HR Matters
Texas SHRM
CFSP checks should be distributed to all chapters during June – make sure your organization has direct deposit available for distribution of funds.
If your board transitions mid-year, please send your full volunteer roster to SHRM including all contact information.
If there have been any changes in your volunteers, report them to your Regional Administrator. Keep SHRM informed of any changes to volunteer email addresses, contact information and role changes.
The HRSouthwest Conference is pleased to announce the Texas Volunteer Leader of the Year Award.
Volunteers are an integral part of and a vital asset to the continued success of the 35 local SHRM affiliated chapters in Texas and the umbrella association, Texas State Council-SHRM. The award will recognize those leaders whose volunteer efforts and impact are exemplary in serving their peers, the human resources community in the state of Texas.
While most of these volunteer leaders are full-time employees, they find time to share their talent to support their professional peers and advance the profession. Most make the commitment to serve for at least a one-year term and are responsible for managing a team or committee. Many have served multiple years in various positions and inspire others with their enthusiasm.
The chapters are dedicated to providing the HR professional with resources specific to his/her needs, including education and networking. The chapters also serve as a resource to their local business communities by providing subject-matter expertise. With more than 5,000 members in addition to the 1,000+ student chapter members at Texas universities, the HR community is a significant part of our business communities.
The 35 SHRM-affiliated chapters across the state of Texas are successful because of these enthusiastic volunteers and we are excited to honor them for:
*Consistent and significant contributions of time, talent and energies.
*Commitment to the advancement of the profession and their professional peers.
*Outstanding record of participation and involvement.
Click here for more information about the award and how to make a nomination.
About The HRSouthwest Conference:
The HRSouthwest Conference, the nation’s largest regional human resource conference, provides attendees with exceptional educational opportunities, a varied and dynamic exposition hall with more than 200 exhibitors and sponsors and the opportunity to network and benchmark with more than 2,000 HR practitioners from around the country. The "Official State of Texas SHRM Conference" is an affiliate of the Society for Human Resource Management (shrm.org). More information is available at: http://www.hrsouthwest.com.
Contact Information: Marlene C. Diaz, Conference Services and Marketing Director, the HRSouthwest Conference, marlene@hrsouthwest.com.
TAB and SHRM-TSC Employment Relations Symposium:
The Texas Association of Business and the SHRM-Texas State Council host this annual employment relations symposium, attended by almost 300 business owners, human resource professionals, attorneys and accountants.
The Symposium offers invaluable and comprehensive information on cutting-edge labor law trends, legal tips from top attorneys, continuing education credits, access to top-notch vendors and innovative support services and professional networking opportunities.
Sponsorships and exhibit booths are available. For more information on sponsorships contact TAB Event Coordinator Lori Buntin at lbuntin@txbiz.org.
The event is being held at the beautiful Westin La Cantera in San Antonio on July 18-20. You can get details and register here.
Is your company one of the BEST to work for in Texas? Don’t forget! The deadline to register for the 2013 Best Companies to Work for in Texas is Friday, Aug. 31!
The 2013 Best Companies to Work for in Texas is a survey and analysis program dedicated to identifying and recognizing the best employers in Texas. You can find a description of the assessment and survey process under Assessment Process and answers to most of your questions under the FAQs on the website.
Registration deadline is Aug. 31, 2012!
This exciting initiative is brought to you by TEXAS MONTHLY, the Texas Association of Business (TAB), the Society for Human Resource Management-Texas State Council (SHRM-TSC) and Best Companies Group. The results of the program will be published in a special advertorial section in an upcoming issue of TEXAS MONTHLY. Winners will also be honored at a luncheon as part of the Texas Association of Business Annual Conference.
Best Companies Group manages the process and will be conducting thorough assessments of all the registered companies including a survey of the Texas-based employees. While determining who makes "the list" is very exciting, the Best Companies Group Employee Feedback Report is where the real value lies. Participating companies will receive the results of the employee survey, identifying the strengths and weaknesses of their workplace. As an added value, each company will receive employee benchmarking data, which may be used to compare oneself to the list-making companies and the overall participants.
For samples of our surveys and reports, please review the Best Companies to Work for in Texas website.
If you have additional questions, please email JackieM@BestCompaniesGroup.com or call 717-909-1570.
For questions regarding the SHRM-Texas State Council contact Dena Culpepper at the Council office at 214-354-8740 or texasshrm@gmail.com.
Each month the SHRM-TSC will randomly place the name of one of our chapter members in the newsletter. When you find your name (which will have the word "Winner" typed beside it) simply email Dena Culpepper at the Council office (denaculpepper@att.net) and she will send your your prize. Thanks for reading!
The federal government should encourage employers to provide paid leave to their employees rather than create mandates that limit employers' ability to respond to the specific needs of their employees, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) told the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions today.
Speaking on behalf of 260,000-member SHRM, Juanita Phillips described how her employer, Intuitive Research and Technology Corporation (INTUITIVE) of Huntsville, Ala., voluntarily provides a range of flexible benefits, including paid leave, that allow it to recruit and retain top workers. As a result of its benefits offerings, the small engineering and analytical services firm has received national awards, including being named a Best Small Company to Work for in the U.S.
Phillips, director of human resources, described for the committee how the Healthy Families Act (S. 984) would affect her employer and others across the country. "We provide generous paid leave so that we can continue to be an employer of choice for employees and applicants in our area," she testified. "What we do not want is a government-imposed paid leave mandate to take away our competitive edge over other employers."
SHRM believes that all employers should be encouraged to provide paid leave for illness, vacation and personal days to accommodate the needs of employees and their families. In return for meeting a minimum eligibility requirement, employers who choose to provide paid leave should be designated as satisfying federal, state and local requirements, SHRM says.
SHRM is concerned that the Healthy Families Act is so broad and ill-defined that it would create burdensome administrative challenges for employers and that it would add to the already complex web of inconsistent and overlapping leave requirements for employers. In addition, Phillips said, "If organizations are required to offer paid sick leave, they will likely absorb this added cost by cutting back or eliminating other employee benefits, such as health or retirement benefits, or forego wage increases." During testimony at the hearing "Beyond Mother's Day: Helping the Middle Class Balance Work and Family," Phillips emphasized the importance of flexibility. SHRM's workplace flexibility initiative advocates for employer policies and practices that have been shown to meet the needs of employees and their families while providing predictability and stability for employers.
"We are not required to offer these benefits at Intuitive, but we do because they work well for our employees and help us attract and retain the best people," she told senators.
MEDIA: For more information or to schedule an interview, contact Kate Kennedy at kate.kennedy@shrm.org and 703-535-6260.
Considering the economic stress of many employees today and the significant impact on workplace productivity, this conference proves to be a must attend on your calendar. For more information and registration go to www.mchra.org or contact the event chairperson, Bill Langley at 817-368-0564.
Okay—so you have your certification. Congratulations! The question now becomes: "How do I keep my certification without EVER having to take that test again?" Chances are that you are already doing a number of things that qualify as recertification credits, even some of those ever-elusive STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT credits. Below is a list you can use to see what you may already being doing or could be doing so that you can start keeping up with your recertification. Recertify through Professional Development Activities. You can collect recertification credit for any of the following activity types:
Continuing Education
• College courses.
• Conferences/seminars/workshops.
• E-leaming courses/webinars, etc. (20-credit hour limit).
• Instruction/teaching (20-credit hour maximum).
• Making a formal presentation within your organization.
• Teaching a course or workshop or presenting a seminar or conference session.
Examples of instruction activities that earn credit hours:
• Leading an HR-related workshop or training session inside or outside of your workplace.
• Teaching a sexual-harassment workshop or leading a performance management seminar.
• Teaching a semester-long, HR-related college-level course.
• On-the-job experience (20-credit hour maximum).
• Research and design of a benefits plan.
• Research, design and implementation of a diversity program.
• Research, design and implementation of a performance management system.
• Research and implementation of an HR Information System (HRIS) system.
• Participation in labor negotiations.
• Development of an employee handbook.
For any first-time work experience, it's likely that you will spend more time researching, designing and implementing the new work product than the maximum available in this category.
To record your time:
• List the work project(s) and the duration and dates.
• Calculate the number of hours spent on the work project research and publishing (20-credit hour maximum).
• Solely writing an article that is published in a journal or periodical (20 credit hours).
• Making a significant contribution to a published text, such as a textbook (20 credit hours).
• Co-writing or editing an article or a chapter in a textbook (10 credit hours).
• Writing and publishing a fact-based blog post covering subjects related to the HR field (.5 credits per post, a limit of six credit hours during the three-year certification cycle).
Professional Membership (10-credit-hour maximum)
• SHRM (three credit hours per full year).
• American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) (two credit hours per full year).
• WorldatWork (two credit hours per full year); leadership (10-credit hour maximum).
• Holding a leadership position within a national or international HR-related association (such as SHRM).
• Chairing an HR committee within a local Chamber of Commerce.
• Using your HR expertise to further a volunteer organization's mission.
• Mentoring a less-experienced HR professional for one year (five credit hours). Note that the mentoring program must be formal and measurable, such as through SHRM or a chapter.
• Completing a survey that results in a SHRM-published survey reports: general survey, customized benchmarking and LINE® (one credit hour per year, a limit of three credit hours during a three-year recertification cycle).
• Testifying before Congress or a state legislative or governmental body on an HR-related topic.
As in all categories, recertification candidates are advised to retain proof of participation in case of an audit.
Strategic Business Management Activities
• Interpret information from external sources related to the general business environment, industry practices and developments, technological developments, economic environment, labor pool and legal and regulatory enviromnent, in order to contribute to the development of the organization's strategic business plan.
• Participate as a contributing partner in the organization's strategic business planning process.
• Establish strategic business relationships with key individuals in the organization to influence decision making.
• Establish relationships/alliances with key individuals in the community and in professional capacities to assist in meeting the organization's strategic business goals and objectives.
• Develop and utilize metrics to evaluate HR's contributions to the achievement of the organization's strategic business goals and objectives.
• Develop and execute strategies for managing organizational change that balance the expectations and needs of the organization, its employees and all other stakeholders.
• Develop and align the organization's human capital management plan with its strategic business plan.
• Facilitate the development and communication of the organization's core values and ethical behaviors.
• Reinforce the organization's core values and behavioral expectations through modeling, communication and coaching.
• Develop and manage the HR budget in a manner consistent with the organization's strategic business goals, objectives and values.
• Provide information for the development and monitoring of the organization's overall budget.
• Monitor the legislative and regulatory environment for the potential impact of proposed changes on the organization, taking appropriate proactive steps to support, modify or oppose the proposed changes.
• Develop policies and procedures to support corporate govemance initiatives (for example, board of directors' training, whistleblower protection, code of conduct).
These lists are not all-inclusive, like those vacations you get with excursions and drinks (something we all need after the certification exams), nor do they include things that may not have been done before or thought of yet. If you have questions about whether a particular course or activity qualifies for credit, you may email them to info@hrci.org. They will respond within two to four business days. Of course, you can always contact me for help. If I don't know the answer right away, I can surely get it for you and maybe save you a little time! I can be reached at texasshrm@gmail.com.
Reminder! Save the Date!
Membership Marketing Summit at Annual Conference: Saturday, June 23rd in Atlanta from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. State Councils, chapter presidents and membership directors are invited to join this interactive session to build prospective member bases and increase engagement with current members. Invitations have been extended via email. Register here.
Sarah Bird - winner
SHRM Foundation Scholarships for SHRM Members
The SHRM Foundation awards a total of $100,000 annually in scholarships for SHRM professional members pursuing degrees or certification. In addition, SHRM professional chapters and state councils are eligible to compete for the certification scholarship to fund programs promoting certification. All applications must be submitted online by July 16th to be considered for an award. For more details contact the Foundation at www.shrmfoundation.org.
HHS’s Office on Women’s Health is creating an online searchable resource for employers and HR professionals to showcase creative workplace solutions for employees who are nursing mothers, with a special emphasis on employers of overtime eligible employees. You can submit information to the online site at www.everymother.org/workplace. More information about this project and how you can support it is available here.
Every four years Americans come together to vote on the future of our country. It's an emotional time, where heartstrings are tugged and ideological differences become polarizing. As an HR professional, it can be alarming when you hear these emotions in the workplace - HR and politics simply don't mix!
We have all read articles that implore us to keep politics out of the workplace and have seen how a civil political discussion can quickly turn into a mean-spirited attack with retaliatory risk concerns, but sometimes separating politics from the workplace is easier said than done. One HR director told me about her own experience: "I was venting to a colleague about the impact of the Affordable Care Act and added that I felt Obama didn't know much about health care when she piped up defensively to say, 'Hey, I voted for Obama!' Too late, the damage was done."
Beyond the political debates that occur around the office or in the field, support for political action committees (PACs) from management and unions can add another complicated layer. It's not uncommon for companies in heavily regulated industries to have a PAC and to encourage employees to donate to it. For HR, this adds an additional layer of politics in the workplace as the discussions that begin around the PAC can easily escalate to full political showdowns.
Before you swear off election-year politics, redirect your focus on issues that impact the HR profession. One HR manager at a company with a PAC used that as a reason to find out more about the legislative impact on HR. "If I was going to be contributing, I wanted to be aware of how these political races impacted my job," she explained. While the presidential election is sure to grab headlines, there are Texas-wide elections, such as retiring Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison's senate seat, and numerous Texas congressional and legislative races also on the ballot, along with some key local races.
How can you make an impact? Invite candidates to your local chapter to hear their goals and help shape their views on topics near and dear to HR. A few years ago, I attended a meeting at the Heart of Texas chapter in Waco and then-U.S. representative Chet Edwards described how he was working to help Central Texas and asked for our feedback on recent legislation impacting job growth. On the national front, check out SHRM's new 2012 Legislative Issues Guide (www.shrm.org/Advocacy) to understand SHRM's stance on upcoming legislation. Use that information to develop key considerations for candidates vying for your vote. Remember, your elected officials are paid to listen to you and represent you in Austin or Washington, and as America's job creators, your feedback as an HR professional is critical.
So the next time you hear "HR and politics don't mix" remember that you and every other HR professional are a needed part of the political discussion.
Submitted by: Luke Prettol, CEBS, PHR - member of HRHouston and a Senior Associate in the HR services practice at Employee Benefit Solutions.
