As far as firsts, SHRM included a social media lounge this year for conference attendees to stop by, network and most importantly…tweet.  With that being said, I hope to be more active on here in upcoming weeks!  Have a great holiday everyone.

The settlement resulted from a November 2008 Form I-9 inspection of Abercrombie & Fitch’s retail stores in Michigan.  The audit uncovered numerous technology-related deficiencies in the company’s electronic I-9 verification system.  No instance of the knowing hire of an unauthorized alien was discovered.

The settlement is the highest ever for a technical violation, according to Robert Loughran, an attorney with FosterQuan LLP in Austin, Texas.  He said Abercrombie & Fitch used home-grown software that left out a key component – having individuals attest to their immigration status.

The settlement should prompt employers to make sure they do due diligence when selecting I-9 software, he added.  He described the settlement amount as shockingly large for a company that appeared to do everything right except for a mistake in the software that it used.”  The moral of the story – always have home-grown programs legally vetted before they are implemented.

This has always been an interesting debate for me.  Very early on in my career, the HR Department (for the company I worked for at the time) was told that the HR Director (my boss) would now be reporting through the COO (the COO reported to the CEO).  The HR Director was furious and went through an epic battle over the fact that she felt HR should report directly to the CEO.  At the time, I asked her why.  Her advice made sense; I’ve never forgotten it and still give the same advice to this day.

HR should not report through operations because normally, HR and operations are at odds.  Working in HR, sometimes you’re the hero and sometimes you’re the thorn in the side.  But it’s HR’s job to help operations accomplish what they want to, while protecting the company and/or serving as the conscience of the organization at the same time.  And you can’t have the top HR executive reporting to operations because that could then become a conflict of interest if the two sides aren’t agreeing.  Besides, most times, operations managers don’t have any HR knowledge anyway, so that in itself is reason enough.  The HR boss needs to report to the CEO, who has oversight of everything.

I honestly just shake my head when I hear about an HR Manager or HR Director reporting through Accounting.  It’s defeating the HR Department’s purpose without even realizing it.

As an HR Professional, I will tell you that this book is an example of the many tools and resources that can be provided in outplacement packets to people that are being laid off.

Additional information can be obtained on Dahlstrom’s web site.  For a while, they were also advertising with SHRM and offering free copies of this book to HR Professionals.  If you’re a SHRM member, you could also check out the banner ads on their home page to see if it’s still being offered.

“After nearly three months of behind-the-scenes maneuvers, a bipartisan summit and numerous speeches, the final vote by Congress on health care reform legislation appears imminent.  According to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the vote could come as early as Saturday, March 20, 2010, which at least one observer said was setting up a showdown of “epic proportions.”  If you’re a SHRM member, you can read the full article here.

Admittedly, it’s been interesting to hear the arguments on both sides leading up to this.  Personally, I have gone on record as saying that I don’t think the final legislation will look like what’s being proposed now.  And I cannot imagine an insurance world where people can pick up coverage and/or drop it at any time without being responsible for any back-premiums or pre-existing conditions.  So needless to say, this weed could be historic and I, for one, will be curious to see what happens…

But the good news is that we’re back with a vengeance and we’ll be updating this site more regularly moving forward.

Thank you for your continued support.

Our first stop will be in Ohio at the 37^th Annual Ohio Human Resource Conference.  It’s at the Kalahari Resort from September 16^th through the 18^th.

We’ll be talking to HR Professionals and vendors – and may even take a few trips down their awesome water slides if time permits.

There will be more information to come on this event, as well as initiatives in other states…

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Hopefully this post will help clarify some options available to you, if you work in HR or you “also do HR” as a part of your job.

I’ve been a SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) member since 1997.  There are over 250,000 members worldwide.  Their web site is the first thing I check in the morning and the last thing I check in the evening.  I’m not in sales, but even I would tell you that if you’re not a SHRM member and you work (in any capacity) in the field of HR, you’re doing yourself a tremendous disservice.  OK, taken from the actual SHRM web site (Membership Center), “If you need to have access to industry best practices, sample forms, policies and general HR information, timely legislative updates and the ability to ask specific HR questions, then SHRM membership is for you!”  Need I say more?

Whether or not you’re a SHRM member, you have the ability to join a SHRM chapter (sometimes called a local chapter).  There are more than 575 of them.  Most major cities have them.  I’ve been involved with one since 2004.  Again, shamelessly stolen from the SHRM web site, “The purpose of chapters is to provide a local forum for your personal and professional development; provide an opportunity to develop your leadership, managerial, public speaking and group decision-making skills; provide a local networking arena; and to provide a focus for legislative attention to local, state, and national human resource management issues.”  I hated to just cut and paste those quotes, but I couldn’t have said it any better.

SHRM would say that you should join both and I agree.  Honestly, if a SHRM chapter is running properly, you won’t see too much overlap with SHRM anyway.  So look at it this way – you get the big picture from SHRM and advance the profession locally through a chapter.

OK, really quick, if you’re a SHRM member, but not a member of a SHRM chapter, you are called a SHRM at-large member (a highly desirable person to SHRM chapters).

Please allow me to recap – networking, education and resources!!!

Thisis just a friendly reminder from HR Whiz.

HR Whiz was created by two seasoned HR Professionals who have more than 30 years of field and corporate HR experience in industries such as retail, manufacturing, health care and media.

Our vision is for HR Whiz to be a full-functioning and resourceful HR blog.  Meaning, we will offer continuously updated content in the form of our own posts, Guest Posts, commentary, networking, links, product information and more.  Basically, we will be a one-stop-shop for the busy HR Professional out there (or anyone that also does HR as a part of their job).  From recruiting to employment law to legislation to strategic practices; we’ll cover it for you.

A good blog can be judged by visitors vs. content vs. comments – and here we will strive to bring you all three.

We just launched on July 9^th, so more updates will be available shortly.  Please visit back soon!