Study: Workplace Rudeness is Contagious
If a smile can be contagious, it only stands to reason that rudeness can be, too. A new University of Florida study found that even those who are not the target of a co-worker's bad behavior can still suffer its ill effects. Simply observing discourteous behavior erodes fellow employees' ability to think creatively, solve problems, be good team players and even goes so far as to make them harbor deep, dark and destructive thoughts, said Amir Erez, a University of Florida management professor.
The study, conducted by Erez and Christine Porath, a management professor at the University of Southern California, appears in the journal Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. "Managers should be very concerned because the negative consequences of rudeness on the job are not limited to the person who happens to be the victim," Erez said. "If five other people are watching, the effects are going to spill over into the rest of the organization." For example, a worker who witnesses rudeness may be less likely to help co-workers, and an increase in workplace incivility affects the bottom line by lowering productivity, Erez said.
The study set up scenarios of rude workplace behavior. Compared to the control group, the students who witnessed someone being treated rudely were not only less willing to volunteer for another study, but also solved fewer anagrams, recalled less information and found less creative uses for a brick. Many even showed destructive tendencies, misspelling the anagram "demure" as "murder" and stating that a brick could be used as a weapon to "kill people," "beat people up," "trip someone" and "throw through a window." (Philadelphia Business Journal, 7/30/2009)
Ready or Not, Here it Comes
Eileen Shue, SPHR, is ready for the flu season. Shue is vice president of corporate resources for The Sterling Group, a property management company that builds and develops apartment communities and self-storage facilities. With a headquarters office, more than 60 locations in five states and expansions are planned, "I'm looking at corporate employees and people in the field and our residents," Shue said. "And we have almost 5,000 [apartment] units–that's a lot of families."
The upcoming flu season could put Shue's pandemic response plan for The Sterling Group to the test. The novel H1N1 (swine) flu strain is expected to spread quickly among children going back to school and among young adults. People caring for sick family members are being advised to stay home. As much as 40 percent of the workforce in the United States could be away from the job during the height of the flu season.
"I've been focused on how to keep employees healthy and our operations going, and then, even if we've done everything we can, someone brings the virus in," Shue said. Shue's pandemic response plan depends on prevention, she said: emphasizing hand-washing, not coming to work when sick, and providing antiseptic hand gel and wipes to clean office equipment. Her employer offers flu vaccines at the corporate office and encourages employees in the field to get the vaccine. Once the H1N1 vaccine is available, they'll offer that as well, she said.
"We are preparing for an H1N1 vaccination campaign," the CDC web site stated July 30, 2009. "We are making every effort to have a safe and effective H1N1 vaccine available for distribution as soon as mid-October, but it is possible, even probable, that epidemics may begin in different parts of the country before then. This makes prevention even more critical."
Employers can encourage their workers to get the vaccine by offering incentives, said Henry Albrecht, CEO of Limeade, a wellness company that uses technology to challenge employees to make better health choices. Incentives should be based on the company's culture and what it can afford, Albrecht said.
"An afternoon off, points toward a raffle, an Amazon gift card . . . If it's a serious enough issue where people's lives are at risk, the company should take a look at strong incentives, such as cash on the spot or health insurance premium reimbursement," he said. "The HR team is constantly busy and can live in a fire-drill world," Albrecht added. "This would be the biggest, loudest fire drill in a while."
Shue also is the head of the Michiana SHRM chapter's business continuity committee and has developed ties to the local Red Cross and health department. Using those contacts, she has put together caregiver guidelines and recommendations for employees who may need to take care of ill family members. To encourage employees to stay home and prevent the spread of the disease, the company has added five days to each employee's paid-time-off bank, Shue said. "Children are expected to be ill for eight days, and adults for 14. People will be home because daycare centers and schools will be closed," Shue said.
A disaster recovery plan is in place for continuing corporate office operations, payroll and vendor services. Shue has an inventory of who at the corporate office has a laptop and can work from home, as well as a secure network remote employees can use. Once she gets the word from the local public health department that the flu has hit South Bend, Ind.–or any of the other locations where The Sterling Group has operations–Shue will put the plan to work, e-mailing employees and utilizing WebEx so that employees can ask questions. (SHRM HR Week, 8/10/2009)
Sick Kids Add to Workplace Anxiety
Even in a strong economy, long-term care for a seriously ill or disabled loved one adds an increased burden on the mental and physical health of an employee, according to a recent study. In the current recessionary climate, that stress for such an employee is compounded by fears about job stability and the potential for layoffs, particularly when an employee is dependent on employer-provided health benefits. And as anxiety mounts on the worker, the employer may lose a productive employee to increased absenteeism or presenteeism, as he or she is too stressed to perform the job adequately.
The study was conducted by the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, based in Madison, Wis. Funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, researchers examined data of nearly 19,000 working parents nationally, from 1996 to 2005. Of those surveyed, 15.6 percent have children who are affected by conditions such as autism, diabetes and asthma, as well as temporary conditions such as a broken leg. The results of the study were recently published in the journal Academic Pediatrics.
Whitney P. Witt, the author of the article and the lead researcher, says she and her staff were surprised at "the magnitude of the effects on parents' health and mental health," as they handled stress associated with caring for a sick child. "Those caring for children with ongoing limitations were more than three times as likely to report having recently missed time at work, than parents of children without limitations," she says. Among the parents who were employed full time, parents of children with activity limitations had a significantly higher mean number of lost workdays than did parents of children without limitations (0.60 versus 0.29 days, respectively), according to the study.
The study also found the parents of children with activity limitations had the highest frequency of reporting their physical or mental-health status as fair or poor, 17.1 percent and 11.8 percent, respectively, compared to parents of children with no limitations, 7.0 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively. In addition, Witt says, employers that aren't sensitive to providing time off for such parents can also be affected by an underperforming employee.
"I think it's an important [issue] for employers, because if [parents] are worrying about their children and the care of their children while they're at work because they're not able to take time off, then that's something that I think employers really need to take a good look at, because they may not be getting the best out of their employees," she says. Witt says the study didn't assess whether employees were reluctant to take time off because of fears that doing so would affect their employment, though she says she suspects that is the case with some employees. She adds that the current economy adds further stress, particularly for those employees who may feel reluctant to take needed time to care for loved ones.
Karen McLeese, vice president of employee benefit regulatory affairs for CBIZ, a national supplier of business services headquartered in Cleveland, says she frequently counsels employers about the need to comply with FMLA and other paid-time-off regulations.
Beyond necessary compliance, however, she also advises employers to consider the quality of an employee's work as a benefit of taking paid time off, she says. "I like to have a discussion with them about doing the right thing, and I mean that very broadly," McLeese says. "I don't mean that employers want to do the wrong thing, but there is a rationale sometimes why it's a good idea not to be resistant to people taking the leave they need. "At the end of the day, it may benefit them, because they retain good, quality people," she says.
While some employers offer "no more, no less" than total compliance with FMLA and other time-off regulations, other organizations try to accommodate employees' needs by offering generous paid-time-off benefits or flexible-work arrangements, she says.
The FMLA isn't the only solution for employees who need to take time to care for a loved one, Witt says.
Alternative benefits, such as back-up care or respite care, which can provide in-home support, are provided by some employers, and can help relieve stressed out parents, she says. Flex-time arrangements or telecommuting can also help to balance productivity with caring for a sick or disabled family member. But, even when these programs are in place, employees have to know they can take the time, says Witt.
"What this study shows us is that people are not necessarily able to take advantage of [time-off programs], for whatever reason," she says. "It may be because they don't have paid time off and so they can't afford to do it, or they may risk losing their benefits altogether, which for these families, is extremely important." (HREOnline.com News & Analysis, 8/11/2009)
Employers Turn to Third-Party Administrators to Reduce Health Care Costs
EvenThe nation's sour economy has added a new step to the tango of self-insured employers and third-party administrators handling their medical claims. Employers still want a partner that provides first-rate claims administration and customer service, and many require TPAs to provide sophisticated data-mining tools and care management programs. But experts say employers' efforts to stretch available dollars are keeping TPAs on their toes.
"All employers today, I think pretty much without exception, are trying to figure out ways to save money," says James L. Rivetts, president of JLR & Associates, a health care insurance services firm in North Bend, Washington. Whatever they can do, whether it's shifting more costs to their employees or assuming more risk, "that's exactly what they're going to do," he says.
For self-funded employers, the business of medical claims administration is fairly competitive and the scope of services offered continues to expand to meet marketplace demands, experts say. "I think that the TPA market offers a broad range of services . . . that can meet most employers' expectations," says Dan Priga, a principal in Pittsburgh for Mercer.
Self-funding health care benefits remains a popular option among large corporations, according to Mercer's National Survey of Employer-Sponsored Health Plans. For large employers with more than 500 employees, self-funded health care plans remain fairly stable, with 68 percent self-funding health care coverage in 2003 and 66 percent still doing so last year, according to Mercer.
Among small employers with 10 to 499 employees, the rate of self-insurance was 13 percent in 2003 and 12 percent last year, the survey found. When shopping for administrative services, employers generally need to make a choice. They can go with administration services provided by one of the large national insurers or outsource claims processing and other administrative functions to a TPA.
"Most of the large self-funded employers are with carriers or with large national TPAs because the small TPAs just don't have the breadth of services that they need or the networks that they need," says Helmut Braun, chief operating officer of UMR, a unit of UnitedHealth Group's United Healthcare. As a large TPA with an insurer relationship, UMR has access to United Healthcare products, including reinsurance and pharmacy benefit management services. UMR also works with outside providers. Because of their significant market penetration, insurers that provide TPA services generally are able to offer deeper network discounts, experts say. While there are exceptions, "being smaller and having to rent a network is probably one of the negatives when we're reviewing TPAs against the big players," says Steve May, a senior benefits consultant with consultancy Milliman in Windsor, Connecticut.
Selecting a national, well-known provider also can be an advantage. "There's comfort in employees seeing Blue, Cigna, Aetna . . . those kind of names, because they know who they are," May says. However, independent TPAs may have an edge over those connected to insurers–namely, greater flexibility in plan design–depending on a company's needs, experts say. (Workforce Management, 8/5/2009)
College Class of 2009's Average Starting Salary Holds Ground
Despite the poor job market, the U.S. college class of 2009 held its ground with its overall average starting salary offer, according to the latest quarterly report published by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). NACE's Summer 2009 Salary Survey report shows that the average starting salary offer for new college graduates stands at $49,307. That's off less than 1 percent from the average $49,693 that graduates posted in summer 2008. (SHRM HR Week, 7/27/2009)
Study: Flexibility Programs Gain Ground in Hard Times
Most companies are conducting layoffs and eliminating bonuses and salary increases to survive the recession, but they are preserving programs that allow workers to set their own schedules, according to a study. In a survey of 400 employers released recently, the Families and Work Institute in New York found that 81 percent have maintained flexible work arrangements such as telecommuting, compressed workweeks, phased retirement and voluntary reduced hours. An additional 13 percent have increased flexibility programs, while 6 percent have eliminated them.
Among employers with more than 1,000 workers, there has been a 25 percent increase in flexibility programs. The study was the centerpiece of a hearing of the congressional Joint Economic Committee. Companies are utilizing flexibility to keep on board top performers who will help them recover from the recession. "A number of employers have recognized that if they provide flexibility, they can save jobs," Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Work Institute, said at the hearing.
Allowing employees to better integrate work with other life demands increases productivity and retention, according to Galinsky. "Being a flexible employer tends to pay off for the business," Galinsky said.
The study shows that 66 percent of employers have suffered declining revenue over the last year and 64 percent of those cutting costs have reduced their workforces. Among companies with 1,000 or more workers, 37 percent have used flexible work arrangements to minimize layoffs. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-New York and chairwoman of the committee, said workplace flexibility is a "creative way to confront" economic challenges facing employers. She has introduced the Working Families Flexibility Act, which would guarantee that workers can ask their employers for adjustments in the number of hours, days and locations required for their jobs. The bill does not mandate that a company provide flexible work arrangements, but it does require that management talk with employees about the subject.
"It's an opportunity to come up with a fit that works for employers and employees," Maloney said. Internal communication is important to establishing a culture of flexibility within corporations, according to Galinsky. She says that two out of five employees fear that exercising flexibility will set back their careers. "If there's jeopardy for using it, it doesn't work," Galinsky said. "We need to create a way of having dialogue."
Discussions about flex time don't often involve low-income workers, according to witnesses at the hearing. "An employer may be less likely to accommodate someone who is easily replaced," said Cynthia Thomas Calvert, deputy director of the Center for WorkLife Law at the University of California Hastings College of Law. Such an attitude toward low-wage employees is "outmoded," according to Galinsky. "They're the frontline people at most businesses," she said.
In general, employers have learned from past recessions to hold on to talent that will keep them competitive when the economy recovers, Galinsky said. That's why 83 percent of companies that have reduced employee hours have maintained the same level of benefits. "They need to treat people they have as well as they can," Galinsky said. "They need to take a long-term view."
Another Maloney bill that would give federal employees paid parental leave and the recent introduction of legislation that requires employers to provide up to seven paid sick days annually have stoked Capitol Hill discussion of flexibility. "If we are a nation that truly values families, we need to have policies in place that value families," Maloney said. (Workforce Week, 7/28/2009)
