HRfocus, November 2006, Vol. 2006, No. 11

Copyright 2006 Institute of Management & Administration
All Rights Reserved
HRfocus

November 2006

SECTION: HUMAN RESOURCES Vol. 2006 No. 11


HEADLINE: HRfocus News Briefs (November 2006)

BODY:
Main article
Wanted: HR Executives With Global, Business, and SOX Smarts
Organizations prize strong, business-oriented leaders with 15-plus years of experience for senior HR positions now, including some time spent abroad, expertise in Sarbanes-Oxley Act issues, talent management, and analytics. Corporations will provide top pay for such skills in highly intelligent, strategic thinkers, according to recruiters and HR analysts providing insights into what the "ideal" top HR candidate must offer now.
However, the pool of candidates who satisfy each and every one of these criteria isn't very large, so there is definitely competition for those individuals.
One thing hasn't changed: The final hiring decision often comes down to chemistry between the CEO or COO and the candidate, in addition to that great résumé, noted Greg Hessel, global director, HR practice, for the executive search firm Korn/Ferry International (Los Angeles).
International experience is very desirable now, he noted. "They prefer someone who has lived overseas and had meaningful experience, such as a start up or close down of a facility."
Other key résumé builders include experience in working with boards of directors and compensation committees; comfort with making presentations; and being knowledgeable about Sarbanes-Oxley requirements concerning executive compensation, corporate financial reporting, and document retention.
Business knowledge and ability are the fundamental skills being sought for a top HR executive, noted Wendy Murphy, managing partner of the global HR practice of executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles (Chicago). "That's been a trend that's developing over time, but has not been addressed successfully. HR people at large have not been great business people." HR managers who lack the fundamental business skill set "are just not business partners and will never make it to the [executive] table," she said.
More sophistication is being sought in HR leaders as well, thanks to the nearly ubiquitous outsourcing of compensation and benefits administration among larger organizations, she added.
The good news: The focus on business acumen means "the CEOs and COOs are finally getting it" about the value of the HR perspective at the corporate level.
Another must for top HR positions, according to Murphy: Include expertise with executive compensation and talent management, especially on a global level. Metrics-crunching and strategic decision-making analysis are other desirables.
The large multinationals are looking for people who can "think on their feet and see the overall business issue rather than just the HR aspect," as well as those who "don't go so native to the employee advocate side and not see we're in business to make money," said Hessel.
Authority--both business and personal--is now needed in greater amounts, thanks to higher profiles of HR and more dealing with corporate boards because of Sarbanes-Oxley, noted Patrick Wright, director of the Center for Advanced Human Resources Studies at Cornell University.
HR executives on the center's advisory board say that their "credibility is on the line every minute of every day, more than ever before." Being able to communicate with board members with an understanding of not just the business, but also "the macroeconomics of the industry," is a necessity now.

Are Recruiters or Employees ‘Winning' At Hiring and Retention?
Whether or not you believe there's an actual "war" about--or with--talent, it's undeniable that the landscape has gotten more competitive. But who has the upper hand: the hiring manager or the employee? And what does each side want?
The second annual Employment Dynamics and Growth Expectation Report (EDGE) from Robert Half International (RHI) and Careerbuilder.com shows that hiring managers and employees have very different perceptions about the job market. According to hiring managers, recruiting is more challenging today than a year ago, with 81% reporting difficulty in finding qualified candidates--up from 55% a year ago. Employees, though, say they are less likely to negotiate higher salaries today: Just 12% plan to seek higher pay, down from 20% a year ago.
Employee turnover has been steady for the past two years, at 21%, but almost a third (30%) of employers report they have instituted programs aimed at preventing turnover, with salary increases, bonuses, and flexible work schedules cited most frequently. Bonuses were more common this year than last, with 20% of managers reporting using them, compared to 12% a year ago.
Why can't hiring managers find good people? According to the hiring managers, there is a shortage of qualified workers (cited by 52% of respondents), followed by an inability to offer competitive compensation (21%). And they expect the difficulty to continue: More than 80% anticipate it will be as hard as or harder to find qualified candidates a year from now. Hiring managers report that professional and technical staff are the most difficult positions to fill. However, more than half (54%) do not intend to increase salary packages for new hires.
Employees don't seem to see their relative strength in the job market: Most say it is similar to what it was a year ago, and 26% report they are looking for a new job, a slight decline over last year's 28%. In response to the question, "If you were to accept a new job offer today, how likely would you be to try to negotiate a better compensation package with your new employer, compared to 12 months ago?" only 29% said they were more likely to negotiate.
Employees said that health insurance is the most important benefit to them, followed by flexible work hours and a 401(k) plan.
A separate study, PricewaterhouseCoopers' Private Company Services Trendsetter barometer, reported that while the workforce represents almost half (47.5%) of total company budgets, less than a third of the 300 surveyed fastest-growing U.S. companies said they had formal programs in place to retain key employees. Despite this, 49% of the surveyed CEOs said they are concerned that a shortage of qualified workers could limit the growth of their organization in the coming year, and 38% see the scarcity of skilled and trained workers as potentially creating a barrier in the form of pressure for increased wages.
CDC Provides Separate Guidance for Various Influenzas
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have issued separate recommendations to protect workers from avian, pandemic, and seasonal influenzas, according to a CDC official. The guidances acknowledge the differences between the different influenzas, although there is still "a lot to learn" about influenza transmission, said Lisa Delaney, with the CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
Avian influence primarily is a disease affecting birds, but it is of concern because of its high fatality rate, the ease with which it could evolve to transmit from human to human, the lack of a vaccine, and a limited supply of antiviral medicine, she said. Guidance on avian flu, issued in February by the CDC, includes recommendations for first responders.
There is also a safety and health information bulletin from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that was developed jointly with the CDC, she said. Separate interim CDC guidance for health-care workers treating patients with avian flu issued in May 2004 is under revision.
There currently is no pandemic influenza, Delaney explained. "While avian influenza is a likely candidate to turn into a pandemic, it's not the only candidate." The CDC has a separate guidance for pandemic influenza, but changes have been proposed after the CDC received many comments on the documents last year.
CDC's Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee issues recommendations in February to increase seasonal flu vaccination rates among health-care workers.
For more information on the guidances, visit the CDC Web site (www.cdc.gov).
Link Found Between Job Stress and Workplace Injury
Several measurements of workplace stress are significantly related to a risk of occupational injury, according to a report in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine (an abstract is available at www3.interscience.wiley.com/. Search for 112649685).
"Impact of Psychosocial Job Stress on Non-Fatal Occupational Injuries in Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturing Enterprises" analyzed data from 2,302 workers at 244 factories in a Japanese city. The factories studied had fewer than 200 employees.
The study found that nine out of 14 psychosocial job stress variables were significantly associated with occupational injury in men, and five were significantly associated with injury in women.
The results suggest that "psychosocial job demands are an important risk factor for the occurrence of injuries, despite the fact that job stress and occupational injury were assessed by self-report, as well as other limitations."
Bad Boss ‘Achievements' Your Organization Should Discourage
The results are in for the online My Bad Boss contest, conducted by Working America, the community affiliate of the AFL-CIO. The winning entry, "Millionaire Dentist Stole From Employees on 9/11," reports a dentist who docked each employee's paycheck $100 because all of his patients cancelled on Sept. 11, 2001.More than 4,500 "bad boss" entries were submitted to the contest, and nearly 50,000 votes were cast by visitors to the Web site. The site had two million