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The Astron Road Show
From May 10-12, the Astron team will be visiting upstate New York.
National Director Michael Maciekowich will be exhibiting at the New
York Bankers Association Human Resources Conference at the Holiday Inn
Hotel in Saratoga Springs, New York. Additionally, he will present the
keynote speech on Tuesday, May 12th! On May 12th, National Director Jennifer Loftus will
present on the topic of incentives to the AEBO chapter in Rochester,
NY. The session will be part of the association’s luncheon meeting. On May 20 and 21, Jennifer will be on the road again,
this time in Houston, TX. She will be presenting a Wednesday Power
Session at the 18th annual Gulf Coast Symposium on HR Issues. She’ll
also be exhibiting in booth 122. Please be sure to stop by and say
hello!
Please contact us for information on any of these presentations.
Fact or Fiction?
There could be a garden on the moon by 2012?
Fact!
The Paragon Space Development Corporation teamed up with Odyssey Moon
to develop a miniaturized greenhouse to be put onto the moon. The
greenhouse would obviously grow plants from seeds. Paragon has put
together a greenhouse that has all the safety features needed to give
the plant the ability to survive. This is basically like a space suit for the plant.
Paragon picked a plant from the Brassica family. They did this because
these plants need only 14 days of light to grow. Considering that a
lunar day is only 14 earth days long the selection makes perfect sense.
If Paragon can complete this task, along with a few others, they will
win $30 Million for the Google Lunar X Prize.
There’s
no denying it. There are hiring freezes everywhere, and unemployment
statistics increase daily. This recession slump is hitting America
hard, and organizations everywhere are trying to stay afloat. In
previous recessions, layoffs have been the number one solution to
combat rising expenses in the face of lower revenues. Today, however,
both employers and HR leaders recognize that employees are more than
people who work 6-8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Employees are
individuals with families and other responsibilities. As a result, many
organizations are initiating alternative solutions to protect their
organization and their employees. This edition of Astronology will take a look at four such techniques.
Salary Freezes
A highly used alternative to the dreaded layoff is
salary freezes.
Even President Obama froze the salaries of some top White house staff. Motorola has decided, in an effort to curb losses, to
freeze salaries, pension plans, matching 401k contributions, and require top executive paycuts.
Motorola’s example demonstrates that reductions in several different
places can help the big picture tremendously. Understandably, not every
organization has the flexibility to cut certain costs. What to do in
that case? The Four Day Work-Week
Instead of the traditional five day work week, some organizations are
switching to a four day work week for a certain period of time. For
instance, some higher education institutions
are known to stay open Monday-Thursday during the summer months as
summer enrollment is significantly lower than during the prime
semesters of fall, winter, and spring. Making such a switch helps the
organization with energy conservation. For an employee, this one
additional day off can make a major difference in regards to household
duties. For example, Brooke Stile, a student at Brevard Community
College, pointed out that due to the four day work week schedule at her
school she is able to take care of things she would normally have to
rush on Saturdays to do. Also, she is able to save money on child care,
enrolling her son for 4 days instead of 5. Stile is now considering
switching to a 4 day work schedule all year round.
Extended Unpaid Holidays/Voluntary Unpaid Vacation Time
Dell Inc.
uses unpaid holidays in addition to some unavoidable layoffs. The
second largest computer-making company is preparing for a downturn in
computer demands as the recession will more than likely slow the need
for new computers. As many human resources professionals know, unpaid
holidays can be challenging to establish. Special care must be given to make sure the organization does not violate any laws, particularly the
FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act).
Consulting an employment law office first would be wise before
instituting any unpaid holiday requirements to ensure legal accuracy. Flexible Working
Flexible working includes a wide variety of options, such as:
•
Flexible scheduling for key hours – Allowing employees to pick or
create their own work schedule while requiring peak hours to be worked.
• Telecommuting – Working from home a few days during the week/month
• Teleworking – Performing all duties of the job directly from home
As discussed in an earlier Astronology article, telecommuting/teleworking offers many benefits including energy conservation and lower utility costs.
It also lowers absenteeism, encourages employee engagement, and increases retention rates.
To Adjust, or Not Adjust...That is the Question!
According to a
New York Times article, employees may agree to these adjustments only for a temporary basis.
Truman Bewley,
an economics professor at Yale University stated, “These are feel-good,
temporary measures.” Professor Bewley has done studies on what happens
to wages during a recession. “If the sacrifices look as though they are
going to continue for many months…some workers will grow frustrated,
want their full compensation back and may well prefer a layoff that
creates a new permanence.” Not everyone shares this opinion however.
Maurice Guidice the owner of web design firm Hot Studio says, “In 2000,
it was like ‘cut the heads… this time it’s different. Our number 1
priority is to keep people employed and to do that we’re going to bank
the money and keep it for when we need it. I know some people are super
bummed, but they understand we’re trying to keep the work force
intact.” When considering alternative solutions to reducing costs
in a recession, there are an abundance of options. All of these
options, or some combination of them, can give an organization the
boost it needs in order to ride the rough and perhaps deadly currents
of this recession. The key is to find what works for your organization. To determine whether some of these
options are viable, why not involve the employees? An informal team
meeting or an employee survey can solicit employees’ opinions and ideas
on how to help the organization to survive with their employee base
intact. Employee involvement will also help in garnering employee
appreciation, respect, and cooperation for whatever decision is made
for business survival.
Reader Poll Archivee
Wonder what your fellow readers think about critical HR
topics? Is your organization unique from or similar to
others?
Click here to view
the results of our past polls!
Coming Next Time to an
Astronology near you!
Astron Road Show
Fact or Fiction?
"Using Analytics for Leaders to Drive HR Strategies and People
Investments" by Scott Mondore, Ph.D., Strategic Management Decisions
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.
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start your own subscription today!
Send inquiries to
info@astronsolutions.com or
call 800-520-3889, x105.
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Copyright 2009, Astron Solutions, LLC
ISSN Number 1549-0467
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