The Challenge by Jim Rohn
Let others lead small lives,
but not you.
Let others argue over small things,
but not you.
Let others cry over small hurts,
but not you.
Let others leave their future
in someone else’s hands,
but not you.
Some episodes in the world compress our thinking into smallness. A black hole of crushing energy from which light ceases to escape. This poem is a gentle reminder of what not to become.
TO: The Joint Standing Committee on Labor
• Representative David A. Wie
• Senator Deborah L. Simpson
Re: LD1665 “An Act to Prevent the Spread of H1N1
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Allow me to introduce myself, I am Robert M. Smith, Jr., and I am the Human Resource Manager for data masked in data masked. I have ten years of professional experience, a Bachelors of Science Degree in the Management of Human Resource and hold the Senior Professional in Human Resources certification. I am here today to express my opposition to LD 1665 – An Act to Prevent the Spread of H1N1.
The H1N1 ‘emergency’ has been successfully prevented. The government has done a superb job with increasing public awareness. Businesses and schools have implemented plans that are working. Vaccinations are widely available, affordable and accepted. Hand washing and hand sanitizers are the norm. All of these culturally cooperative activities are working in fine fashion.
From the most recent CDC FluView report: http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/update.htm
• Visits to doctors for influenza-like illness (ILI) nationally decreased this week over last week.
• The proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) based on the 122 Cities Report decreased over the previous week and is back below the epidemic threshold.
The vigilance of We The People have made this emergency moot.
The true nature of this bill is now revealed, a full scale assault on the ability of Maine businesses to competitively survive and thrive in a global economy. IF passed, the expansive mandated sick-leave entitlements prescribed in this bill increase costs by adding additional administrative complexity and increasing direct bottom-line affected costs. This builds yet another barrier to recruiting the new businesses needed to restore Maine’s labor force, and ultimately Maine’s much needed taxation revenues.
IF passed, companies will be forced to fund this unfunded mandate with current total compensation dollars. This will be done using a Pay-Go philosophy so as to not experience any net increase in bottom line costs. (The only other way of funding would be to pass the cost through to customers via price increases. This is unacceptable as it further erodes the competitive edge needed to survive and thrive.) Expense transfer opportunities include:
• Use current paid holiday dollars.
o This effectively eliminates six paid holidays.
• Future pay raises would be impacted.
o My company is currently in year two of pay raise freezes, pay reductions, and a cap on hours worked.
• Increase employee contributions towards health care premiums.
• Restructure the 401(k) company match
The bottom line being, the expense of this unfunded entitlement mandate will be passed to employees, not through increased costs to critically needed customers. Let me be clear, this legislation should not be passed.
Sincerely,
Signature element goes here
My exit strategy is contained within this Haiku
Data More Data
Paper Bits Files Bytes Records
Purge Archive Destroy
Tis now the season for the annual HR & Personnel files purge, audit, archive and destroy. Everything from this year is retained fully for one year. Last year’s records are now further segregated into staged retention until the mandated archive period expires. All obosolete privacy affected data is affirmatively destroyed through shreddedestruction. The goal remains to retain only the minimum required data set while safeguarding identity data.
Capture 401k payroll data for EOY Testing and the mid-year audit.
Draft, publish and brief the State of HR presentation.
Draft next year’s Human Resource Development calendar.
Renew SHRM & HRASMaine memberships.
What is your exit strategy? What have I missed?
Possible response include: I:
- can
- can’t
- will
- won’t
- neither confirm or
- neither deny
- don’t know
- will find out.
People want to know more then they need to know. Sometimes. Questions exist to reduce uncertainty or challenge certainty. Not all uncertainty can be eliminated with answers.
Is it better to answer with facts or principles?
The answer is always, it depends.
Facts are okay when the answer is or deserves to be in the public domain.
Otherwise, use principles to express generalities.
BACKGROUND – two-thirds of the employees I laid off five weeks ago have yet to receive their unemployment checks. I worked one issue last week through and to successful conclusion. Then this morning another employee came into my office and asked for my assistance. After getting inconclusive results, I typed this request for assistance onto Governor Baldacci’s web page. Within an hour, my phone was ringing and progress will be made.
**************************************************************
Dear Governor Baldacci;
I write to you today to express my concerns and disappointment over the
lack of consistency and promptness with the processing of unemployment
claims.
I am a human resource manager. Five weeks ago, my company laid off 13
good employees. Some of these employees had their claims promptly
processed and are receiving their checks. Others are stuck in the limbo
land of waiting for a Fact Finding Interview. The earliest of these FFIs
is scheduled for tomorrow with several scheduled for next week – their
sixth week of unemployment.
The FFI will reveal in five minutes or less the reason for the delay.
They received accrued vacation pay in their final paycheck. THAT AFFECTS
ONLY THE FIRST WEEK OR TWO OF UNEMPLOYMENT ELIGIBLITY. The information
needed to make this determination is on the initial Request For
Separation / Wage Information.
The State of Maine can do better than this. We need to take care of our
citizens by ensuring them prompt processing of Unemployment Claims.
Christmas is next week. I had one former employee in my office this
morning. We called and spoke with **** at the UC Claim Center. The
apparent timeline is that this one citizen may not receive his first
unemployment check until after the first of the year.
Governor Baldacci – What message of clarification and explanation would
you like for me to pass to him?
Sincerely,
Robert M. Smith, Jr., SPHR
For some time, perhaps even an extended time, I trield ‘living in the moment.’ Only it never really worked with me. It feel more artificial than right.
Then one day, some how way or where, I got this new concept of living with intention. This feels more authentic. In fact, it does feel like the outgrowth of Henry David Thoreau’s philosophy of living deliberately.
Living with intention means coming off of autopilot and focusing on the task of here and now. The purpose is the intent.
Little annoyances vanish. I know where my key collection – three vehicles, two residences and a business facility – are when I place them with intent. Less wrong numbers ar dialed when I intentionally remember that the keypad rows on the telephone are reversed from the computer pad. And there is more engaged communications when I listen with the intent of asking three questions to better understand.
A life that is lived with intention is a life that is lived in the moment.
I got to this topic via HarvardBiz on my Twitter stream. Their post is titled 70 Words of (Unconventional) Wisdom for 2010. The basic premise is:
The idea is simple: Each of us suggests one word — literally one word — that all of us should think about in 2010, and then takes one page to explain why and how that word matters.
The Harvard Biz links to this page What Matters Now. This is where the 70 words are creatively presented.
My word for 2010 is going to be Intentional. And that will be my nextopic. After I go back and finish watching, What Matters Now.
The Air Force Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, overlooks the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetary. This is the true highlight of attending SHRM Lead09. A walk away from the hotel.
While here, I heard a 21 gun salute from Arlington Cemetary. Another American Hero honored as s/he was laid to rest.
The Air Force core values resonate within me. They echo the Boy Scout Oath which I repeated throughout my teen years. I know now that this reinforcement repetition made a difference and remains with me.
On My Honor – Integrity First, I Will Do My Best - Excellence in All We Do, To Do My Duty - Service Before Self….
I learned other leadership lessons while at Lead09. The reminder from the Air Force Memorial is the one that matters most.
This year, for the first time, I went to the SHRM Leadership conference. This blog posting is my reflections and perceptions only, which may or may not reflect the views of Society for Human Resource Management or the Human Resource Association of Southern Maine. That’s my disclaimer and I’m sticking to it. Feel free to respond with challenges, corrections and affirmations.
Lead09’s value proposition lies in showing what you need to know; where the answers are; better & best practices; & reflection.
This year, the intent seemed to be focused on having only chapter presidents and/or president elects attend. HRASM sent three members of the 2010 leadership team – president-elect, secretary, and treasurer-elect along with the two members of our Pinnacle Award submission team. This decision has merit. The incoming officers got good exposure to the nuances of chapter strategic planning and operations management. The Pinnacle Award team experienced the enthralling energy of the awards ceremony. The traveling, dining, attending and moments in between allowed the five of us to bond in ways not otherwise available.
Normally, going to a convention/conference, you know have a good idea of what to expect in each breakout session. Instead, there was confusion and a sense of going into the unknown. Kudos to SHRM for overcoming this on day one with the orientation and overview sessions. SHRM published and provided a Conference Program pamphlet and a Workbook. These two books together told us where to be & when, while also providing sound content outlines.
My personal highlights include:
• The collegial and cordial environment was energizing. In other words, just being there.
• Succession and transition macro overview was good.
• Pinnacle award presentation – the power of HR delivered to those in need
• Financial Essential outline will be used to self-learn and audit current programs, practices and policies for fiduciary obligation, responsibilities and opportunities.
• Networked with Nancy T. Kaysarly from Cairo, Egypt
• Got to meet face to face with two of my Twitter followers – China Gorman and Sharlyn Lauby. I sense there were many more Twitter’ers there which means next year there needs to be a Tweetup
Lowlights
• Sardine packed breakout session.
• Noise level during ice breakers was a serious detractor and distraction
• The hoped for review (which was a published agenda item) of Financial Essentials did not occur; deferred to a video presentation on the SHRM Volunteer Leaders’ Center website. Also includes the topics of Liability Protection, Technology, and Working with the Media
o Will suspend further judgment pending video review
• The new SHRM vision statement obliquely restates Human Resources as people management issues
Recommendations
• Organized Tweetup for us Twitter’ers
• Reorganize the breakout sessions away from chapter size and toward functional leadership roles. There is value in talking with your functional peers for benchmarking and best practicing.
Take For Action
• Strategic Leadership: review and reflect intentional Selection, Succession Planning and Transition Planning
• Understanding operations. Areas of responsibility and interest include Financial Essential, Technology, Liability Protection and Working with the Media.
Bottom Line: The SHRM Leadership conference remains the best opportunity for chapter leadership teams to network with each other while also engaging in facilitated dialogues that will continue to ensure & strengthen strategic alignment and engagement between national SHRM, regional SHRM, state SHRM and local chapters. Local chapters are where the rubber meets the road.
Question 1: Same Sex Marriage
Do you want to reject the new law that lets same-sex couples marry and allows individuals and religious groups to refuse to perform these marriages?
Vote No. This is the next necessary step to increasing the separation of church and state while eliminating legal discrimination.
Question 2: Excise Tax Do you want to cut the rate of the municipal excise tax by an average of 55% on motor vehicles less than six years old and exempt hybrid and other alternative-energy and highly fuel-efficient motor vehicles from sales tax and three years of excise tax?
Vote No. This initiative fails by not addressing spending requirements. The excise tax is discretionary at the tax payer level.
Question 3: School Consolidation
Do you want to repeal the 2007 law on school district consolidation and restore the laws previously in effect?
Vote No. Current school district does not go far enough. We The People need to continue stepping forward, not backward.
Question 4: Tax Payer’s Bill Of Rights (TABOR) Do you want to change the existing formulas that limit state and local government spending and require voter approval by referendum for spending over those limits and for increases in state taxes?
Vote Yes with reluctance. While not perfect, this is a necessary step towards stepping away from talking about taxation and towards talking about spending priorities. Once spending priorities are truly ascertained, then taxation is better resolved.
Question 5: Medical Marijuana
Do you want to change the medical marijuana laws to allow treatment of more medical conditions and to create a regulated system of distribution?
Vote No. There is more embedded and hidden within this initiative than the simple literal translation of the question implies. Medical marijuana requires the endorsement of the FDA.
Question 6: Bond Issue
Do you favor a $71,250,000 bond issue for improvements to highways and bridges, airports, public transit facilities, ferry and port facilities, including port and harbor structures, as well as funds for the LifeFlight Foundation that will make the State eligible for over $148,000,000 in federal and other matching funds?
Vote Yes. This stands on its own merit, ’nuff said.
Question 7: Constitutional Amendment: Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to increase the amount of time that local officials have to certify the signatures on direct initiative petitions?
Vote No.
