Randi Frank HR Consulting

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#ME TOO MOVEMENT

The #Me Too Movement and #Times UP group has raised $21 million dollars in 60 days. This money will be used for legal assistance and other assistance for woman who can’t afford to file a claim of Sexual Harassment.  As we have said before many women don’t file claims because they can’t afford to lose their job or don’t know what to do or who to call. These funds will help them it these efforts.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission – EEOC (the federal agency that handles sexual harassment complaints) conducted a study in 2015 about Workplace Harassment.  This is some of the things they found.

  • Out of 90,000 charges received by EEOC in FY 2015, one third (almost 30,000) were allegation of workplace harassment. Workplace harassment includes sexual harassment and harassment based on sexual orientation, gender identity, pregnancy, race, disability, age, ethnic/national origin, color and religion.
  • They also found three out of four individuals who experienced harassment never even talked to a supervisor, manager or union representative about the harassing conduct mostly because the fear no one will believe and take the issue seriously.
  • The EEOC alone recovered $164.5 million for workers alleging harassment. That is money that could have been spent on increased wages, investment into growing businesses, etc. As a result of these costs every employer should be training their employees and promoting a workplace of respect.

The Me Too Movement has also attracted attention of the legislatures.  Here are two examples:

  • CT is considering changing their law which requires employers of 50 or more employees to train their supervisors. They are looking into changing it to employers of 15 employees and mandating training employees and supervisors.
  • New York is looking into changing the existing law that puts a high burden on the employee to establish a sexual harassment claim is severe or pervasive enough to be actionable. Senate Bill S7193 would amend the law to make sexual harassment and sex discrimination unlawful regardless of the severity or pervasiveness of the conduct as long as the perpetrator was motivated in whole or part by the employee’s gender. (taken from article written for SHRM by Lisa Nagele Piazza)

See Tips on Sexual Harassment Training for more information on this topic– The tips highlight training and what polices should say and what companies and agencies should do to create a harassment free workplace that treats everyone with respect.

Contact Randi Frank if you’re not sure your policy or training is up to date.
Randi can give you a quote for Sexual Harassment Prevention Training and Policy Development.

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Succession Planning Tip #7: If possible have multiple people ready to be promoted at any time.

If the talent development is working correctly, there should be many candidates gaining more skills and experience. Having multiple people prepared to move up provides you with a better pool of candidates to choose from to fill the position. It is always better to have a surplus of options, than to be left with none.

Be sure to balance the competition well because if too many candidates have to compete against each other for the same position, the employees may feel frustrated and leave if they do not get the position. To avoid this you may want to train them for other divisions and provide with them choices as well.

Questions? Contact me today!

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Job Description Tip 6

6. Job descriptions help to develop equitable and competitive compensation programs according to the skills, experience and abilities needed for the positions.

The job description describes the level of skills, responsibilities, accountability, experience and education. All of these factors determine the level of the position in relation to other positions and, therefore, the level of compensation. For example, in a point-factor job evaluation system, each job is evaluated based on compensable factors to determine the relative worth of one job to another and the appropriate pay level. Compensable factors usually encompass four categories, including skills (experience, education/training, ability), responsibility (supervisory, fiscal), efforts (mental, physical) and working conditions (location, hazards, physical demand, extremes in environment). In a word, job descriptions are the basis of job evaluation and pay structure.

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NEW – Network of Entrepreneurial Women

NEW Attended a great networking meeting with Women from NEW- Network of Entrepreneurial Women. The topic was “If I had only known these Lessons”.  Mindy Munson, President of Munson Business Interiors – an office design firm for mid to large size companies that provides office furniture and solutions.  Mindy has over 30 years of experience with this business that she started which now as grown to 24 employees and annual revenues of over $10 million. She is currently training her daughter in all aspects of the business as her succession plan for her eventual retirement.  These were some of the things she said she wished she had none when she started in business:

  1. Find your niche – what you are good at and passionate about!
  2. Understand your cash flow – find a bank that represents you and vendors that will give you a line of credit
  3. Always take the cash discount by paying your bills quickly
  4. Manage and collect your account receivables
  5. Find a smaller legal and accounting firm that can provide personal service
  6. Develop an employee handbook (this is something that we at Randi Frank Consulting can help your with)
  7. Document your procedures so if someone is out others know the process
  8. Make sure you have the right insurance
  9. When hiring look for grit, can they continue to learn and will they work hard (again Randi Frank Consulting can help you with this see our blog on Reviewing resumes & Executive Searches)
  10. You should have panel interviews so you get different perspectives from your staff on new employees (See Blog Tips on Interviewing)
  11. What gets measured get done – have goals and objectives
  12. What gets celebrated gets repeated

These are all great ideas for new businesses and entrepreneurs. If you are just staring your business call Randi Frank Consulting for your Human Resources needs. [email protected]

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Hiring an Intern Tip #4: How do you find Interns?

Tip 4 – How do you find Interns?

You’ve decided that an intern would be ideal for your company, what now? There are several ways to find interns. One of the best places to start is your local College or University. Many higher education programs now require internships (if they don’t they should). Several Universities have someone assigned to serve as the liaison for internships. If not, you can contact the department or major that is most closely related to your business (i.e. Accounting, Master’s in Business Administration, Communication, Technology, etc.).

Many professional associations have internship programs and they make direct contact with the colleges for you. Another option is your local workforce board. Many of them have youth work study programs. These are local students that often can work year round in some capacity, which helps alleviate the need to constantly train someone new.

Many firms have set up internships that require students to submit applications with the idea that after they train the intern and provide them with specific rotations in their firm they will be placed into a full time job. Since more people are talking about internships for college students there are now companies that are specifically available to find you interns for a fee and assist you with the whole process.

As a Human Resource professional and business owner, I was contacted by a University Professor who serves as the advisor to HR students. I am now getting resumes directly from students who have been referred to me by the Professor. This helps to ensure my internship opportunities match the right intern.

Questions? Contact me today!

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KY City & County Managers Association – Chapter of International City/County Management Association

I attended the KCCMA Annual Conference recently where we learned about trends in health insurance, how Hopkinsville planned for the Solar Eclipse and about Murry State University’s Martin School of Public Policy. Professor Morrison provided us an example of a municipal issue for discussion which we critiqued and talked about a better way to handle a similar situation. Then Jay McCord, a consultant, talked about Managing Multiple Generations in the Workforce.

He discussed how we have 4 generations working in the same workforce at this time. Traditionalist, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Gen Y-Millennials and the next group coming is Gen Z.  He compared it to a Salad Bowl where you have all types of people in one place and you need to get them to work together.  It is all about building relationships with each group and understanding where they are coming from – such as:

  • Traditionalist (before 1946)– Meet me – Love rules & structure- like to show their knowledge
  • Baby Boomers (1946-1966) – Call me – Want to make a difference – significant success – corner stone of Building is what they want to leave behind – leaders by influence – 10,000 retiring every day
  • Gen X – (1966-1981) email me – Smallest Generation – very individual – money, fulfilling job and health are important – they played video games for the score
  • Gen Y – (1981-2000) text me – Know technology, multi-taskers – want to change the world – community is important because they played games as a group – expect technology – use to Uber, Air BNB, Amazon, – understand services can be offered different way – will be 54% of workforce – de-institutionalize system and demand more from government
  • Gen Z – visual – You Tube

After this interesting speech we went to dinner at the Kentucky Castle – see some pictures attached.

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Southwest Woman’s Roundtable

I have been networking with a number of woman’s groups within the Louisville Metro area to make more connections for my business. I attended my first meeting of the Southwest Woman’s Roundtable a group of woman in business that focus on their businesses in the Southwest part of Louisville.  They meet each month to support each other’s business and have different speakers.  The speaker at the meeting I attended was Colonel Pamela Stevenson – U.S. Airforce (retired). Her topic was the “The Power of me – Personal Leadership that Makes the Difference”

She highlighted the issues she faced as one of the rare woman in the Airforce (it was man’s world then and she felt it still is but we can change that as woman). She highlighted a Woman’s Power:

  • Power of me is a declaration of self
  • Build a team around you
  • Believe in you
  • Be bold leaders with confidences, courage, vested interest and tenacity
  • Don’t get in your own way with excuses and negative thoughts.

She then recommended woman use their power to move your city and community forward in some way such as: empower other woman, empower girls behind us, and end racism.  Pick a cause and move forward step by step.  I enjoyed this inspirational speaker.

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Kentucky International Public Management Association for Human Resources (IPMA-HR)

I attended a meeting recently of the Kentucky International Public Management Association for Human Resources (IPMA-HR). The topic was the State of Talent Management given by Jayne Hale Jarvis of Talent Bar Recruiting, LLC. She said the days of posting/advertising a job and praying are over. In today’s environment you need to sell your organizations.

This is happening by making sure your organization is on the various social media sites to generate interest in your organization, so when you advertise the position people know it is a great place to work. Human Resource personnel need to have a sales mentality about their organizations and positions. They need to make more than one touch with potential candidates to attract their attention. This means various social media sites and various professional sites via advertising and emails.

But the talent management doesn’t stop with advertising/recruiting. You need to make sure the candidate has a positive experience throughout the recruitment process and on-boarding process. In addition you need to continue a positive atmosphere for employees so they enjoy working for your organization until they retire. Happy employees are your best sells people to help with your talent management.  Ms. Jarvis then talked about Workforce planning & retention as part of talent management including:

  • Personal assessment to get people read for promotions
  • Engaging employees
  • Recognition programs for employees
  • Stay interviews to make sure your good employees don’t leave and you help them with their goals for their careers

As Ms. Jarvis mentioned recruitment and on-boarding are very important parts of the Talent Management and Workforce planning & retention systems.  Please click on my tips for recruitment and on-boarding as part of my blogs.

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What should you do if you Experience Sexual Harassment in your Work Place?

Sexual Harassment - What should you do when it happens to you?If you have experienced sexual harassment in your workplace that are similar to the examples in the news then you need to report it.

Hopefully your agency/organization has a Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy that lets you know the proper person to approach to report your issue.  Policies should provide you with a number of options of supervisors, managers, directors or CEO’s.  Find the person you feel most comfortable with to discuss the issue. Management should have been trained to take these cases seriously (and now that everyone is talking about it in the news they should take it seriously).

An investigation should be done to give both the victim and accused the opportunity to be heard. Witnesses will also be questioned. If the investigation is determined in favor of the victim, the discipline or termination of the accuser will depend on the severity of the incident.  If the incident includes exposing oneself or constant touching of males or females then termination may be the answer.

In some cases, where the incident is limited to inappropriate comments, it is likely training will be recommended. This is the reason why training should be done and even small incidents should be reported so the environment does not become one of sexual tension in the workplace. Sexual Harassment Prevention Training will, hopefully, prevent small uncomfortable, inappropriate acts from occurring and escalating into hostile work environments where sex seems to become a job requisite.

If your agency/organization does not have a Sexual Harassment Prevention Policy then you may need to approach an Attorney or contact State or Federal Equal Employment Opportunity type agencies.

See Tips on Sexual Harassment Training for more information on this topic– The tips highlight training as well as what should be included in policies and what companies and agencies should do to create a harassment free workplace that treats everyone with respect.

Contact Randi Frank if you’re not sure your policy or training is up to date.
Randi can give you a quote for Sexual Harassment Prevention Training and Policy Development.

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So, is Sexual Harassment Happening in Regular Business Offices?

Sexual Harassment - It's not just in the headlinesYes, we have heard about the cases in Hollywood, Military, Tech World, and Political Offices but it is also happening in regular business offices. According to the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), “Sexual harassment is common in the startup community.” A NAWBO survey found that 78% of women founders surveyed said they had been or knew someone who had been harassed.

I have been teaching Sexual Harassment Prevention Training since 1995 and every time I complete a class, I learn about another case of sexual harassment. Here are just a few of the stories I have heard:

  • A young man joined a national recruitment firm. He shared a secretary with his boss. On his first week of work he had a big project that required getting a lot of documents together for a client presentation. He went to the Secretary (female) to ask for her assistance. She said she would help him only if he slept with her. He decided to do the work himself. His boss’s response was oh she is always like that!
  • Another woman told the story that her boss came on to her with flirting type of behavior. When it became more intense and she said no – he moved her out of the good job she had and moved her to another office which was like a demotion. That is called retaliation. She did hire an attorney and received a payment.
  • A young man started his first job after receiving his MBA. He was so excited about his degree and new job. On his first day he walked down the hall past a number of offices. Each of the woman he past held up a card with the number 7 to 9 rating his body. That is just as disrespectful as if it was done to a woman. Employees should be rated by their bosses only on their performance not their body parts.
  • There was a case where a CEO made crude remarks (sexual in nature or jokes) to an Administrative Assistant. She sued the agency and a Manager who witnessed these situations testified that he had heard the remarks by the CEO to the Administrative Assistant. Then the CEO terminated the Manager – the Manager sued and won for retaliation.
  • A Supervisor had sex with his Assistant and the next day that Assistant gets the plum assignment within a Team of 5 other people. Everyone on the Team knows about the Supervisor and Assistant hooking up and they are very uncomfortable working within this Team – This is called a hostile work environment.

See Tips on Sexual Harassment Training for more information on this topic– The tips highlight training, what policies should say and what companies and agencies should do to create a harassment free workplace that treats everyone with respect.

Contact Randi Frank if you’re not sure your policy or training is up to date.
Randi can give you a quote for Sexual Harassment Prevention Training and Policy Development.

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Kentucky Public Human Resources Association (KPHRS)

I joined KPHRS – Kentucky Public Human Resources Association and attended their fall conference recently. KPHRS is an association of HR professionals who work for City, County or Public Agencies. It is similar to the ConnPelra group in CT that represents the Municipal HR professionals. The Fall conference was held in Frankfort at the Kentucky Association of County Officials-KACO.

Topics covered at the fall conference included the State Pension Plan revisions that affect all municipal employees (there is one system in the State so if you move from one city to another you are still in the same pension plan). The Kentucky system includes State employees-KERS and the City/County Employees in the CERS. Unfortunately, the State has not been making their payments while the City and Counties have and the retirement system is underfunded similar to other States.

There was also a review of health benefits that was based on a survey conducted regarding usual changes in premium share and co-payments.

The last speaker, a municipal attorney, reviewed the State Freedom of Information (FOI) laws, and sexual harassment cases by vendors or customers. FOI rules in Kentucky allow Cities to charge commercial entities for copies and time spent gathering information. It also allows Cities to appeal if the request is too burdensome and only provide the information in the format they have and not put it into a requested format.

The State of Kentucky does not require by law that supervisors be trained in Sexual Harassment Prevention as is required in Connecticut. However, it is recommended that training be conducted and the policies must have a number of ways for employees to report problems. It also requires that employers make sure that employees are not being harassed by outside vendors or customers. For additional information about Sexual Harassment Prevention see my website at https://randifrank.com/category/hr-tips-techniques/sexual-harassment-prevention/

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Tips for New Leaders/New Executives Tip 8: Take Appropriate Management Classes

A promotion that changes your position from colleague to supervisor will change the working dynamic with your colleagues. Here are some tips to help you manage that transition successfully.

Take appropriate management classes to assist you with your training for the new responsibilities. You may not have extensive experience with some of your new responsibilities such as budget, human resources, supervision, finances, purchasing, or risk management, to name a few.

  1. Brush up on all the administrative functions is very important–especially if your previous position was very technical and did not include many administrative responsibilities.
  2. Remember what you liked about your good supervisors and try to incorporate their positive traits into your management style.

Learn from the mistakes of bad supervisors.

Questions? Contact me today!

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Sexual Harassment Issues Today

Why are women coming forward now, after so many years, to report Sexual Harassment?

The #MeToo movement has taken hold and people are finally talking, listening and taking action. The movement has given many people, women specifically, the courage to come forward.

We often hear the question, “why didn’t they come forward in the past?” Of course the answer is that  they were afraid of losing their job and being black-balled out of their career choice.

The examples in the news are mostly of high powered male bosses or stars that could have affected the careers of the women who had been working toward coveted positions for years. Imagine the frustration of having a plum role or high-level media position offered only to have it seem conditional on inappropriate sexual behaviour.

It’s not just women who are coming forward now with complaints of sexual harassment, there are men who have been harassed by stars too who did not come forward until the #MeToo movement because of concerns about their careers and income.

While most working women are not meeting with high-level media moguls, there are many women who are the sole income earner or part of a two-person income family that can not survive without her job. If the culture is such that the perpetrator is more likely to be believed than the victim, many victims feel they can’t risk their jobs by reporting incidents.

All you have to do is watch the Clarence Thomas hearings when Anita Hill came forward to claim Sexual Harassment.  She was on national television sharing her story in detail for the whole world and Clarence Thomas was still confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice. Many people saw the embarrassment she went through and did not want to put themselves or their families through that ordeal.

Hopefully, the #MeToo movement will finally change the culture so victims will have more power and will not have to risk their livelihoods to protect themselves from unwanted sexual advances.

See tips on sexual harassment training for more information on this topic. The tips highlight training and what policies should say and what companies and agencies should do to create a harassment-free workplace that treats everyone with respect.

Two Quick Tips Taken From Recent Headlines:

  1. Inviting a woman to your home by herself is probably not an appropriate way to conduct professional meetings.
  2. Having a secret button to lock your office door behind someone from your desk is obviously not an appropriate way to conduct professional meetings.

Contact Randi Frank if you’re not sure your policy or training is up to date.
Sexual Harassment Prevention Training and Policy Development.

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Getting to know local businesses and culture through LIBA

member of Louisville Independent Business AllianceLIBA – Louisville Independent Business Association is for small and medium companies that are not part of a national company.  For example, local banks can join but the national banks are not members.

As you would imagine there are a lot of entrepreneurs, retail stores, local restaurants, local artist and various service businesses.  They hold a buy local fair every year and have various meetings at some of their different businesses.

The first meeting I went to was a bourbon tasting which is very much a local business and highlight for tourist in Kentucky as well as Louisville.

Recently we had a tour of the economic development happening in the West End of the City (the poorer side of the city that is experiencing a renewal and boom of new businesses).

The last meeting I attended was a tour of Jeffersonville, IN presented by  the Southern Indiana and the economic development agency that’s called “SO IN” –  a great play on words. From Louisville, it’s just a short walk via a footbridge across the Ohio river to downtown Jeffersonville. The bridge has led to the growth of new stores, new restaurants and boutiques.  One of sweetest stops was the old candy shop where they still make candy by hand. Of course we enjoyed some tasty samples:)

It was great to meet so many new business owners and share the experience with my new Bookkeeper – Marla Blanchard of MJB’s Bookkeeping Solutions. http://mjbsbookkeeping.com/   She is a great help with my QuickBooks.

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Advice to women in business

During my networking at the NAWBO business fair I met Dr. Sharon Kerrick, Dean of the Business School at Bellarmine University.  She invited me to their free seminars for students and business owners.  I must say it is nice to attend a lecture and take notes and not be worried about a test.  (Been there, done that.)  It allows for great networking and learning what is new in the business world.

Susan Cameron – First Female CEO of Reynold Cooperation:  Advice to women in business

I attended one of these sessions when they introduced Susan Cameron the first Female CEO of Reynolds Cooperation. She provided an interesting history of how she moved up the ladder in a man’s world by starting in consumer marketing.  She then proceeded to illustrate her thoughts on Secrets to Success.  I have summarized them below:

  • Jump on a new opportunity – take a chance you can always go home
  • Love what you do and find the right cultural fit for you
  • You need to find mentors so you can learn from others – you can also learn what not to do from your tormentors or bad managers
  • It is all about your team – you can’t do it yourself – build a team to complement your strengths (know your strengths and weakness -Mend the Gap) – learn how to delegate
  • The team needs to be full inclusion of diversity
  • Must have the ability to prioritize and focus on the top 4 things
  • Have to operate in the Grey – not all black and white
  • Need to have the experience and calculate the risk and learn from your team then make the decision
  • Follow the Golden Rule
  • Business can’t stand still – change is hard but make it transparent to all

She also provided a perspective on Women Leaders and Men Leaders.  She felt Women are more culturally aware and value the employee relationships while men are better at conflict and getting the job done and moving on. Woman feel they have to be 150% ready to accept the promotion and while Men are comfortable accepting if they’re 70% ready. Woman have to learn let go and just go for it.  Great advice.

Member – Louisville Independent Business Alliance

member of Louisville Independent Business Alliance

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