National Dialogue on Workplace Flexibility Kansas City, March 24th

National Dialogue on Workplace Flexibility

Challenges and Solutions in the Retail Industry

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March 24, 2011

The Kauffman Conference Center

4801 Rockhill Rd, Kansas City, Missouri

8:30am-8:45am Opening Plenary (will be videotaped)

Welcome

Dr. Dorothy Witherspoon, Regional Administrator

Women’s Bureau

Remarks

Sara Manzano-Diaz, National Director

Women’s Bureau

8:45am-9:45am Panel Discussion: Setting the Stage: Flexibility Key Trends and Best Practices in the Retail Industry

Moderator- Olivia Dorsey, Community Affairs Director, KMBC-TV 9

Panelists

“The Business Case for Flexibility” –

Tina Klocke, CPA, Chief Operations and Financial Bear,

Secretary and Treasurer, Build-A-Bear Dialogue, Inc., St. Louis, MO

“A Comprehensive Approach to WorkLife Balance” –

Brady Garren, Employee Relations Manager, Nebraska Furniture or

“A Worker’s Perspective”

Kathy Fedman, Owner, Alamar Uniform, Kansas City, MO

“Trends Policies and Innovative Approaches

Dr. Kelli Schutte, Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Business and Leadership, William Jewell College, Liberty, Missouri

9:45am-10:00am Break

10:00am-11:00am Dialogue Breakout Sessions

Dialogue 1: How to Approach Flexibility: The Nuts and Bolts of Implementation Room 1- Paseo Room

Facilitator: Dr. Dorothy Witherspoon

Subject Matter Experts:

Doug Pedersen, HR Systems, Inc. and Leslie Elwell, Director - Sprint Human Resources Planning

Dialogue 2: Preparing for Change: The Role of Workplace Culture Room 2 – Brush Creek Room

Facilitator: Sara Manzano-Diaz

Subject Matter Experts:

Tina Klocke, Build-A-Bear, and Brady Garren, Nebraska Furniture

Dialogue 3: The Workers’ Perspectives Room 3 – Troost Room

Facilitator: Carla Tillmon, Program Analyst, Women’s Bureau

Subject Matter Experts:

Kathy Fedman, Alamar Uniform, Dr. Kelli Schutte, William Jewell College

Dr. Deborah Smith, University of Missouri-Kansas City

11:00am-11:15am Break

11:15am-11:20am Dialogue Report Out – Dorothy Witherspoon

(report out on best practices, etc. from the dialogue breakout sessions)

11:20am-11:40am Keynote Speaker

Steve Wing, President

Corporate Voices for Working Families

11:40am-12:00pm Wrap-up/ Sara’s Closing Remarks

After the Dialogue, a focus group session will be convened with 7 – 10 retail companies for 40 – 50 minutes facilitated by Social Dynamics (the national contractor).

Free HR items

We continue to get requests for free HR materials like forms and templates. We have started to offer more of these at our website location: www.hrsincorporated.com.

To Outsource or not?

I've talked with many companies in the past six months about how they manage their employees. Several of these companies continue to have a dedicated HR person to service the employee base. The problem that each continues to face is the cost of having the HR function as a full time paid employee. As a consultant, I obviously have a bias toward outsourcing; "use me, I'm better than your employee". In all honesty, you have to have the right level of service for your company and your employees. Outsourcing is not for every company. For some it is and works great. In my experience, many time the full time HR person is what the company needs but when they get in trouble or over their head, that is when to call in a more experienced person. So, outsource or not? I guess I would answer that by asking an additional question, are you receiving the HR services you need at a cost-effective level? If you are, great. If not, give me a call.

New Hire Plan

If you hired me and I was going to start on Monday, May 11th, what would your plan be?

Did you know that many unemployment charges by employees who are let go in the first 30 days of employment are won by the employee! Do you know why? It's because of a lack of a training plan for the new employee.

Simple rule to follow: If I started for you today, what is my training plan for the 1st day, 1st week adn 1st month? Have it outlined and try to follow it. Coach me through each segment and guide me along.

Flex Time

Anyone use flex time to off set the need for a layoff? More information coming on this option. The Department of Labor and HR Systems are working on four presentations on this subject. They will be held in Omaha, Des Moines and Kansas City.

One in Five

Did you know that in a recent study by a California law firm, one in five managers will be involved in some kind of litigation? It could be an EEOC charge, Human Rights charge or a direct lawsuit.

How have you prepared your supervisors?

Use it or lose it

If you are an employer and your employees do not use all their vacation do they lose it? If they don't how much do they get to roll over?