Employee Communications from Projections

As the uncertainty of the current economic crisis wages on, union representation may seem more appealing than ever to workers who are concerned about job security, wages, and benefits. The truth of the matter is, unions target companies that are profitable and while many of these companies have had to make changes to remain competitive they are still in the sights of unions. However, when they cannot seem to make headway into well-run companies, unions will vilify a company working to maintain profitability by engaging in orchestrated corporate campaigns.

Most employees do not realize how the presence of a union and even their external activities can negatively impact the business - and their job security especially in today's competitive and recovering market. Now is the time for companies to proactively take measures to protect their company and their employees by remaining union free. The cost of doing nothing is too great a risk.

Some research, such as the work done by John E. Dinardo and David Lee at the National Bureau of Economic Research, has led many to believe that increased wages and benefits have an insignificant impact on the market value of an organization. If this is the case, why did unionization play a significant role in the automobile industry crisis? The United Auto Workers (UAW) still preach to everyone that will listen about "The Union Advantage in Pay and Benefits"--that unionized workers receive higher wages and more benefits than non-union workers.

A March 2009 study released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics supports these claims. The study found that union-free employers paid an average of $19.06 per hour (wages and salary), while union employers in the same sector were obligated to $22.76 per hour. Additionally, unionized workers received $13.82 per hour in benefits, whereas union-free workers received $7.33 per hour in benefits. Of course, the argument could be made that union dues are not accounted for in this study, but does any of that matter if the company - or entire industry - collapses under the strain?

Why do so many organizations, such as Wal-Mart, FedEx, Citigroup, Associated Builders and Contractors, even the US Chamber of Commerce, take such a strong stance against unionization? In his landmark text, "Unions Are Not Inevitable!," author Lloyd M. Field explained, referencing multiple studies conducted in the 5-year period following unionization. The findings, according to Field, were that newly organized company's operating costs increased by more than 25 percent of their gross payroll and benefit costs. In his book, Field provides an example of a company with a gross payroll of $18 million, for whom unionization would then result in $4.5 million in additional annual operating costs.

Read the rest of this case study at our Squidoo page on the cost of unions

With so many avenues and styles of communication available, it can be hard to determine the best way for your message to reach your audience. We've noticed five highly infectious communication "illnesses" that often cripple business productivity. How can you diagnose and treat these illnesses? Our experts have the solutions.

They include Irregular Communicenza, Audience Amnesia, Union-phobia, Pseudo-listening, and Erratic Messaging. But to read more about them, you will need to check out our Squidoo page on employee communication illnesses.

Though our nation's economy has recently lost millions of jobs, the health care industry has continued to add them. Not surprisingly, unions are eager to sign up health care workers. In the last 10 years, the rate of union wins in the health care industry has grown faster than the national average. Unions are uniting to lobby for labor-friendly legislation to promote increased union membership in the health care sector.

In addition to traditional organizing, health care union organizers are using more radical corporate campaigns that target hospital donors, shareholders, community groups, and even patients. The unions push these target groups to put pressure on hospital owners to allow unions to organize their employees. Many critics have argued that some of these agreements with employers have greatly limited workers' power and emphasized the union's cooperation with management.

The following article provides an overview of the major unions involved in the health care industry, as well as strategies to ensure your organization is prepared and remains successful.

Read the rest of this whitepaper at our Squidoo page on unions and healthcare

On June 26, 2008, Al Franken, then-candidate for U.S. Senate stated, "One year ago today, Norm Coleman voted against making it easier for workers to organize in the workplace %u2026 On the anniversary of that awful vote, I have a message to Minnesota's working families. I'll stand up to Norm Coleman, I'll stand up to corporate interests, and I'll stand up for Minnesota workers." After a lengthy protracted recount, Franken was declared the winner of Minnesota's Senate race on June 30, allowing him to make his campaign promise a reality.

This was a critical victory in the livelihood of the Employee Free Choice Act because it gave the Democrats 60 seats in the Senate-a filibuster-proof majority. As a result, labor unions and labor supporters are working overtime to give your employees misleading information about the EFCA.

Read the rest of this whitepaper at our squidoo page on the latest developments concerning EFCA

With the proposed Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), salary reductions, benefit cutbacks, and unemployment increasing, employees are under more pressure than ever to join unions. In fact, in 2008, after a 20-year decline in membership, the Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the number of workers belonging to a union rose by 428,000 to 16.1 million. And while the percentage of private-sector workers who are union members remained relatively steady (up one-tenth of a percentage point in 2008, to 7.6%), this increase in membership demonstrates that now is the time to make sure employees understand their rights as workers and the possibly undesirable consequences that can come with unionization.

While unions are often touted as vehicles that give workers a voice within organizations, the opposite is often closer to reality. Facing what looked like an imminent strike in February of 2009, AT&T Mobility employees filed Federal charges against their union (CWA), for threats and intimidation suffered when members tried to resign their union membership. Reuters reported that union officials misinformed and threatened AT&T members by telling them that resignation from the union was prohibited; that they would be subject to financial penalties or other disciplinary action. The National Right To Work Foundation, who assisted the employees in their effort to push back against the union, pointed out that the union's actions violate a Supreme Court decision that guarantees union members the legal right to resign from "formal, full-dues paying membership at any time."

Read the rest of this whitepaper at our squidoo page on push-back

No matter if you are a labor attorney, human resources professional, or business owner, no matter if you're looking to stay informed about the Employee Free Choice Act, or you just want to recruit and retain the best employees - in the blogosphere, the answers are all there. The problem is, there's such a wealth of information, it's nearly impossible to know where to focus your energies.

In an effort to ease that queasy drinking-from-a-firehose feeling, I offer the following nine labor relations and employment law blogs.

Click on our squidoo page on employment blogs to see the list.

Since the industrial revolution, employees and organizations have been engaged in labor struggles. The premise is largely the same as it has ever been: Labor is a company's highest cost, and workers want to be rewarded for their efforts. But communication strategies within this struggle have changed tremendously over the years, especially on the part of business leaders. Contemporary labor communication helps organizations remain union free and improves the relationship between management and employees, improving the overall work environment.

In the past, attempts by organizations to remain union free typically evoked mental images of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency and its caustic tactics, or other violent means to stop union organizing. However, corporate leaders quickly recognized that these measures were counterproductive to the success of the organization. This recognition, along with the passage of the National Labor Relations Act in 1935, drastically changed the way organizations approached remaining union free.

Read the rest of this whitepaper at our squidoo page on the history of labor relations communication

Today, organized labor has an agenda - and the pocketbook to back it. Unions like the Teamsters, UNITE-HERE, UAW and SEIU spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to elect officials who will help them get what they most want - more members, and more dues money. The proposed legislation aims to do everything from eliminate "Right to Work" laws to redefining who is and isn't a supervisor. The list is extensive, and it has many American employers alarmed.

The legislation that has gotten the most attention recently, however, is the "Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA)." It's an artfully created bill that has inspired thousands of employers to begin a proactive course of reinforcing their positive employee relations and continuing to communicate their union-free philosophy.

Read the rest of this whitepaper at our website on EFCA

Recently, there have been many changes in the workplace and in legislation related to organized labor and unions. However, many human resource professionals at union-free companies aren't aware of these shifts or even how organized labor can pose a threat to their companies.

This article provides background information on organized labor, how it can impact an organization, recent legislative developments, and information on how HR professionals can become further educated about this increasingly important topic. HR professionals must be proactive in learning this information before their company is blind sighted by a labor relations struggle.

Read the rest of this whitepaper at our squidoo page on HR pro's and labor

The success of an organization is determined by the strength of its people. For this reason, it is critical for employees to have access to training and learning opportunities that help them stay abreast of changing industry standards, techniques, and best practices. One method that organizations are using to enhance and develop their employee's skills is eLearning. This method is a superior alternative to traditional classroom settings for delivering training materials to employees within an organization.

Adult Learning Theory
For hundreds of years, the ways that humans acquire knowledge has been examined. In the 1970s, Malcolm Knowles began to look critically at the nuances of adult learners, developing his theory of adult learning (also known as andragogy). Knowles theory is based on the following five assumptions of adult learners:
- Self-concept: As a person matures, he or she becomes more self-directed.
- Experience: Adults draw on past experiences to learn.
- Readiness: Adult readiness to learn is related to their desire for new social roles.
- Orientation: Adults want to apply new knowledge immediately in problem-solving situations.
- Motivation: Adults are motivated to learn by internal factors.

Read the rest of this whitepaper at our squidoo page on eLearning

From Coca-Cola to Obama's presidential campaign to small business startups, innovative businesses leaders and marketing professionals have quickly recognized the utility of social media as a powerful marketing tool to attract consumers and build a positive brand image. However, more and more organizations are embracing social media for internal communications as well.

What is social media?
Social media technologies include weblogs, social networking sites (e.g., Facebook and MySpace), multimedia sites (e.g., YouTube and Flickr), and online product reviews. By encouraging collaboration among users, social media has revolutionized communication. It has transformed traditional media communication from one-way communication (one message to many) into an interactive dialogue between message creators and message recipients.

Odds are good that whether or not your organization has embraced social media, your employees have. A recently published IBM study revealed that no social media network sites ranked among the top 20 English-language Web sites in 2005; however, just three years later in 2008, social networking sites made up half of the same list. Approximately 75 percent of Internet users participate in social media, which is up from 56 percent in 2007. Additionally, Facebook reports its fastest growing demographic is users 35 years and older.

Read the rest of this whitepaper at our squidoo page on utilizing social media

In an age when nearly every single employee has his or her own mobile device-be it a smart phone, PDA or mobile computer-it is now easier to get in touch with each other than ever before. As management you have to know this, as you can be sure the union heads have already figured this out. Today's unions are stepping into the mobile communication world, and they are doing so rapidly. No longer do unions have to organize meetings via the break room. Instead, mass emails can be sent, Facebook groups can be created and Twitter can be used to raise awareness of union activities. In what used to take days, or weeks, to gain awareness via leaflets can now be done in a flash.

If companies continue to communicate a union-free philosophy via outdated tactics, chances of stopping a cardsigning campaign are greatly diminished.

Read the rest of this whitepaper at our squidoo page on modern unions and the web

Today, there are over 1.5 billion internet users worldwide. 70% of the people in North America are online. Almost 3 billion people use mobile phones, and 1.8 billion utilize text messaging. The majority of workers in the U.S. have mobile phones and/or computers with Internet access, and the capabilities of these devices increase every day. Your company may keep up with the latest technology and advances of the Internet to improve production and performance, but with large budgets and manpower, unions are usually many steps ahead in their use of technology to find and organize workers.

Web-based technology, including social networking sites, are being used more often in union organizing campaigns because of the effectiveness in spreading information to a wide audience and because employees have immediate access to union organizing material through the internet. The unions can reach not only employees in this way but also their families and spouses - strong influences on employee attitudes about pay, benefits and working conditions.

Read the rest of this whitepaper at UnionFree.com

Employee Orientation. Despite all efforts to the contrary, it often comes down to this: a recently overhauled employee orientation program makes use of the company's high quality marketing handouts. The program's knowledgeable, personable presenter uses good visuals like computer slides and is enthusiastic about what he writes on the easel. After the morning presentation, employees take a guided tour of the company, and go home at the end of Day One with their new (if somewhat wordy) employee handbook, securely tucked away for future reference. Yet these new employees go home and tell their families they're not sure they made the right decision. They are apprehensive, overwhelmed, and feel dramatically like outsiders.

Of course, the orientation program described here was developed with great intentions, but in today's hyper-competitive recruiting environment, intentions are not enough to maintain sought-after talent. There are 3 basic reasons that orientation programs fall short of their goals: lack of planning, disillusionment about the position itself and employees who feel that they simply "don't fit" the company.

Today, attracting qualified workers includes offering higher salaries, better benefits, improved training, and advancement opportunities. With these increased costs, it's no wonder retention has become the focus of so much attention lately. Indeed, orientation efforts have been elevated to a high priority in many companies in an effort to reduce turnover rates in excess of 25%. The effort has even been given a new name - employee onboarding - to encompass not just the first few days of a new employee's career, but a mainstreaming process that can take up to a year to complete.

Read the rest of this whitepaper at our squidoo page on orientation

Is your organization prepared to bounce back from a disaster-either man-made or natural? According to a 2005 study featured in the Harvard Business Review, 43 percent of businesses that suffer a disaster never adequately recover or resume operation following the incident. Of those that are able to resume operation, only 29 percent are open after two years. The best way to weather the devastating effects of a disaster is to have a well-defined business continuity plan (BCP) that all members of the organization are aware of.

According to the "Business Continuity Planning Booklet" published by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), business continuity planning establishes a basis for organizations "to recover and resume business processes when operations have been disrupted unexpectedly." A robust BCP should be part of every organization's risk management plan for protection against disasters caused by technology malfunctions, natural disasters, pandemics, or other catastrophic possibilities.

Read the rest of this whitepaper at our squidoo page on Business Continuity Plans

Executive Summary

Faced with healthcare costs that were increasing more than 10% a year, BMW of North America wanted to inform their employees of how those costs were affecting the BMW company, and consequently BMW employees. Projections helped BMW management communicate with their employees about ways to manage healthcare costs that would benefit the employees as well as the company. BMW implemented a program that not only cut costs but helped employees to become better healthcare consumers. By using a member of upper management as a narrator, who was straightforward and open about changes BMW would have to make to adjust to rising costs, the video proved to be credible and effective in communicating with employees.

Read the rest of this case study at our Squidoo page on benefits communication

In an unstable market, it is critical for organizations to leverage their resources to ensure that the business remains viable and successful. An often overlooked resource that can increase employee satisfaction and help build a positive brand image in the marketplace is employee benefits. The key to leveraging employee benefits is a well-developed benefits communication strategy.

In their seventh annual Study of Employee Benefits Trends, MetLife found that employees are placing a higher emphasis on their benefits package than in recent years. In fact, "41 percent of surveyed employees consider workplace benefits to be the foundation of their personal safety net." Yet, IOMA, a provider of business management information and products, states that employers only spend a small fraction of their benefits budget to ensure that "the whys and hows of their [benefit] plan's design, its unique features, and its benefits to the employee" are communicated to employees. With this in mind, it is vital for organizations to effectively communicate benefits to employees.

Communication is vital to supporting the employer brand-to both internal employees and potential employees.

Read the rest of this whitepaper at our Squidoo page on employee benefits

Today, more and more companies are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of effective training to the success of their organization, and of the impact that training has on the company's bottom line. In a larger sense, these same companies are also coming to more fully appreciate the value of knowledge, of learning in general, to their entire enterprise. It has long been accepted that
effective training reduces risks, helps retain employees and is essential for providing quality customer service. This evolution means that dedicated and effective training programs are considered part of the cost of doing business.

Learning Resources Network (www.lern.org) reports that 80 percent of instruction today is by live trainers, about six percent of that being done remotely, mostly online. Computer-based instruction accounts for 13% of all training, and the bulk of that is done via CD's. In the near future, we can expect these methods to evolve as we move culturally toward more knowledge-based employment.

To that end, the amount of training companies provide via their own intranets is growing, but so is delivery via the internet that allows employees to train from anywhere at any time. The important point here is that it is now becoming vital to deliver training in multiple ways in order meet the instructional needs and preferences of each company's unique workforce. Thus companies must not only be willing to make the investment in training but also be willing to explore new deliverability methods that inspire employee engagement.

But with this evolution, upper management now expects a faster ROI and more efficient implementation of the processes the training investment impacts. More than ever, training is not just about human capital, but about profitability and the bottom line. The result of this new emphasis is that it turns up the pressure for training accountability even higher, leaving many trainers and managers looking for ways to improve training as well as the potential return on any new investment in training.

Read the rest of this whitepaper at our squidoo page on training

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