to other aspects of organizational cohesiveness such as teamwork and communication? Instead of finding ways to terminate the employee, understanding the root of the problem and attempting to help alleviate the isolated issue can be a more effective approach....more   Have a Question? If you have a topic you would like addressed in Astronology, or some feedback on a past article, don't hesitate to tell us!  Simply reply to this e-mail.  See your question answered, or comments addressed, in an upcoming issue of Astronology. Looking for a top-notch presenter for your human resource organization's meeting?  Both Jennifer Loftus and Michael Maciekowich present highly-rated sessions on a variety of compensation and employee retention issues.  For more information, send an e-mail to info@astronsolutions.com.   The Fine Print We hold your e-mail address in trust.  Astron Solutions promises never to share or rent your personal information.  We also promise never to send you frivolous e-mails and will allow you to leave our list, at your option, at any time. To remove yourself from this list, please follow your personalized subscriber link at the bottom of your Astronology alert e-mail. Copyright 2010, Astron Solutions, LLC ISSN Number 1549-0467 Quick Links Client List Meet the Astron Team Contact Us   World of HR Blog Bringing you Human Resource news from around the globe...compliments of Astron Solutions. More

 

Working On TV: 24

A lot of times on the Astron Blog, I'll refer to the working conditions on a TV work environment. But this series will finally explain what I'm talking about. The first show we're going to review is the soon-to-be-completed FOX hit, "24".

On 24, the main work environments are the governments as a whole and moslty CTU (a fake government unit known as Counter Terrorism Unit). These government agencies have been home to some of the more egregious Human Resources violations. Each season there are moles within various agencies, showing a complete lack of a screening process. I've often joked with friends that all you have to do is check a box that you're not a terrorist and you're cleared--no questions asked.

There is also a ton of instances of office fraternization and nepotism. Secret (or not-so-secret) relationships are the norm and people like Kim Bauer and Morris O'Brian have seemed to be granted jobs just because they have a relative in the office. And in Morris' case, this was a costly relationship for CTU.

But the worst treatment of people in the office are to women. Only one woman has ever been the head of CTU and she was quickly ousted by a man (played by "Rudy"'s Sean Astin) as soon as her motherly skills forced her to become unfit to do her job.

We do have a woman President currently, but this past episode showed women still have a huge glass ceiling to break through on the show. Two were women were promoted this past episode. The first was Dalia Hassan who took over for her recently-murdered husband. The thought was "hey, she's not as qualified, but what the heck"...she'll just be a great "martyr's wife" as the female American President referred to in the episode.

Chloe O'Brian was promoted in CTU only because the man in the position before her was inept at his job. And yet it was made to seem this was unfair. Yet, the guy she was taking over for, Hastings had recruited Dana Walsh (the season's biggest mole), let her leave during the crisis (to do shady things) and didn't punish her when she came back, didn't stop any of the terrorist activity in New York, let an EMP into CTU which crippled the infrastructure, let Cole Ortiz and Dana run rampant with their relationship, almost let a woman (Renee Walker) take all of the blame for his mistakes, let Arlo sexually harass all the female employees, berated Chloe, still hasn't discovered that he has a dead man in his office panel, let nukes be transported all around New York, failed to protect a foreign leader--President Hassan-- from two assassination attempts, lost countless men and women and data hours...so let's definitely make sure everyone apologizes to him for his raw deal when the much more qualified woman takes over.

Oh and people who are of a different ethnicity, especially Asians, Russians and Middle Eastern people should all be thought of suspiciously because they could definitely be a mole.

The world of 24 is not the World of HR--it's a nightmare for Human Resources professionals.


-Andrew

Back From Vegas With Great Links

Just got back from a quick vacation in Las Vegas with a picture from the top of THEhotel at Mandalay Bay from my Blackberry (to the right) and some great links (below):

-Yahoo! HotJobs starts us out with some truth about resume lies and some advice to people looking for jobs about how to make the truth sound better (H/T Wendy). There is some good advice in here for Human Resources about how to treat resumes and how other people define "embellishment".

-This is not something for Texans to be proud of from WFAA:

In one of the largest civil rights investigations ever undertaken in Texas, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission declared that at least 100 African-Americans worked in a hostile environment and were subjected to racial graffiti, nooses, and symbols of hate while employed by Turner Industries in Paris, Texas.

-Harvard Business Review asks if all employees are knowledge workers? One bolded point from the article: "Perhaps the single greatest lesson from Japanese auto manufacturers is that all employees are ultimately knowledge workers and that the role of the firm is to both encourage and support problem-solving by all employees."

-Lastly, Simply Hired Blog has the winners of their Dream Job Contest. I like the most creative: "Rainbow Chaser and Pot of Gold Location Expert, also skilled in the identification of Silver Linings"

People I Work With: The Little Generals

Next up in our fun little series is "the little generals". It's not just people with a Napoleon complex (but many times are people with some sort of inferiority complex). It's anyone who runs around the office like a general. It always has to be their way, right away...or else. They don't listen to others speak or really care what they have to say--they are right and everyone else is wrong, so why bother? Worst of all is that they usually are they least productive and most inefficient because they don't leverage their co-workers or consider other opinions.

This person is not just the worst type of person to work for, but they're also the worst to work with. And it leads to a lot of trouble in the office. These people talk down and over everyone else. No one wants to approach them for help and many issues end up not getting solved because of their stubbornness. They are the worse type of office bullies--and they usually end up making the wrong decision.

How does Human Resources deal with these people? Well the first thing to do is to make sure that the office environment is not one that breeds these. Telling someone to always take control is not always the best decision. Sometimes these people just need a talking to. They're intimidating even for Human Resources, but no one should have free reign to talk down to everyone else in the office. You want employees to be right--but you don't want them to think they're the only one right all the time. And you certainly can't afford them bullying everyone else in the office. The less "little generals" you have, the better your "army" of office workers will run.

-Andrew

Astronology - The Interviewing Process: Do You Know the Rules?

Astronology Volume XI Issue 3   April 6, 2010 Dear Andrew, Astron Solutions provides high-quality, low-cost, innovative human resources consulting services to organizations like yours. Call us for advice, innovative program design, and user-friendly Web/PC based software.   Fact or Fiction Spaghetti Trees exist. FICTION!   As many of us know, spaghetti is pasta made from semolina or flour. However, back in 1957, the BBC hit show Panorama ran a 3-minute April Fool's joke for its viewers. The program aired a fictional story of a family in the south of Switzerland harvesting their own spaghetti from spaghetti trees. The segment was complete with spaghetti on trees, and family members plucking spaghetti from the trees. Back then, spaghetti wasn't widely eaten in the UK, and so hundreds of viewers called in to either deny that such trees existed, or to inquire about growing their own spaghetti trees. CNN refer to the stunt as "the biggest hoax that any reputable news establishment ever pulled." We hope that there weren't too many April Fool's pranks at your workplace last week!   The Astron Road Show On April 23rd, fresh after Income Tax Day, Jennifer will present to the Human Resources committee of the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants (NYSSCPA) on the concept of Total Rewards. The FAE Conference Center (3 Park Avenue, at 34th Street, in Manhattan) will host the event. Attendees can also dial in through a teleconference number. CPAs can earn 1 CPE hour for attending! For more information, please contact Pei-Cen Lin, Chair, HR Committee, NYSSCPA.   The Interviewing Process: Do You Know the Rules? As we draw closer to summer, and the higher education spring semester draws to a close, many HR professionals recognize that the time has come to prepare for the upcoming flood of applicants for full-time jobs and internships. Are you up to date on the rules for conducting job interviews? Or are you playing the role of the interviewee and don't know the Do's and Don'ts of interview etiquette? In this issue of Astronology, we will review the rules of interviewing - for individuals on both sides of the table....more   Have a Question? If you have a topic you would like addressed in Astronology, or some feedback on a past article, don't hesitate to tell us!  Simply reply to this e-mail.  See your question answered, or comments addressed, in an upcoming issue of Astronology. Looking for a top-notch presenter for your human resource organization's meeting?  Both Jennifer Loftus and Michael Maciekowich present highly-rated sessions on a variety of compensation and employee retention issues.  For more information, send an e-mail to info@astronsolutions.com.   The Fine Print We hold your e-mail address in trust.  Astron Solutions promises never to share or rent your personal information.  We also promise never to send you frivolous e-mails and will allow you to leave our list, at your option, at any time. To remove yourself from this list, please follow your personalized subscriber link at the bottom of your Astronology alert e-mail. Copyright 2010, Astron Solutions, LLC ISSN Number 1549-0467 Quick Links Client List Meet the Astron Team Contact Us   World of HR Blog Bringing you Human Resource news from around the globe...compliments of Astron Solutions. More

 

Unemployed...and Frustrated

On this Good Friday, we bring you some good links that are not so good if you're unemployed:

It's frustrating when you go through a few interviews and don't get a job offer. But one person went through 52 interviews at Goldman Sachs and got only one job offer according to Here Is The City (H/T Wendy). Wow

How many people are taking jobs right now they are overqualified for? But it doesn't mean they aren't really happy to be employed according to the New York Times (H/T Sarah and picture from the NYT article)

There is one time when "any work" is worse than "no work": unemployment benefits and the Christian Science Monitor via Yahoo! explains (H/T Wendy)

And Tom Delay, you have egg on your face after saying that people are unemployed because they want to be. Details of that non-PC and non-true statement from Huffington Post via Yahoo! (H/T Wendy)