FOR THE PEOPLE

January 2010 A snapshot into the current issues affecting your people

Beware: Your Employees Might Be Packing

As the new year begins, it is clear that businesses are going to have to address the issue of employees bringing their favorite firearm to work. Most companies created or added policies on guns after the rise of workplace violence back in the 1980s and early 90s. Back then, it seems we were hearing about shootings every month. While this was jokingly referred to as going postal since several of the incidents took place at a post office, it was a scary time to be a manager firing or disciplining an employee. Despite the fact that most employers have clear policies that forbid employees from having a gun at their place of employment, several states dont agree. Nine states have recently passed laws allowing employees to bring guns to work: Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi and Oklahoma. Similar legislation has been proposed in other states, including Arizona, Missouri and Tennessee. All of these laws are different, but the purpose is to allow an employee to bring a gun to work as long as it stays in their vehicle in the parking lot. Some of the laws allow the employer to prevent a gun from being stored in a comPlease see Packing, page 2

Inside This Issue

Beware: Your Employees Might Be Packing Should You Turn Over Your Staff in 2010? Whats In Your File Cabinet? One For the Road: COBRA and Unemployment Insurance Extensions Yup, They Said It Perfect People Solutions

Should You Turn Over Your Staff in 2010?

The past 18 months have shown that the old adage which says, Employee turnover is the kiss of death to a business has been proven to be untrue. Large companies have shed tenured employees who failed to embrace change. Smaller businesses were forced to lay off long-time employees to survive. The change to the employment landscape caused by the current economic downturn will last for years and may even be permanent. This brings to an end the employee for life culture that was born in 1950s, thrived through the 60s, 70s and 80s, and started deteriorating in the 90s. Employers and employees now know that loyalty lasts as long as the business is doing well and the employee is performing. The question now is Do you get rid of all your non-performers? This current economy provides employers with the ability to make tough people decisions with the cover of tough times. After all, no one wants to fire anyone, but no successful business person can afford to carry dead wood either. EmployeePlease see Turn Over, page 2

Packing
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pany-owned vehicle. Many of the laws are unclear about how to handle an employee who works outside or one who travels and has a concealed-carry permit. In a study done in 2005 and published in the American Journal of Public Health, it was found that the risk of a worker being killed at work was substantially higher in workplaces where employers policy allowed workers to keep guns at work. These businesses were five to seven times more likely to be the site of a worker homicide when compared to those where all weapons were prohibited. Companies and other entities in states allowing guns at the workplace have sued to have these laws ruled unconstitutional but so far they have not been successful. What everyone seems to be waiting for is the first time an employee gets fired or just gets extremely angry, goes out to his car, comes back into the office and shoots a few people. It is not a case of if this will happen, but when. Businesses face the double-edged sword: Do they (a) protect their employees by trying to enforce a weapons ban and face a discrimination suit from a gun-toting employee or (b) face the lawsuits when an employee gets killed or wounded by a fellow employee who retrieved his gun from his car in the parking lot? Some employers are enacting radical solutions to try to placate both sides the rights of gun-owning employees and the safety concerns of all employees. Two of the approaches being tried are designating a secure parking lot for employees who want to bring a gun to work or moving all parking further from the building. Any employee who brings a gun to work is a potential discrimination lawsuit or incident waiting to happen the first time you attempt to discipline or fire them. (For a related story, see Workplace Violence: Could It Happen Here? For the People, Oct. 2009)

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related expenses are usually the number-one cost in a business and as such should be treated with great care. Instead of cutting benefits this year, maybe you should cut a non-performer and add someone who can make you more money. Given the average life span, most people have 30 to 40 years of productive work available. It is not beneficial to an employee to allow them to waste time working in a job where they are not growing or are not appreciated for their contributions. This is not to suggest that small businesses become like larger companies that manage out the bottom 10% of performers every year, but instead will show that your business recognizes and rewards those who do their job well. Dont just change employees for change sake. In these times, the proper dismissal of an employee is actually more about the remaining employees than it is about the employee you are letting go. The other employees know who is contributing to the business success and while they will be initially nervous about the change, they will quickly give you credit for the decision, sometimes even telling you directly that it was about time. In small businesses that grow, sometimes the business outgrows the original employees. Employees who have been with a business from its conception may long for how things used to be and not view its growth in a positive manner. Do not feel obligated to keep an employee solely because he has been with the company since its outset but is no longer contributing. So, as the new year opens, take the time to evaluate your people and make the tough call. Decisions you make today could be the ones that make your business more profitable in 2010 and beyond.

Whats In Your File Cabinet?

Instead of looking at Whats in your wallet? as one popular commercial asks, you should start thinking about Whats in your file cabinet? As you are throwing out the old calendar, you should consider getting rid of some old paperwork too. Some businesses are like the show Hoarders in that they hold on to everything because they never know when they might need it. When it comes to people issues, sometimes holding on to things can cost you a lot of money. For example, lets say you have applications or resumes from three or four years ago. If someone files a discrimination lawsuit, all of those materials are discoverable by an agency or the plaintiffs attorney. As the agency or the lawyers look through the materials, they find that two years ago you used to write notes about applicants on their resumes or on the applications. Descriptive words like fat, bad teeth, or not another one can really boost a plaintiffs case. Most companies have a document retention policy. A document retention policy is how long a company will keep certain documents before destroying them. While the policy covers all aspects of the business, this article focuses only on the documents that deal with people. How long should you keep resumes and applications? Some companies keep them for six months, while most keep them for a year. Others keep an entire year of applications through the next year, disposing of them the following year. In this case, you would be getting rid of all the 2008 applications and resumes now. The most important thing is to have an actual policy for managing these documents and be certain that this policy will protect you as long as you actually do what it says. In next months newsletter, we will discuss human resources audits and why it is important for a business to conduct these at least once a year.

One for the Road: COBRA and Unemployment Insurance Extensions

On December 19, 2009, President Obama signed an extension of the COBRA premium subsidy that was originally created as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The ARRA originally provided for employers to offer COBRA premiums at a 65% discount to employees for nine months after their separation. That period has now been expanded to 15 months. Businesses are required to send a special notice to all employees who may have stopped paying their COBRA bills over the past 60 days because the subsidy ran out and they were unable to pay 100% of the COBRA premium. Employees may opt to rejoin the benefits plans and take advantage of the six-month extension. The eligibility deadline for this premium subsidy has been changed from December 31, 2009 to February 28, 2010. Any employees released during this period are now eligible. Businesses should be in close contact with their benefits providers and/or brokers to make sure that they are in compliance with this extension. At the same time as the COBRA extension, President Obama also signed into law an extension of the Federal Additional Compensation (FAC). The FAC provides an extra $25 weekly benefit amount on state and federal unemployment compensation. Now it is extended from the current end date of January 1, 2010 to February 28, 2010, with weekly payments provided during the phase out period for weeks ending June 30, 2010 through August 31, 2010.

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Perfect People Solutions (PPS) is a cutting-edge consulting company that is focused on providing new and creative people solutions to all kinds of businesses. At PPS we are attentive to each individual client, their business, their culture and creating an answer that is unique to them. We have a stable of consultants with years of business and human resources experience. They cover everything from recruiting to immigration; training to terminations; coaching to counseling; government regulations to organizational design and development. We can be your HR team or we can provide support to the team you have in place. The individual services we offer are rivaled only by the many different ways we can be available to support your business: Hourly Do you have a question concerning a people issue but dont want to pay the high fees a lawyer or large consulting firm charges? We offer our expertise on an hourly basis, substantially below what an attorney or large HR firm would charge. This service is primarily used to address a small issue or to deal with questions that require a detailed answer. Projects We are engaged by a company to solve a particular problem or to deliver a finished product over a period of time or by a specific deadline. Packages PPS offers unique packages to its clients. Our Perfect People Protection Packages are broken down into three types: Primary, Preferred and Premium. These packages include a set number of monthly consulting hours and other benefits to encourage our customers to take advantage of the cost savings versus paying hourly rates. Please contact us for more details on this best-in-class solution. We hope you found this edition of For The People helpful and check out our website to see what else we can offer you and your business (www.perfectpeoplesolutions.com). We stand ready to assist you with any of the issues addressed in this edition or on any other topic that is affecting your people.

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P ERF ECT P EOPLE S OLUTIONS

Yup, They Said It

There was a man who worked for the post office whose job was to process all the mail that had illegible addresses. One day a letter came addressed in shaky handwriting to God. The postal worker opened the letter to see what it was about. The letter read: Dear God, I am an 83-year-old widow living on a very small pension. Yesterday someone stole my purse. It had $100 in it, which was all the money I had until my next pension check. Next Friday is Christmas, and I have invited two of my friends over for dinner. Without that money, I have nothing to buy food with. I have no family to turn to and you are my only hope. Can you please help me? Sincerely, Edna. The postal worker was touched. He showed the letter to all the other workers. Each one dug into his or her wallet and came up with a few dollars. By the time he made the rounds, he had collected $96, which he put into an envelope and sent to Edna. The rest of the day, all the workers felt a warm glow, thinking of Edna and the dinner she would be able to share with her friends. Christmas came and went. A few days later, another letter came from the widow addressed to God. All the workers gathered around while the letter was opened. It read: Dear God, How can I ever thank you enough for what you did for me? Because of your gift of love, I was able to fix a glorious dinner for my friends. We had a very nice day and I told my friends of your wonderful gift. By the way, there was $4 missing. I think it must have been those thieves at the Post Office .