| Newsletter #97 August 27, 2021 |
| | Message from our Director,
GEA has decided to delay the start of the Leadership Series to September 15, 2021. A number of our members have reported a significant increase in COVID cases. As a result, our desire is always to protect the safety of our attendees and I decided to delay the start of the in-person series until September 15th. |
| | New dates!!
2021 Leadership Training Series
(In-person event) A Six Part Series for Lead Personnel, Team Leaders,
Supervisors and Future Front-Runners
Dates and Time
All workshops will be held from 9:30 am – 4:30 pm.
Printed materials will be provided the day of class. We are meeting only in-person.
New Dates:
09/15/2021 Leadership I 10/06/2021 Leadership II 10/27/2021 Leadership III 11/17/2021 Leadership IV 12/01/2021 Leadership V TBD Leadership VI
Location
Fickling Building
577 Mulberry Street, Macon, GA 31201
16th Floor Cherry Blossom Suite
Visit Website for Overview and Pricing
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| | | We have a company looking for a person to lead an HR team of 5 - 6 employees for an international company with 600+ employees located in the South Atlanta area. Competitive salary and excellent benefits.
Please send your resume to Buddy McGehee, Executive Director, director@georgiaemployers.org.
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| | Pete Tosh's Corner - Article 7 |
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Is Your Organization Following a Conscious or Unconscious Strategy?
As you may do at this time of the year, I try to take time to reflect on the upcoming 12 months - thinking strategically about the services that will help clients achieve their goals.
2021 promises to offer significant business opportunities. However, in today's hyper-competitive business environment, success will not come easily. All businesses want to be successful in 2021 - but 'wanting to' is not a strategy.
Every organization operates with some type of strategy. Often that strategy just evolves from day-to-day tactics and the organization continues to roll along in the same direction until it hits a roadblock. These organizations are following an 'unconscious' strategy based on their tactical decisions and routines. However, those decisions and routines may not be in the best, long term interest of the organization. A key step toward your organization's success will be - having and executing on an appropriate, 'conscious' strategy.
And this time of the year is ideal for enabling employees to start the new year with a clear focus by understanding:
- your organization's strategy
- what their teams are accountable for accomplishing
- and their individual roles in making the above happen - the all-important strategic initiatives, action steps, accountabilities, and deadlines
This understanding generates unified focus and commitment enabling employees to make a much greater contribution. Frequently there is insufficient clarity - particularly regarding this third element.
Conducting business without answers to the following questions wastes time and people resources:
- What are the company's aspirations?
- What are the critical upcoming trends involving customers, competitors, suppliers, technology, and regulations?
- How is the business currently performing?
- What are the key challenges and opportunities the company faces?
- What capabilities need to be developed?
- What new uses for the company's products and services should be explored?
- How can the company create a distinctive competitive advantage?
A strategic planning process enables the management team to have a solid understanding of the business, share a common fact base and agree on important assumptions. It does not just create a strategy, but it also enables a management team to make sound strategic decisions by creating 'prepared minds'.
Business today is more unpredictable than ever - market swings, new technologies, government regulations, etc. Without a strategic plan and its associated thinking major decisions are often based more on opinion and gut instinct than facts and thoughtful analysis. Companies with strategic plans gain a competitive advantage by following a disciplined process and preparing for future uncertainties.
The GEA assists organizations in developing strategic plans through
a strategic planning process that:
- addresses the issues the planning team feels are 'real world' and of the highest priority for the organization
- takes advantage of the planning team's experience, knowledge, and suggestions in developing their strategy
- is focused, practical, action-oriented and generates maximum follow through and buy-in from the planning participants
- provides everyone an equal voice throughout each step as well as the opportunity to consider their suggestions in the context of those from the other planning participants
And the process usually only requires two or three meetings.
A strategic plan can significantly increase your organization's chances of achieving its profit, growth, productivity, quality, etc. goals. Let's make 2021 a successful one by creating and then executing effective 'conscious' strategies.
Contact:
Pete Tosh
The Focus Group
Office: 478-746-6891
Cell: 478-960-0076
pete.tosh@thefocusgroup.biz
www.thefocusgroup.biz
Co-Author: "Leading Your Business to the Next Level"
and/or
Buddy McGehee or Chris Murphy Georgia Employers' Association
Buddy: 478-722-8282 or Chris: 678-378-6889
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| HR and Employment Law News |
| HRDive.com Brief: NLRB: Home Depot fired worker who wore Black Lives Matter slogan on apron, raised harassment issues
Show purpose, be specific and think carefully about setting expectations, attorneys told HR Dive.
Published Aug. 23, 2021
Dive Brief:- The National Labor Relations Board's regional office in Minneapolis filed a complaint against Home Depot Aug. 12, alleging that the company suspended and later fired an employee who displayed a "Black Lives Matter slogan" on his apron and raised racial harassment issues with co-workers and managers, according to a statement.
- The employee refused to remove the slogan from his apron, leading to his suspension and termination, which violated the protections of the National Labor Relations Act, NLRB alleged. It further alleged that Home Depot "unlawfully enforced its otherwise lawful dress code and apron policies, and threatened employees not to engage in activity regarding racial harassment."
- "Region 18's press release misrepresents the relevant facts," a Home Depot spokesperson told HR Dive in an email. "The Home Depot does not tolerate workplace harassment of any kind and takes all reports of discrimination or harassment seriously, as we did in this case. We disagree with the characterization of this situation and look forward to sharing the facts during the NLRB's process. Regardless of the outcome, we will continue to be fully committed to diversity and respect for all people."
Dive Insight:
NLRB's charge is one of the latest inquiries regarding political expression in the workplace, a heated topic in the past year during a societal reckoning on systemic racism.
The Home Depot situation may have some parallels with one of the agency's previous actions, a ruling against In-N-Out Burger, in which it determined that the restaurant chain violated the NLRA when it asked employees to remove buttons from their uniforms supporting nationwide minimum wage campaign Fight For $15. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the agency's ruling, while the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the case.
Black Lives Matter messaging also factored into a 2020 lawsuit filed by employees of Whole Foods. The workers alleged that the grocer disciplined employees who wore masks designed to support the movement as part of a prohibition on wearing clothing with visible slogans, messages, logos or advertising not related to the company.
However, the Whole Foods employees alleged that Whole Foods violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act. In February, a federal judge granted Whole Foods owner Amazon's motion to dismiss the claims and granted the same to Whole Foods with the exception of one count of retaliation against one of the employees named in the class action suit. The plaintiffs in the case have appealed.
Employers generally can create and enforce policies prohibiting political speech in the workplace, attorneys previously told HR Dive, so long as such policies are enforced evenly and without discrimination against protected groups of employees.
Follow Ryan Golden on Twitter
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| | Constangy.com:
COVID Vaccine Resource Center
As the COVID-19 outbreak evolves, Constangy has created this resource page for employers, to stay abreast of the latest guidance and provide answers to frequently asked questions.
This resource center is made available for educational purposes only, to provide general information and not to provide specific legal advice or to establish an attorney-client relationship. Further, the issues related to COVID-19 are constantly evolving. There have been substantial changes in the governmental guidance and even in the underlying laws on almost a daily basis, which will affect the analysis of the legal issues related to COVID-19. As such, this resource center should not be used as a substitute for up-to-date legal advice from an attorney licensed in your state.
Visit Constangy.com COVID Vaccine Resource Center, Click here
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| | | ¶46,057 Employers should expect difficulty hiring, keeping workers to last into 2022— SURVEY RESULTS
Aug. 26, 2021 From GEA HR Answers Now
The majority of North American companies expect that their current struggles to hire and keep workers will linger into 2022. That’s the conclusion of a survey of 380 employers by Willis Towers Watson. In response, employers are implementing initiatives that include boosting salary budgets, increasing workplace flexibility, placing a greater focus on diversity, equity and inclusion, and enhancing the employee experience.
The survey, conducted from August 4 to August 9, found nearly three in four employers (73 percent) are having difficulty attracting employees. That’s nearly three times the number (26 percent) that reported difficulty last year — and up from the 56 percent that reported difficulty the first half of this year. Roughly the same percentage of employers (70 percent) expect the difficulty to persist in 2022.
Retaining employees is just as challenging. Six in 10 respondents (61 percent) are having a hard time keeping workers and also expect the problem to linger into next year. Only 15 percent of employers reported having difficulty retaining employees last year.
The survey found the catalysts creating these problems vary by position, career level and industry. Postponing their return to work and collecting unemployment is the most commonly cited driver of attraction and retention difficulties for hospitality and restaurant employees (72 percent) and warehouse and distribution employees (62 percent). High-wage expectations among digital employees are creating challenges for nearly half of respondents (48 percent). And over half cited work-from-anywhere policies as the main challenge for attracting and retaining managers (54 percent) and professionals (57 percent). Organizations with work-from-anywhere policies have been able to increase significantly their geographic area of recruitment, creating more competition for talent.
“Employers are in the middle of an intense war for talent that’s not likely to let up anytime soon,” said Adrienne Altman, managing director and North American head of Rewards, Willis Towers Watson. “The challenge of hiring and keeping employees has now spread from isolated industries and skill sets to most industries and workforce segments. To compete, it’s imperative for employers to take strategic actions and find ways to differentiate the value proposition they offer to current and prospective workers.”
Employers scrambling to offer more. One move that employers are making to help attract and retain employees is boosting salary increase budgets for 2022. Three in 10 respondents (30 percent) now say they will increase their budgets from earlier projections. Many are doing so due to tight labor market concerns (75 percent) and anticipated stronger financial results (41 percent).
Employers are also planning or considering other initiatives to help find workers. The most common actions are raising starting salaries (43 percent), improving the employee experience (39 percent), making changes to health and wellbeing benefits (36 percent), and increasing workplace flexibility (33 percent). To help retain employees, about half are planning or considering making market movement adjustments (49 percent) and giving larger raises (49 percent). About one-third (35 percent) are planning or considering changes to their health and wellbeing benefits. These percentages are in addition to those that have already taken action in these areas.
“Sign-on, recruiting and retention bonuses can help employers get the upper hand in the short term, but those initiatives are temporary,” said Lesli Jennings, senior director, Talent Management and Organizational Alignment, Willis Towers Watson. “If employers are serious about hiring workers with critical skills and keeping their top talent, they need to implement sustainable programs and policies that will enhance a powerful employee experience, reimagine career opportunities and flex to the needs of their increasingly diverse workforces. It’s an opportunity for a ‘great awakening’ on the employee experience.”
Source: Willis Towers Watson.
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SHRM.org News
Working from Anywhere to Persist After Pandemic
By Paul Bergeron
August 25, 2021
LAS VEGAS — The percentage of employees who are working from home—or anywhere other than their usual workspace—has grown immensely. Pre-pandemic, only roughly 2 percent of the U.S. workforce was working remotely; by May 2020, that number had risen to close to 70 percent.
While these percentages may come down post-pandemic, the effects of prolonged remote work will be long-lasting, said Johnny Campbell, co-founder and CEO of Social Talent, based in Dublin.
On Wednesday at the SHRM Talent Conference & Expo 2021, taking place in Las Vegas and virtually, Campbell broke down myths and trends about remote work and offered strategy suggestions in a session titled "What Is 'Work from Anywhere' and What's in It for Me?"
A large majority of companies today are including flexible, remote and hybrid conditions in their employment policies. Now is the time for employers to decide what their policies will be, said Campbell, whose firm provides remote learning solutions.
When it comes to whether their company will offer remote-work arrangements, workers "want to know and need to know, and [employers] showing ambivalence is not assuring," he said.
Myths Debunked
Campbell said researchers estimate that roughly 40 percent of companies have the potential for work-from-home arrangements. Perhaps some would have thought that number to be higher, he said.
Whether a job is suitable for working from home or anywhere can depend on office locations and global geography. "In some places, it just makes more sense to allow it," he said.....Read More>>>
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| | EEOC update:
¶46,050 EEO-1 filing deadline again extended because of pandemic, to October 25 — AGENCY REGULATION,(Aug. 24, 2021)
The EEOC has once again extended its deadline to submit and certify the 2019 and 2020 EEO-1 Component 1 Reports. The extension comes once again because of the continuing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on business operations. The previous extension to August 23 has been changed to Monday, October 25, 2021.
The EEOC explicitly said that this deadline is the final one, and that all eligible filers must submit data by this date. No additional changes to the filing deadline will be made. The Commission is thus encouraging eligible employers to file the required EEO-1 Component 1 report(s) as soon as possible.
Deadline extensions. After delaying the opening of the 2019 EEO-1 Component 1 data collection because of the COVID-19 public health emergency, the EEOC announced the opening of the 2019 and 2020 EEO-1 Component 1 data collection on April 26, 2021. The Commission later extended the July 19 filing deadline to August 23.
To file or request assistance. Filers should visit the EEO-1 Component 1 website at https://EEOCdata.org/eeo1 for the latest filing updates and additional information. By visiting the Filer Support Center located at https://EEOCdata.org/eeo1/support, filers can request assistance as well as find helpful resources on how to file the 2019/2020 EEO-1 Component 1 Reports.
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Georgia Employers' Association |
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