The Advantage

April 2001

Retaining Your IT Hire

On Monday morning, everyone at work seemed calm and happy, except Mark, the Technical Manager. Pacing the floor of his office, he wondered what could have gone wrong. It was only a year since he had hired a group of 24 engineers. They received training, good salary, excellent benefits and high bonus from the company. Within no time 14 of these engineers left the company to join its competitor. Mark was left with only 10 engineers and most of his projects incomplete.

Many managers are facing a similar dilemma. They hire their high-tech staff, train them and soon see them wave a goodbye only to join another company.

Our economy is growing and changing rapidly. One cannot relax after having successfully recruited IT members. Retaining them is very important. In other words I would say, "you have to glue your employees to your organization." Due to demand for their skills, it has become easy for high-tech employees to switch jobs. Thus, "gluing" them to the organization is a prime factor. Most companies today are offering their staff competitive benefits along with good salary. Yet managers question, "Why are my employees leaving?"

The problem is easier to understand if we look at how underlying employee expectations have changed.

How do we retain employees with changed thoughts and demands? The best way is to follow the EMPLOYEE.

• Employ the right person:

  When it comes to retaining, the first step is to hire the right person for the right job. Today hiring is not as easy as it used to be. Wrong hiring decisions can cost the organization loss of time and money. Don't forget that when you hire a hand, the WHOLE person comes with it.

• Monetary benefits:

  "If you offer peanuts, you will get monkeys." Many surveys show that high-tech employee?s are not in jobs merely to earn dollars. They thrive on the benefits organization?s offer. However, monetary benefits cannot be disregarded. It does play crucial role. Your employee must be well paid for his/her performance. The pay scale should be competitive, according to the current market trends so as to attract and retain IT employees. Monetary benefit does not merely mean the salary you pay your employee at the end of each month. It includes stock options, bonus, quarterly adjustment for performance and good annual increment. The feel of participating in the company?s share is important. So payoff, and payoff well.

• Personal Connection:

  There is no substitute for this factor. A personal connection between you and your staff is elementary and essential. It fosters a healthy work environment. Maintaining a good personal relationship brings you closer to your staff, thereby helping you to have a better insight into their needs. Your retention plans can then be molded accordingly. However, only a handful of employers follow this strategy. The reason being that it is time consuming and needs extra effort. However, these efforts have rich repayments in the long run. Employees will stay longer in an organization where they feel wanted rather than in a place where they are treated as a commodity.

• Learning Programs:

  Technology is constantly changing. What is ?in? today becomes ?out? tomorrow. Your employees need to undergo a continuous learning process. They need to be trained for new mechanisms. The amount of value each employee adds influences the way in which the "human resources wheel" is managed.

• Opportunity for growth:

  Your high-tech worker is somewhat like a plant in that the healthier the nourishment they receive, the better are the chances for your organization to flourish. Your employees are constantly looking for growth prospects. You have to help them grow within the organization.

• Yearning:

  High-tech employees like challenging jobs. Create a desire for them to work. They will yearn for the job only if it is challenging, interesting and one which helps them to gain as much knowledge as possible.

• Even flow of feedback:

  Learning is an important and on-going factor for most high-tech employee's. Manager's should offer regular feedback which is accurate, specific and encourages the employee's self-building process. If Bob has done a good program installation for your company?s client, telling him, ?we would not have impressed the client so much had it not been for your sincere efforts,? would make him feel good and build up his confidence.

• Environmental factors:

  This does not merely mean clean air and a good canteen. The environment needs to be mentally healthy, too. Make work fun and light along with attaining the desired objectives. High-tech workers are constantly functioning on machines and with customers. Make them feel happy and healthy at the workplace. This will encourage them to work longer and harder, with effective results. Simple things like ordering pizzas and cookies, having health clubs within the premises, flexibility in work hours, organizing picnics, or a word of praise will often do the trick and satisfy this need.

By following the "EMPLOYEE" you are actually following his needs.

After you have given consideration to all we have discussed, then begin thinking about how to include the following four things into your employee retention plans.

• Motivation beginning on day one
• Rewards and recognition for the deserving
• Communicate with your employee
• Trust

In conclusion, I personally feel that though these new techniques may be acceptable and successful in the first year of the new Millennium, beware the employee of the year 2004 will be more relaxed and carefree! One has to always be alert for changes in future employee expectations. HR professionals must be perceptive and analytical. Today?s retention techniques will be obsolete tomorrow. We always must be on the lookout for these change signals.

Payal A. Malkani is an HR consultant with Pearl Consultancy. She can be reached at pearlconsult@usa.net or through Pearl Consultancy.

Second Quarter Diversity Planning

With many cultures and religions represented in our workforce these days, it is sometimes helpful to have a reminder about the celebrations that are important to people with backgrounds different from our own.

Following is a list of some dates you may find helpful in working with your employees to recognize important dates in their lives.

April 2001

• 2 - Ramanavami (Birthday of Rama): The story of Rama is celebrated in literature, music and art throughout India and Southeast Asia. Hindu.
• 5 - Respect for Ancestors Day: In China this is also called Cold Food Day. It is the only traditional Chinese holiday celebrated according to the solar calendar. This is a day for paying homage to one's ancestors by visiting graves and leaving flowers and food. (Ch'ing-ming)
• 8 - Buddha's Birth (563-483 B.C.E.*) Siddhartha Gautama, who became known as Buddha, or "enlightened one," was an Indian prince who left his family at the age of 29 to seek the truth of life. The religion he founded is found throughout central and Southeast Asia, China, Japan, and Korea, and also in the West.
• 8 - Palm Sunday: Christian and Eastern Orthodox Christian. The Sunday before Easter begins Holy Week in Western Christian churches. Palm Sunday marks Jesus' last entry into Jerusalem.
• 8 - Passover: Jewish. This holiday, which is observed for eight days, celebrates the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. The celebration of Passover begins the previous evening with a Seder, a meal during which the story of Passover is read from the Haggadah.
• 9 - Valor Day: Philippines. Anniversary of the forced march to a prison camp of 70,000 Americans and Filipinos captured on Bataan in 1942 by the Japanese. Only 54,000 prisoners survived the march; 7,000-10,000 died and the rest escaped into the jungle.
• 13 - Founding of the University of Mexico (1551): Mexico. The University of Mexico was the first university to be founded in the Western Hemisphere.
• 13 - New Year: Cambodia and Laos. One of the most important holidays for the region. The holiday continues through April 15.
• 13 - Good Friday: Christian and Eastern Orthodox Christian. Commemoration of Jesus' crucifixion.
• 14 ? New Year: Eastern Orthodox Christian observance under the Julian calendar.
• 13 - New Year: Celebrates the new year based on the Hindu calendar.
• 14 - Baisakhi (New Year): Sikh. Beginning of the new year for the Sikhs, one of the largest religious groups in India.
• 15 - Easter: Christian. The holiest day for Christians. It celebrates the resurrection of Jesus after he was crucified and died in Jerusalem.
• 16 - Easter Monday: Christian. In many countries the days from Good Friday through the Monday after Easter are public holidays. Governmental services and banks are closed, and most people have time off from work. Countries that hold to this tradition include: England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Canada, Australia, Austria, France and Germany.
• 16 - Festival of Mahavir Jayanti: Jain. Jainism is a religious system practiced by approximately 2 million people in India. This festival is dedicated to the birthday of Jain, the religion's twenty-fourth Guru. It is celebrated with prayer and visits to shrines.
• 21 - Festival of Ridvan: Baha'i. On the first, ninth, and twelfth day of the Baha'i month of Ridvan (April 21, 29, and May 2), Baha'is commemorate the declaration of Baha'u'llah in 1863 of his mission as the last messenger of God to the world. Although Baha'is observe all twelve days, these three days are ones on which they refrain from work.
• 24 - Genocide Memorial Day: Armenia. Also known as Armenian Martyrs Day, this day celebrates the massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Turks in 1915-1916.
• 26 - Independence Day (Yom Ha'atzma'ut): Israel. This holiday marks the establishment of the independent state of Israel and its provisional government on May 14, 1948.
• 27 - Freedom Day: South Africa. This commemorates the day in 1994 when for the first time all South Africans had the right to vote.
• 29 - Golden Week: Japan. This is a holiday period that incorporates Greenery Day on April 29, Constitution Day on May 3, Holiday for a Nation on May 4, and Children's Day on May 5. This is a period when children have vacation from school and many workers have time off.

May 2001
Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month
Older Americans Month

• 1 - May Day (Labor Day): International. Celebrated as the first day of spring in many countries, it is a festival time recognizing the rebirth of life after winter. In 1884, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions of the United States and Canada drafted a resolution in support of an eight-hour day to begin on May 1, 1886, and called for a general strike to achieve that goal. This strike led to the infamous Haymarket Affair in Chicago on May 4, 1886.
• 5 ? Constitution Day: Mexican celebration of the first constitution in 1917.
• 3 - Constitution Day: Poland. Commemorates the passage in 1791 of Poland's first constitution, which was the second written constitution in the world after that of the United States and the first in Europe.
• 5 - Children's Day (Tano): Korea. This holiday is celebrated as a day of rest from work.
• 5 - Cinco de Mayo: Mexico. Mexicans and Mexican Americans celebrate the triumph of Mexican forces over the French army in Mexico on May 5, 1862.
• 5 - Liberation Day: Netherlands. Marks the end of World War II Nazi occupation of the Netherlands in 1945.
• 9 - Victory Day: Russia and the Ukraine. This day commemorates the victory of the Allies over Nazi Germany ending World War II in Europe in 1945. This day also honors the 20 million Soviet people who died during the war.
• 15 - Independence Day: Peru. Marks the declaration of independence from Spain in 1821 and its fulfillment through the final defeat of Spanish forces by Jose de San Martin and Simon Bolivar in 1824.
• 17 - Brown vs. Board of Education of Topeka (1954). U.S. Supreme Court decision unanimously holding that segregation in public education was a denial of the right to equal protection under the law.
• 17 - National Day: Norway. Celebrates the 1814 signing of the Norwegian Constitution, signifying Norway's separation from its 434-year union with Denmark. Many midwestern communities in the United States with large numbers of people of Scandinavian ancestry, such as Wisconsin and Minnesota, have their own celebrations of Syttende Mai.
• 21 - Victoria Day (observed): Canada. A public holiday in Canada commemorating the b irth of Queen Victoria, who lived from 1819 to 1901 and ruled Britain from 1837 to 1901, during which time England became the world's leading industrial power and the center of the British Empire.
• 27 ? Mardi Gras: Shrove Tuesday celebrated by Christians as the final midwinter fling before Lent begins.
• 24 - Ascension Day: Christian. Marks the anniversary of the day Christians and Eastern Orthodox Christians believe that Jesus rose to heaven.
• 25 - Africa Day: Zambia and Zimbabwe. In these and other African states, this is a holiday commemorating independence from colonial rule.
• 25 - Anniversary of the May Revolution: Argentina. Marks the beginning of the war of independence from Spain in 1810 led by Jose de San Martin.
• 25 - Independence Day: Jordan. Marks the day in 1946 that Jordan under the Hashemite Monarchy gained independence from Britain.
• 28 Memorial Day (observed): United States. Originally the day of remembrance for those who died for the Union in the Civil War, this national holiday, observed on the last Monday in May, now honors those who gave their lives in all wars.
• 31 Founding of the NAACP (1910). Formal establishment of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People occurred on this date. The NAACP is the largest membership organization supporting African American interests in the United States.

June 2001 Gay and Lesbian Pride Month

• 2 - Granting of citizenship to American Indians (1924). On this day, Congress extended the rights of citizenship to all American Indians born in the United States.
• 3 - Pentecost (Whit Sunday): Christian. This spring festival takes its name from the Greek word for 50, because it comes on the 50th day after Passover. Commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, seven Sundays following Easter. It is sometimes called Whit Sunday (White Sunday) because the newly baptized wore white baptismal robes.
• 4 Maulid an-Nabi (Prophet Muhammad's Birthday): Islam. This occurs on the 12th day of the Muslim month of Rabi ul-Awwal and marks the birth of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, in 570 A.C.E.
• 5 - Constitution Day: Denmark. Commemorates Denmark's adoption of a constitutional monarchy in 1849, ending absolute rule by the monarchy.
• 6 - National Day: Sweden. This day marks Sweden's gaining independence from Denmark and the ascension to the throne of King Gustavus in 1523.
• 10 - Portuguese National Day: Portugal. Commemorates the death in 1580 of Luis Vaz de Camoes, author of the greatest literary work in Portuguese, the epic poem Os Lusiadas.
• 12 - Independence Day: Philippines. On this day in 1898 the Philippines declared its independence from Spain. Many Filipinos in the United States also celebrate this day.
• 12 - Independence Day: Russia. Celebrates the first democratically elected president of Russia in the one-thousand-year history of the state.
• 19 - Junteenth: African American. Commemorates the emancipation of all slaves in Texas by the Union general Gordon Grange.
• 23 - National Day: Luxembourg. Commemorates Luxembourg's gaining independence from Belgium and the Netherlands in 1848.
• 27 - Stonewall Rebellion (1969). Early in the morning on this day, New York City Police entered a gay bar on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village and began harassing and taunting the patrons with anti-gay comments. The patrons fought back in a protest that lasted for the next three days. This marks the first organized effort in the United States by gays and lesbians to openly gain equality under the law.
• 30 - McCarran-Walter Act (1952). This U.S. immigration act, passed during the Korean War over President Truman's veto, generally reaffirmed earlier, restrictive immigration policies but removed the ban against naturalization of Asian and Pacific immigrants. One provision of the law empowered the Attorney General to deport immigrants for Communist sympathies even if they had become U.S. citizens. This provision led to wide-spread investigations and deportations of Chinese residents.

Ergonomics Passed by Congress ? Waiting on President

It wasn't even mid-March and Congress exercised its rights under the Congressional Review Act to overturn regulations implemented late last year by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to control ergonomics in the workplace.

Controversial from the very beginning of their proposal, ergonomics controls were shepherded by the Organizational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) through the regulatory approval process in the final days of the Clinton Administration. The effort to impose new safety rules on employers drew severe criticism from many corners of the economy. When the agency refused to entertain the feedback it was receiving, Congress stepped in and initiated the reversal.

OSHA spent more than ten years in study and development of the ergonomics rule. Newly appointed Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao said in a March 6th letter that she "intends to pursue a comprehensive approach to ergonomics, which may include new rulemaking." She realizes that she will have to address concerns about standards established in the now-overturned rules. But that may be done, she said, in a new set of rules, or simply by issuing guidelines or a manual of "best practices" used by some employers already.

Repeal of federal standards is a non-issue for California employers. For employers in California, Cal-OSHA has required ergonomics to be included in every Injury and Illness Prevention Program (IIPP) along with action plans for preventing workplace violence, fire protection, earthquake safety and other issues. Any California employer with one employee or more must have a written IIPP that includes all of these subjects. The federal standard would have had little or no impact on California employers due to the requirements already in place within the state.

To view a copy of the overturned federal standard go to: http://www.osha-slc.gov/OshStd_data/1910_0900.html

To view a copy of the California standard go to: http://165.235.90.100/title8/5110.html

President Signs Executive Orders Impacting Employers

On February 17, 2001, President Bush signed four executive orders that will impact labor practices across the country. Generally, organized labor was opposed to each of these actions. Here they are:

1. E.O. 13201 ? Notification of Employee Rights Concerning Payment of Union Dues or Fees

   Requires federal contractors to notify employees that they have a right to withhold a portion of their union dues that are used for political purposes. This order is consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Communication Workers v. Beck in 1988.

2. E.O. 13202 - Preservation of Open Competition and Government Neutrality Towards Government Contractors' Labor Relations on Federal and Federally Funded Construction Projects

   Revokes E.O. 12836 issued by President Clinton on February 1, 1993. Prohibits "project labor agreements" that require union contractors in many federally financed construction projects.

3. E.O. 13203 - Revocation of Executive Order and Presidential Memorandum Concerning Labor-Management Partnerships

   Revokes E.O. 12871 issued by President Clinton on October 1, 1993. Disbands the National Partnership Council created by President Clinton. NPC rules required government agencies to form labor-management partnerships for management of projects.

4. E.O. 13204 - Revocation of Executive Order on Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Certain Contracts

   Revokes E.O. 12933 issued by President Clinton on October 20, 1994. Eliminates the requirement to offer a right of first refusal to previous contractors' employees in public building projects.

For more information about these new Executive Orders go to: http://www.nara.gov/fedreg/eo2001b.html

EO Survey Response Deadline Moved Out for Second Time

The Department of Labor's Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has announced a second postponement of its deadline for federal contractors to return completed Equal Opportunity Surveys (EO Survey) distributed by the agency in January.

New federal regulations require that contractors who receive these surveys are required to complete them and return them to the OFCCP within 45 days of receiving the mailing. Due to logistical glitches in the mailing process many west coast contractors were not receiving their surveys until late in January even though they had been mailed from the east coast during the first week of that month.

The new response date is set at May 31, 2001. If you have received an EO Survey since the first of this year, you have until the end of May to complete it and return it to the address shown on the document. Responses may also be submitted via the agency's web site, which is the method they actually prefer because it reduces the amount of data input via key board they must accomplish.

What they haven't done yet, is announce their method of using the EO Survey to select contractors for Compliance Evaluations which is the stated purpose of the survey in new regulations finalized on December 13, 2000. That may have been a contributing factor in the agency's decision to postpone the required return date.

Along with the uncertainties of procedures yet to be announced there continues to be uncertainty at the agency about who will be appointed Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor to head the enforcement group. As soon as we know, we will let you know as well.

GSA Postpones Implementation of Final Federal Acquisition Rule

The General Services Administration (GSA) has announced postponement of the effective date for its controversial rule on Federal Acquisition. Under the new rule, federal contract officials would be required to evaluate a contractor's compliance with labor, employment, tax, antitrust, environmental, and consumer protection laws before awarding federal contracts to that contractor.

GSA is the only agency that has suspended the January 19, 2001 implementation date for the final rules. All other federal agencies presumably are now operating under the new guidelines. Several business groups have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to have the rules overturned.

A Gentle Word on Behalf of Our Business

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