SHRM-Atlanta

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Mary Lynn Miller, Chief Operating Officer
404.869.2568
mmiller@shrmatlanta.org

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Jean Yahres, Association Director
404.760.8129
jyahres@shrmatlanta.org

Georgia’s Largest Human Resources Conference to Gather Hundreds for Education & Networking:  Hosted by SHRM-Atlanta October 17-18

Atlanta (September 15, 2011) – SHRM-Atlanta, the Atlanta Chapter of the Society of Human Resources Management, hosts the 21st Annual SHRM-Atlanta Human Resources Conference on October 17 and 18 at the Cobb Galleria Centre. Human resources professionals and other individuals with an interest in human resources from all over Georgia are invited to attend this two-day conference to network, learn and share ideas with other HR practitioners, as well as earn continuing education credits from the Human Resources Certification Institute (HRCI). The event is the largest gathering of the human resources community in Georgia this year; last year’s conference drew over 1,000 participants. Kat Cole, president of Cinnabon, presents the keynote address, “Transformational Leadership: Building Teams for Success through Times of Rapid Change,” on Monday, October 17 at 9:40 a.m.

The theme, “Working for a Better Atlanta,” spotlights Atlanta’s position as a vital economic center and the role of human resources professionals in shaping a more prosperous future. “The SHRM-Atlanta community has really come together to produce an unparalleled opportunity to meet and explore the critical issues – and opportunities – the HR profession currently faces,” said Mary Lynn Miller, SHRM-Atlanta’s chief operating officer. “Legislative changes and compliance, using social networking for recruiting, tackling recruitment and retention as the cost of providing benefits increases… we’re gathering the experts under one roof so HR practitioners at all levels find new insights and tools to improve their personal and company performance.”

Over 60 concurrent breakout sessions organized into seven educational tracks are planned. Confirmed speakers include leaders from MetLife, Merrill Lynch, Cox Enterprises, AARP and a number of other prominent corporations, consultancies and law firms. Tracks include: Business Acumen & Leadership, Law & Legislation, Total Rewards, Organizational Evolution, Talent Management, Diversity & Inclusion and HR Leveraging Technology.

The Resource Partner Showcase opens on Monday, October 17 at 9 a.m. and features over 100 exhibitors providing products and services to help human resources professionals work more efficiently. For the second year, the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) presents “Tech Row,” a series of vendor booths representing TAG’s member companies providing products and services to the HR community. Admission to the Showcase is free and open to the general public.

A highlight of the agenda is the 2011 SHAPE Awards, taking place Monday, October 17, to recognize individual HR professionals and teams who exemplify the highest professional standards in the industry. Networking opportunities also include a roundtable breakfast held Tuesday, October 18 where conference attendees share ideas and knowledge about specific topics or areas of expertise.

Full-access, student and one-day registration rates are available, ranging from $230 – $650. Group discounts for five or more participants from the same organization are available. Admission to the Resource Partner Showcase (exhibition hall) is free. For detailed rate information, the full agenda and additional information regarding the 21st Annual SHRM-Atlanta Human Resources Conference, visit shrmatlanta.org.

About SHRM-Atlanta
SHRM-Atlanta, the Atlanta Chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management, was founded in 1965, and has current membership of over 2500 individuals. SHRM-Atlanta seeks to promote the professionalism of the Human Resources Management field by offering members a wide variety of professional development opportunities and a common forum in which to share ideas and experiences. Serving the Atlanta HR professional, SHRM-Atlanta provides opportunities for career development and community involvement both inside and outside of the Chapter. SHRM-Atlanta – Working for a Better Atlanta!
www.shrm-atlanta.org

On Twitter: @shrmatl
Conference hashtag: #shrmatl11

If recent developments in the United Kingdom are any indication, it appears that the United States really is exporting more than MTV and Hollywood movies overseas these days.  In the latest example of the emerging trend of European nations adopting U.S. style employment discrimination laws, the United Kingdom has announced that it is eliminating the concept of mandatory retirement on the basis of age.  UK law (like the laws of most Western European countries) currently permits employers to forcibly retire, on six months’ prior notice, any employee who turns 65.

However, beginning October 1, 2011, a new law provides that no employee can be compulsorily retired by an employer because he or she has reached the age of 65 unless his or her retirement can be “objectively justified.” To that end, an employer will have to show that: (1) it has a legitimate aim when compulsorily retiring an employee at 65; and (2) compulsory retirement is a proportionate means of achieving the legitimate aim.  What amounts to a “legitimate aim” will be a question for the UK courts to answer in any subsequent litigation. The last day employees can be compulsorily retired using the current  retirement age of 65 is September 30, 2011, so the last day to provide six months’ notice required by the default retirement age provisions is March 30, 2011.  Employers can still use the default retirement age after March 30 and before April 6, but if they do so they must use “short notice provisions,” under which an employee can claim up to eight weeks’ wages as compensation.

Just as has been the case in the United States, UK employers will need to review their succession planning, and take steps to ensure that performance and capability procedures deal with employees fairly and consistently regardless of age.

This post was provided by Nathan Allen and Angelo Spinola, employment law attorneys at Littler Mendelson.  With more than 800 attorneys and 50 offices, Littler Mendelson is the largest U.S.-based law firm exclusively devoted to representing management in employment and labor law matters. As the only U.S. member of the Ius Laboris global alliance, Littler has extensive resources to address the needs of multi-national clients, from navigating international employment laws and labor relations issues to applying corporate policies worldwide. Established in 1942, the firm has litigated, mediated and negotiated some of the most influential employment law cases and labor contracts on record. For more information, visit www.littler.com.

©2011 Littler Mendelson, P.C. All rights reserved.

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Success of employees is measured and gauged on core competencies.  If I asked you to give me the top core competencies required to be successful in Human Resources, what would you say?

In a SHRM 2009 HR Leadership Competencies Poll of global Human Resource leaders, from four continents, two competencies consistently ranked #1 and #2.

1.    Effective Communication
2.    Strategic Thinking

Recently, I attended a roundtable discussion of senior human resource leaders and poised the same question, receiving the same answers.

So what does this mean?  If these two competencies are so paramount then it warrants further research.

Effective Communication:
Defined in the above report as “being able to verbally or in writing convey messages in terms that make sense, and also to actively listen to others’ interpersonal communications.”

With all the changes in the workplace, emphasis is now being placed on “re-engaging” employees.  Question:  Why did employees become “disengaged”?  One possible answer, Change!  Many factors affect change including; the economy, company direction, management/leadership, or business objectives.  How human resources communicate these changes has an enormous impact on the business!

Effective communication is having a results based message (verbally or written) with clear goals and objectives that specifically communicate the business’ direction.  By providing a well communicated plan and detailing requirements, the employee will understand these directions and not feel disengaged.  Engagement will occur through osmosis of communication vehicles and appropriate messaging.

Another key driver for effective communication is relating to your audience.  Most of us are operating on a global platform with employees from diverse cultural backgrounds.  Communication should be focused enough that it addresses and considers everyone.

In order to communicate effectively, one should set the goal, provide clear timetables with milestones, define the critical path, and guide employees through the maze.

Strategic Thinking:
Defined as “seeing the big picture, having a long-term line of sight and understanding the interconnectedness of decisions and activities within the various lines of the business”.

In order to operate on a strategic level, one must understand the organization and their key business drivers.  Is your business driven by a product (Apple), a service, (Accenture) sales (Wal-Mart) or other?  What business units within your organization drive the business?  What specific individuals drive the business?

Most business decisions are based on data.  Pop Quiz:  How should Human Resources make decisions?  Data driven decisions will set you apart as a business driver versus being viewed as an administrator of someone else’s decisions.  Note:  data driven decisions still include the “human” side of human resources, which sets us apart from strictly data driven aspects.

Human Resource professionals must be vocal and create their place at the table.  Showing up in the leadership meeting and hoping to gain an ear for wonderful ideas will not suffice.  You must have a thirst for knowledge, diving in and truly learning about the business.  Learning about people is what we do, however we must understand the product, the sales cycles and the business drivers.  Once we have this data we can effectively advocate the goals and objective of the business.  Eventually you will gain the ear of the organization and become a key influencer of the organizations goals and objectives!

One suggestion (of the multitude available) for quenching your knowledge thirst is reading your annual corporate proxy (if your company is public they will have one, however private companies are not required to maintain a public proxy).  This provides a big picture view of corporate strategy, objectives and goals thus providing a springboard of strategy driven talking points with leadership and key business drivers.

Obviously there are many core competencies that are required to be successful.  The SHRM 2009 HR Leadership Competencies Poll listed 18 total competencies in a variety of orders and data sets.  Try capturing and measuring all those in a performance review!

Alex Putman has led successful teams in global talent acquisition for high growth companies encompassing five continents. In his role as Director of Global Talent Acquisition with Case-Mate he is responsible for talent acquisition, recruitment branding and building talent communities on a global scale. You can connect with Alex via most social networks including LinkedIN & Twitter and follow his blog Social T-Rex.

The problems in the global marketplace are keeping a lot of high-potential people in their corporate bunkers.  For many, their hopes for advancement were deferred, as were salary increases and career-development opportunities. Their hard work and sacrifice has been essential to many a company’s survival.

But as the recession ebbs and the recovery strengthens, the best and brightest are becoming more restless.  Payback time is coming.

A worldwide survey by the Corporate Executive Board (CEO) found that:

• 30 percent of the high-potential employees surveyed planned to change employers within a year.
• 21 percent said they were highly “disengaged” at their current job.  That’s up from 7 percent in 2006.

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What are you doing to keep your employees engaged and invested in your company’s success?

According to Conrad Schmidt, executive director of the CEO, high-potential employees want more clarity in their role and career path.  That means they want to know exactly how they fit into the organization and what their options are for career development.  What’s more, they want to be recognized for their contributions.

Schmidt outlined several steps every company could take immediately:

• “Start by having a frank discussion that clarifies their roles, where the company is going and how it plans to invest in them.  Ambiguity is an engagement killer, so good communications is essential.”
• Find inventive ways to recognize top performers and future leaders.  Higher pay isn’t always the answer, even if it is an option.  As important, according to Schmidt, is giving high-potential people more access to senior executives and critical projects.

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What else can employers do to retain their key employees?  Karen Steadman, president of Leadership Futures, an Atlanta consulting firm, suggests that different generations have different reason for changing jobs.  Older workers may be looking for greater stability or benefits, while Generation X employees may be looking for opportunities to build skills while doing meaningful work.  Everyone, it can be assumed, is looking for greater work/life balance and recognition for their hard work during hard times.

Career development and mobility must become a primary concern for employers, not just ambitious employees. Preparing people for their next job is a smart way to keep employees engaged throughout their lifetime of service to your organization. Companies must focus on their talent and create customized employee development programs that engage and satisfy employees.  BUT…why not go beyond that, and create a talent-focused culture that shows these employees how important they are – keeping them happy and productive!

Source: “It’s Time for Companies to Reengage Their Best Talent” by Laura Raines, July 1, 2010, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Provided by guest blogger Nettie Nitzberg, principle WOW! transformations
Nettie Nitzberg is principal of WOW! transformations, a 16-year old talent development consulting firm that helps businesses optimize the return on their talent investment. Since launching WOW! transformations, Nettie has supported clients talent development initiatives in a variety of industries  and ranging in size from sole practitioners to Fortune 500 organizations. As a master instructional designer who is a creative, strategic thinker, her projects have helped her clients develop important programs/initiatives that ensure long-term employee success.  Nettie created and trademarked an end-to-end talent management initiative called beyondboarding™ – a strategic approach to employee and organizational growth and development that focuses on maximizing company’s investments in their most valuable resources, its talent.

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Most organizations today have a global presence and with that comes the challenges of global HR management. A global workforce presents a number of challenges to an organization, including, supporting different languages for system users, supporting salaries in U.S. and local currencies, accommodating cultural differences (terminology differences, meeting governance and compliance requirements of each local entity in each country) as well as data security and controls (which may be stricter or laxer than U.S. requirements), among others.

A recent Towers Watson and WorldatWork study, highlighted the importance of having an environment of overall consistency throughout an organization, especially within talent management and rewards. As a global organization, think of how much more efficiently your HR operations can run under a unified global system. There is no switching from program to program or having to do currency exchange rate calculations.

Hill International, an international construction project management firm employs 2,600 worldwide. Hill International found it difficult to implement effective processes for all of their HR needs across its global locations. Utilizing NuView Systems’ NuViewHR product suite, Hill was able to cut down on-boarding time of new employees from 10 days to between 1 or 2 days, allowing billable resources to become available much earlier than prior to implementing NuViewHR. Having a single system of record cut down the on-boarding time, saving them money, and making the organization more profitable. With separate vendor systems, they need to be managed to share information generated.  This is done at a cost to the company through a manual paper/ data entry process or automated through expensively managed interfaces and IT resources.  Having multiple vendor systems for this process causes unaccounted losses – from both a cost and strategic perspective.

Having a single system allows organizations to search internal candidates first – before going outside which saves money while establishing company culture, enabling retention and defining employer brand. A single system also enables companies to do extensive internal candidate performance reviews, readily access job history & salary history ,improve retention and employee satisfaction rates, and develop long-term succession and growth plan for employees.

Additionally, as companies expand globally, HR must take certain steps to respect the local culture, laws, regulations, and practices of each individual country that is a part of the organization. There are some concepts that are universal and have been proven as leading practices throughout the world.  However there are some concepts that are unique to a particular country, for example, collecting certain personal data about employees. The work of NuView System’s international regulator allows for these unique differences by allowing fields throughout the application to be localized. For example, if a country, such as France, does not collect “Ethnicity/Race”, the data entry element is not present.

Read this Global HR Management Success Story from Hill International, click here.

This post was provided by guest blogger company NuView Systems, Inc. Leader in Global HRIS- www.nuviewinc.com.

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