February 2015

HR InTouch

The Monthly Newsletter of the Greater Madison Area SHRM

In This Edition

President's Message

By Jeff Russell

Government Affairs

Software Updates May Void Administrative Exemption For Insurance Claims Staff

Be an HR Advocate!

Compensation and Benefits

The GMA SHRM Compensation Survey is Now Available!

Professional Development

The 2015 Programming Calendar

Community Events

The Literacy Network
 

GMA SHRM Social Media

Our Member Directory is Now Mobile Friendly!

FacebookTwitter & LinkedIn

Forward HR

GMA SHRM Upcoming Events

 

GMA SHRM Announcements

GMA SHRM's Newest Board Member

Volunteer at the  2015 WISHRM Student Conference and HR Games Competition


GMA SHRM Professional Award

Certification – Obtain your SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP for free!
 

GMA SHRM Member News

GMA SHRM Member Spotlight

GMA SHRM Volunteer Spotlight

Welcome New Members!

Movin' Up

In Transition

 


 

 

President's Message

GMA SHRM
2015 Corporate Partners

Gold Level
Boardman & Clark Law Firm
Career Momentum
Godfrey & Kahn
The Payroll Company
Remedy Intelligent Staffing

Silver Level
Adecco
Cottingham & Butler Employee Benefits 
Delta Dental
Express Employment Professionals
Hausmann-Johnson Insurance Group
Stewart Leadership
QPS Employment Group

Bronze Level
Ameritas
The Alliance
Edgewood College
Profession Direction
The QTI Group
Scott Savage Consulting LLC
Unity Health Insurance

Thank you!

Greetings!

In August I wrote about stewardship and your Board’s passion for building a strong vibrant, and enduring organization that serves the needs of its members. I wrote about our revitalized vision and our new strategic plan dedicated to preserving and continuing all of what makes our chapter one of the strongest in the region. In addition to its stewardship role, your Board is deeply committed to sustainability. Sustainability means, “for the long term,” and everything we do is focused on the long term.

Ten years ago the chapter was facing a number of financial challenges which, collectively, compromised the chapter’s ability to serve its members as effectively as it desired. Our sustainability and service levels were at risk. That was then. Today GMA SHRM’s situation could hardly be more transformed. Because of the work of Board members and dozens of hard-working volunteers over the past decade, the chapter has moved from being in the red to being very much in the black.

Through good stewardship, thoughtful decision making, careful expenditures, our wonderfully supportive corporate partners, smart (and lucky investments), great and ongoing guidance from our chapter administrator (Heather and Christopher Dyer), and periodic financial distributions to the chapter from WISHRM (because our chapter members routinely lead and coordinate the annual WISHRM State Conference), we are in very good shape financially. In fact, because of the above actions, the chapter has built up a comfortable reserve.

And, because we are financially strong and have this reserve, it enables us to not only continue but strengthen our investment in such programs and services as: providing top quality programming events, delivering a world-class Human Capital Conference in May, partnering with local non-profits to expand the positive impact of HR in the community, supporting efforts to facilitate member networking (such as the Solo Practitioners’ Resource Group), providing scholarships to students and members, supporting an active student chapter, promoting HR certification to our members, deploying a new and improved compensation survey, and providing leadership development opportunities for the volunteers who keep our committees and chapter rolling along!

As a Board, we don’t want to ever lose the ability to serve our members and the HR profession. So, over the past several years, the Board has taken several critical steps to both maintain our financial strength while reinvesting some of our reserves back into our programs and services.

This past fall the Board voted to maintain our cash reserves at a level equal to our annual operating expenses. This will enable us to maintain our quality operations and services for up to a year if there were an unexpected reduction in revenue. We further established it as policy that reserves above this level would be reinvested in the chapter.

We have significantly increased our financial investment in speakers at the Human Capital Conference and our monthly programming events. This keeps your costs low while enabling us to bring you such world-class speakers as Rebecca Ryan, Jason Lauritsen (Talent Anarchy), humorist Jeff Havens, social media maven Lars Schmidt, Holly Bock (Fierce Conversations), Yvon Wagner (The Oz Principle), and Jac Fitz-enz (HR analytics guru). Stay tuned to learn who next we’ll be bringing to Madison!

We have added two new Board positions to help us ensure sustainability – a new Director of Technology and Social Media (to ensure that we stay connected to our members) and a new Director of Volunteer Engagement (to keep our volunteer committees strong and to grow our leadership succession pipeline).

While our financial statements are always available to our members upon request, with an eye on our goal of transparency, we are working to make this information even more accessible via our website.I welcome your reactions, thoughts, and ideas for furthering our chapter’s sustainability. We achieved our financial strength and our comfortable cash reserve through hard work and thoughtful decisions. Everything the GMA SHRM Board does today seeks to honor what it took to get us here and it never takes its current situation for granted. And we intend to pass this sensibility on to future Boards.

That’s how we define sustainability. And that’s how we will continue to invest your faith (and membership dollars) in us to keep GMA SHRM strong for the long term.

Regards,
 
Jeff Russell
 
Click here to view the full GMA SHRM Board of Directors
 

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Government Affairs

 
Software Updates May Void Administrative Exemption For Insurance Claims Staff

Insurance claim adjusters generally meet the Administrative Salaried Exemption. However, that can change, as companies change technology. In Harper, et al v. GEICO (2nd Cir., 2014), the court found that the company’s new software system did a number of functions the adjusters had always performed. It made their jobs easier, and increased efficiency. However, the machine now did significant assessments, and decreased the judgment and discretion of the human beings. The court allowed a class action by the company’s claims adjusters, challenging their exempt status and claiming overtime pay for all time since the new system was implemented. [Messages from the case are: (1) do not just adopt new technology without first considering the effects of classification and compensation, (2) do not assume that “once exempt-always exempt.” Though the Dept. of Labor may have ruled that a particular job is exempt – things change; especially with software changes.]

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Be an HR Advocate!
Contributed by Tammy Wacek
 
Are you interested in being a Human Resources advocate? If you want to make an impact on legislation and make your voice heard, you should join the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Advocacy Team. The goal for this program through SHRM is to establish a network of committed volunteers to serve as the face of HR within the legislative district. This will help make HR’s voice heard when legislators are developing workplace policies. As a member of the SHRM A-Team, you will also be invited to monthly webinars with updates on legislative events. To join and find out more, visit SHRM’s website at http://www.advocacy.shrm.org/about
 
 
 

Compensation and Benefits

 
The GMA SHRM Compensation Survey
 
Local compensation data is hard to find and the GMA SHRM Compensation survey is a great resource! 
 
Losing a key employee over compensation can be expensive (recruiting costs, training a new employee, etc.) and so can over paying employees.  The new GMA SHRM Compensation Survey Report will provide local compensation data related to Base Pay, Total Cash Compensation, Salary Range Information and Pay Practices.
 
About the 2014 GMA SHRM Compensation Survey
  • 88 participating organizations in the GMA SHRM membership area.  Click here to see a list of participating organizations!
  • 256 exempt and non-exempt jobs included.  Click here to see a listing of jobs with definitions.
  • Participant breakdown by industry - 
  • Report also captures data on 10 pay practices questions. 
  • Those who purchase the survey results will be able to share access with up to two additional users within their organization.
 
 

Professional Development

 
The 2015 Programming Calendar
 
The GMA SHRM Programming Committee is proud to roll out the 2015 calendar of topics for Summits, Toolboxes and HR Roundtables groups!  Mark your calendars today and keep an eye on your inbox for registration and more information.

You can view the full calendar of programs on the GMA SHRM Event Page  or download a pdf version of the calendar by clicking on the image to the right.


 
 
 
 

Community Events

The Literacy Network offers a variety of courses, tutoring and other services to Dane County community adults to further reading, writing and speaking skills. Specifically the Literacy Network offers customized language instruction to improve employees' English communication skills both on and off the job. Literacy Network excels at developing programs tailor-designed to meet your company's specific workplace needs. If you are interested in learning more please visit us at: http://litnetwork.org/programs/index.php?category_id=4493

GMA SHRM Social Media

Our Member Directory is Now Mobile Friendly! 

Wish you could stay connected with GMA SHRM members? Now you can search for a member, call, e-mail or find directions to their listed location and be confident that it’s up to date.  Check it out today, you can now stay better connected to GMA SHRM members and it’s just a click away at http://www.gmashrm.org/mobile


Forward HR

Want to know what’s going on in HR for the other areas of Wisconsin?  WI SHRM has a new blog, Forward HR. Click here to take a look.

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GMA SHRM Upcoming Events



February 4, 2015 HR Roundtable

Topic:  Leadership Development – Competitive Advantage or Smoke & Mirrors
Location:  M3 Insurance
 
HR and talent management leaders have been asked for the ROI or business metrics to demonstrate that the thousands and thousands of dollars that a business spends on leadership development is working.  Is your executive still asking? Are you satisfied with your answer?  Join us for an engaging discussion on the pros and cons of leadership development in our organization, and the benefits that we can quantify or demonstrate with metrics, dollars or some other meaningful measure.  Can we settle the debate once and for all?  Bring your metrics and measures with you, or be prepared to argue that much of what we do is smoke and mirrors. 
Facilitator:  Dan Loichinger – coach, consultant & TEC chair for Loichinger Advantage LLC.

For more information, click here!

February 10, 2015 - GMA SHRM HR Toolbox


Topic:  Sifting Through the Generational Drama – Reviving the Fascination We Once Had For Our Differences
Location: Olbrich Botanical Gardens


For the first time ever, businesses are faced with an exciting and yet complex challenge of having four generations in the workplace at one time.  Each generation brings different values, skill sets, and perspectives on what “work ethic” and “loyalty” mean.  These differing views can easily lead to conflict, which hurts performance and productivity.  Vast amounts of knowledge and expertise exist within each generation, yet they are commonly left untapped.  This program will help you gain a competitive advantage by showing you how to appropriately funnel this wealth of different experiences and turn the challenges of diverse generations into a strength.
 
In this presentation, attendees will:
  • Understand generational differences as a strength
  • Learn how to connect with and motivate each generation
  • Increase collaboration across generations
  • Empower teams to delegate according to generational strengths and interests

Our speaker Karrie Landsverk is a Partner with AmericanWay University and Professional member of the National Speakers Association.  Karrie brings 16 years of leadership expertise from businesses of all sizes including high-level leadership roles with a Fortune 500 company.  She connects with each group she interacts with using her dynamic and energetic style while educating on topics involving leadership, communication, employee engagement, and the key to powerful relationships. 

Click here for more program information!

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February 19, 2015 GMA SHRM Networking Event

Members Only

What to expect...

Bring your business cards and prepare to meet people.  Ellen Bartkowiak, Executive Career Coach and local networking facilitator is back to lead another productive networking event for our members.  Be prepared to meet other Human Resources Professionals, share a thing or two and feel energized in your job. This structured networking event is designed to have everyone in attendance become more familiar with our community and meet new people!”

Appetizers provided along with a cash bar.

Click here for more program information.

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March 5, 2015 WISHRM Day on the Hill

Location:  Boardman & Clark Law Firm

Join your SHRM colleagues from around the state at our first WI SHRM Day on the Hill event!  The Day on the Hill provides you the unique opportunity to travel to Madison, WI for a day of legislative education and networking with colleagues and legislators.  The day will start out with an employment law update presented by Bob Gregg, training on how to conduct an advocacy meeting with a legislator or their staff, and other educational presentation.  A networking lunch will be included.  WISHRM and SHRM's Government Affairs staff will pre-arrange your afternoon meetings at the capitol.


Click here for more information from the WISHRM website.

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March 10, 2015 GMA SHRM Summit

Topic:  Appraising the Appraisal—Best Practices in Measuring Performance
Location:  Alliant Energy Center

 How do we break through the “love/hate” relationship we have with the performance appraisal process? This action-packed workshop presents a roadmap for taking the performance review process to the next level. Participants will review innovative, as well as tried and true strategies for measuring and driving employee performance. All who attend will create a tool to assess their current practices against best practices, and develop a roadmap to take their appraisal to the next level.

Our presenter, Meloney Sallie-Dosunmu, is an industry expert with more than 15 years of experience in talent management and employee learning and development. Meloney has a proven ability to drive business results. She has designed, developed, delivered and measured strategic learning and development solutions from needs assessment to measurement in a variety of industries. Throughout her career, she has led impactful and effective talent management initiatives that change behavior and deliver results. She has developed and executed strategy, led virtual teams, managed global projects, delivered effective learning in multiple countries and excelled in matrix environments. Meloney’s dynamic facilitation style showcases her unique ability to deliver complex content in a concise, yet engaging and effective manner, which builds skill and drives behavior change.

For more information, click here! 

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GMA SHRM Announcements

Introducing New Board Member Julie Kuprianczyk
 
Julie Kuprianczyk has been volunteering with local SHRM chapters since 2005.  Originally she served on the board of directors for High Country Human Resources Association near Vail, CO.  After moving back to the Midwest in 2011, she joined GMASHRM and began volunteering.  Julie has served on the Programming Committee, Membership Committee and now will be stepping into the new Director of Volunteer Engagement position on the Board.  She is looking forward to getting to know our current volunteers, as well as all of our members!    
 
Julie is employed by Agrace Hospicecare as a Sr. Human Resources Generalist.  She also enjoys volunteering with the Habitat for Humanity Family Selection Committee.  When she’s not working and volunteering, Julie enjoys spending time with her husband and two young children, as well as camping, hiking, skiing, and cooking.    

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2015 WI SHRM Student Conference and HR Games Competition

 
Volunteer at the Student HR Games!
 
Registration is now open for the 2015 WISHRM Student Conference and HR Games.  UW-Whitewater is hosting the event on March 6th and 7th, 2015.  The deadline to sign-up to volunteer is February 16th, 2015.  In addition to the HR Games portion, there is a number of speakers and networking opportunities for student and professional attendees. 
 
To view opportunities and register to volunteer, click on this link:  http://www.wishrm.org/2015-HRGames.  If you have any questions, please contact Matt Nechodom, PHR, mnechodo@amfam.com or 608.242-4100, ext. 38692. 

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Professional Award

 
Applications are now being accepted for the GMA Professional Scholarship! This is a $1,000 scholarship which will be awarded to a GMA SHRM member to support his or her professional development.  Examples of covered eligible programs include:
  • Attendance at a National/State SHRM conference
  • Post-secondary degree in business or human resources related discipline
  • Support of certification or re-certification (PHR, SPHR, GPHR, SHRM-CP, SHRM-SCP, CCP, CEBS, etc.)
  • Certificate programs in business or human resources related discipline
Applications must be or emailed as a PDF by April 17, 2015 to be considered. Please review the qualifications and application process by visiting the Professional Award Information Page. To make the application process easier, everything will be submitted electronically and there is no separate application form to complete!

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Certification – Obtain your SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP for free!

The Pathways program for the new SHRM Certification is now available!  Your existing HR certification constitutes your eligibility to earn the SHRM-CP (equivalent to the PHR) or SHRM-SCP (equivalent to the SPHR) which indicates to the global HR community that you have the competencies, knowledge and skills to perform effectively in today's ever-changing workplace.

If you are a current holder of an HR generalist certification (eligible HR generalist certification programs include: PHR, SPHR, GPHR, HRBP, HRMP, CHRP, SHRP, MCIPD, FCIPD and IPMA-CP*) or will obtain your certification by January 31, 2015, you are eligible for SHRM's new certification, the SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP—at no cost—by completing the following three simple steps between January 5 and December 31, 2015:

  • Document that your current certification is in good standing.
  • Sign the SHRM Code of Ethics.
  • Complete a brief online tutorial on HR competencies.

Once you complete this process, you will earn the new SHRM credential and begin a three-year SHRM recertification cycle.  You will not lose or have to give up any of your current credentials in order to obtain the new SHRM Certification.
 
Please visit www.shrm.org/certification/pathway to learn more and to participate in the tutorial.  To learn more about the new SHRM Certification, visit www.shrm.org/certification

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GMA SHRM Member News

GMA SHRM Member Spotlight
 
 
Name: Arichica Prescott
 
Where do you currently work?     

FedEx
 
What is the focus of your position? 

Supporting regional sales team.
 
How long have you been in the Human Resource field?

After re-entering the workforce 3 years ago and completing my MBA, I am exploring a career in Human Resources.
 
Which of your career accomplishments makes you proudest? 

My career accomplishment that makes me the proudest is the completion of my MBA.
 
What is the best advice you’ve ever received? 

Don’t be afraid to try something new. You never know the joy it might bring.
 
Why did you decide to join GMA SHRM?

I decided to join GMA SHRM for the networking opportunities and to learn more about the Human Resource profession.  
 
 
If you’d like to be published in an issue of HR InTouch, please complete this profile and submit (along with a photo) to Tia Gibson @ tia.gibson@covance.com.
 
 

Welcome New Members!

GMA SHRM welcomes the following members who joined our chapter in December 2014!

Rhonda Adams The River Food Pantry
Robin Argue Employer Health Care Alliance Cooperative
Karen Calabro West Corporation
Kory Deavers UW Madison
Lindsey Drake Alliant Energy
April Dreher Madison-Kipp Corporation
Shelly Eisen Flambeau Inc.
Sandy Giese Wisconsin Bankers Association
Loretta Hellenbrand Unity Health Insurance
Tracy Nelson UW Health  UW Hospitals and Clinics
Micah Richter Subzero Group
Kevin Schoeneck, PHR Centare
Karen Thompson Quincy Bioscience Holdings Co.
Liz Valentine University Health Services
Trisha Wollenzien University of Wisconsin - Madison DoIT


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Movin' Up

 
 
Have you started with a new company? Has your organization recently promoted you to a new position? Or do you want to recognize a new person or promotion within your department? If so, we want to hear about it. Send us an e-mail, and we’ll publish your good news in the next HR InTouch!

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In Transition

If you are a member who is in between jobs, or who is currently employed but seeking new positions or career paths, write us a brief description of your skill set, areas of expertise, what you’re looking for, etc. Send us an e-mail. We’ll publish your information in the next HR InTouch.

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HR InTouch Guidelines

Article Writing:

Do you have an interest in writing for the HR InTouch? We have an interest in learning more about your area of expertise!

Why should you volunteer? Top three reasons: 1) to share your knowledge and experiences to educate others; 2) to become more connected in the HR and Dane County communities; and 3) to contribute towards the advancement of GMA SHRM and the HR profession.

The first step is for you to choose a submission option: you can pre-submit an article to GMA SHRM at any time for us to use in any of the upcoming newsletters, you can sign up to write for a particular month, or we can put you on a list of people to contact in future months whenever we need articles.

Article length:

Because the HR InTouch is now in an online format, the size is flexible. The article should be engaging and hold readers’ attention. Include the core information in your article, and we will advise if it is too lengthy.

Solicitation:

GMA SHRM is conscious not to allow solicitation through the articles, in an effort to protect the interests of our partners and members. The nature of the article should be educational (i.e., what are the business advantages of having a product like yours) or informational. Otherwise, if you truly are interested in advertising through the HR InTouch, you can work with our Marketing Committee. As a rule of thumb for article writing, if the submission relates to a for-profit event, or specifically markets your company (vs. your industry), it is an advertisement, and should be purchased. If it is a not-for-profit event that your company is hosting, or an announcement (i.e., a SHRM member recently joined your company), it is an acceptable addition to the HR InTouch content. If you have any questions related to the appropriateness of your submission, please contact us.

If you have questions, or to submit an article, contact GMA SHRM at chapteradmin@gmashrm.org .

 

 Amended