• Is the meeting necessary?
• Are the right people here?
• Is everyone clear about the issues to be discussed?
• How will the meeting be conducted?
• How can you make sure that everybody participates?

WHERE'S THE BENEFIT IN THAT?

A study by MetLife found that only 32% of employees polled said they were happy with their benefits. Similarly, only 44% of employees were highly satisfied with their job. Not surprisingly, most employers thought that their employees were happier than the survey results indicated.

In large part, this dissatisfaction results from employers limiting benefit options or asking employees to contribute to their cost. To improve employee satisfaction with benefits, MetLife advises employers to focus on increasing their awareness and utilization of their benefits. This will help them make sound financial decisions. For an example, see the article on HSAs in a recent issue of this newsletter.

WHERE WILL TOMORROW'S WORKERS COME FROM?

According to a Job Shadow Coalition/Harris Interactive Poll, more than half of all teens (51%) have no desire to pursue the five fastest-growing career fields. For example, only 25% are interested in computers/data processing, and 21% in healthcare. This lack of interest will create a significant labor shortage in the future unless employers reach out to high school and college campuses, educating our youth about the benefits that these high-demand fields offer.

AVOID THE SIX SNARES OF SUCCESS

As the song goes, “when you reach the top, get ready to drop … it's almost predictable.” In Up Your Business: Seven Steps to Fix, Build or Stretch Your Organization, author Dave Anderson, a professional speaker and consultant for national automobile dealerships, argues that successful organizations face six temptations:

1. The leaders stop working on themselves.
2. They no longer lead from the front.
3. They forget to sweat the small stuff and remain “brilliant in the basics.”
4. They fail to delegate and include others.
5. The organization stops thinking big.
6. Performance standards and accountability begin to decline where no crises exist.

Paying attention to these six factors can help you and your organization avoid the snares of success.

FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY

Our guest for the September teleclass was Kenny Moore, a former monk who's now an executive at KeySpan, a large Brooklyn-based energy company. Based on his experience at KeySpan and surveys from other corporations, Kenny shared his insight that far too many employees mistrust management, don't believe in their organization, and are so burned out that they don't even try to make a difference. In his monastic life, he would have described this attitude as a crisis of Faith, Hope, and Charity.

In discussing solutions, the conversation turned to a basic theme: You don't need the near-death experience Kenny had with cancer to be clear about what really matters. In the end, it's not titles, raises, or what you added to the bottom line that counts — but the quality of your work experience.

This isn't just rhetoric. Under the direction of KeySpan CEO Robert Catell, with much help from Kenny, the company has enjoyed vastly improved employee relationships. Executives, rank-and-file workers, and union representatives engage in ongoing purposeful dialogue to improve working conditions. Catell and Kenny go to a monthly “break bread” dinner with a rotating group of employees who are managers, directors, and ordinary workers — not executives. Perhaps most important, KeySpan executives have learned to really listen, with patience, grace, and caring.

OLD PROS — AND CONS

Given today's labor shortages, more and more employers are seeking to hire the “older” workforce. Here are some of the pros and cons involved:

Pros

• Older workers usually have a sense of accountability and responsibility that's less common in younger people.
• They tend to be more mature and wiser than their younger counterparts.
• Since older workers have been around for a while, they often have excellent discipline in their habits and time management.
• They're less concerned than younger workers with ego and appearances.
• They enjoy being in a mentor role and can provide valuable contacts and connections.
• Finally, they tend to be more loyal and dedicated employees.

Cons (Some of these are literally the mirror image of the benefits):

• Older workers are more expensive than younger ones from a health-care standpoint.
• They might find it harder to abandon poor or outdated habits.
• Older workers might be too respectful of management and unwilling to shake things up by offering new ideas.
• They might be out of touch with younger workers and markets.
• Terminating older workers can be costly. Age discrimination employment verdicts are extremely high!

Be sure to discuss the potential challenges of hiring an older workforce at the time of hire and throughout their career. Ensuring that a 60-year-old worker is well trained is just as important as training a 20-year-old employee. Encourage your older workers to act as spokespersons for their constituents. Ask them how they can maintain a sense of creativity, humor, and excitement about the work that they're doing. You'll be glad you did.

"The savvy manager understands that they are responsible to other adults, not for other adults. You are responsible to another when you place them in a position where they have the ability to succeed. Whether they do so or not is a choice they are responsible for."

Don Phin, Esq.

Author and professional speaker

This issue discusses:

• Death by Meeting: Managers, Beware!

• Where's the Benefit in That ?

• The ABCs of Document Retention

• Where Will Tomorrow's Workers Come From?

• Avoid the Six Snares of Success

• Faith, Hope, and Charity

• Hiring for Minimum Wage

• Old Pros

We've also provided hyperlinks to two free Forms of the Month.

THE ABCs OF DOCUMENT RETENTION

A comprehensive Document Retention Policy (DRP) offers a variety of benefits. When creating your DRP, follow these guidelines:

• Obey state and federal laws and regulations, such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, HIPPA, and OSHA.
• Identify the impact of internal bylaws and industry standards.
• Assume that at some point all the documents in your possession, both paper and electronic, will be subject to discovery in a lawsuit.
• Define how long and where to store documents and be sure to destroy them on a timely basis after they're no longer required.
• Once a lawsuit is threatened or underway, don't destroy anything.
• Assign responsibility for enforcing, monitoring, and updating the policy.
• Finally, follow up on your DRP!

HIRING FOR MINIMUM WAGE

The U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics has published a report: Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers: 2003 (http://www.bls.gov/cps

/minwage2003.htm). Understanding the facts and figures in this report can help you to better define and market to these employees.

To learn about the minimum wage laws in your state, go to http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/america.htm.

GETTING DOWN TO CASES

Our legal staff offers this review of top cases that might affect your business.

(PDF) (WORD)    

FORMS OF THE MONTH:

Sample Overtime Authorization Policy for Non-Exempt Employees

(PDF) (WORD)

We have seen overtime abused over and over again — by employees, employers, and customers. Employees who are inefficient often find themselves billing their boss for work they should have completed hours ago. Many of your customers and clients place unreasonable demands on your organization that require unnecessary overtime. Note: Many employers attempt to treat employees as exempt, to avoid the paying of overtime, when they do not fit within any of the specifically defined exempt categories. It is estimated there is more than $3 billion of uncollected overtime sitting in corporate America — a lawyers' gold mine!