Workforce Planning: A Forward-Looking Approach to Getting the Right People in...
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1. EWS
NOVEMBER 2016
THE MAGAZINE OF THE INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION FOR HUMAN RESOURCES
HRN
A Brief History of Public
Pensions in the United States
Happiness: A New Metric
for Retirement Readiness
Pension and
Retirement
Readiness
2. There are only
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FROM THE EDITOR
NOVEMBER 2016 | 1 |
The theme for this month’s issue is focused on public pension.
But for this issue, we also wanted to provide you with
some additional articles focused on organizational change and
leadership, especially since the launch of IPMA-HR’s HR2020
report, which was released in September.
The HR2020 research report serves
as a critical roadmap to public sector
HR professionals on how to transition
from an administrative to a leadership
role within their organizations. The
overall perspective of the taskforce is
that HR professionals exist in a rapidly
evolving world with volatile economies,
major environmental impacts, rapid
technological changes, and the
changing needs of the workforce.
These changes require HR professionals
to think differently about how to shape government agencies that
deliver services to citizens. Because the business of HR revolves
around human capital resource management, HR professionals
have the opportunity to help fundamentally influence and shape
organizational outcomes by identifying future trends and assisting in
navigating successfully through them.
The full download of the report is available at ipma-hr.org/hr2020
along with other tools and resources to help members navigate the
road ahead.
With regards to public pension issues, in this issue of HR News,
Jennifer Dowd with Kronos gives us a brief history of how public
pension started in the U.S. and where it stands today (page 6).
Writer Ed Lamb also helps to find solutions to the problems within
our states’ retirement system (page 8) and investment management
expert Megan Yost shares details from a recent survey, which reveals
the powerful impact of financial wellness on participants’ satisfaction
with their jobs and benefits (page 18).
Other articles you’ll find in this issue include IPMA-HR member
E.C. Ricketts sharing how language can impact organizational
change (page 20). Copywriter Kipp Hanley from Prince William
County Service Authority outlines how Virginia’s public utility
workers are given opportunities to chart a path to success (page 12)
and employee communications expert Sarah Perry shares how to
tackle long-standing ethical misconduct in the workplace (page 14).
For our Leadership Roadmap column, Andrew Rahaman shares
a new perspective on what leadership means (page 22) and our
Labor Relations column profiles lawsuits dealing with issues of
religious freedom, age discrimination, race discrimination and sexual
harassment.
We hope you find all this valuable as you sort through pension
plan issues and deal with other challenges as a public sector HR
practitioner. —N
Jenny Chang
TALENT•TALENT•TALENT•TALENT•TALENT•TALENT
TALENT•TALENT•TALENT•TALENT•TALENT•TALENT
TALENT•TALENT•TALENT•TALENT•TALENT•TALENT
TALENT•TALENT•TALENT•TALENT•TALENT•TALENT
TALENT•TALENT•TALENT•TALENT•TALENT•TALENT
CULTURE•CULTURE•CULTURE•CULTURE•CULTURE
CULTURE•CULTURE•CULTURE•CULTURE•CULTURE
CULTURE•CULTURE•CULTURE•CULTURE•CULTURE
CULTURE•CULTURE•CULTURE•CULTURE•CULTURE
CULTURE•CULTURE•CULTURE•CULTURE•CULTURE
COMMUNICATIONS•COMMUNICATIONS•COMMUNICATIONS
COMMUNICATIONS•COMMUNICATIONS•COMMUNICATIONS
COMMUNICATIONS•COMMUNICATIONS•COMMUNICATIONS
COMMUNICATIONS•COMMUNICATIONS•COMMUNICATIONS
COMMUNICATIONS•COMMUNICATIONS•COMMUNICATIONS
TECHNOLOGY•TECHNOLOGY•TECHNOLOGY•TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY•TECHNOLOGY•TECHNOLOGY•TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY•TECHNOLOGY•TECHNOLOGY•TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY•TECHNOLOGY•TECHNOLOGY•TECHNOLOGY
TECHNOLOGY•TECHNOLOGY•TECHNOLOGY•TECHNOLOGY
LEADERSHIP•LEADERSHIP•LEADERSHIP•LEADERSHIP
LEADERSHIP•LEADERSHIP•LEADERSHIP•LEADERSHIP
LEADERSHIP•LEADERSHIP•LEADERSHIP•LEADERSHIP
LEADERSHIP•LEADERSHIP•LEADERSHIP•LEADERSHIP
LEADERSHIP•LEADERSHIP•LEADERSHIP•LEADERSHIP
Innovation
Strategy
Business Acumen
HR2020Shifting Perspectives:A Vision for Public Sector HR
I P M A - H R H R 2 0 2 0 Ta s k F o r c e
4. DO THEY HAVE WHAT IT TAKES?
Determining who will be promoted into the position of first-line supervisor of your
emergency communications center (ECC) is a critical decision. You need someone
with the communication and leadership skills to manage the day-to-day operations,
train new PSTs, and oversee the ECC team charged with the well-being of your
community’s public safety personnel.
IPMA-HR’s Emergency Communications Center First-line Supervisor Test provides
you with the information you need to help ensure only the most highly-qualified
candidates with the greatest leadership potential are promoted.
learn
MORE! Visit us online ipma-hr.org/ECC/FLS
Or call 1-800-381-TEST (8378)
5. WWW.IPMA-HR.ORG NOVEMBER 2016 | 3 |
TABLE OF CONTENTS
NOVEMBER 2016 | VOLUME 82 NO 11
COLUMNS
22 LEADERSHIP ROADMAP
Leadership: Much More of an Outcome Than a Definition
26 LABOR RELATIONS
DEPARTMENTS
30 MEMBERSHIP MATTERS
32 RECRUITER SERVICE
32 CALENDAR
FEATURES
A Brief History of
Public Pensions in
the United States6
1 From the Editor
10 2016 Member Satisfaction Insights
10 Time for Compensation Reform in Government
10 IPMA-HR’s Onboarding Guide Available for Your
HR Reference Library
11 IPMA-HR 2016 Benchmarking Survey Results
Suggest Ways to Manage a Multigenerational
Workforce
25 Free Download of Best Practices Guides for
Hiring Veterans
30 Updated IPMA-HR Interview Guide Available
Finding Solutions to the
Persistent State Retirement
System Problem8
How to Tackle
Long-Standing Ethical
Misconduct in the
Workplace
14
Charting a Path to Success
for Public Utility Workers
in Virginia12
HAPPINESS: A New Metric
for Retirement Readiness
18
STICKS AND STONES:
How Language Can Impact
Organizational Change20
8. HR NEWS MAGAZINE| 6 | NOVEMBER 2016
defined benefit plans for retired employees. Programs begun
primarily for public school teachers, police officers and firefighters
spread quickly to cover all state government workers. In 1911, the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts was one of the first to offer a
general state employee retirement plan. The federal government
came into the civilian public pension picture with the Civil Service
Retirement Act of 1920, and the private sector was also getting
into the mix at this time. Companies like General Electric,
Goodyear, and Eastman Kodak were among the first companies to
offer pensions.
By 1940, 4.1 million private sector workers were covered by a
pension plan. By the time the Employee Retirement Income
Security Act, or ERISA, came into effect in 1974, however, private
sector pension plans had declined in number. Over the next few
decades, employers switched to employee contribution plans,
leaving public sector organizations as the employers of choice for
those interested in pension benefits.
Social Security was introduced to Americans in 1935. Government
employees were not entitled to this benefit at first, but future
amendments to the Social Security Act included them.
Calculations called the Windfall Elimination Provision and the
Government Pension Offset limit the amount of money retired
government workers receive from Social Security.
At the end of the twentieth century, funding public pensions
began creating major drains on government budgets. Though the
plans were supposed to be prefunded to avoid any payout issues,
n pension & retirement readiness n pension & retirement readiness n
W
hether you love them or hate them, pensions have given
employers a way to put money aside for their employees’
retirement for ages. With so much media attention on
the negative consequences of public pensions, it is important to
understand how and why they reached their current state. Pensions
reform is happening across the country, but how did we get to this
point in the first place?
Public retirement plans date back to the early Roman Empire.
Imagine the first Roman emperor, Augustus, concerned about
what the citizens of his community needed. Potholes needed to
be filled, garbage needed to be removed, health care needed to be
affordable. These were major issues in 13 BCE, right? Augustus
also wanted to keep army veterans from threatening his rule, so he
decreed that 20 years of active duty and five years in the reserves
would entitle a retiring soldier to a lump sum payment of several
year’s salary.
Fast forward to 18th-century America. Army and navy pensions
were established by the Continental Congress, and the series of
disability and severance pay turned into more formal retirement
plans in the 1800s. The Civil War ushered in formal retirement
systems for military officers and annual pension payments. It was
not until 1907 that all enlisted personnel qualified to receive up to
75 percent of their active duty pay in retirement after putting in
30 years of service. Fully vesting in a U.S. military pension now
requires a minimum of 20 years on active duty.
By the early 1900s, states and local government began creating
By Jennifer Dowd
A Brief History of
Public Pensions in
the United States
9. meeting prefunding obligations proved unfeasible for many cities
and states. Government officials who created the plans decades
to a century earlier could not envision mass retirements of baby
boomers, large numbers of people living into their eighties and
nineties, or the volatility of the economy. Still, the security offered
by a public pension is important to many who works in the public
sector of the 21st century.
So, here we are in 2016. Just the word “pension” makes politicians,
government employers and taxpayers shudder. States and localities
are taking serious measures to reform them, but many employees
are grandfathered into very lucrative pensions. We will not begin
seeing the real benefits of reform for some time.
Human resources professionals can get caught in the crossfire
of what is deemed by some as an abuse of the financial system.
For instance, pension spiking—using late career promotions and
additional compensation such as overtime to increase retirement
payouts—gets people riled up when stories about the practice
make the papers. As HR professionals know, though, pension
spiking is not illegal and it violates no current policies in most
localities and states. Still, it is essential to achieve more visibility
on accepted compensation to ensure there is no misconduct by
employees. Accumulating too much overtime is not only costly, it
can result in fatigue issues that poses their own problems.
The landscape of pensions has certainly changed since the
founding of the United States. Pensions continue to provide
employers a way to recruit and retain workers, but costs have
WWW.IPMA-HR.ORG NOVEMBER 2016 | 7 |
n pension & retirement readiness n pension & retirement readiness n
become unsustainable in many instances. Also, spending an entire
career at one organization is becoming rarer as employees realize
moving to another organization is the only way to move up the
ladder.
Both realities represent opportunities for policymakers and public
sector employers to rethink benefits, look for ways to deemphasize
pension benefits and make good use of limited time with shorter-
term employees. The story of pensions has not ended. We continue
to watch it unfold not knowing when—if ever—all the problems
will be solved. Where will we be a decade from now? What will the
next generation think? Only time will tell.
Jen Dowd is the senior public sector marketing manager at Kronos.
With over 15 years of working with both government and education
organizations, she writes the Public Roadmap blog. You can follow
Dowd on Twitter @PublicWorkforce, email her at jennifer.dowd@
kronos.com or call her at (978) 995-3818. —N
10. HR NEWS MAGAZINE| 8 | NOVEMBER 2016
n pension & retirement readiness n pension & retirement readiness n
high levels as a percentage of U.S. gross domestic product.”
The slight reduction in debt came almost entirely from abnormally
high returns on investments. State retirement funds normally assume
investments will yield 7-8 percent annually. In 2014, rates of return
ran as high as 17 percent. Market instability became the norm
throughout 2015 and 2016, however, meaning that even though
some record closings have been occurred, no institutional investor
can count on steady gains from investments.
As a result, the Pew researchers found it necessary to admonish
that “effective contribution policies eventually achieve positive
amortization.”
Ranking the Plans
Table 1 shows which states have the healthiest and the most-
challenged state retirement systems. Pew ranked each by the ratio
of contributions and investment earnings to current and future
retiree obligations.
T
he last week in August 2016 brought new, yet familiar,
bad news for state retirement systems. The Pew
Charitable Trust ran the numbers for 2014 and found
that state and local funds established to pay pension
and health benefits for retired government workers faced a total
combined shortfall of more than $1 billion. CNN Money, with
emphasis, noted on August 24 that “just 15 states contributed
enough into public pension funds in 2014 to both pay retiree
benefits and start to pay down their debt.”
Pew researchers shared only scant pieces of good news. The actual
debt of state-level funds during 2014, $934 billion, actually stood
$35 billion lower than it did at the end of 2013. Also, three states
found ways to put more than 100 percent of current and future
obligations into their funds during 2014, the last year for which
complete accounting is available.
Overshadowing those bright spots, according to Pew, is the reality
that “when combined with the shortfalls in local pension systems,
this estimate [of public sector retiree fund debt] reaches more than
$1.5 trillion for fiscal 2015 and will likely remain close to historically
Finding Solutions to the
Persistent State Retirement
System Problem
By Ed Lamb
Table 1. How Well-Funded Were State Retirement Systems in 2014?
Top States
Funding
Ratio
Bottom States
Funding
Ratio
1. South Dakota Retirement System 107% 50. Illinois State Employees’ Retirement System 41%
2. Oregon Public Employees Retirement System 104% 50. Kentucky Retirement Systems 41%
3. Wisconsin Retirement System
103%
49. New Jersey Public Employees Retirement
System
42%
Tie 4. North Carolina Retirement System
99%
48. Connecticut State Employees Retirement
System
49%
Tie 4. Tennessee Consolidated Retirement
System
99%
46. Alaska Public Employees Retirement System 60%
6. New York State and Local Retirement System
98%
46. Pennsylvania State Employees’ Retirement
System
60%
Source: The Pew Charitable Trusts, The State Pension Funding Gap, 2014
11. WWW.IPMA-HR.ORG NOVEMBER 2016 | 9 |
n pension & retirement readiness n pension & retirement readiness n
Do the states with the strongest economies boast the healthies
retirement system? Rarely, as Table 2 indicates. Note, however,
that the four states facing the greatest budget challenges also
underfunded retirement plans by the greatest amounts.
What States Must Do
The lessons to be learned from the recent Pew report and the side-
by-side rankings of state retirement system funding and budgetary
difficulties do not differ much from those offered by Elizabeth
Kellar in her November 2015 HR News article, “The Secret of Well-
Funded Pensions,” In fact, the advice from the president and CEO
of the Center for State and Local Government Excellence bears
repeating:
n Establish reserves and aim high
n Redesign contribution rates and benefits, especially cost-of-living
adjustments (COLAs)
n Use conservative actuarial assumptions
n Conduct periodic reviews to determine if economic and
demographic assumptions match experience
n Phase in changes
The authors of the Pew report presented many of the same
elements of a blueprint for rebuilding and ensuring the health of
state retirement funds They also concluded that “state and local
policymakers cannot count solely on investment returns to close the
pension funding gap over the long term; they also need to follow
funding policies that put them on track to pay down pension debt.”
Two policies that work are using the actual estimated cost of paying
benefits as the baseline for making contributions in the forms of
state budget allocations and paycheck withholdings from current
employees. The Pew report states that “of the 10 states with the
strongest results on positive amortization, seven have historically
paid about 95 percent of ARC [actuarial required contribution].”
ARC, which has been replaced within the past two years with a
metric called actuarially determined contribution (ADC), reflects
the historical rate of returns on plan investments, past and projected
mortality rates among beneficiaries, and rates of retirement,
disability and early voluntary and involuntary separation. Adding the
per capita cost of debt repayment to sufficient ARC/ADC-based
contributions is the surest way to achieve retirement fund solvency
and long-term stability.
How States Get and Stay on the
Right Path
Looking at specific cases, South Dakota lawmakers have spent 2016
refining a plan to tie COLAs to the national rate of inflation, as
measured by the Consumer Price Index. Until 2010, state retirees
received a guaranteed COLA of 3.1 percent. Individuals retiring
after 2011 now see a guaranteed COLA of at no more than 2.1
percent. Making benefit increases variable is expected to lower cost
significantly over the long term. The earliest such a change could be
put into law would be 2017.
The Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System underwent a
complete overhaul in 2014, when newly hired state employees were
enrolled in a 401(k)-style retirement plan and all workers were
required to reach the age of 65 before drawing full benefits. The
savings have been dramatic. As summarized by the Commercial
Appeal of Memphis on Sept. 5, 2016, “While the state spends 15
percent of its payroll for the legacy [defined benefit] pension holders,
9 percent goes to the hybrid plan.”
The Pew researchers even highlighted positive steps being taken
in Connecticut to shore up that state’s retirement system. While
noting that policymakers and fund administrators continue placing
too much faith in generous investment returns, the report notes
that “the state’s current contribution policies, which include a fixed
amortization period to pay off the unfunded liability, are anticipated
to start reducing debt in fiscal 2017.”
That points directly back to the Pew researchers’ primary conclusion
that “any credible approach to achieving full funding of pension
promises needs to pay down pension debt over a reasonable time
frame.”
Ed Lamb is a freelance editor and writer in Virginia Beach, Va. He can
be reached via email at thoroughcursor@gmail.com. —N
Table 2. States Ranked by Fiscal Conditions in 2014-2105
Strongest State Economy Weakest State Economy
Alaska Kentucky
Nebraska Illinois
Wyoming New Jersey
North Dakota Massachusetts
South Dakota Connecticut
Source: The Mercatus Center at George Mason University, Ranking the States
by Fiscal Conditions. Factors included cash on hand to pay current bills, budget
surplus or deficit, outstanding debt, budget flexibility to respond to disasters
and emergencies.
12. HR NEWS MAGAZINE| 10 | NOVEMBER 2016
Atotal of 862 members responded to our 2016 Member
Satisfaction Survey, resulting in a 16 percent response
rate. Thanks to those IPMA-HR members who completed the
survey.
n The survey shows a strong level of member satisfaction, with
over 90 percent saying that they value their membership and
plan to continue as long as the association meets their needs.
n Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) joined the association as a
way to stay abreast of developments in the Human Resources
field. Staying up-to-date with training and certification
opportunities and having the opportunity to network and
collaborate with HR professionals are other top reasons cited
for joining IPMA-HR.
n The association’s reputation for representing public sector
HR professionals along with our publications (HR News and
the HR Bulletin) are the most highly rated.
n Members primarily suggest that IPMA-HR should develop
new courses covering the following areas: “conducting
employee investigations” (39 percent), FMLA & FLSA
(38 percent) and legal implications of Social Media in the
Workplace (32 percent).
n Four out of ten (42 percent) of our members are IPMA-CP
or IPMA-SCP certified and were motivated to achieve this
certification by a desire to demonstrate their commitment to
the HR profession (82 percent).
n According to our members, the most sought after portion of
our website is the HR Resources section (64 percent), where
members can find: successful practices, policies, RFPs and
research.
n Email is the way that the vast majority (72 percent) of
members prefer to be communicated with.
n Most of our members use Facebook (68 percent) followed by
Linkedin (65 percent).
n Nine out of ten of our members (89 percent) are Generation
X or Baby Boomers, and only 9 percent are millennials. —N
2016 Member Satisfaction Insights
Time for Compensation
Reform in Government
The critics of government at times
are relentless in arguing that public
employees are overpaid relative to their
counterparts in the private sector. There
has been a long held belief that salary
levels of public employees are lower than
those paid in the private sector. However,
when benefits are included in the total
compensation package, the reality is total
compensation actually exceeds those paid by a company.
The public sector also faces a major problem of an aging
workforce with massive retirements expected in the next decade
and substantial loss of talent. This situation is compounded by
the problems many public employers have with recruiting and
retaining qualified millennials. For these reasons alone, public pay
problems have become prominent and calls for major reform.
The Primer on Total Compensation in Government is a must-
read for public employers who determined they need to rethink
elements of their compensation program. The book highlights
issues and alternatives and helps plan for program changes. it also
discusses the role of managers in managing employee salaries, as
well as the policy models that should be considered.
To order, please purchase online at http://bit.ly/24DCU0y —N
Onboarding is critical
to the success of your
new employees — and your
agency. In fact, it has become
a major factor in determining
the long term success of new
hires. Systematic onboarding
programs improve employee
performance, maximize retention, increase employee
engagement, and accelerate new employee time to productivity.
Purchase IPMA-HR’s easy-to-use Onboarding Guide, which
serves as a perfect reference source for HR professionals and is
an invaluable tool for any agency. Included in the Onboarding
Guide are nine information-rich chapters and appendices that
provide you with such tools as a best practices checklist, sample
onboarding policy, examples of activities, and evaluation forms.
Purchase is available through IPMA-HR’s website at
http://bit.ly/2eZCrqY —N
IPMA-HR’s Onboarding
Guide Available for Your
HR Reference Library
a d e f i n i t i v e g u i d e
f o r o n b o a r d i n g
n e w p u b l i c s e c t o r
e m p l o y e e s
By Robert J. Lavigna, IPMA-CP
Assistant Vice Chancellor & Director of Human ResourcesUniversity of Wisconsin-Madison
lasting impression
CREATING A
13. WWW.IPMA-HR.ORG NOVEMBER 2016 | 11 |
The long-forecast silver tsunami may never hit. Baby boomers,
unable to afford retirement, are holding on to their jobs
for ever-greater lengths, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics (BLS). This has placed some tension on government
human resources professionals, as they are pulled in several opposing
directions by having to manage the needs of employees of wide-
ranging ages. This is the topic that IPMA-HR 2016 Benchmarking
Survey tackled, and this article presents a few of the most actionable
findings.
The most recent benchmark survey was sent to 7,499 IPMA-HR
members’ employees and produced a 48 percent response rate.
Among respondents, 31 percent are millennials (born 1981-1997),
33 percent are in Generation X (born 1965-1980) and 36 percent
are baby boomers (born 1946-1964).
Caring about attracting and retaining diverse generations is of
critical importance, as we are in a crunch for labor. Since the Great
Recession of 2008, according to BLS data, U.S. national labor force
participation has declined steadily in every sector. It hit its lowest
overall point of 62.8 percent in July 2016. Interestingly, this decline
is not being fueled by baby boomers retiring. Instead, potential
workers between the ages of 16 and 24 are not entering the
workforce, and more prime-age workers are leaving the workforce.
Addressing these realities requires public sector HR professionals to
have insights into the needs and wants of workers across multiple
generations. Jeanne C. Meister, a founding partner of the consultancy
Future Workplace and the co-author of The 2020 Workplace, made
this point in a September 25, 2014, Harvard Business Review article
titled “Managing People From 5 Generations.” She told the article’s
author, “Just as you would research a new product or service, you
need to study the demographics of your current workforce and the
projected demographics of your future workforce to determine what
they want out of their jobs as these things are different generation to
generation.”
How Do We Attract and Retain Baby
Boomers?
Born in 1961, George Clooney, actor and star of Money Monster,
Hail Caesar and Tomorrowland, is a part of the baby boom
generation. While he may not be looking for a government job any
time soon, Clooney shares many of his cohort’s strong memories
of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Vietnam and
Watergate. These life experiences color expectations and beliefs that
extend to what baby boomers want on the job.
While, as revealed by the
2016 benchmark survey,
public sector workers of
all ages consider good
benefits (53 percent), job
security (49 percent) and
pensions (40 percent) the most appealing aspects of government
employment, baby boomers are the most likely to find these things
appealing. Security and belief in the products and services produced
by government organizations were also quite appealing features of
public sector employment for baby boomers.
How do you recruit a baby boomer? You talk to their friends,
colleagues and family members. Baby boomers, having worked
more years, have larger networks than do members of Generation
X and millennials, which results in these older workers having
larger numbers of professional contacts, possibly even within your
organization.
Baby boomers also appear to be very loyal workers. Unlike other
cohorts, baby boomers are significantly less likely to be impacted by
poor interpersonal relationships with co-workers or superiors. Poor
relationships are much less likely to drive them to work outside of
their current organizations.
Baby boomers are in their workplaces for the long haul. Most plan
on having their present jobs for the rest of their career, stating that
their position provides them with an income and is essential to
funding their retirement. Baby boomers also find their work to be
interesting and satisfying.
Not surprisingly given their years of experience, baby boomers
do not necessarily value training opportunities and being offered
opportunities to learn new skills to improve themselves as
workers. Also in line with their years of experiences, they value
having tenure, rather than merit, used as a prime consideration
for promotions. Last, much like their co-workers from other
generations, baby boomers value working for organizations that
recognize employees for their hard work and innovation.
How Do We Attract and Retain Members
of Generation X?
Unlike Margaret Cho, who was born in 1967, not all members
of Generation X are ridiculously funny. Some have to turn to the
government for work.
IPMA-HR 2016 Benchmarking Survey
Results Suggest Ways to Manage
a Multigenerational Workforce
By Melissa Paluch
CONTINUED ON PAGE 33
14. HR NEWS MAGAZINE| 12 | NOVEMBER 2016
n pension & retirement readiness n pension & retirement readiness n
V
irginia’s Prince William County Service Authority is finding
new and creative ways to reward its employees for their hard
work while ensuring that the public utility retains essential
skill sets.
Three years ago, the authority established a career path program
that now encompasses 11 positions. The program, which provides
additional training and testing, gives current staff members
and prospective job seekers another incentive to build long and
successful careers at the utility. Moreover, it allows the authority to
retain institutional knowledge and ensure smoother succession in
key departments.
If employees meet the career path criteria for experience, fully-
successful performance evaluations and passing scores on a wide
range of written and practical tests, they can advance in level
and pay.
“This program was developed as an incentive to retain highly
skilled and motivated employees,” said Theresa O’Quinn, Prince
William’s Human Resources and Organizational Development
(HROD) director. “But attracting new talent is equally important
for building intellectual capital that could otherwise be lost when
someone leaves.”
Laura Morgan, a rising environmental technician who started as
a meter reader for the service authority, praised the organization
for creating the opportunity for her to advance in her current
department. Despite working in the field the majority of the time,
Morgan is nearly finished with her career path.
“If this career path had not come along, I may have remained
at this [meter reader] level until another position was created,”
Morgan said. “The career path has given me the opportunity to
advance and learn other skills.”
Career Path Program Paying
Dividends
The career path program has been especially helpful for regulatory
affairs officer John DeRosa, who has been able to assign in-house
laboratory specialists to do research and development on newly
required tests for drinking water while the two environmental
technicians enrolled in the program assist with basic water and
wastewater testing as the needs arise. Lab specialists have also received
opportunities to take training on more-advanced testing equipment.
At one point, the laboratory only had one employee who was
proficient in analyzing metals. After that employee left the
organization, laboratory management had to rush to provide
appropriate external education. Due to the workflow flexibility
provided by the career path program, however, there will soon
be three lab specialists trained on the analysis of metals, as well
as three employees trained on using a gas chromatograph-mass
spectrometer (GS-MS).
Lab specialist Gerrod Minter said that testing done with the
GC-MS will allow him to expand his regular duties each quarter,
which, in turn, will free up one of the two environmental technicians
to assist with basic drinking water and wastewater testing.
Unlike the career path program for environmental technicians, the
instrumentation and electrical (I&E) program is in its infancy, with
two relatively new employees just beginning the process. However,
the more people who go through the program, the better for them
and the department, said I&E Supervisor David Bell.
Bell and two other employees in the department are eligible to
retire within the next five years, making it crucial that someone
who is well-qualified can step in immediately.
By Kipp Hanley
Charting a Path to
Success for Public
Utility Workers in
Virginia
15. NOVEMBER 2016 | 13 |WWW.IPMA-HR.ORG
n pension & retirement readiness n pension & retirement readiness n
“If you have the drive, desire and intellect, you can take your career
to a much higher level than you thought you might be able to,”
said Bell, who has worked at the Prince William County Service
Authority for 26 years. “You can advance from wiring houses as a
young kid to the highest level of instrument controls that we have
here. This is some exciting stuff.”
Going Through the Career Path
Process
The career path program is still a work in progress, and
improvements have been made to enhance the process. In each
case, HROD has worked diligently with department heads across
the organization and with outside consultants to best structure the
paths and refine criteria for participation.
For instance, O’Quinn said employees who wanted to participate
and move up a level expressed some apprehension over taking
written tests. To combat this natural concern, the authority allows
employees to take practice tests for several of the career paths.
Another criterion that had to be modified for current I&E
technician employees and job applicants was the demand for
wastewater laboratory assessment experience. The authority
changed the job qualifications essentially to attract licensed
electricians. Bell said the idea is to hire people and then train
them in instrumentation. In order to be promoted in pay level
and title, an I&E technician now needs to become certified by the
International Society of Automation. Should a technician choose
to go that route, the authority will pay for training.
“This change to the job requirements gives them an opportunity
to get their foot in the door,” Bell said. “Then the career path
program gives them a chance to expand their knowledge base,
which also helps us.”
When he was crafting the career path program for the
utility inspections department, manager Conrad
Holtslag noticed that the career path for an
inspector II required certification in
soil and erosion control. Because this
requirement was not essential to the
position, it was removed.
Before the launch of the career path
program, there also was a requirement
for an inspector II to have five years of
experience with constructing new water
tanks, pump stations or sewage lift stations.
After the recession hit, however,
hardly any construction was occurring,
making it extremely difficult for
employees to meet this qualification. As
a result, that requirement was omitted.
Still, the career path for utility inspectors
is by no means easy. Employees must put
what they have learned into practice in a wide variety of scenarios.
Ultimately, they are given both a field test and written test to
determine whether they can advance.
“As years go by, you are in constant information collection and
storage mode,” Holtslag said. “You know what’s being buried that
day, and you are storing and documenting it both in written form
and in your head. You are also in constant innovation mode. How
you do it this year may not be exactly how you did it a year ago.”
Moving Forward
The authority has always placed a strong emphasis on professional
development. For instance, all full-time employees are required
to complete at least 30 hours of training each year. The career
path program is yet another means of motivating this highly
trained workforce to provide the best possible service to more than
275,000 public utility customers in Prince William County.
Employees like Steve Hoffman who have completed the program
say they have had satisfying experiences. After many years in
construction, Hoffman started his utility inspections career at the
authority in 2004 and is now an inspector II. A self-motivated
employee who Holtslag calls a “stellar inspector,” Hoffman said it
was an easy decision to go through the program.
“I don’t know of anyone who doesn’t want to advance in their
careers,” Hoffman said. “If you’re already doing that type of work,
why not get the most you can out of it.”
Kipp Hanley is a copywriter with the Prince William County Service
Authority in Virginia. He can be reached at jhanley@pwcsa.org or
(703) 335-8914. —N
16. HR NEWS MAGAZINE| 14 | NOVEMBER 2016
T
he ethical choices your employees make inevitably define the
reputation of your organization. Most will make the right
decisions based upon a combination of their own moral
compasses and what is already ingrained in organizational culture.
This is fine, providing employees possess good judgment and the
work culture is great. But what if one or both of those factors are
lacking? What if inherent problem of harassment, discrimination
or other conduct issues preclude fully ethical behavior?
Often, unethical behavior starts off mild, being hardly noticeable
at first and only gradually developing into a major problem.
Employees may become desensitized to the signs or feel awkward
and unsure about what to do when minor transgressions occur.
They turn a blind eye to the “little stuff.” Too soon, the unethical
behavior is perceived as normal. By that point, it is undermining
organizational culture and may even be repulsing new talent.
Alarmingly, 51 percent of U.S. workers said they have observed
unethical or illegal misconduct on the job. The National Business
Ethics Survey conducted by Ethics & Compliance Initiative
that uncovered this also revealed that among individuals who
observed wrongdoing, 87 percent of employees at organizations
with effective ethics and compliance programs reported it. Only
32 percent of employees at organizations that lacked compliance
programs reported instances of wrongdoing.
Why people behave the way they do has multiple, interrelated
explanations. An organization’s behavioral change program has
to be multipronged in response. Several tactics deployed over a
n pension & retirement readiness n pension & retirement readiness n
By Sarah Perry
How to Tackle Long-Standing
Ethical Misconduct in the
Workplace
17. WWW.IPMA-HR.ORG NOVEMBER 2016 | 15 |
period of time are needed to achieve results. A one-off workshop
or a single all staff email will not suffice.
Barriers, Triggers and Motivators
HR professionals tasked with transitioning conduct can
take inspiration from Unilever’s Five Levers for Change.
This successful initiative seeks to make desired behaviors
understandable, easy to apply, desirable, rewarding and habitual.
Created to promote consumer sustainability practices to Unilever’s
two billion customers, the same approach can be applied to
promote ethical behavior in the workplace.
As the video at https://youtu.be/clMk_5PCL80 points out,
identifying the things that stop people from adopting a new
behavior from the outset is key. In the workplace, an example
could be poor timekeeping. Employees turn up late for work, take
extended lunch breaks and run behind for meetings. When there
appear to be no consequences for tardiness, employees do not see
the need to change.
Applying levers for change requires finding triggers that push
employees to adopt new behaviors. One such trigger could be
a determined effort by managers to lead by example. When
senior staff members arrive for work on time, meet deadlines and
exercise discipline in personal timekeeping, employees will take
the hint. Another trigger could be installing software like Desk
Time (https://desktime.com) on staff computers. The program
generates reports on attendance, productivity and application use.
The final steps involve motivating employees to make new
behaviors old habits. Publicly praising good timekeepers and
incentivizing on-time meetings help accomplish this.
Drive Change Via a Multi-Asset
Campaign
Effective communication underlies any successful organizational
change initiative. But how do you get the message to form new
habits across systematically?
Creating change messages that appeal to and are consumed
by every employee can be tough. With so many different
demographics, one size cannot fit all. Plus, workers already suffer
from information overload.
Prioritize Topics
Deciding on which ethical area to focus on first can also be
overwhelming, so you need to prioritize. Start by performing an
online search for “examples of ethical dilemmas in the workplace.”
Select those most relevant to your organization from the top
results.
Also reach out to your workforce and ask them to submit topics
anonymously. Soliciting this feedback will ensure your training
is up-to-date and relevant. You may even uncover an emerging
ethical dilemma you did not know about.
Plan Your Campaign
Pick a single topic; the most successful change campaigns are
the most focused. Create a series of communication assets that
focus exclusively on the single topic. Include internal and external
triggers in your schedule. For example, emailing a timely reminder
on the policy for giving and receiving gifts in early November
ahead of Thanksgiving and Christmas will resonate more than at
any other time of the year.
Automate for Best Results
Automating internal communication campaigns as much as
possible helps maintain consistency and reliability in messaging.
Messages can be repeated and pushed out over time, ideally using
a variety of formats.
Drip-feeding information to employees systematically produces
a cumulative effect in which the main message sinks in almost
without anyone really noticing. But be careful not to overwhelm
your audience with too much information. Micro-learning—short,
snappy, frequent—achieves the best results.
Sarah Perry co-founded the employee communication software
company SnapComms in 2007 and currently serves as its CEO. You
can contact her at sarah.perry@snapcomms.com, +64 9 950 3360.
—N
n pension & retirement readiness n pension & retirement readiness n
“Applying levers for change
requires finding triggers
that push employees to
adopt new behaviors.”
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20. HR NEWS MAGAZINE| 18 | NOVEMBER 2016
N
ew survey analysis reveals the powerful impact of financial
wellness on participants’ satisfaction with their jobs and
benefits.
The retirement industry often asks participants if they are
confident about achieving retirement goals to understand their
level of preparedness. We test them on financial literacy to gauge
their likelihood to follow through with planning. But have we ever
asked plan participants if they are happy?
Confidence and literacy are important. However, State Street
Global Advisors’ latest research suggests that there is a noteworthy
interplay between people’s happiness with their working life and
their financial well-being. In fact, we have found that financial
wellness actually influences an employee’s happiness at work. We
believe this finding affirms the need to broaden our definition of
retirement readiness to include other influences, such as employee
satisfaction, and to champion financial wellness strategies that can
help improve participants’ overall experience with their working
life.
n pension & retirement readiness n pension & retirement readiness n
Meet the happiness personas
We conducted a deeper analysis of our January 2016 Biannual
Investor Survey of Millennials and Generation X—a group we’ve
named Generation DC—to assess how they feel about their jobs,
their benefits and their employers. Based on participants’ responses
to questions about those key aspects of their working life, we
segmented three personas within Generation DC, which we have
defined as the “Happiness Personas” (see Figure 1).
By Megan Yost
HAPPINESS: A New Metric
for Retirement Readiness
Reprint from The Participant magazine Summer/Fall 2016 issue
Figure 2: How do employees feel about their working life?
Average score is based on a 5-point scale, in which 1 is strongly
disagree and 5 is strongly agree.
HAPPY
Persona (N = 728)
S0–SO
Persona (N = 530)
UNHAPPY
Persona (N = 244)
I like my job. 4.70 3.90 2.59
The work I do reflects my values and mission in life. 4.65 3.66 2.60
I value my employer. 4.72 3.85 2.54
I believe my employer has an interest in how to support my
career aspirations.
4.61 3.58 2.28
I value the health benefits my employer offers. 4.70 3.89 2.79
I value the retirement plan my employer offers. 4.67 3.88 2.72
In general, I value the overall benefits my employer offers. 4.73 4.00 2.68
I believe my employer has an interest in supporting my financial well-being. 4.62 3.46 2.25
Figure 1: The Happiness Personas
I am pretty happy about my working life - 48%
I have mixed feelings about my working life - 36%
I’m unhappy with just about everything in my working
life - 16%
Note: In figures, “N” represents sample size.
21. These Happiness Personas reflect employees’ sense of favorability
toward their careers and their employers. While nearly half of
the population is happy with their working life and shows strong
favorability toward their employer, the other half either has
mixed feelings or is downright disengaged and discouraged. The
Happiness Personas take into account employees’ feelings about
their work and their employers, and also how they experience their
company’s benefits (see Figure 2).
After identifying these Happiness Personas, we wanted to explore
their feelings about other factors that might influence retirement
readiness, such as trust. For example, across the entire sample of
Generation DC, a mere 32% say they can trust their employers.
However, when looking at employees in the Happy and Unhappy
personas, we see a significant difference in employer trust levels:
74% of respondents who give their employers the highest trust
rating fall into the Happy persona, while 70% of respondents who
give their employers the lowest trust rating fall into the Unhappy
persona.
We know that trust plays an important role in how employees
interact with their retirement plan: Participants with the highest
level of trust are more likely to engage with communications
and tools provided by their plan sponsors, and use other services
provided by their recordkeeper, according to a study by the
National Association of Retirement Plan Participants.
The cause and effect of financial
wellness
Besides examining trust levels, we tested whether employees’
literacy, age and other factors affect where employees land in our
Happiness Personas. But it is the financial wellness indicators
that show the strongest influence. In fact, our analysis reveals a
strong causal relationship between participants’ perceived financial
wellness and their happiness with their working life.
Overwhelmingly, those who score highly on financial wellness
metrics—such as reporting low levels of stress and high levels of
confidence in achieving retirement goals—are disproportionally
more likely to fall into the Happy persona. We have found that
participants who feel financially well tend to attribute those
feelings to their employer, crediting them in part for their positive
emotional and financial situation. As feelings of financial wellness
improve, participants’ feelings about their working life and their
employers improve as well (see Figure 3).
Sample sizes represent the number of people who agreed with
each statement. For example, 152 people agreed that “my overall
financial life is thriving,” but 872 people agreed that “I perceive my
salary as fair.”
Takeaway
To help participants feel better about their financial well-being–
and, in turn, more satisfied with their employer–work proactively
to help them understand and take advantage of all the benefits you
offer.
1. Consider bringing a more holistic view of the employee
experience into your retirement plan strategy–one that addresses
both financial wellness and working life satisfaction. You can
monitor your efforts by including questions about financial
wellness and satisfaction levels with their jobs and benefits in
employee engagement surveys.
2. Create communications that promote your DC plan as part
of a connected suite of financial benefits, such as employee
assistance programs, access to financial advisory services, short-
and long-term disability insurance, and the like.
3. Make those plans and programs easier to find and navigate,
such as by creating a single benefits portal that provides links
to all financial and health-related plans and services.
We believe that by understanding the impact of financial wellness
on employee satisfaction, along with the factors that affect
employees’ happiness with their working lives, plan sponsors can
more broadly influence their employees’ well-being, financially and
emotionally. Furthermore, the relationship among financial well-
being, happiness and trust suggests that financial wellness programs
are no longer just nice add-ons to your DC plan; they are essential
WWW.IPMA-HR.ORG
n pension & retirement readiness n pension & retirement readiness n
CONTINUED ON PAGE 24
NOVEMBER 2016 | 19 |
Figure 3: Financial wellness influences working life happiness HAPPY S0–SO UNHAPPY
My overall financial life is thriving. (N=152) 66% 29% 5%
My overall financial life is getting better every year. (N=289) 64% 28% 8%
I have high confidence that I can achieve my retirement goals. (N= 237) 67% 24% 9%
My current level of financial stress is very low. (N= 481) 60% 32% 8%
I perceive my salary as fair. (N= 872) 63% 29% 8%
Sample sizes represent the number of people who agreed with each statement. For example, 152 people agreed that “my overall financial life is thriving,” but 872 people agreed that
“I perceive my salary as fair.”
22. | 20 | NOVEMBER 2016 HR NEWS MAGAZINE
n pension & retirement readiness n pension & retirement readiness n
By E.C. Ricketts, Ph.D., SPHR, SHRM-SCP
STICKS AND STONES:
How Language Can Impact
Organizational Change
S
omething interesting happened at a leading Japanese online
marketplace company in 2010. The CEO of Rakuten,
Hiroshi Mikitani, stood before thousands of employees and
announced that the company would conduct all of its business in
English. He was referring not just to conversations with clients,
but also internal communications such as emails and meetings.
No negotiating on the point; no one allowed to take a pass on the
issue. Every Rakuten employee would, from that point forward,
Mikitani declared, use the language of global business. Accelerated
English-language classes were offered, and employees who already
possessed some competency in English achieved higher status
quickly. Workers who did not gain fluency in a matter of months
grew fearful of losing their jobs. It was a dramatic move.
Five years after the announcement, more than 90 percent of
employees had acquired enough competency in English to
effectively conduct business in the language. Now, almost all
employees can answer a phone and receive an immediate answer
without using an interpreter. A greater global-perspective was
gained and business expanded, which allowed Rakuten to tap
previously impenetrable markets.
With English functioning as a global business language, this
scenario is not all that surprising. What did come as a surprise,
even to Mikitani, was the impact the change to English-only had
on the culture of the organization. Rakuten became more casual.
Fewer and fewer workers showed up at the office in dark navy
suits as employees adopted a more-relaxed dress code. The cultural
change even affected relationships within the organization.
Mikitani commented that the cultural change breathed new life
into a moribund organization.
Japanese society has a complicated power structure among
individuals based on age and social status that dictates how
individuals address each other. Those hierarchies among people
exist outside of workplaces and are coded into Japanese grammar.
English does not have such linguistic markers of status outside
of polite, but imprecise, terms like “sir” and “ma’am.” Mikitani
noted that when the acknowledgement of entrenched hierarchies
dropped from everyday language at Rakuten, barriers created by
power structures began breaking down. Mikitani’s response to this
change was simply, “Good riddance to it.”
The lesson is that new ideas and concepts are created by the use
of different words. This applies in all circumstances, countries and
organizations because ways of speaking embody and perpetuate
ideologies that shape culture. How speakers combine words to
create mental images highlight which concepts are important.
Tennessee State Government: Case
Study in Intentional language and
Culture Change
When organizations attempt to initiate change, how leadership
communicates the change throughout the organization becomes a
key component of a successful strategy. The methods, means, and
words used all matter. Lack of communication is often cited as a
factor that contributed to the failure of a change initiative.
Within the Tennessee state government, the Department of
Human Resources (DHR) is responsible for all leadership
training. Years ago, such training was offered via a list of courses
23. WWW.IPMA-HR.ORG NOVEMBER 2016 | 21 |
n pension & retirement readiness n pension & retirement readiness n
that any employee could register to take. Participation was not
determined by any discussions of mission and goal alignment, nor
of creating a learning organization.
The result of this practice was that training came to be seen as a
one-and-done process: Attend, check the box and forget about
what was learned. Tennessee state employees would often view
training as a way to get out of doing their “real” work. Managers
and supervisors would assign classes as a way to discipline
employees who engaged in errant behaviors. If an employee was
having trouble working well with others, a training course on
teambuilding or conflict resolution became the prescription. The
culture such attitudes and practices created was not that of a true
learning organization.
The appointment of the state’s first chief learning officer in 2012
and a new law that gave the DHR oversight of all nontechnical
training for state employees set the stage for building a true
learning organization along the lines of Peter Senge’s definition
in The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning
Organization. But there were still cultural hurdles to overcome—
hurdles that had grown high over many years. Proponents of the
idea that a state government could be a learning organization had
to find ways to overcome these hurdles and change the mindset of
executives, managers and rank-and-file workers. One strategy was
to change the way language was used when referring to training.
First, DHR stopped using the word “training” for a wide
range of offerings. The term was too packed with negative
baggage. Nontechnical courses on topics such as leadership and
management skills earned the title “learning and development.”
Technical courses continued to be referred to as training in order
to distinguish task-oriented learning from opportunities for
personal and professional growth. Calling the later learning and
development helped instill an expectation of continuous growth
and an understanding that gaining capabilities would not end
when a course or workshop did—that learning and development
would continue throughout the employee’s career.
The DHR division with responsibility for all learning and
development also changed its name to Strategic Learning
Solutions to convey the idea of ongoing improvement. Any time
learning strategies were discussed, language that moved leadership
from thinking of training employees as a one-time event to seeing
developing leaders as a continual process was used.
For instance, “talent development” is now used to put a focus on
employees as organizational assets who possess needed skill sets
rather than as people filling positions. Instead of having “trainers,”
the DHR employs “learning facilitators” who bring strong
engagement and explanatory skills to the job. Such word choices
employ the power of metaphor. “Facilitator” conjures up cognitive
connections with helping and guiding rather than someone who
has and will impart all the knowledge available.
Pockets of a learning organization formed and flourished over
time. The process of changing the culture of the Tennessee
government workforce by changing the language is by no means
complete, but positive changes are noticeable. Employees are
becoming more eager to attend learning and development
workshops, seeing them as opportunities for growth rather than
ways to get out of a day’s work or punishment.
Certainly, it takes more than just replacing some words with
other words to initiate and sustain true culture change within
an organization. However, leaders who want to change their
organization’s culture need to give attention to the language that
executives, managers and workers use and to consider how word
choice can impact perceptions and actions. Sticks and stones truly
may break one’s bones, but words can have as much impact in
breaking self-sabotaging cultural beliefs and, thereby, bringing
about and sustaining needed changes.
E.C. Ricketts, Ph.D., SPHR, SHRM-SCP, is director of organizational
development with the Tennessee Department of Human Resources.
He can be reached at Ernie.Ricketts@tn.gov. —N
Suggested additional reading:
n “Japan’s new business language—English” Hiroshi
Mikitani, The Straits Times, http://www.straitstimes.
com/opinion/japans-new-business-language-english
n “The social consequences of switching to English,
Geoffrey Pullum, The Chronicle of Higher Education,
www.chronicle.com/blogs/linguafranca/2016/04/28/
the-social-consequences-of-switching-to-english
n Metaphors We Live By, 2nd ed., George Lakoff and
Mark Johnson
“Lack of communication is
often cited as a factor that
contributed to the failure of
a change initiative.”
24. | 22 | NOVEMBER 2016 HR NEWS MAGAZINE
LEADERSHIP ROADMAP
Over the more than 100 years that the
subject has been studied rigorously,
the general consensus has been that an
organization’s success or failure depends
on leadership. Researchers are much less
in agreement when it comes to finishing
the sentence “Leadership is. … .” Popular
definitions of leadership have ranged from
a unitary boss to an aggregator of ideas
and from a collection of specific elements
to a more holistic attitude.
One conception of leadership and how
public administrators influence the inner
workings of government organizations is
leadership as a process that produces
outcomes. “Process” implies that both
the person or group in charge and the
workers are involved in an interactive,
reciprocal relationship based on influ-
ence, collaboration and engagement.
Leadership processes can operate at
any level in an organization. Influence
is how the leaders affect followers
or have a compelling force on the
actions, behaviors or opinions of others.
Collaboration sees two or more people
working together to realize a shared goal.
Engagement is getting others involved.
Leadership vs. Management
Still, settling on a definition of leadership
raises the natural question of how leader-
ship differs from management. Much has
been written on this distinction.
In many ways, leadership and manage-
ment complement each other. Both
leaders and managers influence
others, work with others and guide
organizational success. At the same
time, thinking about leadership goes
back to the earliest writings of philos-
ophers. Management as we know it
today evolved only during the Industrial
Revolution of the 18th and 19th centu-
ries. Managers were placed in the
middle and upper levels of organizational
bureaucracies to bring order to work-
flows, communications and the enforce-
ment of work rules and quality standards.
The primary functions of management,
in other words, are planning, organizing,
staffing and controlling.
Thematically, management is about
bringing order and consistency to oper-
ations so the organization can meet
objectives. Leadership, on the other
hand, is about creating vision, producing
change and movement that align the
organization’s people and resources, and
motivating and inspiring individuals to do
more than they believe they are capable
of achieving. Table 1 summarizes these
distinctions.
To boil all this down to a single sentence:
To lead means to influence, and to
manage means to accomplish activities
and routines. Or, as Warren Bennis, a
scholar and highly respected “praca-
demic,” said in 1985, “Managers are
people who do things right, and leaders
are people who do the right things.”
Direction, Alignment and Commitment
Following From Leadership
Exercising leadership is about creating
and maintaining relationships that
enable people to work togther to achieve
organization goals and individual growth.
In modern complex, networked and
matrixed organizations, leadership is not
vested in one person in the hierarchy;
rather, it is a skill set used at all levels
to ensure performance. As a result,
how we conceptualize leadership now
encompasses skills that facilitate belief
in the value of shared outcomes and the
achievement of strategic objectives.
There are three important outcomes of
leadership:
1) Developing a vision
and direction for the
future by fostering a
shared understanding
of, and agreement
on, the organization’s
aim, mission, goals
and work products. This goes beyond
stating goals; it involves ensuring all
managers and workers subscribe to
the goal and commit to putting in the
effort and resources necessary to
achieve it.
2) Creating alignment by coordinating
resources and people to move the
organization in the desired direction.
Bureaucracies commonly initiate
By Andrew Rahaman, Ed.D.
Leadership: Much More of an Outcome
Than a Definition
Management
Planning and budgeting
• Establishing agendas
• Planning needed resources
• Creating schedules and timelines
Organizing and staffing
• Establishing roles and responsibilities
• Developing rules
• Providing training
• Monitoring staff abilities
Controlling, problem solving, executing
• Identifying milestones
• Creating solutions
Table 1. Distinctive Elements of Management and Leadership
Leadership
Establishing direction
• Creating the vision
• Setting the course
Ensuring alignment
• Developing buy-in for goals
• Gaining commitment
• Configuring for optimal performance
• Optimizing resources
Motivating
• Inspiring others
• Sharing ownership
• Empowering others
• Connecting to and attending to
others’ needs
25. WWW.IPMA-HR.ORG NOVEMBER 2016 | 23 |
LEADERSHIP ROADMAP
alignment through
structure, or hier-
archies. Ultimately,
efficiency and effec-
tiveness is determined
by how well the orga-
nization coordinates and integrates
its people and resources. In addition,
alignment can create a sense of
purpose so everyone in the organiza-
tion or group is focused on the same
vision and knows how they fit into the
bigger vision.
3) Fostering commit-
ment by motivating
and energizing people
to overcome barriers
to goal achievement.
Commitment is the
willingness of individuals to take
ownership of their work while under-
standing that what they do contrib-
utes to achieving organizational goals.
Employee commitment increases
when supervisors take on the roles of
coach and teacher.
Table 2 presents a cheat sheet of
sorts for identifying when leadership
is producing direction, alignment and
commitment (DAC) and when it not.
The benefit of looking at leadership as a
process that produces outcomes such as
direction, alignment and commitment is
that doing so helps define the skills, char-
acteristics and talents needed within the
leader-follower relationship. Additionally,
and importantly, the DAC framework
creates a process in which collaboration,
influence and engagement are recog-
nized as keys for reaching organizational
goals.
Reflection
Organizational and team leaders create
the conditions for practicing leadership
that produces outcome at all levels.
You can get started on this by passing
out this article and having a 10-minute
conversation to determine if everyone on
your team shares the same vision, under-
stands how they fit into that vision and
knows how to empower others to take
responsibility so leaders have to do less
managing.
What’s on My Bookshelf This Month
Beyond Belief: Awaken Potential, Focus
Leadership by John Grinnell
Andrew Rahaman, Ed.D., has worked
nationally and internationally with leaders
and organizations of all sizes in the public
and private sectors. He is an executive in
residence at American University, where
he teaches graduate courses on organi-
zational learning for the university’s Key
Executive Education Programs. Rahaman is
also on the staff of the Center for Creative
Leadership, chairs the U.S. affiliate of the
World Institute for Action Learning and has
his own consulting firm specializing in exec-
utive coaching, onboarding, organizational
culture assessment and delivering leadership
development programs. He can be reached
at andrew@organizationalstrategiesgroup.
com or Rahaman@american.edu. —N
Table 2. When Is Leadership Producing Desired Outcomes
Working Not Working Questions to Answer to Get on Track
Direction · A clear vision is articulated by
everyone.
· Everyone can articulate what
they are trying to achieve indi-
vidually and collectively.
· A desired future state can be
envisioned
· A set of goals and objectives to
achieve the vision exists.
· There is agreement on what
success looks like.
· There is a lack of agreement
on priorities.
· People are pulled in different
directions, there is inertia or
people are working in circles.
· There is competition for the
vision.
· Does my team agree on what our
vision is and how to achieve it?
· Do we understand what success
looks like, and can everyone can
articulate this?
· Do we have group goals and priorities
that are shared?
Alignment · Everyone’s roles and responsi-
bilities are clear.
· The work of individuals and of
the collective fit with the over-
all vision.
· There is a sense of organiza-
tion, coordination and synchro-
nization.
· Deadlines are missed, rework
is required and efforts are
duplicated.
· Silos of work are present,
leaving people isolated from
the shared vision.
· There is competition for
resources.
· Is work aligned across the group, and
is the effort of each individual coordi-
nated effectively?
· Are people clear on how their work
contributes to achieving the vision?
Commitment · People give the extra effort
needed for the group to
succeed.
· There is a sense of trust,
mutual accountability and
responsibility.
· There is an expressed passion
and motivation for work.
· Only easy things are accom-
plished.
· People ask, “What’s in it for
me?”
· Are people dedicated, even in the
face of setbacks?
· Do we have group norms that are well
known?
· Are individuals empowered in their
roles?
Adapted from Cynthia McCauley and Lynn Fick-Cooper’s Direction, Alignment, Commitment: Achieving Better Results Through Leadership
26. | 24 | NOVEMBER 2016 HR NEWS MAGAZINE
Happiness CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19
n pension & retirement readiness n pension & retirement readiness n
to help move participants up the happiness scale. Doing so could
lead to better retirement outcomes for participants and more
engaged employees for your organization.
Supporting employee happiness
The DC industry has taken bold action to support participants’
needs in the past. For example, it embraced innovative plan design
and automation once plan sponsors understood the powerful
ways in which they influence participants’ saving and investing
behaviors. Now, 62% of large plans ($200 million or more) use
auto-enrollment and 48% use automatic contribution escalation,
and 71% of plans offer well-diversified target date funds as the
default investment.
Still, faced with a number of well-documented behavioral and
cognitive biases, many plan sponsors have struggled to persuade
participants to truly engage with their retirement plans and their
broader financial lives. The reason may be that financial wellness
encompasses more than retirement planning alone, and therefore
can be challenging to coordinate. Or perhaps plan sponsors
have considered overall financial wellness secondary to helping
participants achieve retirement readiness.
It’s time to broaden the scope of plan sponsors’ mandate. For most
plan sponsors, the goal isn’t simply to help participants retire—it’s
to help them retire well and with dignity. These research insights
offer a path to follow, by helping make the case for financial
wellness that much more concrete: They show that promoting
happiness and wellness has the potential to create a virtuous cycle
that benefits both employers and employees.
Developing a program that can move employees up the happiness
scale will take some effort. Those efforts will be rewarded, however,
because the benefits of a happy, financially well workforce can
accrue directly to your organization.
Takeaway
Financial wellness programs are a must-have to get the best
performance results for your organization. Whether your
organization is just starting a financial wellness program or is
looking to strengthen an existing one, here are three steps to help
bolster your offering:
1. Use data at hand to understand the financial well-being of your
employees.
2. Use employee engagement data to understand happiness levels.
3. Prioritize your approach to financial wellness based on those
results.
Happy Employees Wanted
If you’d like assistance exploring your financial wellness strategy,
contact megan_yost@ssga.com at SSGA or read the SSGA and
Benz Communications six-step framework to bring financial
wellness to your workplace at ssga.com/financialwellness. Read the
full results of our initial research on Generation DC at ssga.com/
theparticipant.
Megan Yost is head of DC participant engagement with State Street
Global Advisors, the investment management division of State Street
Corporation, a company that services financial clients by creating
and managing investment strategies for non-profit foundations,
businesses, corporations, associations, governments, educational
institutions, and religious organizations. Megan can be reached at
Megan_Yost@SSgA.com. —N
28. | 26 | NOVEMBER 2016 HR NEWS MAGAZINE
Court Confirms
That Title
VII’s Religious
Exemptions Cannot
Be Waived by Either
Party
The U.S. District Court for the District
of Arizona granted summary judgment
to an employer based on a former
employee’s claims for religious
discrimination, retaliation and hostile
work environment in violation of Title VII
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964; failure
to engage in the interactive process
in violation of the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA); and intentional
infliction of emotional distress (IIED)
(Garcia v. Salvation Army, No. CV-14-
02225-PHX-DGC, No. CV-15-01444-
PHX-SPL, consolidated, Sept. 12, 2016).
According to the court’s summary of
facts, the plaintiff began attending
religious services at the Salvation Army’s
Estrella Mountain Corps (EMC) in 1999.
EMC asked the plaintiff to serve as an
assistant to the pastor two years later.
In 2011, having been promoted to the
position of social services coordinator,
the plaintiff chose to stop attending
services at EMC because she felt the
new pastors were not appropriately
enforcing the policies and procedures of
the church. She kept her job with EMC.
The plaintiff said she received two
negative performance reviews for the
two years immediately following her
decision to stop attending EMC services.
She filed internal grievances at EMC and
claimed that her negative performance
evaluations constituted a personal attack
and were a consequence of her decision
to leave the church as a parishioner.
EMC informed the plaintiff that her
negative performance reviews were a
result of a client complaint against her.
In October 2013, EMC granted the
plaintiff leave from her position to
address health concerns related to
fibromyalgia. EMC extended the leave
multiple times until the plaintiff’s
physician finally released her to return
to work without restrictions on May
26, 2014. The plaintiff did not return
to work that day and instead asked
for an “accommodation” consisting of
receiving a copy or summary of the first
client complaint that was referenced in
regards to her low performance review.
EMC requested that the plaintiff provide
additional documentation from her
physician showing she could not return
to work until she received a copy of the
complaint. The plaintiff refused to provide
EMC with such documentation and
instead insisted that EMC had sufficient
information in its possession to make a
determination as to the accommodation
request.
EMC eventually provided the plaintiff
with a summary of the complaint, but
the plaintiff was not satisfied. She
became adamant that providing her
accommodation required delivering a copy
of the written complaint. The plaintiff did
not return to work and was subsequently
terminated. She filed claims against her
employer for religious discrimination,
retaliation and hostile work environment
in violation of Title VII, failure to engage
in the interactive process in violation of
the ADA, and IIED. The parties filed cross
motions for summary judgment, and,
ultimately, the court sided with EMC and
granted its motion.
In regards to the plaintiff’s ADA claim, the
court found that the plaintiff’s physician
approved her to return to work without
restrictions and, therefore, that it was
reasonable for EMC to assume that
the plaintiff was no longer disabled. It
naturally followed that since the plaintiff’s
physician indicated that she could return
to work without an accommodation, EMC
was under no obligation to engage in the
interactive process. And, even if it had
the obligation to engage in the interactive
process, EMC substantially complied with
the plaintiff’s request for accommodation
when it provided her a summary of the
client complaint.
The plaintiff’s IIED claim was also
unsuccessful. She argued that EMC
subjected her to emotional distress
when it mishandled her internal
grievances and fabricated the client
complaint. The court stressed that it is
“extremely rare to find conduct in the
employment context that will rise to
the level of outrageousness necessary
to provide a basis for recovery for
the tort of intentional infliction of
emotional distress.” Not only was the
conduct complained of not extreme or
outrageous, it was unfounded by any of
the evidence and the court concluded
that no reasonable jury could find that
EMC fabricated the complaint.
EMC based its motion for summary
judgment on the discrimination,
retaliation and hostile work environment
claims on Title VII’s religious organization
exemption. While it was undisputed
that EMC and the Salvation Army are
a religious organization, the plaintiff
argued that she performed a secular
job and that church membership was
not a condition of employment. The
court rejected this argument and stated
that the exemption “applies to any
activities of the organization, regardless
of whether the activities are secular
or religious in nature.” Further to this
point, the court reaffirmed that the Title
VII religious organization exemption
cannot be waived by either party and
rejected the plaintiff’s proposition that
EMC waived the exemption when it failed
to plead it as an affirmative defense.
The court accordingly granted summary
judgment in favor of EMC and the
Salvation Army on all claims.
E.D. Michigan
Denies Employer
Summary Judgment
in Case Based on
Refusal to Hire
Applicant Because
of Age
By David B. Ritter, Partner & Kaitlyn N. Jakubowski, Associate, Barnes & Thornburg LLP
LABOR RELATIONS
29. WWW.IPMA-HR.ORG NOVEMBER 2016 | 27 |
CONTINUED ON PAGE 28
LABOR RELATIONS
The U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Michigan denied summary
judgment to an employer on an appli-
cant’s claim of age discrimination in
violation of the Age Discrimination
in Employment Act (ADEA) and the
Elliot-Larson Civil Rights Act (ELCRA)
(Branham v. Detroit Baptist Manor, No.
15-cv-13403, Sept. 13, 2016).
The plaintiff, who is 67 years old, applied
in February 2015 for a maintenance posi-
tion with the defendant, Detroit Baptist
Manor. He had an initial interview with
a human resource representative and
subsequently spoke with the director of
operations, who was in charge of hiring
maintenance employees. The plaintiff
testified that the director of operations
informed him that he “was not looking to
hire anyone at [plaintiff’s] age because
he had enough staff that was 40 or
50-year old guys. He needed younger
men that can be able to climb ladders
and get on the roof.”
The plaintiff immediately informed
defendant’s HR department that he
felt “quickly attacked” and discounted
because of his age. The defendant did
not hire the plaintiff and, thereafter, did
not fill the maintenance position at all.
The court first noted that age discrim-
ination claims under both the ADEA
and ELCRA require the same standard
of proof using direct evidence; namely,
that age was the “but-for” cause of the
employment decision. The defendant
argued that because it did not consider
there to be an open position for a main-
tenance worker, the plaintiff could not
establish that his age was the but-for
cause of the decision to not offer him
employment. Specifically, the defendant
argued that it was dispositive that it
did not hire anyone to fill the position
for which the plaintiff applied. The
court disagreed and concluded that the
evidence the plaintiff put forth estab-
lished that there was, in fact, an open
position irrespective of that fact that it
was not filled.
To establish that the defendant had
an opening and declined to hire him
because of his age, the plaintiff cited
the director of operation’s statement
that he “needed younger men” to climb
ladders. The plaintiff also testified that
the HR representative informed him that
the defendant had full-time openings but
none for part-time work. The HR repre-
sentative’s testimony did not contradict
that of the plaintiff, and it indicated that
at no point did she inform the plaintiff
that there was not an open position
available despite the fact that she spoke
with the plaintiff multiple times and had
ample opportunity to do so. For his part,
the director of operations testified that he
“probably” referred to the age of his staff
when he spoke with the plaintiff.
The court denied the defendant’s motion
for summary judgment and found the
plaintiff’s proffered evidence to be suffi-
cient direct evidence to permit a reason-
able trier of fact to conclude that the
plaintiff’s age was the but-for cause that
he was not offered employment.
D. Massachusetts
Allows Claim That
Black United States
Postal Service
Worker Was Treated
Differently Than
Similarly Situated
White Employees to
Move Forward
The U.S. District Court for the District
of Massachusetts denied an employ-
er’s summary judgment motion in a
case brought by a former employee
who claims he was subjected to racial
discrimination in violation of Title VII
of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Jean v.
Brennan, No. 14-cv-11969-ADB, Sept.
14, 2016).
The plaintiff is a Haitian black man who
was employed as a letter carrier by the
United States Postal Service (USPS). In
November 2009, the plaintiff attended
a predisciplinary interview (PDI) at the
request of his supervisor. At the end of
the PDI, the plaintiff was forced to hand
over his badge, satchel and uniform. One
week later, the plaintiff received a notice
of removal letter, which formally termi-
nated his employment at the USPS.
The letter stated that the plaintiff was
being terminated because he failed
to follow instructions and failed to
discharge his assigned duties effectively.
The letter referenced two incidents that
allegedly led to the plaintiff’s termina-
tion: (1) that he failed to complete 89
assigned deliveries on Nov. 3, 2009, and
failed to scan barcodes at several loca-
tions along his route and (2) that he lost
a certified letter on Nov. 4, 2009.
The court noted that the appropriate
standard under a Title VII disparate
treatment claim is the three-step burden-
shifting McDonnell Douglas standard
This first requires a plaintiff to establish
a prima facie case of discrimination. The
burden then shifts to the defendant to
articulate a legitimate, nondiscrimina-
tory reason for the termination. When
the defendant states its justification,
the burden shifts back to the plaintiff
to show that the defendant’s proffered
reason was pretextual and that the true
reason was discrimination.
The plaintiff succeeded in showing a
prima facie case of discrimination, and
the defendant listed numerous examples
of the plaintiff’s poor performance as
evidence of a legitimate nondiscrimina-
tory reason for termination. The relevant
inquiry was whether the plaintiff met his
burden of showing that the defendant’s
reason was merely pretextual. The court
found that he did.
The plaintiff attempted to establish
pretext by showing that similarly situ-
ated white employees were treated
differently. Specifically, the plaintiff
provided evidence that white letter
carriers working out of his office missed
barcode scans and failed to complete
signed deliveries during November and
December 2009. All of the employees
that the plaintiff referenced were either
not disciplined or had their discipline
expunged soon after it was assessed.
None of the plaintiff’s referenced white
colleagues were terminated.
The arguments the defendant put forth
to counter the plaintiff’s reasoning were
deemed insufficient to refute the plain-
tiff’s claims. The defendant asserted
30. | 28 | NOVEMBER 2016
LABOR RELATIONS
HR NEWS MAGAZINE
that there was no evidence that the
other employees actually missed barcode
scans or failed to deliver assigned
packages. Rather, the fact that other
employees missed barcode scans during
the same period, the defendant stated,
indicated that there was a potential
problem with the barcode scanner. The
defendant sealed its own fate with these
arguments, according to the court.
The court found that while there may
have been some differences between
the plaintiff and the other employees,
the evidence presented showed that
the defendant had a pervasive problem
with employees missing barcode scans
during the relevant time period. It further
showed that even though multiple
employees made the same errors, the
plaintiff was the only employee disci-
plined for doing so.
The defendant countered by stating that
the plaintiff was also terminated because
he had been warned about barcode
scans in the past and failed to call the
office when he knew he would be late.
The defendant did not, however, include
any of these reasons in the plaintiff’s
termination letter. The court found that
the defendant’s last-ditch attempt to
explain the plaintiff’s termination was
likewise unreasonable. It asserted that
“when a company, at different times,
gives different and arguably inconsistent
explanations, a jury may infer that the
articulated reasons are pretextual.”
It was ruled dispositive that the plain-
tiff was the only black employee at his
particular USPS location and was termi-
nated for the same misconduct that was
overlooked when committed by white
employees. Accordingly, the court denied
the defendant’s motion for summary
judgment.
W.D. Oklahoma
Finds Evidence of
Pretext Where a
Manager Fired a
Female Employee
After a Supervisor
Sexually Harassed
the Employee
The U.S. District Court for the Western
District of Oklahoma denied an employ-
er’s summary judgment motion on a
former employee’s claims of a sexu-
ally-hostile work environment and
retaliation in violation of Title VII of the
Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Geiger v. NSC
Chicken LP, d/b/a/ Chicken Express, No.
CIV-15-69-D, Sept. 9, 2016).
The plaintiff claims she was subjected
to a sexually-hostile work environment
at the defendant, Chicken Express, and
subsequently discriminated against and
discharged in retaliation for complaining
of sexual harassment. The plaintiff began
working for the defendant on Sept.
2, 2013, as a crew member. Within a
week, according to the court’s summary
of undisputed facts, the defendant’s
store manager began calling the plaintiff
“sexy,” touched her buttocks and asked
her whether she enjoyed “anal sex.” The
store manager’s behavior continued
throughout the month of September.
The plaintiff made a verbal complaint
to the defendant’s associate manager,
who responded that the store manager
“acts like that with all of the young
girls.” Soon thereafter, the associate
manager overhead the plaintiff and a
female co-worker discussing the possi-
bility of filing a sexual harassment claim
with the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission. The plaintiff claimed that
the associate manager subsequently
contacted the defendant’s HR repre-
sentative and informed her that the two
female employees were in alliance to file
a sexual harassment claim against the
supervisor and recommended that the
two female employees be terminated for
“violation of policies.”
As to the plaintiff’s sexually-hostile envi-
ronment claim, the court found that a
genuine issue of material fact existed as
to whether the defendant should have
known about the alleged harassment.
Making a prima facie case for the exis-
tence of a sexually-hostile work envi-
ronment required the plaintiff to show
she is a member of a protected class,
that she was subjected to unwelcome
harassment based on her sex, and that
the severity or pervasiveness of the
harassment “altered a term, condition or
privilege of her employment and created
an abusive working environment.” The
court determined that plaintiff’s alle-
gations regarding multiple instances of
inappropriate behavior were sufficient
to satisfy all but of these elements. The
degree to which the harassment was
severe, pervasive and impacting on
the plaintiff’s work remained unclear,
however. Because of this, the court
ruled that a question of fact remained
and declined to issue a summary judg-
ment in favor of the plaintiff.
The defendant argued that even if
the plaintiff could make a prima facie
case, it was not directly or vicariously
liable because it did not have actual or
constructive knowledge of the alleged
hostile work environment and because
the plaintiff failed to utilize its policy of
reporting sexual harassment. The court
determined that deciding whether the
defendant should have known about the
alleged harassment is best left to a trier
of fact.
Regarding the plaintiff’s discrimination
and retaliatory discharge claim, the
court applied the McDonnell Douglas
burden-shifting standard, under which
the plaintiff would first need to establish
a prima facie case of sexual harassment
discrimination and retaliation. The defen-
dant would then be asked to articulate
a legitimate, nondiscriminatory reason
for the termination. The burden would
than again fall on the plaintiff to show
the defendant’s proffered reason was
pretextual and that the true reason was
discrimination.
As discussed above, the plaintiff suffi-
ciently showed a prima facie case of
sexual harassment. The plaintiff also
had to show a prima facie case of retali-
ation, which required a showing that she
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27
31. WWW.IPMA-HR.ORG NOVEMBER 2016 | 29 |
LABOR RELATIONS
suffered an adverse employment action
after exercising her Title VII-protected
rights and that there was a causal
connection between the adverse action
and the exercise of her Title VII rights.
The court found that the plaintiff met her
burden by showing that she reported the
harassment to management and suffered
an adverse employment action when
she was terminated. While conflicting
testimony regarding whether the asso-
ciate manager suggested termination
after overhearing the plaintiff’s conver-
sation regarding an EEOC charge exists,
the court construed that evidence most
favorably for the plaintiff. Furthermore,
reporting sexual harassment to manage-
ment is indisputably an exercise of Title
VII rights.
denied the defendant’s motion for
summary judgment. It noted that “pretext
can be shown by weaknesses or incon-
sistencies in Defendant’s proffered
reason.”
Contact David B. Ritter, partner at Barnes
& Thornburg LLP, either by email at david.
ritter@btlaw.com or by phone at (312)
214-4862. Contact Kaitlyn N. Jakubowski,
associate at Barnes & Thornburg LLP, either
by email at kaitlyn.jakubowski@btlaw.com or
by phone at (312) 214-4860. —N
The defendant offered evidence of plain-
tiff’s tardiness to work on four occasions
and cash shortages on eight occasions
as evidence for having a legitimate
nondiscriminatory reason to terminate
the plaintiff. In an attempt to demon-
strate pretext, the plaintiff noted that
tardiness and mishandling of funds were
common at the defendant’s establish-
ment and that disciplinary action rarely
resulted in termination. The plaintiff also
submitted evidence of the supervisor’s
failure to properly train employees and
that he previously used “mishandling
of funds” as pretext to discharge a
co-worker with whom he had become
“too close.”
The court regarded the plaintiff’s
evidence of pretext as sufficient and
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