Telecommuting a Winner

According to CCH, telecommuting is a win-win for employees and employers.  It results in higher morale, increased job satisfaction, lower employee stress and less turnover.  These were among the conclusions of psychologists who examined 20 years of research on flextime (flexible work arrangements).  They found that telecommuters reported more job satisfaction, less motivation to leave the company, less stress, improved work-family balance and higher performance ratings by supervisors.  Managers who oversaw telecommuters reported that the telecommuters’ performance was not negatively affected by working from home.

Use New I-9 Or Pay

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) says employers must use the new Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 starting Dec. 26, 2007 or risk fines and penalties.

On November 8th of this year, USCIS told employers about the new Form I-9, which removes five documents from the list of acceptable credentials and adds one document to the list of acceptable credentials that employers can use to verify the employment eligibility of new hires.

HOWEVER in the November 8th notice employers were informed they could use the new Form I-9, but were not required to do so. That just changed. The USCIS now says it will allow a 30-day transition period before use of the new Form I-9 becomes mandatory. During the transition period, employers will not be subject to fines or penalties for using the old Form I-9. Once the transition period ends, employers who do not use the new Form I-9 could face fines or other penalties, as mandated by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, USCIS says.

The revised Form I-9 removes five documents from “List A” that employers may accept from new hires. The revised List A, which is to “Establish Both Identity and Employment Eligibility,” adds one document to the index.

The documents employers can accept under List A on the new form I-9 are:

• U.S. passport.
• Permanent Resident Card or Alien Registration Receipt Card (Form I-551).
• Unexpired foreign passport with a temporary I-551 stamp.
• Unexpired Employment Authorization Document that contains a photograph (Form I-766, I-688, I-688A or I-688B).
• Unexpired foreign passport with an unexpired “Arrival-Departure Record,” Form I-94, bearing the same name as the passport and containing an endorsement of the alien’s nonimmigrant status, if that status authorizes the alien to work for the employer.

The documents removed from List A and no longer acceptable are:

• Certificate of U.S. Citizenship (Form N-560 or N-561).
• Certificate of Naturalization (Form N-550 or N-570).
• Alien Registration Receipt Card (I-151).
• Unexpired Reentry Permit (Form I-327).
• Unexpired Refugee Travel Document (Form I-571).

Get Your Board Ready

BusinessWeek had an article awhile back titled, How The Best Boards Stay Clued In.  I think the recommendations are very solid and I’d like to share a quick overview of them with you now.  As you approach 2008 it’s a good idea to consider how to more fully utilize your Board of Directors.

Consider engaging your Directors to:

1.  Know what is happening at the customer level.  They need to talk with customers, including unhappy ones.

2.  Have your encouragement to talk openly with employees — particularly new mid- and upper-level managers.  They need to hear first-hand from these folks what challenges they are facing.  They should have open access of how to contact any employee.

3.  Meet a minimum of four times a year and a maximum of twelve times a year.  They are not running a company, but overseeing it.  Do not let the two objectives get confused.

4.  Experience informal dinners with key managers and even superstar employees.

5.  Hear and challenge detailed strategy reviews from top managers or even new business ideas pitched by a superstar employee who is not in management.

6.  Visit your business unannounced without you being around to see how things operate when the boss is away. 

7.  Candidly pass along compliments and complaints, along with their thoughts to the CEO.  Boards walk a fine line between good governance and taking over.  They should error more in the former of supporting good governance.  They are welcome to look around, but like a kid in a china shop they should not touch.

Consider managing your Board like you manage your team.  Although they don’t report to you, they need to be encouraged to fully understand your business.  If they do it is more likely they will stand behind you when you need their support.  And their perspective will be much more valuable to you.

P.U.R.E.

How PURE is your hiring?  P.U.R.E. stands for Previously Undetected Recruiting Errors according to someone I was speaking with this week.

I’ve got some one new client lately who is experiencing great surprise when a new hire is starting.  Their behaviors are not what was expected.  Of course, this client is NOT using our Talent Assessments.  If he was, then he would have a much better understanding of what to expect.

Another client has 1/3 of their workforce unmotivated and a possible flight risk.  Once again, they need to leverage our Talent Assessments to learn how to better engage their people.

This is one time in life where you to NOT want to be PURE.  Purchase our Talent Assessments get us involved in your hiring process.  If you hire 50 people this year and we save you from one bad hire, then you have paid for the entire cost of the assessments AND you will save yourself hundreds of hours and additional money wasted on hires that do not work out.

Training Never Ends

We are so busy we overlook the importance of training long-term.  I’ve been working with a number of companies lately.  None of them have systems in place to grow the professional and/or personal skills of their employees long-term.  There is such a focus on tasks and revenue that development is overlooked.

Not only does skill development and expanding someone’s knowledge increase their ability to do their job, but it also reinforces the culture of your company.  In the December 3rd issue of BusinessWeek there is an article titled, Toyota’s All-Out Drive To Stay Toyota.  The sub-title is Rapid growth and a generational shift have the company fighting to hold on to its DNA.

Toyota is having a lot of senior people retire.  As new people come on board Toyota is concerned it might lose its culture of frugality, discipline and constant improvement.  This would be a disaster.  So management has launched a series of educational initiatives intent on teaching Toyota folks how to be Toyota folks.  You have to realize, many young people today have never had a bad day at the office.  They have not experienced catastrophe or screaming customers.

Admirably Toyota is not just focusing on the newbies.  They are also reinforcing their training of senior people.  For instance when Steve St. Angelo was hired from General Motors (GM) in 2005, Toyota forced him to start on the assembly line for several weeks.  This is a senior executive who had spent almost 10 years at a plant in Fremont, California which is jointly owned by GM and Toyota.  He had been immersed in the Toyota Way for almost a decade.  Nevertheless Toyota recognized they were hiring an outsider for a management job and this is rare.  They wanted to make certain St. Angelo was schooled in the basics.  Toyota’s approach was to assume he knew nothing about Toyota’s production system even though he clearly did.  Last June St. Angelo was promoted to become Toyota’s North American manufacturing boss.

Another example of the importance of training everyone is Randy Pflughaupt.  Pflughaupt has worked at the company since 1982 and this summer was promoted to U.S. marketing chief for the flagship brand.  The first thing he was required to do in his new role was accept a gift which was a stack of books and binders telling him all about the Toyota Way.  Then they sent him off to the Toyota Institute in rural Mikkabi, Japan, for a week of indoctrination.

So as you consider your training and development programs for 2008, please make certain to include everyone in your organization - including yourself.  Balance the knowledge and skill development with reinforcement of your company’s culture and unique way of doing things.

Nobody has all the answers. The joy is in the journey. Plan your 2008 employee development activities strategically so everyone stays on your company’s path.

CEO Silence

Vijay Eswaran (pronounced Veejay Eeshwuhrn) wrote a book titled In the Sphere of Silence.  USA Today caught up with him for a November 19th article titled, CEO succeeds through silence - 1 hour of daily reflection gives you time to set goals, get focused.

Mr. Eswaran reinforces my suggestions for Sanctuary and Success Plans.  At first you think he is referring to an hour of prayer or meditation, but actually he recommends the time to be filled with active thought.  If you believe in a higher power then use the time to review your plans, ask for advice and plan your next bold moves.

What would happen to your investment of life’s most valuable asset that is in your control - your time - if you started each day with one hour of:

1. Bible study or meditation
2. Prayer, possibly in the ACTS method:  Adoration of God, Confession of sins/mistakes, Thankfulness and Supplication - asking for assistance.
3. Review what you accomplished the day before, week-month-or year before.
   • What went right?  You want to do more of this.
   • What went wrong?  You must learn from this.
   • What needs to change for you to achieve your dreams?
   • Define your goals / plans for today and the future. Be specific, clear and measurable.  Be realistic, yet stretch yourself.  How can you delegate tasks and manage them through others?  Are you providing the support your people need to achieve the tasks you have set with them (not for them).
4. Read a book to gain new insight for 15-30 minutes.  Seek knowledge early in the day before time has lapsed and you cannot develop your mind.
5. During this time all forms of communication are turned off and your staff understands they are not to interrupt you.

Why not try this for 1 week?  I’ll try it this week and let you know how it goes for me.  Leadership requires alone time to gain perspective.  This may be an effective habit to develop.  I admit an hour sounds challenging, yet my understanding is Martin Luther prayed for 2 hours each day until he became a well-known leader.  Then he prayed for 4 hours a day.

Viewed By All

HCL Technologies of India has one-upped us all (or most of us at least).  They publish the performance reviews of their top 20 managers on the company’s intranet site for any employee to view them.  And employees also have the capability to see their own supervisor’s scores.

I like this idea.  It builds accountability.  It demonstrates servant leadership.

For the complete article in BusinessWeek’s November 19th issue, click here.

A Step in the Right Direction

Shareholders to vote on top Aflac execs’ pay is the title of an article in the Money section of USA Today yesterday.  It explains how Aflac will become the first public corporation in America to allow shareholders to approve or disapprove their company’s executive pay.

This is a step in the right direction, although it falls far short of my recommended simple solution for executive pay on October 15th of this year.

The problem is the Aflac vote is non-binding.  If the shareholders vote says the company is paying too much there is only a commitment to sit down with major shareholders and see what changes they would like to recommend.

Change is coming in America involving executive pay.  It going to take years, but let’s keep the heat on.

IBM Learning

There was recently an article in HR Magazine (November 2007, page 55, by Nancy M. Davis) titled, One-on-One Training Crosses continents - IBM created a program to offer experiential learning opportunities to thousands of employees.

Apparently 3 years ago IBM held a 72-hour dialog with 355,766 employees worldwide. What they learned is employees want access to more and varied experiential learning. As a result the IBM Learning and Career Development Department created Blue Opportunities. The program offers about 1,400 different training opportunities and they are not just online courses. That’s the key.

These opportunities include stretch assignments, cross-unit projects, short and long-term job rotation, and on-site job shadowing via an employee-only Internet site that erases country borders. Our Clients are not the size of IBM, but you can take the concepts here and apply them to your business. Some of our Clients already do. Consider these benefits:

1. Senior people have the ability to share expertise across your company.
2. Employees are motivated by varied learning opportunities to develop their competencies and careers.
3. Employees can learn from people in other departments to broaden their experience and better understand how each other’s work affects the entire organization.
4. Collectively you develop talent rather than just in a silo.
5. You retain employees longer because this type of learning gives them a more exciting future filled with personal and/or professional development.

9th Place and Fading

According to The Economist magazine, America has dropped to 9th place in its Business Environment rankings.  Denmark, Finland, Singapore and Canada are 1-4 respectively. Where has America gone wrong?

From the article:  America’s business environment is expected to decline over the next five years due to mounting financial and macroeconomic risks, increased protectionism, security concerns and strained international relations.  The Economist Intelligence Unit’s business environment rankings for 2008-12 show America falling to ninth position, the lowest the country has placed since the launch of the business environment rankings in 1997.

America’s business environment remains attractive (deregulated labor markets, the high quality of infrastructure, leadership in technology) and the differences between countries at the top of the business environments league are fairly small.  Yet there are also signs of deterioration in key areas.  America is stagnating as others improve.

Unfortunately no presidential candidate will make a significant difference.  Only politicians are running.
The global business environment is expected to improve over the next 5 years despite the disappointing outlook for America.

The good news there will still be plenty of opportunities for leaders who understand employee performance management and a system for full employee engagement.

Don’t Worry

Do we worry too much at work?

We are having a great year and we have a number of large projects pending that can positively change the lives of thousands of people.  I think about these opportunities a lot.  You might call it worry.

I am involved with a small group of men in a spiritual transformation group, led by Father Thomas of the St. Columba Church and Retreat House in Inverness, California.  Last week when we met Father Thomas encouraged us to occasionally open our Bible randomly to read a passage of Scripture that comes to us first.  It is typically only a few verses.  His premise is this gives the Lord an opportunity to speak to us through that passage.  It’s an interesting exercise and not as random as fortune telling.  One reason is the Bible does speak to our lives, whether as a person of faith or a casual reader.  It is a book of historical stories that provide a perspective on how to live life.

I have three places where I have inserted notes or prayer lists in my Bible.  Yesterday morning I opened my Bible intending to open it to one of the places with notes.  Usually I do this with no problem, however, yesterday I was surprised to open my Bible to a passage on worry (Matthew 6:25-34).  Being reminded of Father Thomas’ encouragement rather than turn the pages to where I had originally intended to go, I read and Reflected on that passage.  I have been worrying a bit because I am so passionate about the projects we have pending.  And of course, as a parent, I can feel a burden for my kids and other family members who are facing some of life’s challenges.

It was a good time of study and Reflection.  Then I went on in my day.

At 9:52 a.m. I received an email from a good friend of mine, Carl Lundgren (sent from HomeWord).  I’ve heard this message before from a secular study.  See most of Carl’s email below.

Lessons from Brother Jeremiah

Author: Jim Burns, Ph.D.

Parents, one of the greatest legacies you can leave your children is the gift of knowing how to keep life in perspective - become time goes by so fast!  Brother Jeremiah provides us with some thoughts that can help us maintain the life perspective we all need!

As a family read the short story below and then discuss your feelings about what author learned from his experience

Brother Jeremiah was at the end of his life when he reflected on his many years of Christian service and wrote:

If I had my life to live over again, I’d try to make more mistakes next time. I would relax. I would limber up. I would be sillier than I have been this trip. I know of very few things I would take seriously. I would take more trips. I would climb more mountains, swim more rivers, and watch more sunsets. I would do more walking and looking. I would eat more ice cream and less beans. I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary ones. 

You see, I am one of those people who live prophylactically and sensibly and sanely, hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I’ve had my moments and if I had it to do over again, I’d have more of them. In fact, I’d try to have nothing else. Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead each day. I have been one of those people who never go anywhere without a thermometer, aspirin, and a parachute. If I had it to do over again, I would go places, do things, and travel lighter than I have. 

If I had my life to live over, I would start barefooted earlier in the spring and stay that way later in the fall. I would play more. I would ride on more merry-go-rounds. I’d pick more daises. 

How does your family rate? (Have each family member answer these questions and then discuss the answers.)

1. Does our family have enough play time?
2. If I were to die today I would look back and say “I wish our family would have ________________ more.”
3. What regrets might you have years from now about how your family spends its time? As a family make a plan so that there are no regrets in the years to come.

Is this a coincidence?  I doubt it, but you are welcome to have your own opinion.  I encourage you to Reflect on whether you are worrying too much in your life.  To demonstrate true leadership, maybe there are some adjustments to make.  Maybe we can help you leverage the Success With People system to manage your time better.

Don’t worry… be happy (as the old song goes).  Have a GREAT day!