humanresource - SHRM

THE
An official publication of SHRM-Atlanta
HUMANRESOURCE
A F F I L I AT E
O F
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SOCIETY
SOCIET
SOC
IET
E Y FOR
F OR HU
HUM
HUMAN
UM AN
RESOURCE
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RES
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www.shrmatlanta.org
Tom Darrow
President, SHRM-Atlanta,
Principal and Founder,
Talent Connections, LLC
ALSO INSIDE:
Peace, Love and Eggnog?
Deliberate Acts of Decency
Finding Keepers, Keeping Winners
WINTER 2007
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I
An official publication of SHRM-Atlanta
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HUMAN
THE
RESOURCE
WINTER 2007
Julie Elgar
An Official Publication of SHRM-Atlanta
| In Every Issue
7
President’s Message
2007 SHRM-Atlanta
Board of Directors
9
Board Member Highlight: Tom Darrow
Sandra Hoffman
Closets and More
Board Chair
19 Legal Alert
EEOC claims co-worker created racially hostile
work environment by singing offensive rap lyrics
11 Deliberate Acts of Decency
You don’t have to be a CEO or senior executive to
practice decencies. You don’t need a budget.
You don’t need permission. You do need
to take action.
By Steve Harrison
13 Leadership: The Key to Finding Keepers and
Keeping Winners
The quality and motivation of your company’s
leadership is the key to finding and attracting
the type of people who will be successful in your
organization and then holding onto them.
I
Advertisers
21
22
22
Jack Jessen
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Shari Lotz, SPHR
Equifax
| Features
13
Tom Darrow
Talent Connections, LLC
2006/2007 President
John Knapp, Ph.D.
The Southern Institute for
Business and Professional Ethics
By Sarah Fuson
11
Editor
Ford and Harrison LLC,
Attorneys at Law
jelgar@fordharrison.com
Please contact Julie if you’d like to
submit an article for consideration.
By Mary Ellen Brantley, Ph.D.
16 Peace, Love and Eggnog?
Learn more about the dangers of serving alcohol
at the holiday office party, plus ways you can
celebrate the season with your co-workers, but
without the liability.
By Ford and Harrison LLC, Attorneys at Law
Business
Resource Listings
Index of
Advertisers
Advertiser.com
Marsha Sampson Johnson
Southern Company
John Saunders
UPS
Chad Schultz
Ford & Harrison LLP
Nancy Vepraskas, SPHR
Genuine Parts Company
Gary Wheeler, SPHR, GPHR, CBP,
CCP
Human Resource Business Partner
Consultant, LLC
Bob Collins
Acuity Specialty Products
Steve Spires
Wesley International
The Human Resource is published for
SHRM-Atlanta
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Atlanta, GA 30305
Phone: 404-442-7335
Fax: 404-240-0998
Web: www.shrmatlanta.org
Published by
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©2007 Naylor, LLC. All rights reserved.
The contents of this publication may
not be reproduced by any means, in
whole or in part, without the prior
written consent of the publisher.
On the cover: SHRM-Atlanta
recognizes Tom Darrow for
his contribution throughout
the past two years as
president of the association.
PUBLISHED DECEMBER 2007/
SHR-Q0407/6584
Winter 2007
I
An official publication of SHRM-Atlanta
I
5
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The Human Resource
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I PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Accomplishing Goals
Year In, Year Out
By Tom Darrow
DEAR FRIENDS, Colleagues, and Partners of SHRMAtlanta and the HR Community,
It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as
SHRM-Atlanta president over the last two years. As my
time as president comes to a close, I’d like to take this
opportunity to thank each of you for your involvement
and support. In 2006 and 2007, the Chapter embarked
on a number of new initiatives while working to refine
some of our existing initiatives. As a result, we reached
a greater level of success than we had ever imagined.
Without the collective efforts of our entire leadership
team and membership, none of these achievements
would have been possible.
I’d like to highlight some of the many accomplishments that have been driven by your volunteer leadership team and the Meeting Expectations team over the
past two years. They include:
• We assessed our association management needs and
renewed our contract with Meeting Expectations after an exhaustive RFP process that was driven by the
Board and an outside consultant.
• We hired our first full-time executive director, Mary
Lynn Miller.
• We added a full-time membership marketing manager to the management team!
• We grew membership by 43 percent from 1,630 to
2,500 members to become one of the largest city
Chapters in the country out of 574 city chapters! Deleise Lindsay, executive vice president of Membership,
and her team were amazing!
• We supported the Mayor’s Youth Program, thereby
increasing our involvement and visibility throughout
the community.
• We restructured the PEGs so that they are now a free
resource for members.
• We launched the one-day Spring Assembly that saw
more than 300 attendees each year at Georgia Tech’s
College of Management.
• We set attendance records at the Annual Southeast
HR Conference with more than 1,000 attendees each
year and connected with our Senior HR practitioners
and Resource Partners.
• We worked with the former Central Georgia Chapter
(Covington/Conyers area) to merge its Chapter into
SHRM-Atlanta as the new East GEM.
• We re-launched the Staffing Management PEG.
• We raised a record amount of proceeds both years at
the Link with a Leader auction.
• We launched a redesigned HR Excellence Awards
dinner.
• We reformatted the newsletter as a quarterly print
magazine and 12 monthly online editions with more
content and significantly reduced cost.
• We implemented a new membership database and
website technology to help us provide better member
services and communication.
• We met/exceeded our business development goals to
provide revenue to drive member services and operations funding.
• We developed a new corporate membership program
in which more than 16 companies have already participated.
• We created an ambassador program to help assimilate new members into the Chapter.
• We rolled out a restructured new member orientation.
• We provided development and “giving back” opportunities for hundreds of volunteers who helped us
advance our great profession by advancing SHRMAtlanta.
• We have enhanced relationships and involvement
with SHRM (national) and the SHRM Georgia State
Council.
Overall, hundreds of volunteers, in partnership with
Meeting Expectations, delivered countless professional
development and networking opportunities through
continued on page 8
Winter 2007
I
An official publication of SHRM-Atlanta
I
7
continued from page 7
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our conferences, Chapter meetings, GEMs, PEGs, Signature Events and numerous other events.
As you can see, it’s been a busy couple of years, but the
hard work has paid off! Even so, we are not finished—
we have significant “curriculum” initiatives under way,
a new corporate volunteer program, more membership
goals and many other strategies to provide value to you,
our members.
I look forward to continuing my service to our great
profession as I transition into the roles of immediate
past president and EVP of Membership for SHRMAtlanta in 2008. In addition, I’ll serve as Georgia State
Council director-elect for 2008/2009, Georgia State director in 2010/2011 and continue on the SHRM Staffing
Management Expert Panel.
Thank you for embracing the HR profession, engaging with SHRM-Atlanta, and joining us as we work together to advance the HR profession and professional.
SHRM-Atlanta’s star is bright and its future even
brighter! Remember, “We are HR!”
Thank you,
Tom Darrow
2006/2007 President, SHRM-Atlanta
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The Human Resource
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| BOARD MEMBER HIGHLIGHT
Spotlight on Tom Darrow, 2006/2007 President,
SHRM-Atlanta
Tom and Anne Darrow
TOM DARROW, PRINCIPAL AND FOUNDER,
TALENT CONNECTIONS, LLC
SHRM-Atlanta recognizes Tom Darrow for his outstanding contribution as chapter president in 2006/2007.
For the past two years, Darrow has served in this volunteer position investing countless hours and endless
passion toward advancing the HR profession and HR
professionals through his service to SHRM-Atlanta. His
innovative ideas, “can-do” attitude and collaborative
leadership style has led SHRM-Atlanta to reshape the
way we operate and bring value to our members. And,
we have grown by more than 700 members!
SHRM-Atlanta has added a number of accomplishments to its already distinguished history over the
course of the last two years.
Darrow’s innovative ideas and enthusiasm have proven invaluable in helping SHRM-Atlanta achieve great
success that reaches far beyond our goals for 2006 and
2007.
Outside of SHRM-Atlanta, Darrow is principal and
founder of Talent Connections, LLC. Established in 1999,
the Atlanta-based professional services firm specializes in
recruiting—including recruitment process outsourcing
(RPO), executive search, process consulting and contract
recruiting. Current and past clients include The Coca
Cola Company, Habitat for Humanity International,
Cingular, ADP, Booz Allen Hamilton, Deloitte, Newell
Rubbermaid, Microsoft, McKesson, and Emory Healthcare. In 2007, Inc. magazine ranked Talent Connections
company No. 86 on its Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing
private companies in the United States. Talent Connections is ranked No. 11 among the 50 human resources
companies listed nationally. Darrow is also the founder
of www.ForContractRecruiters.com, an online resource
for contract recruiters.
Darrow has more than 19 years experience in the human resources and recruitment profession—including
nine years of combined experience with the global professional services firms of Price Waterhouse (now PricewaterhouseCoopers) and Andersen Consulting (now
Accenture).
In addition to his leadership with SHRM-Atlanta over
the years, he serves on the SHRM Staffing Management
Special Expertise Panel and is the 2008/2009 SHRM
Georgia State Council director-elect. With SHRM-Atlanta, he will continue to serve in 2008 as EVP of Membership and as immediate past president. He also serves
as the president of the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) Leadership Council (2005-2007), is on the
Board of Directors, the Executive Committee of the
Board and is the founder and chair of the TAG Recruiting Society.
Darrow earned a bachelor of business administration degree in accounting from the University of Notre
Dame. He is a frequent and national speaker at conferences and workshops on topics related to improving
corporate recruiting processes, and has been quoted in
publications including BusinessWeek, Kiplinger’s, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Washington Post, Inc. magazine, and HR Magazine. In addition to his leadership in
the human resources and recruiting profession, Darrow
is dedicated to community service through many volunteer activities including prior service on the Board of
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metro Atlanta and The Partnership Against Domestic Violence.
In his spare time this year, Darrow was married on
Oct.27! He and his lovely bride, Anne, live in Roswell.
2007 SHRM Pinnacle Award Winner!
Winter 2007
I
An official publication of SHRM-Atlanta
I
9
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| FEATURE
Deliberate Acts of
Decency
By Steve Harrison
©www.iStockphoto.com/blackred
R
euben Mark, chairman and CEO of
Colgate-Palmolive,
credits his success to
a simple decision. “I have
made it my business to be sure that
nothing important or creative at
Colgate-Palmolive is perceived as
my idea,” Mark says.
When he was CEO of Nabisco,
Douglas Conant wrote five to 10
personal notes every day to employees and others recognizing
their contributions.
Jim Donald, CEO and president
of Starbucks, insists that hour-long
meetings be completed in 45 minutes.
While everyone appreciates economical meetings, the power of the practice goes to what Donald does with the
time savings and invites others to do.
Donald takes the extra 15 minutes to
call someone—a customer, colleague,
partner or vendor—whom he usually
does not contact every day.
These are examples of practices
I call business decencies. A business decency is a gesture offered
without expectation of reward that
in ways small and large changes
the corporate culture for the better. You don’t have to be a CEO or
senior executive to practice decencies. You don’t need a budget. You
don’t need permission.
You do need to take action.
What’s a Decency?
Decencies
represent
many
things. “Warm fuzzies” is one of
them, and that’s OK because that
subjective feeling builds bridges
between colleagues and engenders
a comfortable sense of community.
But decencies need to be more if
we want them to be effective in
molding a corporate culture. Effective decencies have most or all of
the following characteristics:
• Actionable. A decency is both
an action and a catalyst for action. The only effective way for
an organization to change is
to change behavior. The act of
choosing to perform a decency
signals an immediate change
in the behavior of the manager
who offers it. The behavior of
the person who receives the decency may also change. He or
she may be inspired by the decency to perform better or communicate more effectively, or he
or she may emulate the decency
to other co-workers. Taken together, the initial action and
the catalyzed action affect the
culture of the organization for
the better.
• Tangible. A decency is observable
or causes a measurable change
to the environment. An intangible decency, by contrast, is a virtue such as integrity or honesty.
These are desirable qualities to
strive for. When these qualities
are expressed in a way that is tangible, the virtues become decencies. They are perceptible by the
senses and memorable.
• Pragmatic. A business decency
must be guided by a sensibility
that refers to good judgment, discrimination and balance. It’s not
hard to let one’s imagination run
wild in a world of no constraints,
but in business where constraints
are very real, decencies that are
pragmatic have the best opportunities for success.
• Affordable. A business decency
must be within the fi nancial
means of the manager or the
organization. Small decencies,
by defi nition, incur very little
or no monetary cost. Small decencies must also be affordable
in other ways. They cannot encumber the organization with
undue overhead, unfunded
mandates, legal liability or costly precedents.
• Replicable. A decency offered
to an individual is always welcome, but if the gesture is so
constituted that it can be offered to only one individual,
it does not rise to the level of
© 2007 SOCIETY FOR HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT. REPRINTED WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE SOCIETY FOR HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (WWW.SHRM.ORG), ALEXANDRIA, VA., PUBLISHER OF HR MAGAZINE.
Winter 2007
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An official publication of SHRM-Atlanta
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11
a small decency. It’s a one-off.
A small decency should be able
to function gracefully for more
than one individual, in organizations of various sizes. Or, it
should be able to evolve within
a single organization as the size
of that organization expands or
contracts.
• Sustainable. Decencies are most
effective when they are implemented for today but are also
available for the future. A decen-
cy is sustainable when the good
will it generates for the organization over the long run more than
compensates for the resources
invested in it.
A Small List of Small Decencies
Business decency, a subset of
human decency, comes in many
forms. Even saying, “Good morning,” remembering someone’s
name and saying a quick thank
you are elementary decencies.
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The Human Resource
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Those, in particular, are most
conspicuous by their absence.
Here are a few other decencies
that are common in companies
with strong cultures that try to do
the right thing:
• Rearrange seating at meetings
to dissolve barriers and make it
easier to connect with attendees.
• Write one thank-you note on paper or via e-mail each day.
• Give praise in public, criticism in
private.
• Take time to talk to receptionists, administrative assistants and
maintenance people.
• Acknowledge the family, friends
and outside interests of people
who work for you.
• Convey bad news in person.
• Make yourself easily accessible
by having regular open office
hours.
Take time one day to think of
other small acts of decency you
can use with your team. Then,
empower your team members to
come up with others that can be
practiced and shared throughout the organization. Once
people see you’re serious about
it and you practice the decencies yourself, they will want to
engage in the acts as well. Pretty soon, as one leader, you will
have helped to create a new kind
of corporate culture.
Steve Harrison
is chairman
of Lee Hecht
Harrison, a
global leader
in career
management
solutions based
in Woodcliff
Lake, N.J., and author of The
Manager’s Book of Decencies:
How Small Gestures Build Great
Companies (McGraw-Hill, 2007).
Harrison welcomes examples of
decencies. For more on the book or
to submit your decencies, visit
www.bookofdecencies.com.
| FEATURE
Leadership
The Key to
Finding Keepers and
Keeping Winners
By Mary Ellen Brantley, Ph.D.
T
hey sit behind doors, in
cubicles, and they walk
the floors of your offices. They greet people by
name and check in to see
how they are doing. They keep a
finger on the pulse of the organization and quickly react to and anticipate challenges, turning them into
opportunities. They understand
the people who work for them and
strive to keep them fully engaged,
collaborative and productive. They
represent your company’s greatest
asset – and they walk out of your
doors every night. Who are they?
By now you likely have come to the
conclusion that they are your leadership. The quality and motivation
of your company’s leadership is the
key to finding and attracting the
type of people who will be successful in your organization and hold-
ing onto them once you’ve gotten
them to join.
Finding
Keepers
Leaders
Work
Climate
Keeping
Winners
When we published “Winning
the Technology Talent War” (Brantley, 2001), we conducted a survey
of 360 people in the technology
industry. First, we wanted to know
what role the work itself plays in a
successful hiring scenario. Second,
we wanted to understand the impact of the company’s culture on
a candidate’s interest in working
there. And third, what constitutes
management “leadership” – good or
bad – and how does leadership affect both recruiting and retention?
Some of their answers may surprise
you. Did you know, for example,
that at any point in time, 40 percent
of your workers may be looking for
another job? Another surprising
fact was that the biggest motivator
was the quality of relationship employees have with their individual
manager.
Given this information, I
thought it would be interesting to
explore how other people see the
work of leadership. Heifetz, (2001)
who heads up the John F. Kennedy
School of Government at Harvard
University, describes the work of
continued on page 14
The quality and motivation of your company’s leadership is the key to
finding and attracting the type of people who will be successful in your
organization and holding onto them once you’ve gotten them to join.
Winter 2007
I
An official publication of SHRM-Atlanta
I
13
continued from page 13
leadership as encompassing the following activities:
• Developing People – helping
bring out the best in employees by
both recognizing potential and
challenging them to grow;
• Setting Direction – giving people
the “big picture”; helping people
make the connection between the
work they do and the goals of the
organization;
• Offering Protection – giving
people the opportunity to try new
things, make mistakes, but hold
oneself accountable for the outcome;
• Providing Clarity – making sure
everyone understands the work to
be done and their role in making
it happen;
• Managing Confl ict – giving people room for expression of creative differences that allow innovation to happen; and
• Shaping Norms – related to providing clarity in Heifetz’s perspective is helping people understand exactly how they are to
work, both alone and with each
other.
I further sought to understand
exactly what drives performance
as the current research defines it.
For brevity sake, I have condensed
the findings of a lot of different research and culled them to describe
things managers do that tend to
drive employee performance.
• First is to develop people.
• Second is to empower them.
• Third, similar to clarity, is making sure employees understand
standards by which their performance will be evaluated.
• A fourth characteristic of a performance culture is a high level
of communication.
• Fifth, the manager knows how
each person in his or her organization is doing.
• Sixth, the highly effective manager provides people an opportunity to perform work that utilizes
their talent.
• Next is feedback – frequent and
informal – that helps employees
grow. Some research (Roundtable, 2004) suggests that positive
feedback is more motivating than
negative feedback.
• Last is the opportunity to work
for a strong team.
Revenue
Profit
28%-36%
Value
Leadership
Styles
and
Competencies
Positive
Work
Climate
70%
By now you should see a theme
emerging. The Gallup organization, well known for its research,
found that when employees respond
positively to certain questions, it can
mean up to 37 percent higher productivity. The questions identified by
Gallup are similar to the characteristics of a highly productive work climate as described by the Hay group
(Goleman, 2000a) and (McClelland,
1987, 1994). The research makes a
compelling case for investment in
manager-led development activities.
Manager-led development has
impact in multiple areas. It impacts
the bottom line by making people
more productive. In addition, managers can impact employee attitudes
as well. For example, developed employees are 40 percent more likely to
stay. Additionally, it leads to 36 percent higher job satisfaction, 28 percent higher level of commitment to
their work, and 22 percent increase
in employee attitudes when employees are provided the resources necessary to do their jobs.
Manager-led development also
can have a positive impact on employee behaviors. Employees who
feel as if they are being developed
are more likely to work on their
own, giving extra effort to their
work. Interpersonal communications between employees also tend
to be more effective when employees feel as if someone sees and cares
about them as individuals.
Employees who feel as if they
are being developed show a greater
ability to adapt to changing circumstances, and they tend to behave in
ways that make them appear to be
more dependable.
References
Brantley, M. E. a. C., Chris. (2001). “Winning the
Technology Talent War: A Manager’s Guide to Recruiting
and Retaining Tech Workers in a Dot-Com World” (First
ed. Vol. 1). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Buckingham, M. a. C., Donald O. (2001). “Now, Discover
Your Strengths.” New York: The Free Press.
Coffman, M. B. a. C. (1999). “First, Break All the Rules:
What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently.” New
York: Simon & Schuster.
Collins, J. (2001). Level 5 Leadership. Harvard Business
Review, 1(13).
Goleman, D. (2000a). Leadership That Gets Results. Harvard
Business Review, R00204(March-April 2000), 15.
Goleman, D. (2000b). What Makes a Leader? Harvard
Business Review, 3790(November-December 1998), 93-99.
14
I
The Human Resource
Goleman, D. (2001). Primal Leadership: The Hidden Driver of
Great Performance. Harvard Business Review (December
2001), 42-48.
Heifetz, R. A. a. L., Donald L. (2001). The Work of Leadership.
Harvard Business Review(December 2001), 1-16.
McClelland, D. C. (1987). Human Motivation (Vol. 1).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
McClelland, D. C. (1994). Power is the Great Motivator.
Harvard Business Review, 4223(January-February 1995),
1-11.
Roundtable, L. a. D. (2004). Driving Results Through Employee
Development (White paper.). Washington, D.C.: Corporate
Executive Board Company (UK) Ltd.
Human resources managers
may ask the question, “How should
we channel manager effort to
maximize employee retention and
productivity?” Effectively channeling manager effort includes emphasizing the following high-payback activity:
• Ensure projects provide learning. The highest payback activity an employee can perform is
one in which he is doing a job
while developing new skills.
Clearly, this requires providing
the kind of support and training that allows the employee to
learn, add value and succeed at
the project.
• Explain performance standards.
The employee who knows not
only what to do but how the work
products will be evaluated is in
much better position to meet expectations. Provide empowering
experiences that develop talent.
Similar to the first bullet, giving
an employee a job experience
that both enriches experience
and develops talent is a high payback activity.
• Assess employee development
progress and provide frequent
feedback. Just don’t leave employees out there after you have
assigned a project. Know how
they are doing on an ongoing
basis. When you have given a
new employee a developmental
experience or project assignment, provide frequent feedback. Emphasize strengths instead of cataloging weaknesses.
This empowers and energizes
the employee to take the risks
necessary to grow.
• Help find training. This is an
interrelated activity. Make sure
when managers assign a project,
they provide access to whatever
training is necessary, whether
that be coaching or formal
training.
• Create individual development
plans. If your managers put in
place an individual development
plan for every person, every person is moving forward.
As a human resources
manager, if I had one
place where I would invest my development dollars, I would begin with
leadership development.
Think of your leaders as
levers. To the extent that
you make one leader
more effective, you have
lifted the performance
of everyone who reports
to that individual.
339705_turknett.indd 1
Winter 2007
Dr. Mary Ellen Brantley is
president of BrantleyHouse,
LLC, a firm that specializes
in creating leadership and
executive coaching programs
for companies. She has more
than 20 years’ experience in
senior sales line and operating
management positions with
Fortune 100 companies.
I
An official publication of SHRM-Atlanta
I
15
7/25/07 8:43:29 AM
| FEATURE
Peace, Love and Eggnog?
The Truth
About
Serving
Alcohol
at the
Holiday
Office Party
‘T
was the night of the office party, and all through the houses
Employees were getting ready, and so were their spouses.
Ties were knotted and straightened with care,
Women put on dresses and combed through their hair.
The children were ready – all showered and fed,
And continued to play Xbox until it was time for bed.
A kiss on the cheek, “Don’t let the bed bugs bite.”
Then mom and dad departed and turned off the light.
When out of the driveway, they flew like a flash,
Excitedly, they drove to the holiday bash.
They arrived just in time and walked through the door,
To find decorations hung from ceiling to floor.
Then, what to their wondering eyes should appear,
But a bar stocked with liquor, wine and chilled beer.
They took less than a second to stop and think,
Like moths to the flame, headed straight for a drink.
More rapid than eagles, the drinks they came,
And they gulped and they chugged, and they called them by name!
“Now Smirnoff! Now Cuervo! Now Jim Beam and Jack!
Now Baileys! Now Captain! Now Johnnie Walker Black!”
As they continued to drink the night had turned late.
They’d already broken two glasses and a plate.
His vision was blurry and her head, how it spun.
The guests were now leaving; the party was done.
They thanked the host for a fabulous night.
He got in his car and drove out of sight.
It was but a moment, what seemed like a flash,
He veered from his lane and with another car crashed!
The policemen arrived; the sirens did wail.
He blew over the limit and they took him to jail.
The other driver was injured and called up his lawyer,
He sued both the driver and the host – his employer.
That night as he slept, he tossed in his bed
As the night constantly replayed in his head.
Sometimes things are not always as they seem.
He awoke and realized that it was but a dream.
It is important to remember that the holiday season is one of cheer and
shine, not beer and wine.
16
I
The Human Resource
Moral of the story: It’s that
time of the year again—the time
for Aunt Martha’s fruitcakes,
jam-packed malls and the alwaysanticipated office holiday party.
A holiday party is a good way to
show appreciation for employees,
to reward for a job well done or
just to socialize. However, what
was only a dream for the man in
the story can turn into a nightmare for employers.
While alcohol is a well-established part of social gatherings,
excessive amounts of alcohol can
become a serious problem, especially when people get behind the
wheel of a car. Approximately 40
percent of all traffic fatalities are
related to alcohol. Traditionally,
only the person who was driving
drunk could be liable for injuries
caused to a third person. However,
40 of the 50 states have adopted
Dram Shop Acts, which create liability for a social host or establishment. With these statutes in place,
a host can be liable for injuries to
a third person caused by an intoxicated guest.
Georgia law specifically provides that any person who furnishes or serves alcoholic beverages to
a noticeably intoxicated person,
knowing that person will soon be
driving, can be liable for injuries or
damages resulting from the intoxication. Employers are not exempt
from these laws. A social host can
be anyone—a friend sharing some
beers during a football game, a
person throwing a birthday party,
or an employer hosting a company barbecue or office party. This
becomes particularly important
around the holiday season when
alcohol is served at nearly 75 percent of holiday office parties.
Following simple holiday tips
(see “Holiday Tips” sidebar) can help
avoid a legal headache for employers. Be sure to make this holiday
season a safe and enjoyable one! It
is important to remember that the
holiday season is one of cheer and
shine, not beer and wine.
Holiday Tips
Here are some suggestions for employers to lessen the chance of being
held liable for an employee’s drunkenness:
1
2
Don’t serve alcohol. Making the party a
family event—a picnic or BBQ catering
to employee’s spouses and children—
can offset the lack of alcohol. Set up
games for employees and their children,
such as Frisbee, volleyball, horseshoes,
and kickball, or create competitive
events like relay races or scavenger
hunts.
Limit alcohol consumption. Employers can give each
employee a specified number of drink tickets, usually
two or three. Another approach would be to limit
alcohol service to a certain period of time, such as the
first hour of the party or one hour before dinner.
3
4
Make employees give their keys up at the
door. Employees can only get them back after
a responsible person makes sure they are
sober and can drive home safely.
Arrange for designated drivers or
reimburse cab rides home.
continued on page 18
Winter 2007
I
An official publication of SHRM-Atlanta
I
17
continued from page 17
5
Hold the party at a hotel and offer
complimentary or discounted rates
on hotel rooms. This eliminates
the need for the employee to drive
home.
6
7
Avoid serving only appetizers. Serve
meals rich in protein and starches to
absorb alcohol consumption.
Don’t serve punches that hide the alcohol
content. Sweet punches that mask the tastes of
alcohol are often consumed quickly because
they taste like fruit punch. The alcohol tends
to creep up and affect the person suddenly and
unexpectedly.
Your employees want to know...
Why were their confidential
records discovered in
your garbage bin?
Imagine a group of angry employees knocking at your
8
Throw the party
on a weeknight
so employees are
less likely to drink
excessively.
Article submitted by Ford and
Harrison LLC, Attorneys at Law.
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I
The Human Resource
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| LEGAL ALERT
EEOC Claims Co-Worker Created
Racially Hostile Work Environment
by Singing Offensive Rap Lyrics
By Sarah
Fuson
DEBATES OVER the lyrics contained
in rap and hip hop songs have been
featured heavily in the news in the
past year. It seems like everyone
has an opinion about what should
or shouldn’t be said in a rap song.
Think that the contents of rap songs
don’t affect you as an employer?
Think again.
Here’s the situation: an employee comes to you complaining that a
co-worker is singing offensive song
lyrics at work. Specifically, the employee tells you that his colleague is
bringing a boom box and playing
these songs aloud in the working
area. According to the complaining
employee, the lyrics are racially offensive and contain the “N” word.
The employee tells you that he is
personally offended by the song lyrics and wants you to make it stop.
If your tendency would be to ignore
the employee’s complaint and allow
the music to continue to be played
and sang, then you might be liable
for creating a racially hostile working environment.
In a recent case filed in the
Northern District of California by
the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) on behalf of an individual complainant,
the EEOC has taken the position
that an employer engaged in racial
harassment and retaliation when it
ignored the complainant’s objections to racially offensive rap songs.
According to the complaint filed by
the EEOC, the complainant, who is
an African-American, complained
to his supervisor about his co-worker playing and singing rap songs
that used the “N” word along with
other racially offensive language.
Initially, the supervisor ignored the
complainant’s objections and the
co-worker continued to play and
sing the offensive rap songs. A few
months later, the complainant went
to upper management and again
complained about the co-worker.
Upper management eventually issued a rule barring employees from
playing racially offensive songs in
the workplace. A short time after
the complaint to upper management, the complainant’s supervisor
changed the complainant’s start
time. This change interfered with
the complainant’s ability to care for
his ill father. The complainant was
laid off shortly after the schedule
change and has not been recalled.
The employer never disciplined the
co-worker who was playing and singing the offensive songs.
In its complaint, the EEOC
claims the employer subjected the
complainant to a racially hostile
work environment by not stopping
the co-worker from playing and
singing racially offensive songs
promptly. The EEOC also claims
that the employer retaliated against
continued on page 20
Ignoring complaints from employees about working conditions could be
detrimental in later litigation.
Winter 2007
I
An official publication of SHRM-Atlanta
I
19
continued from page 19
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The Human Resource
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the complainant when it changed
his schedule and when it laid him
off. The EEOC’s complaint asks for
reinstatement, compensation for
monetary loss, compensation for
pain and suffering, and punitive
damages against the employer for
“malicious and reckless conduct” in
violation of Title VII. While the suit
is currently in its initial stages, the
fact that the EEOC has brought the
case on behalf of the complainant
indicates that the EEOC thinks that
a hostile work environment can be
created by an employee singing offensive lyrics or by offensive songs
being played in the workplace.
Bottom Line
While a California case will not be
binding in Georgia, this case illus1:46:12 PM trates a problem employers are facing throughout the country. Employers would be well served to remember that ignoring complaints from
employees about working conditions
could be detrimental in later litigation. If an employee comes to you
and complains about being harassed
because of race, gender, religion, national origin, etc., you should take
steps to investigate the allegations.
Just because you think the complaint
is silly or frivolous does not mean the
EEOC would necessarily agree. Had
the employer discussed above simply
investigated the situation promptly
and forbid the co-worker from playing or singing offensive songs, the
employer likely could have avoided
a harassment lawsuit. By ignoring
the complaint and waiting to take
action to remedy the problem, the
employer created potential liability
5:42:08 PM
for itself.
Sarah Fuson concentrates her practice
on representing management in both
labor and employment matters and
works in the airline group of Ford
& Harrison. Her practice includes
assisting clients with the interpretation
and application of the Railway Labor
Act and various state and federal
statutes (e.g. Title VII, FMLA, ADA,
ADEA), as well as preparing cases for
arbitration.
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1
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I
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10/24/07 8:04:02 PM
| INDEX OF ADVERTISERS
APPLICANT TRACKING SOLUTIONS
VIP Advantage ......................... outside back cover
FINANCE & ACCOUNTING STAFFING
Search Smart .................................................... 6
INSURANCE, SUPPLEMENTAL
Metro Atlanta Financial Group .......................... 20
APPLICANT RECRUITMENT, SELECTION &
VERIFICATION SERVICES
VIP Advantage ......................... outside back cover
HEALTH BENEFITS
Kaiser Permanente .......................................... 12
Multiple Benefit Services, Inc. ............................ 3
Stowe Associates ............................................ 10
IT STAFFING SPECIALISTS
Search Smart .................................................... 6
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
Turknett Leadership Group ............................... 15
ASSESSMENT & TESTING
Talent Builders, Inc. ......................................... 21
VIP Advantage ......................... outside back cover
HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT
Lifesigns of Atlanta ............................................ 3
BACKGROUND INVESTIGATION
IMI Data Search, Inc. ....................................... 21
United Screening Services Corp. ...................... 21
HIGHER EDUCATION
DeVry University/Keller Graduate School ........... 10
University of Phoenix.......................................... 4
OUTPLACEMENT SERVICES
VIP Advantage ......................... outside back cover
BENEFITS, VOLUNTARY
Benefit Express ............................................... 21
HR AUDITS
VIP Advantage ......................... outside back cover
PRE-EMPLOYMENT SCREENING
VIP Advantage ......................... outside back cover
CONTRACT RECRUITING
Talent Connections, LLC .................................... 6
HR INFORMATION SYSTEMS
VIP Advantage ......................... outside back cover
PRE-EMPLOYMENT TESTING
VIP Advantage ......................... outside back cover
CORPORATE HOUSING
Marriott ExecuStay – Atlanta.............................. 8
HR MANAGEMENT
VIP Advantage ......................... outside back cover
RECRUITMENT ADVERTISING
ajcjobs.com ............................... inside front cover
DIVERSITY
VIP Advantage ......................... outside back cover
HR SOFTWARE
Dresser & Associates, Inc. ............................... 10
RECRUITMENT, ONLINE
AtlantaJobZone.com ........................................ 20
VIP Advantage ......................... outside back cover
DOCUMENT DESTRUCTION
Shred-It .......................................................... 18
HUMAN RESOURCE CONSULTING SERVICES
HudsonMann ................................................... 20
Talent Connections, LLC .................................... 6
RECRUITMENT PROCESS OUTSOURCING
Talent Connections, LLC .................................... 6
INSURANCE, DISABILITY
Multiple Benefit Services, Inc. ............................ 3
STAFFING SERVICES
WillStaff Worldwide Staffing ............................. 21
INSURANCE, HEALTH
Kaiser Permanente .......................................... 12
MSI Benefits Group, Inc. ............ inside back cover
Multiple Benefit Services, Inc. ............................ 3
TECHNOLOGY SALES & PRE-SALES STAFFING
Search Smart .................................................... 6
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
Multiple Benefit Services, Inc. ............................ 3
EMPLOYEE SCREENING
& BACKGROUND CHECKS
VIP Advantage ......................... outside back cover
EMPLOYEE SURVEYING
VIP Advantage ......................... outside back cover
EXECUTIVE OUTPLACEMENT SERVICES
VIP Advantage ......................... outside back cover
EXECUTIVE RECRUITMENT & SEARCH FIRMS
Talent Connections, LLC .................................... 6
INSURANCE, LIFE
Multiple Benefit Services, Inc. ............................ 3
INSURANCE, LONG-TERM CARE
Genworth Financial .......................................... 18
LEGAL SERVICES
Ford & Harrison ................................................. 8
TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT
Talent Builders, Inc. ......................................... 21
TRAINING PRODUCTS
Talent Builders, Inc. ......................................... 21
WELLNESS SERVICES
Lifesigns of Atlanta ............................................ 3
| ADVERTISER.COM
ajcjobs.com
www.ajc.com ..............................inside front cover
IMI Data Search, Inc.
www.imidatasearch.com ................................... 21
Stowe Associates
www.stoweassociates.com................................ 10
AtlantaJobZone.com
www.atlantajobzone.com/goemployer/shrm........ 20
Kaiser Permanente
www.KaiserPermanente.org .............................. 12
Talent Builders, Inc.
www.talentbuildersinc.com................................ 21
Benefit Express
www.benefitexpress.info ................................... 21
Lifesigns of Atlanta
www.lifesignsmd.com ......................................... 3
Talent Connections, LLC
www.talentconnections.net.................................. 6
DeVry University/Keller Graduate School
www.devry.edu ................................................. 10
Marriott ExecuStay - Atlanta
www.execustay.com ........................................... 8
Turknett Leadership Group
www.turknett.com ............................................ 15
Dresser & Associates, Inc.
www.dresserassociates.com ............................. 10
Metro Atlanta Financial Group
www.Benefit-Plan.com...................................... 20
United Screening Services Corp.
www.unitedscreening.com ................................ 21
F&H Solutions Group
www.fhsolutionsgroup.com ................................. 8
MSI Benefits Group, Inc.
www.msibenefitsgroup.com .........inside back cover
University of Phoenix
www.phoenix.edu ............................................... 4
Ford & Harrison
www.fordharrison.com ........................................ 8
Multiple Benefit Services, Inc.
www.mbservices.net ........................................... 3
VIP Advantage
www.vipadvantage.net ...............outside back cover
Genworth Financial
www.brendajoiner.com ..................................... 18
Search Smart
www.searchsmartinc.com ................................... 6
WillStaff Worldwide Staffing
www.willstaff.net .............................................. 21
HudsonMann
www.hudsonmann.com..................................... 20
Shred-It
www.shredit.com.............................................. 18
22
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The Human Resource
A single point of contact for all
insured employee benefits
Our comprehensive business model is based on the recognition that we are in the
“relationship/service business” and not in a “transaction business.” We place equal
emphasis on consulting, implementation and on-going service/support in both the core and
voluntary benefits realms which offers inherent administrative efficiencies to our clients.
BENEFITS CONSULTING - We leverage extensive industry knowledge and
technical expertise to offer private and public sector employers consulting services whose
ultimate purpose is to enable each employer to deploy a robust employee benefits program
which supports the constant need to recruit, retain and motivate top quality employees
while adhering to financial constraints and objectives.
IMPLEMENTATION - We harness multi-layered enrollment solutions that achieve
employee understanding and appreciation as well as administrative accuracy and utilize
any medium of communication that is convenient and effective for the employer. This
ranges from the traditional “face to face / one on one” paper and ink enrollments to a state
of the art, web-based electronic communication and enrollment platform that employees
can access 24/7 from their home or office and is offered at no cost to our clients as an
added value service.
SERVICE / SUPPORT - MSI Customer Service; Eligibility; Billing and Benefit
Counselor Teams add value to your benefit choices by decreasing the HR workload and
increasing employee comfort and satisfaction through an ideal combination of “high-tech/
high-touch” and “low-tech/high-touch” services. We actively encourage your employees
to call us directly with claim issues or administrative problems and we work in close and
daily collaboration with your internal HR staff.
TownPark Ravine One | 245 TownPark Drive - Suite 100 | Kennesaw, GA 30144
Office: 770-425-1231 | Fax: 770-425-4722 | www.msibenefitsgroup.com