The Astron Road Show

Astronology Mini-Interview

I am the Marketing Specialist here at Astron. I’ve held this position for about 4 months now.

I haven’t done much consulting per se. I have done some compensation projects, and what drew me to that was the “number crunching.” Being somewhat of a nerd, I find numbers and their crunching to be quite engaging. And consulting is personally rewarding also; helping someone or even an organization feels good.

I’m an avid league bowler and music lover. I play some guitar as well.

I haven’t traveled to many places. Of the few, my favorite place to go is York, PA. My good friend lives out there. It is very relaxing compared to the quick pace of NJ and NY life.

I see Astron in The Big Apple, bigger and better than ever.

Mythbusters

“We want a treat!” you say? I say you’ve got one! Mythbusters is here with another eye-opening and jaw-dropping edition.

Myth: Managers should spend a great deal of time solving personnel problems instead of letting employees handle them on their own.

Reality: When managers play referee they encourage childish behavior, increasing their headaches and reducing department productivity. When conflict does occur, the following are essential for proper resolution:

• Do not avoid the conflict, hoping that it will go away!
• Do not meet separately with people in conflict.
• Do not believe that the only people affected by the conflict are the participants.
• Do create a work environment in which healthy conflict is encouraged by setting clear expectations.
• Do provide employees with training in healthy conflict and problem solving skills.

Regional Commuter Choice Awards

Astron also employs a wellness benefit program. An employee of Astron could purchase a bike (or anything to promote their wellness), and be reimbursed for up to $200 of the cost. This can also be used for employees who choose to bike to work. This coupled with our TransitChek program helped us earn our second award: Regional Excellence in the small business category.

Several recurring themes permeated the conference, including the impact of the economy on recruitment and retention of key employees. Rising gasoline prices was a topic of conversation all around. A number of vendors gave away pre-paid gasoline cards as an incentive for stopping by their booths.

In the exhibit hall, a new group breaking onto the scene complemented the usual variety of vendors – resources for employees to address elder care issues. From sitters to in-home elder care to long-term care insurance, the aging population appears to be a key concern for many an attendee.

Prior to the official start of the conference, SHRM’s Special Expertise Panels met to kick off two of SHRM’s largest and newest initiatives for the coming year. The first addresses the issue of Workforce Readiness. Did you know that out of 100 students currently in the 9th grade, only 18 will receive a Bachelor’s degree within 6 years, or an Associate’s degree within 3 years of starting a program? The statistics are frightening when considering our workplace of tomorrow. Many of today’s graduates do not have the skills needed to perform successfully in the workplace. SHRM has begun the process of developing a response and action plan to address this major concern.

The second area of interest is developing a competency model for senior HR practitioners. Specifically what are those non-HR competencies necessary for someone below the C-Suite level to be a successful business partner? Special Expertise Panel members discussed these competencies against both HR and general business frameworks to identify what is essential for success now and in the coming years.

Sunday’s keynote speaker, Sidney Poitier, inspired attendees with the story of his life. From his humble beginnings in the Bahamas, born two months premature, to his rise to fame in the United States, Poitier shared the lessons learned from his family that helped to mold him. He urged attendees to examine their own lives, to be kind and philanthropic towards others, and to keep getting up and doing good, even when we’ve been knocked down.

The annual conference also marked a period of change for SHRM. SHRM’s President and CEO, Susan R. Meisinger, SPHR, gave her farewell address prior to her retirement June 30th, after 21 years of dedicated service to the organization in particular and the profession in general. She dared attendees to be proud, be bold, take charge of the profession, and be personal. In other changes, the HR Certification Institute, formerly known as HRCI, began a new branding campaign to personalize the certification process and encourage more HR professionals to achieve PHR, SPHR, PHR-CA, SPHR-CA, or GPHR certification. To help with the branding efforts, some currently certified professionals received special buttons encouraging curious attendees to “ask me where my letters have carried me.”

On the fun side, the Tuesday night event featuring Lionel Richie was entertaining, fast paced, and fun. He sang is classic hits in their traditional style – avoiding traps performers at past conferences have done by “jazzing up” and modernizing their past hits.

Lionel Richie makes the crowd go wild!

The Astron team enjoys some Chicago deep dish pizza. (L – R: Brendan, Jennifer, Paul, and John)

See you next year in the Big Easy, New Orleans, for the 61st annual conference, June 28th through July 1st!

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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Copyright 2008, Astron Solutions, LLC

ISSN Number 1549-0467