pres·en·tee·ism – n. the practice of coming to work despite illness, injury, anxiety, etc., often resulting in reduced productivity.

Presenteeism only promises to continue as a major workplace problem in 2012, so the Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) thought we’d share some insights into the issue.

Speechly Bircham’s Employment group is a UK-based employment law practice.  In their in-depth 2012 survey of HR directors and senior HR professionals across the UK, they determined that working hour increases are linked with higher stress and staff turnover, while longer work hours and presenteeism are set for big increases in 2012.

A review of the survey can be read at The State of Human Resources blog.  Conclusions include:

• Greater business uncertainty is linked with higher stress, absence, presenteeism and workforce discontent.
• Talent shortages for 40 percent of organizations exist and are linked with longer working hours, stress and presenteeism.
• Presenteeism is now a major workforce issue, linked with more grievances.

Today’s workplace has changed from two or even one decade ago. Some of these changes have contributed to the growing incidence of presenteeism.

Causes of presenteeism

• Increase in dual-earner and “sandwich generation” households.
• Fear of note meeting Employer expectations.
• Little or no paid sick days available or accrued.

Employer Solutions

• Recognize the problem.
• Rethink the use of disciplinary action to control absenteeism.
• Develop a workplace policy on presenteeism and inform and educate employees.
• Provide Paid Sick Leave and/or Paid Time Off (PTO) to Workers.
• Make an Effort to Boost Employee Morale.
• Offer a flu vaccination program.

The image of a sick-as-a-dog employee who comes to work as being a dedicated and valued worker is no longer fitting. Presenteeism costs are a real and potentially significant drain on a company’s financial well-being. Employers need to make a concerted effort to develop a workplace with healthy and highly functioning workers. This will go a long way toward meeting goals for company productivity and profits, and fostering a healthy work culture and environment for employees.

A talent management system (TMS) is an integrated software suite that addresses the “four pillars” of talent management: recruitment, performance management, learning and development, and compensation management.

Talent management systems focus on providing strategic assistance to organizations in the accomplishment of long-term enterprise goals with respect to talent, aka “human capital.”

HRO Today has announced its 2012 TMS Baker’s Dozen Customer Satisfaction Ratings.

The Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team took a look at the Top Five apps on the list:

1. 1.     Lumesse
2. 2.     myStaffingPro
3. 3.     Kenexa
4. 4.     iCIMS
5. 5.     SilkRoad

Lumesse

Lumesse, Europe’s largest independent talent management solutions company, has released a new version of its Lumesse Mobile app for Apple iOS, with an enhanced user experience, multi-lingual capabilities and improved usability. The Lumesse Mobile app allows businesses worldwide using Lumesse TalentLink 12 to give managers access to key process steps and employee information in multiple languages from their iPhones (the app is also iPad-compatible.)  Lumesse Mobile is designed as a true native iOS app to ensure a responsive, high quality user experience on mobile platforms.

myStaffingPro

myStaffingPro is a full-featured applicant tracking and recruiting software system with advanced applicant screening capabilities.  myStaffingPro provides professional staffing software tools designed to help users achieve hiring goals while saving time and money.  myStaffingPro Elevate: social recruiting and employment branding software that harnesses social media, job distribution, network building and career site techniques.  myStaffingPro Express: economical solution for companies looking for the essentials in applicant tracking.

Kenexa

Kenexa offers unified business solutions for human resources that support the entire employee lifecycle, including:

• Recruitment Solutions (RPO)
• Employment Branding
• Employee Assessments
• Talent Management
• Compensation Solutions
• Engagement Surveys
• Leadership Solutions

iCIMS

iCIMS is a leading provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) talent acquisition software for growing businesses.  iCIMS’ Scalable Talent Acquisition Software offers:

• Secure Web-based platform accessible from anywhere, anytime
• Fully automated job publishing to social networks
• Electronic onboarding documents and communication
• Robust searching and reporting functions
• Free 24×5 access to award-winning customer support

SilkRoad

SilkRoad Technology is a leading provider of social talent management solutions.  RedCarpet, SilkRoad’s HR onboarding program, helps organizations better plan and manage employees during transitions using tools that include:

• Onboarding management – Automated workflows, standardized task assignment, reporting, global localization and an intuitive user-interface designed to help HR professionals and managers efficiently streamline the onboarding process.
• Employee portals – Branded content, social network integration and ongoing communication help transition employees into company culture and keep them in-the-know during transitions.

Electronic forms – Auto-populated fields, electronic signatures and instant delivery help HR managers keep compliant with E-Verify and I-9 while eliminating time and cost associated with paper-based administration.

Veterans employment is in the news these days and the Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team wants to do what it can to help in this vitally important area.

 In the March issue of HRO Today, the cover story “Fighting for Jobs” addresses the issue of why organizations need to consider veteran hiring programs.

Since 2010, the federal government has increased its focus on veteran employment due to an interest in reducing unemployment costs and aiding those who have served our nation at war. This includes the passage of the Hiring Heroes Act of 2011, new tax credits for hiring veterans, and the creation of the White House’s Joining Forces initiative.

Veteran hiring stems from humble beginnings.

During the past two decades, a variety of factors have combined to spotlight just how valuable the U.S. military veteran population is as a source of talent for corporate America.  A noteworthy percentage of Fortune 500 CEOs are veterans.  More than 180,000 veterans leave active duty military service each calendar year, so the military offers a highly qualified pool of jobs candidates. Perhaps most importantly, the performance, development, and bottom-line impact that veterans have had across multiple industries has been significant.

As part of the American Jobs Act signed by President Barack Obama in November 2011, the Returning Heroes and Wounded Warrior Tax Credits offer tax incentives to businesses that hire unemployed or disabled veterans. Through Joining Forces, Pres. Obama is challenging the private sector to hire and train 100,000 unemployed service members or their spouses.

In addition, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has launched Hiring Our Heroes, a nationwide program to help veterans and military spouses find employment.

Corporations are also joining in the fight. GE plans to hire 5,000 veterans over the next five years and sponsor 400 veterans’ job fairs this year.  And JPMorgan Chase, along with other partners, launched the 100,000 Jobs Mission last March, with the goal of hiring 100,000 transitioning service members by 2020.

Let us know how you think you can help.

“Spring, the sweet spring, is the year’s pleasant king…”

–Thomas Nashe (1600)

Though we at the Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) primarily staff the business office with professional talent, the first day of the sweetest season makes us think beyond the desk.  Here’s a round-up from CareerBuilder.com naming a few jobs that get you out and about:  “10 Great Jobs to have in the Springtime” by Rachel Zupek.  Our Top Six are:

1. Vendor

Springtime means enjoying the great outdoors.  Baseball season means hot dogs, cold beer, cotton candy and frozen lemonade. Education: On-the-job training

Annual salary*: $19,876

2. Sportswriter

Sure, sports take place year round, but for me, spring is when some of the most exciting sporting events go down. Exhibit A: March Madness basketball games. Exhibit B: Major league baseball spring training and season openers. Exhibit C: NHL playoffs. Exhibit D: NBA playoffs and draft picks. Exhibit E: The Masters golf tournament. Sportswriters can take their pick making predictions, following games or analyzing who is going to be the next Tiger Woods.

Education: College degree, preferably in communications, journalism or English

Annual salary*: $36,994

3. Florist

April showers bring May flowers, after all.  Springtime means blooming flowers, weddings and generosity (aka, bouquets of roses “just because”). Florists will stay occupied during this busy season, while enjoying the budding blossoms that have been buried all winter.

Education: High school diploma

Annual salary*: $33,859

4. Fashion buyer

Springtime is synonymous with fashion. Buyers get to shop through all of the new spring lines and buy clothes that have color, flowers and designs for our favorite retail shops — a far cry from the black and gray turtlenecks and tweed we’ve been sporting all winter.

Education: Requirements vary depending on the organization, but large stores and distributors prefer applicants who have completed a bachelor’s degree program with a business emphasis.

Annual salary*: $50,796

5. Landscaping worker

It’s growing season!  Snow is off the ground and grass, trees and flowers are ready to be planted and fertilized. Lawns need to be mowed, weeds pulled and trees trimmed, all of which add up to a lot of time outside, doing what landscapers do best.

Education: No minimum educational requirement, though most states require licensing or certification for workers who apply pesticides.

Annual salary*: $23,980

6. Construction worker

What’s better than being outside all day working on your latest project? It seems like constructing a house or building would be much more enjoyable in nice weather than in the freezing cold and snow.

Education: Most positions have no specific educational qualifications, but apprenticeships are encouraged and require a high school diploma or equivalent.

Annual salary*: $31,781

Rachel also includes on her list Meteorologist (Annual salary*: $67,004), College admissions counselor

(Annual salary*: $98,796), Pest control worker (annual salary: $28,056) and Housekeeper (Annual salary*: $19,619).

*U.S. national average salary figures based on data from CBsalary.com, powered by SalaryExpert.com

New hire learning curves can be expensive, so the Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team took a look at some recent research about ways to properly “onboard” new employees for optimum results.

Aberdeen Group recently published findings on the impacts of learning during onboarding and the early stages of the employee lifecycle. The report “Accelerating Time to Performance” by Mollie Lombardi, research director of Aberdeen’s human capital management practice, makes the argument that effectively training new staff members can increase their level of execution, as well as encourage retention.

Reports Aberdeen’s Lombardi:

“Time is money, as the old saying goes, and companies today can ill afford to waste either when it comes to bringing a new hire up to speed.  Learning plays a critical role in transforming the onboarding process from an exercise in efficient tactical execution to an experience that accelerates performance, builds engagement, and fosters a sense of connection between new hires, their managers, and their team. This Insight will examine how learning in the onboarding phase of the employee lifecycle can improve time-to-productivity and set the stage for long term excellence.”

Research is also money, of course, so interested parties can purchase “Accelerating Time to Performance” from Aberdeen for $399.  Click here for more details.

Fortunately, HRO Today has summarized the report in an article titled “The Need for Speed.

Onboarding typically includes a few different elements: benefits enrollment forms, orientation, socialization and culturalization.  The report notes that forming strategic connections makes onboarding part of a broader learning and development strategy, rather than a tactical state of recruitment.  Also becoming increasingly popular, as shown by 64 percent of respondents, is enrollment of employees in learning and development programs, which is now being included more often in the onboarding process.

According to the Aberdeen report, onboarding typically begins with three top objectives:

• Better assimilation of new hires into company culture (66 percent of respondents)
• Getting new employees productive more quickly (62 percent)
• Improvement of employee engagement (54 percent).

Training is a key component to getting new hires up to speed. The more quickly that new employees understand business goals, the happier both hiring managers and customers become.

“Learning is an important part of onboarding,” Lombardi says. “Organizations should focus on goal setting and helping employees understand the resources that are available to them to achieve those goals.”

It’s Valentine’s Day and love is in the air.  If you’re in the office today, you’re likely to see coworkers receiving heart-shaped boxes of chocolates and lavish bouquets of lilies from their loved ones.  But what if such a display of affection occurs between coworkers?

Workplace relationships can pose a wealth of potential problems, from discrimination to sexual harassment.  These issues can be especially complicated for businesses that don’t clearly address workplace relationships in their employee handbooks.  If it’s too late to set policy amidst burgeoning love, supervisors and HR representatives will have to rely on their common sense to handle workplace relationships.  To make that process easier, remember to PREP by being:

Professional: When talking to employees, keep comments business related by addressing productivity, performance, and professional conduct.  Don’t discuss anything personal, and remember that any personal information confided in you should be kept strictly confidential.

Reasonable: Be reasonable about the demands placed on your employees.  They spend a lot of time together, which can naturally foster closeness.  Without a written policy to address workplace relationships, your response can only extend so far.  You can’t ask employees not to date, and even if you could, more problems could be created by enforcing unrealistic rules.

Equitable: As a matter of good HR practice, it’s important to treat all employees (and all workplace relationships) the same.  This applies even if the relationship involves an extramarital affair.

Proactive: After a relationship problem arises, it’s too late to implement a formal company policy, so don’t attempt enforcement beyond what federal, state, or local laws require.  Instead, talk with management about establishing a written policy to address workplace relationships.  A clear policy will be the best way to manage future workplace relationship issues.

With or without a formal policy, when a workplace relationship ends, things could get messy for both the former couple and the HR Department.  What was once welcome personal attention could now be considered unwelcome sexual harassment.  During the relationship, it may have been common for one partner to frequent the other’s desk to chat, but that chat may now make the other partner uncomfortable.  If left unaddressed, this unwanted conduct could easily snowball into a sexual harassment issue.

That’s why it’s best to catch these issues early.  As an HR representative, start by sitting down separately with each employee to clarify what professional behavior means to them and to your business.  Outlining professional standards may be enough to stop the unwanted conduct, but if the behavior continues, these conversations are a good starting point for potential disciplinary action.  Remember, everything should be documented, from the complaint to the sit-down conversations, to create a solid base for future action.  It’s important to take these issues seriously as professional matters and not just private conflicts.

Times are looking up for the once-struggling American auto industry, which means good news—and shared profits—for industry employees.

Last month, Ford Motor Co. paid $5,000 in profit sharing to each of its hourly workers, which was more than its contract with the labor union required.  And though Chrysler Group LLC did not make any money last year, the company still paid $750 to each of its hourly workers to thank them for standing by during recovery efforts.  Following suit, General Motors Co. is poised to pay each of its 45,000 hourly workers at least $3,000 in profit sharing.  This will mark GM’s largest ever payout, crushing 1999’s previous record of $1,775.

GM’s move comes as 2010 saw the company solidly back in the black for the first time since 2004, and just one year after a highly publicized $50 billion government bailout.  In those darker days, GM was forced to restructure by closing domestic factories and slicing more than 20,000 jobs, including much of its white-collar workforce.  Moving into the future, GM executives have expressed interest in compensating hourly workers according to their performance, much like the way salaried workers are compensated.  It should also be noted that salaried workers will not be receiving across-the-board raises.

This week’s record-breaking winter weather has walloped over 30 states and affected one in three Americans.  In weather this severe, emergency officials advised people not to travel unless absolutely necessary, lest they get stuck in blinding conditions or massive snow drifts.  To many, the thought of curling up under a blanket beats going out in a blizzard any day.  So the kids get to stay home on snow days, but when do their parents get to stay home from work?

The truth is, employment law doesn’t dictate when a business must close for weather—closing a business is solely the employer’s judgment call.  Many businesses may choose to stay open in severe weather, depending on demand for their goods and services.  This is especially true of grocery stores, gas stations, hotels, and public-service industries like police and fire departments, hospitals, and snow plow operations.  It makes business sense to stay operational if there is legitimate work to be done, even in a blizzard.  Plus, businesses in areas that are used to winter snow will be less inclined to close due to weather, thanks to efficient snow removal.

But what happens to employees when businesses make the call to close?  From a human resources standpoint, businesses that close for weather are not required to pay hourly or non-exempt workers.  Like any other workday, these employees must be compensated only for the hours actually worked.  Exempt employees are another matter.  Businesses that close for a few days due to weather must pay their exempt employees who were ready and able to report to work.  On the flip side, businesses do not have to pay exempt employees who were unavailable to report to work, for example, due to the weather, transportation, or child care issues.  An exception occurs when businesses close for an entire payroll week because of weather, flood, or power outage.  Under these circumstances, exempt employees who perform no work for the week—not even checking e-mail from home—are not required to be paid.

Your business’ productivity could suffer because employees are chaining themselves to their desks.  But why are employees spending so many days at work and shunning the personal leave they once relished?  New studies show employees are afraid to—or genuinely unable to—step away from their desks.  Even a nasty head cold or the beckoning of a Caribbean vacation won’t unlock those chains.

As for the head cold, a recent CareerBuilder survey found 72 percent of workers report for work when they’re legitimately sick.  Most respondents (55 percent) do this because they feel guilty about missing work.  While this seemingly demonstrates amazing loyalty, how loyal is it to show up to spread germs to healthy coworkers?  Furthermore, does an office full of runny-nosed people slumped at their desks promote productivity?

And then there’s that Caribbean vacation.  A Right Management poll found 46 percent of workers didn’t use all their vacation time in 2010.  Workers either couldn’t get away from their desks or felt like they couldn’t get away to enjoy their annual vacations.

Whatever the case, employees are spending more days at their desks.  With so many businesses short staffed, with more duties falling to fewer employees, taking personal time is a legitimate concern for many workers.  Employees also worry that if they miss work, even for a day or two, their employers will realize either the worker or the position isn’t vital.  Employees are afraid to step away because their jobs may not be there when they come back.

If your employees aren’t taking the personal time they need, they’re at risk for employee burnout.  Workers who don’t feel like they can get a break from work, either to get healthy or to have fun, are more likely to suffer persistently high stress levels.  In turn, high stress levels can lead to employee turnover, which can quickly have your business flipping through job applications.  So what to do with employees who won’t unlock that desk chain?

Hand them the keys.  Now, more than ever, it’s important to tell employees it’s OK to miss work—and it needs to genuinely be OK.  Remind employees that their jobs will be waiting when they come back, and then train coworkers to fill in for sick or vacationing employees.  At the end of the day, employees able to take time off work will be healthier and happier, and will respond with increased loyalty and productivity.

New research from the Economic Policy Institute shows public sector employees may be getting a bad rap.

According to this research, contrary to popular belief, public sector employees are not paid better than private sector employees.  Government workers actually earn an annual average of $6,061 less than their private sector counterparts.  Even including the government’s oft-touted benefits packages, public workers still make $2,001 less per year.  The study also made a point of controlling factors such as education and number of hours worked, since public sector employees tend to be more highly educated and work fewer hours.

These findings may come as a surprise to the half of Americans who, according to a Washington Post poll, think federal government employees are overpaid.  The poll also found a third of Americans think private sector employees are more skilled than government workers.  A whopping three-quarters of Americans believe federal employees receive higher pay and benefits than their private sector counterparts.

It’s clear old stereotypes are hard to break, but an interesting trend may be afoot.  The Washington Post poll noted adults over 65 harbored more negativity toward government workers, while adults under 30 were far more likely to believe government employees were fairly compensated—or better yet, not compensated enough.