These are challenging economic times. Let SHRM help you to do more with less. Join us at SHRM’s Staffing Management Conference & Exposition—the only SHRM conference dedicated to helping HR professionals who specialize in talent management stay up to date with the latest trends and techniques in their field. Please check back as descriptions may be updated periodically.
Click on each session to see the details. There are four sessions that are repeated.
Tuesday April 28 at 1:15-2:30pm
Recruiting Metrics: Designing Measurement Tools for Today’s Recruiting Initiatives that Demonstrate ROI
April 28 at 1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
Workplace Application: This session will focus on the effect the economy has had on today’s recruiter and the appropriate metrics that should be utilized. You will learn how to apply these metrics to your current job to increase efficiency, productivity, accountability, and hiring success.
Although recruiting methods and the economic conditions continue to change, in most cases recruiting metrics have not. Outdated recruiting metrics cannot be enforced against today’s recruiting initiatives and be expected to provide proper measurement data. Recruiting metrics help recruiters make informed decisions when it comes to candidate quality…and candidate quality has never been as important as it is today due to our current economy. If used properly, recruiting metrics can drive increased credibility and consistent results within your recruiting organization. This presentation will reflect on the role of the traditional recruiter, the most common metrics used and the problems associated with these metrics.
Presenter: Stephen A. Lowisz, president and CEO, Qualigence, Livonia, Mich.
The Power of Employer Branding To Attract and Retain Talent
April 28 at 1:15 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. April 29 at 2:00 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.
Workplace Application: Attend this session and learn the value and impact of managing your employer brand internally and externally in this evolving economy; HR’s role in managing the employer brand and leveraging the involvement of critical functions; and the six critical steps to successful employer branding.
The work of employer branding is quickly being recognized by leading companies as a business driver to ensure the best talent selects their company of the competition. In order to compete and retain the best talent in difficult economic times, smart companies are building and leveraging their employer brand to be able to sustain a strategy that attracts and engages the best talent.
Presenter: Kristen Weirick, director, Talent Acquisition, Whirlpool Corporation, Benton Harbor, Mich.
Interactive Recruitment Marketing: Navigating the Internet To Attract ‘A’-Level Talent
Workplace Application: This program will illustrate just how complicated online recruiting has become while showing how it is possible to cut through the clutter and develop the most effective on-line strategy.
Navigating the world of online recruitment is an ever-changing, and often complicated, endeavor. Understanding the navigation and response patterns of potential candidates through the Internet marketplace is critical to gaining their attention. Gone are the days when job seekers went straight to the newspaper classifieds. The Internet has caused the process to become more fragmented and organizations must now go beyond traditional mediums to ensure that they will reach and attract the right talent. It can be difficult to know where to turn so join us as we put a strategic map in place to navigate this new landscape.
Presenter: Matthew V. Adam, vice president & talent strategist, NAS Recruitment Communications, Cincinnati, Ohio
Workplace Application: This session will give you helpful tips for evaluating ATS and making purchasing decisions by examining the different options available for every company size and budget.
Automated Applicant Tracking Systems run the gamut in terms of cost and functionality, so how do you know which one is right for you? During this interactive session, key components that make ATS invaluable in placing the right candidate on the job will be highlighted. You will leave with the knowledge of what features in ATS are most likely to yield an ROI to help justify expenditures, regardless of your companies’ size or budget.
Presenter: Michele Whitehead, PHR, manager of HR services, Berkshire Associates, Inc., Columbia, Md.
From Design to Delivery: Performance Improvement that Works!
Workplace Application: This session will provide new perspectives on improving performance within organizations and will share strategies for diagnosis, design, delivery and evaluation of performance improvement initiatives.
You have done your job and hired the best the market has to offer, but are you ready to ensure their performance will remain stellar? Limits on time, money and expertise are real-world barriers to performance improvement success. Come learn fresh perspectives on choosing, designing and delivering training and other performance improvement initiatives that work. By sharing best practices and success stories, you will learn innovative strategies and leave with new tools that are ready-to-use in your unique environment.
Presenter: Laura Ford, president, New Avenues, Inc., Moline, Ill.
How To Turn Your Hiring Managers into Recruiting Partners
Workplace Application: This session will show you how to create a culture of recruiting ownership within your company and better leverage your hiring managers as you work to hire great people.
Getting your hiring managers to engage and partner with you is the key to winning in recruiting. This fun, how-to session will give you 10 best-practice techniques you can use to get your hiring managers and teams to take more ownership for recruiting great people. You will learn how to be a better partner and create better partners in the management teams you work with. No theoretical consultant-speak here. All examples and best practice techniques are based on in-the-trenches corporate recruiting successes and failures.
Presenter: John Vlastelica, president/managing partner, Recruiting Toolbox, Inc., Redmond, Wash.
Becoming the Employer of Choice in a Tough Economy: 10 Strategies for Recruiting and Retaining the Best Talent
Workplace Application: This interactive session will uncover what employers of choice do well so that you can leverage best practices to recruit and retain the top talent in today’s challenging environment and in the future.
Recruiting and retaining the best talent are among the top concerns for CEOs, CFOs, HR executives, and other company stakeholders. What are the best practices for recruiting and retaining top talent? In what direction is staffing management heading, and what challenges and opportunities exist? What are the success factors of employers-of-choice that make them competitive? Find out the facts from SHRM research that reveal what companies are doing and plan to do, and learn approaches to develop a successful talent management strategy.”
Presenter: Steve Williams, Ph.D., SPHR, director of research, Society for Human Resource Management, Alexandria, Va.
WHOOPS! Avoiding Legal Liability in Your Staffing Procedures
Workplace Application: Join this interactive session as we consider the myriad issues related to staffing in today’s economy. You are not alone if you are considering alternative staffing strategies due to constrained labor budgets. Headlines tell us that companies are implementing furloughs, mandatory reductions in hours (full-to-part-time), compressed workweeks, voluntary and mandatory reductions in force (RIF). Each has its own personal and legal considerations.
Join this interactive session as we consider the myriad issues related to staffing in today’s economy that include and are not limited to compliance under the FLSA, ADEA, OWBPA, WARN Act, and adverse impact analysis, as well as the human portion of this equation, and how to prepare information that can help support your employees through these difficult times.
Presenter: Christine V. Walters, MAS, J.D., SPHR, independent consultant, FiveL Company, Westminster, Md.
Recognition Preferences of the Emerging Workforce
April 29 at 7:00 a.m. - 8:15 a.m.
Workplace Application: This session will help you design recognition programs with cross-generational appeal.
A recent SHRM survey shows that millennials have higher expectations than any other generation. Will your employee recognition programs be able to engage and retain them? This session will provide you with tips on creating and updating programs for cross-generational appeal.
Presenter: Cindy Ventrice, president, Potential Unlimited, Santa Cruz, Calif.
Retaining and Recruiting Quality People
Workplace Application: This session will teach you how to attract quality people and, ultimately, how to retain them.
If you are willing to recruit just anyone, you will get people who make your business environment unhealthy. If you are particular and recruit quality people, you will design a healthy environment that retains quality people and creates an environment that is attractive to the quality people you want to recruit. Richard Flint will show you the process for creating a company environment that is designed to retain quality people and recruit people who will strengthen the company, which is even more crucial during these difficult times.
Presenter: Richard Flint, CSP, chairman of the board, Richard Flint Seminars, Newport News, Va.
CHECK THEM, Please! A Guide To Validating References
Workplace Application: You will learn a step-by-step method to validate references that yields greater results than traditional methods, gains deeper insight into past performance and protects the organization at the same time.
Validating references is a critical part of the selection process. Traditional reference checking fails to yield the necessary information needed to make a great hiring decision. Red tape and the traditional name, rank and serial number causes more organizations to skip this critical part of the selection process. Learn how to create a validation process that gains a deeper understanding of a candidate’s past performance and behavior.
Presenter: Rick Tiemann, president, The Executive Group, Valparaiso, Ind.
Social Network Sites: Can You Always Trust What You See?
Workplace Application: This session will help you understand the possible negative ramifications of using information from social networking sites in your employment screening processes.
The social network revolution has changed many communication channels, but should it affect the way job applicants are screened? Sites such as Facebook, My Space and LinkedIn contain a wealth of personal information, but should you trust the information found on these sites? Does this practice pose a threat to possibly violating FCRA and EEOC guidelines and other best practices?
Presenter: Jason B. Morris, president and COO, employeescreenIQ, Cleveland, Ohio
How Employee Commitment & Involvement Affect the Bottom Line
April 29 at 7:00 a.m. - 8:15 a.m.April 29 at 2:00 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.
Workplace Application: This interactive session will provide insight into employee engagement by identifying what it is and why it is important to the bottom line.
Dr. Dodaro will explore employee engagement: what it is, how it has evolved, what drives employees to engage, and why it is becoming such a hot and important topic in today’s challenging climate. She will provide statistics that support the significant effect it has on the bottom line and will discuss best practices that are being used by organizations both nationally and internationally to increase employee commitment to, and involvement with, their organizations.
Presenter: Dr. Kathleen Dodaro, president, Dodaro & Associates HR Consulting, Westminster, Colo.
Building a Recognition Culture
Workplace Application: Learn why employee recognition is essential in the workplace, review the keys for developing an effective recognition program and understand how to put them into practice in your organization.
In today's complex environment, employee recognition can go a long way in retaining them. Unfortunately, recognition is often overlooked in organizations. Working in a culture that does not support recognition can lead to burnout, decreased performance, demotivation and reduced profitability. This session teaches strategies for aligning employee recognition initiatives with corporate objectives and provides a step-by- step guide for implementing a strategic employee recognition program.
Presenter: Mike Byam, Terryberry Managing Partner, Terryberry Company, Grand Rapids, Mich.
Here Today, Here Tomorrow: Proven Ways to Engage, Retain and Motivate Your Workforce
Workplace Application: This session will help you learn a five-step process to create a positive work environment that attracts, keeps, and motivates your workforce which is increasingly important in these difficult times.
The backbone of any organization is the people on the front line. During these turbulent times, success depends on engaging their creative abilities and managing the talent and potential of the entire workforce, from the bottom to the top. This session will show managers, owners, supervisors, and HR professionals how to motivate, retain, engage make accountable and coach people toward higher performance. You will gain a comprehensive range of very practical and highly effective leadership techniques and approaches that can be implemented immediately.
Presenter: Gregory P. Smith, president & lead navigator, Chart Your Course International, Conyers, Ga.
Metrics Are Easy! Analytics? Now We’re Talkin’!
April 29 at 10:45 a.m. - NoonApril 30 at 9:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Workplace Application: Given the attention that organizations are paying to the bottom line and the scrutiny of budgets, it is critical to demonstrate ROI. This session will allow you to immediately apply three questions to your recruiting initiatives to validate the return on investment and impact to business operations.
Tired of the same metrics? What if there was a session that had only one slide of numbers and charts – yet allowed you to go back to the office with a fresh perspective and energized about measuring? How would you react if we told you to stay away from benchmarks? We’ll share with you basic approaches to analyzing your initiatives, their effectiveness and validate the positive to your company’s bottom line. Do you know how to validate your impact on shareholder value? We’ll also show you how, during a downturn, to utilize your recruiting team to add value and save the company money without laying them off.
Presenter: Geoffrey M. Dubiski, MS, CIR, CDR, chief talent scout, principal & managing director, Sumner Grace & Associates, Galway, N.Y.
Even In Tough Times, Remember to Take Care of The Candidate!
April 29 at 10:45 a.m. - Noon
Workplace Application: This session will help you enhance your candidate management strategies to impact more positive organic employer branding and continuous candidate relationships (even if you have to say “no”).
All recruiting is about effective relationships. How you manage the candidate experience can have a significant effect on your employer brand. In tough economic times, we often have more candidates to manage for less open jobs. In this fun and lively session, learn best practices for candidate management including effective contracting, communication and measurement. We’ll discuss developing and integrating candidate survey tools to learn what your candidates are really saying about your recruiting process. Since we all have to say “no” more often than “yes”, we’ll discuss strategies for saying “no” and leveraging declinations into continuous relationship building that can pay off rewards now and when the economy and jobs situation improves.
Presenter: Jeremy M. Eskenazi, SPHR, managing principal, Riviera Advisors, Inc., Long Beach, Calif.
Bet On It: Design Your Company Web Site to Enhance Hiring and Retention and Influence Prospects to Stay in Touch for the Turnaround
Workplace Application: At the end of this session, you will be able to assess if your online staffing resources are aligned with your goals to attract and retain high-performing candidates and you will have 15 ideas to consider from benchmark companies with the most effective productive processes.
In a world that is constantly challenging you to adapt and be ever more flexible, your company web site’s staffing pages are becoming even more important as the initial and increasingly the primary means that future applicants and even your employees will get to know you. Their interaction with your virtual content and career opportunities can influence whether they choose you or stay with you. This session draws upon successful online practices from some of the world's most competitive firms (Fortune 500; Best Companies in America to Work For)and features a checklist of objective, measurable standards to assess your current web site.
Presenter: Gerry Crispin, SPHR, principal, CareerXroads, East Brunswick, N.J.
Global HR and Global Staffing in an Economic Downturn
Workplace Application: Attend this session and gain a clearer awareness and understanding of tools and techniques that HR practitioners can use to manage changing international workforce conditions.
Do you have or share responsibility for international HR accountabilities? Wondering how to manage them as the global economy changes? In this session, briefly review globalization, its key drivers and internationalization trends as they impact HR processes. Then learn how you can handle the challenges they present the HR function – staffing and beyond – and review tips, tools and sources of information that help you add value to international operations in tough economic times.
Presenter: Howard A. Wallack, GPHR, director, International Programs, Society for Human Resource Management, Alexandria, Va.
The Three Pots of Gold of Affirmative Action
Workplace Application: This session will help you understand the three pots of gold in the Affirmative Action Plan (AAP) and practical tips and strategies to help you successfully define your AAP.
The OFCCP collected more than $103 million dollars in two consecutive years in monetary recovery of damages. This session will focus on practical tips and risk management techniques beyond the AAP. Make no mistake, it is about the gold: your money. In this interactive and fun session, you will learn: What are the three pots of gold? What is the OFCCP doing? What should you be doing? Are you minimizing your risk? Are you ready for an OFCCP audit?
Presenter: Tim Orellano, president, The Human Resources Team, Little Rock, Ark.
Elevating Expectations of Engagement—Driving Accountability Systems
Workplace Application: This session will prepare you to appreciate the organizational payback from using accountability systems to create consistency and focus.
To sustain a culture of accountability, an organization must create, document and audit business systems that support an accountability mindset. Unfortunately, many organizations fail to view accountability as a key business process and miss the importance of the role it will play in re-reengaging your existing workers in this uncertain environment of downsizing and layoffs. Failure to design and deploy sustained processes often results in an organization continuing to operate in a “blame” mode that is perceived by the workforce as a lack of true commitment to the culture of accountability. This presentation is dedicated to visible and auditable accountability systems essential to sustaining business acumen and urgency.
Presenter: Shane Yount, senior partner/owner, Competitive Solutions, Inc., Alpharetta, Ga.
The Do’s and Don’ts of Hiring and Interviewing
Workplace Application: This session will focus on what you can and cannot do during the hiring process.
Hiring the best applicant is imperative, and doing so without creating a legal liability is essential. In today’s litigious environment, it is necessary to take the time upfront to do things right. This session will examine the entire hiring process, including: taking appropriate precautions before the first interview is conducted; avoiding unlawful questions during the interview; and documenting the decision-making process. The use of behavioral interviewing, background checks, proper documentation and other necessary pre-offer recruitment techniques will be discussed.
Presenter: Michael S. Cohen, partner, Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen, LLP, Philadelphia, Pa.
'Closing the Candidate': Sales Skill Development for the Corporate Recruiter
Workplace Application: You will be engaged, challenged and leave with ideas that can immediately impact your organization.
It’s all about the talent. As talent acquisition strategy evolves, the skill set of the corporate recruiter is going to increasingly mandate more sales and marketing acumen. This program will introduce professional sales skills, techniques and approaches proven successful for client attraction/retention and transferable to support the attraction/retention of “A”-level talent. If you have 20 open requisitions, candidates in the pipeline and competitive offers extended, this program can help improve your results. Key insights include:
Presenter: Ryan Estis, chief talent strategist, NAS Recruitment Communications, Minneapolis, Minn.
Why Employee Brand Promises Matter: Recruiting Gen X and Gen Y in a Turbulent Economy
April 29 at 2:00 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.
Workplace Application: Come learn the elements of an effective employee brand promise (EBP), and how to use it in recruiting Gen X and Gen Y candidates.
During an economic slowdown paying close attention to your recruitment and retention practices remain critically important. This is particularly true for Gen X and Gen Y, who may have fewer options available, but continue to be critical investors of their talents. While the challenge of retaining may decrease, the challenge to have engaged employees who produce more with less increases. Come learn how a well constructed and executed employee brand promise will help you to recruit and engage the talent you need for performance.
Presenter: Adwoa K. Buahene, M.A., co-founder, managing partner, n-gen People Performance, Inc., Ontario, Canada
Hiring SMARTT
Workplace Application: This session provides specific how-to tools for hiring the right person for the right job by outlining six comprehensive steps for HR and beyond.
The current business environment has provided employers with an ever-expanding applicant pool. Having the tools to make the right hiring decisions has never been more important. Hiring SMARTT shows you the six steps to get (and keep) the right person for the right job. This time-tested process creates a good fit for the candidate and the organization’s culture, team, and the job itself. With a tactical focus on the hiring process from the job description to behavior-based questioning to effective onboarding, the hiring SMARTT method gets candidates closer than ever to the perfect match.
Presenter: Vicki Hess, CSP, RN, MS, principal, Catalyst Consulting, LLC, Owings Mills, Md.
The Power of Employer Branding to Attract and Retain Talent
Repeated from Tuesday at 1:15 p.m.
Workplace Application: Attend this session and learn the value and impact of managing your employer brand internally and externally in this evolving economy; HR’s role in managing the employer brand and leveraging the involvement of critical functions; and the six critical step to successful employer branding.
The work of employer branding is quickly being recognized by leading companies as a business driver to ensure the best talent selects their company from the competition. In order to compete and retain the best talent in difficult economic times, smart companies are building and leveraging their employer brand to be able to sustain a strategy that attracts and engages the best talent.
Repeated on Wednesday at 7:00 a.m.
Workplace Application: This session will provide insight into employee engagement by identifying what it is, why it is important to the bottom line and how current best-practices organizations are using it to increase employee commitment in today’s workplace.
In this interactive session, Dr. Dodaro will explore employee engagement: What it is, how it has evolved, what drives employees to engage, and why it is becoming such a “hot” and important topic in today’s challenging climate. She will provide statistics that support the significant effect it has on the bottom line and will discuss best practices that are being utilized by organizations both nationally and internationally to increase employee commitment to and involvement with their organizations.
April 29 at 2:00 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.April 30 at 9:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Workplace Application: You will understand how interviewing is evolving, how to audit your own interviewing practices, and how to adapt your interviewing practices for the modern candidate.
It is one of the oldest and longest-standing business practices we use today, but the hiring interview needs to keep up with the times. While staffing process and technology have changed dramatically, most organizations use the same old interview process. As the key interaction between the hiring manager and candidate, the interview is a critical time for collecting data and influencing the candidate’s decision. We will discuss what makes an interview successful, what can go wrong, and how you can examine your current practices.
Presenter: Scott Erker, Ph.D., senior vice president, Development Decisions International, Bridgeville, Pa.
Workplace Application: Attend this session to hear from panel of experts on the different aspects of social media and their impact on HR.
Social media has become more popular - and more mainstream - with the advent of Twitter and the proliferation of social media sites such as Linked In, Facebook and MySpace. From using social media to research potential employees to utilizing blogs as recruiting mechanisms, social media has had a huge impact on HR. Attend this session and hear from a panel of experts about the implications that social media has had and will continue to have on recruiting and the HR profession as a whole.
Facilitator: Chad Houghton, director of E-media, Advertising, and Business Development, SHRM, Alexandria, Va.
Trendsetting HR—Unique Employment Laws from the Golden State
Workplace Application: This session will outline California’s unique employment law challenges and help you become aware of your risks by not being in compliance with state regulations.
Business growth in California has surpassed every state and many nations, creating the eighth largest economy worldwide. Employment laws and regulations specific to California have created a highly-litigious environment. California’s employment laws take precedence for California employees over those in other states and some federal laws. Any company that has employees in California needs to be informed and prepared to be in compliance with state laws.
Presenter: Mark W. Wilbur, president & CEO, Employers Group, Los Angeles, Calif.
Taking the Lead
Workplace Application: This course will leave you with skills, goals and objectives to develop those you lead to higher levels of success.
Today, managers and supervisors are too often given the charge to manage but are never taught to truly lead others. They never learn the essential skills necessary for hiring effectively, developing masterfully and retaining skillfully. Great leaders surround themselves with the best. They’re inspiring, have a high level of integrity, can challenge and motivate others, are vision-oriented, and goal-driven. Leaders effectively communicate their goals, are “other focused” and have mastered the art of guiding others to higher levels of productivity and satisfaction.
Presenter: Jennifer Curtet, president, Motivational Speaker/Author, Aristocrat Enterprises, Inc., Las Vegas, Nev.
Seven Marketing Techniques that Motivate Talent
April 29 at 3:30 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.
Workplace Application: This session will help you attract and keep today’s best talent by using advanced marketing and employment branding techniques.
To recruit and retain talent in today’s tough times, senior-level HR executives need new tools. Based on innovative marketing techniques, this lively talk proves that employment branding is more than a trend; it is an essential leadership tool. Using high-impact graphics and compelling case studies, Donatella Giacometti will engage you to rethink your corporate role and its influence on company performance.
Presenter: Donatella Giacometti, CEO, Ten Second World, Inc., New York, N.Y.
Lilly Ledbetter, Compensation Discrimination and You
Workplace Application: Learn all about the newest employment law, the Obama administration’s stepped up efforts to address compensation discrimination and what you can do to reduce the risk in your workplace.
The passage of the Ledbetter Act has opened the doors to increased wage discrimination litigation. In addition, OFCCP and EEOC are increasing their focus on compensation discrimination. In this session, we will take an in-depth look at the legislation, exploring what it will mean for employers with the end focus on the steps that HR professionals can take to proactively reduce the risk of future pay discrimination claims and stay out of the crosshairs of government agencies.
Presenter: Leslie E. Silverman, partner, Proskauer Rose, LLP, Washington, D.C.
Recruiting with the Customer in Mind
Workplace Application: In tough times, superior customer service makes a critical difference. This interactive presentation discusses what makes great customer service, what customer service is important, which companies have made excellent customer service their hallmark, and how we can translate those examples into our health care recruitment programs.
This session explores the importance of customer service as a core competency in recruitment. Recruiters have many customers: candidates, internal managers and staff, and colleagues. You will learn how to assess customer service and measure improvements with specific emphasis placed on technology and how it has impacted customer service, communication, consistency and timeliness. You will also identify the impediments to delivering excellent customer service in recruitment. With this knowledge, you will be able to build a best practice model for health care recruitment customer care.
Presenter: Andrea “Corky” Holm, RN, manager, strategic recruitment, Atlantic Health, Morristown, N.J.
How To Recruit and Retain Star Employees
Workplace Application: This session will help you keep your talented employees as well as recruit top talent.
Skills, knowledge, experience and relationships walk out the door every time a leader or baby boomer retires. Knowledgeable employees take time and money to replace. Companies need to groom today’s younger workforce to assume future leadership roles. Ms. Durkin will address how managers can recruit and grow the leaders of tomorrow; retain star performers; attract and hire the most talented employees; create a culture that honors experience, skills and knowledge; and create employee, customer, and brand loyalty.
Presenter: Dianne Durkin, president, Loyalty Factor, Portsmouth, N.H.
Recruiting and Retaining a Diverse Workforce: New Rules for a New Generation
Workplace Application: This session is an integrated diversity in leadership training program that provides recruitment and career management strategies for employees in the minority—and creates allies in the majority.
In various contexts, employees in the minority—whether based on race, color, sexual orientation, gender, age, national origin or even a characteristic that is not apparent—may feel marginalized by subtle (and not so subtle) encounters with majority members of the company. When Generation X and Y employees encounter such marginalization, the result is often low morale, high attrition rates, difficulty recruiting talent and even lawsuits. During this session, you will learn how to identify these barriers to inclusion and create strategies for overcoming and preventing them.
Presenter: Natalie Holder-Winfield, Esq., diversity and employment law consultant, QUEST Diversity Initiatives, Greenwich, Conn.
FMLA: Strategies to Minimize the Cost and Disruption of Intermittent Leave
Workplace Application: You will learn strategies to minimize the cost and disruption to the workplace when faced with an employee requiring intermittent and unpredictable leave under the FMLA.
Managing intermittent leave under the FMLA can be a real challenge, particularly when the need for leave is unpredictable. The resulting unplanned absences or tardiness can increase costs, make staffing difficult, affect productivity and cause employee morale issues. In this session we will explore strategies to minimize these staffing issues, including how to challenge the certification, communicate effectively with the employee’s physician and options for transferring the employee to another position.
Presenter: Cynthia L. Gibson, attorney, Katz, Teller, Brant & Hild, Cincinnati, Ohio
Dealing with the Emotional Consequences of Layoffs
Workplace Application: This session will provide insight into the often "unseen" consequences of being the person or part of the team who has to deliver the bad news.
Given the current state of the economy and the business climate, many organizations find themselves faced with the challenge of downsizing their workforces. Drawing on personal experiences in an industry that underwent significant consolidation over a ten-year period, Dennis Ryan, SPHR, will discuss strategies to help you and your colleagues become better prepared to handle this challenge and move forward.
Presenter: Dennis M. Ryan, SPHR, financial advisor, NPA Financial, Clifton Park, N.Y.
A+B+C=Wow! Using Total Rewards to Your Strategic Advantage
Workplace Application: This session will enable you to understand what total rewards is and to develop a program for your organization that generates positive return on investment.
All types of organizations use total rewards to attain human capital goals. During this session, we’ll explore what total rewards is, programs that comprise total rewards, and how to effectively communicate total rewards. We will also examine how to use total rewards to your strategic advantage when competing for talent. You will come away with concrete action items for immediate use and long-term food for thought.
Presenter: Jennifer C. Loftus, SPHR, CCP, CBP, GRP, national director, Astron Solutions, New York, N.Y.
A Solution to Your No. 1 Business Problem
April 30 at 9:45 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Workplace Application: This session will introduce a simple four-step method for hiring the right person with a 90% success rate as compared to the average hiring success rate of only 50%.
The biggest problem in business today is making hiring mistakes that lead to costly problems and management headaches. A single hiring mistake can cost an organization millions of dollars, waste valuable time and result in a loss of productivity. In times when budgets are lean and being scrutinized, this is just as important as ever! Learn how to improve your hiring decisions to achieve organizational success. The secret is in defining “A” performance for every role in your organization by using a powerful yet simple tool called the Scorecard.
Presenter: Randy Street, partner, ghSmart & Company, Inc., Atlanta, Ga.
Metrics are Easy! Analytics? Now We’re Talkin’!
Repeated from Wednesday at 10:45 a.m.
Tired of the same metrics? What if there was a session that had only one slide of numbers and charts— yet allowed you to go back to the office with a fresh perspective and energized about measuring? How would you react if we told you to stay away from benchmarks? We’ll share with you basic approaches to analyzing your initiatives, their effectiveness and validate the positive to your company’s bottom line. Do you know how to validate your impact on shareholder value? We’ll also show you how, during a downturn, to utilize your recruiting team to add value and save the company money without laying them off.
Reinventing Yesterday’s Hiring Interview for Today’s Candidate
Repeated from Wednesday at 2:00 p.m.
It is one of the oldest and longest-standing business practices we use today, but the hiring interview needs to keep up with the times. While staffing process and technology have changed dramatically, most organizations use the same old interview process. As the key interaction between the hiring manager and candidate, the interview is a critical time for collecting data and influencing the candidate’s decision. We will discuss what makes an interview successful, what can go wrong and how you can examine your current practices.
Developing and Implementing an Adaptive Talent Strategy
Workplace Application: This presentation will provide you with a strategic view into the interdependent elements that comprise a differentiated, progressive and sustainable talent strategy.
Leading a recruitment function today is no comparison to yesterday and tomorrow will be nothing like today, which is more evident in these challenging times! We’ll explore top-line trends and influencers affecting talent acquisition and management strategies. Through a highly flexible model, we’ll define an adaptive approach to developing and/or expanding your talent strategy to deliver increased value across the organization. Beginning with alignment to the company’s strategic business directives, the model will facilitate a streamlined, scalable approach to address critical elements of a successful talent function to further implementation and momentum.
Presenter: Susan Burns, president and founder, Talent Synchronicity, Portland, Ore.
Servant Leadership: The Key To Fostering Community and Teamwork
Workplace Application: This session will take good leaders and make them great by showing that service is the secret to truly impactful leadership.
A servant leader is one whose primary motivation is to support and serve those who support them. How does a leader coach and develop direct reports to ensure their job satisfaction and production is maximized and, ultimately, that a sense of community and teamwork is created? Learn how great leaders subtly lead through listening, empathy, healing awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of others, and building community.
Presenter: Tom Darrow, principal and founder, Talent Communications, LLC, Roswell, Ga.
Extreme Sourcing—How To Find More Top Talent
Workplace Application: Sourcing top people in a down economy requires an emphasis on consumer marketing approaches at every step.
In a down economy the best people become conservative and reluctant to consider a job switch. In order to get the attention of these people in today’s economic environment, you need to be outrageous, compelling and visible. You must also eliminate every barrier to entry you have that prevents the best people from finding your ad and applying. Collectively, this requires a consumer-marketing strategy and mentality to sourcing. The best people are looking for careers, not jobs. To attract them you need to revitalize your advertising, stop using traditional job boards and overhaul your career web site. While the effort to hire the best people increases in tough economic times, it is in these times when progressive companies can quickly increase their share of top performers.
Presenter: Lou Adler, president, The Adler Group, Irvine, Calif.
Sports Is Not Just a Game: Examining Complex Employment Issues through the World of Sports
Workplace Application: Attend this session and learn about complex legal issues from the world of sports.
Some say that sports are a metaphor for life. Maybe so, but sports most definitely can be a metaphor for the workplace. While there certainly is a difference between dealing with multi-million dollar athletes and our employees, the employment issues that confront professional sports organizations similarly exist in our organizations. This seminar will use sports as a vehicle to focus on legal issues such as pre-employment inquiries and background checks, substance abuse-testing, workplace violence, military leave, harassment and discrimination. It also will address potential pitfalls such as preferential treatment of employees and confronting employees’ out-of-the-office conduct.
Help Wanted and Help Found—How to Hire Hourly Workers in a Mean Economy
Workplace Application: This session will offer proven, cost-effective strategies for finding, hiring and retaining quality hourly staff.
Now, more than ever, front-line hourly workers play a pivotal role in a company’s success. In a tough economy, grade-A service is essential to retaining choosy customers’ loyalty. And even though more people are applying to hourly positions, you may not be getting the best possible applicants. Here’s the upside: now’s the best time for companies to spend smarter and upgrade their workforce. The only way employers can ensure they have the right people in their hourly positions is to develop an hourly recruitment strategy with a strong, measurable ROI. Shawn offers proven strategies to boost your employee retention, lower your cost per hire, and increase your managers’ productivity – all vital components to succeeding in a tough economy.
Presenter: Shawn Boyer, CEO, SnagAjob.com, Glen Allen, Va.
A Googling We Will Go: Background Checks in the New Electronic Age
April 30 at 11:15 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Workplace Application: The presentation will explore an employer’s legal rights and responsibilities when searching for information about applicants and employees on the World Wide Web, including a consideration of potential cost savings for bringing the application in-house.
More and more employers are finding that traditional background checks provide limited information. At the same time, more and more employees are actively sharing personal information on the web through blogs, chat rooms, and personal pages. In this session you will learn an employer’s legal rights and responsibilities to conduct internet searches for background information about applicants and employees as well as practical strategies regarding where to look and how to manage the information that you find.
Repeated from Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
Workplace Application: During tough economic times, it is critical to attract and keep today’s best talent. This session will show you how by using advanced marketing and employment branding techniques.
Based on innovative marketing techniques, this lively talk proves that employment branding is more than a trend; it is an essential leadership tool. Using high-impact graphics and compelling case studies, Donatella Giacometti will engage you to rethink your corporate role and its influence on company performance.
Elevating Expectations of Engagement – Driving Accountability Systems
Workplace Application: By utilizing action registers in order to build trust, elevate performance expectations and ensure outcome driven meetings; this session will prepare you to appreciate the organizational payback from using accountability systems to create consistency and focus.
To sustain a culture of accountability, an organization must create, document and audit business systems that support an accountability mindset. Unfortunately, many organizations fail to view accountability as a key business process and lessen its role in re-engaging your existing workers in this uncertain environment of downsizing and layoffs. Failure to design and deploy sustained processes often results in an organization continuing to operate in a “blame” mode that is perceived by the workforce as a lack of true commitment to the culture of accountability. This presentation is dedicated to visible and auditable accountability systems essential to sustain business acumen and urgency.
Hiring for Success
Workplace Application: This session will provide guidelines and specific tips to help you more successfully manage the hiring process in your organization and enhance your career as a staffing professional.
A key challenge facing senior management today is hiring top talent and integrating them successfully into the organization. You have an opportunity to take charge of this process, guide your hiring managers, and earn the respect of corporate leaders. This stimulating program will provide bottom-line, take-away tips from a corporate leader turned executive recruiter. Key discussion areas include: ground work, preparing the interviewers, managing the candidate and integrating new hires.
Presenter: Tim Ruef, vice president, Michael E. Marion & Associates, Inc., Murray Hill, N.J.
Everything You Need To Know About Employees, Temporary Employees, Independent Contractors and Joint Employees
Workplace Application: This session will help you understand how to minimize risks and maintain compliance in your employment relationships by discussing the employment law issues that impact nontraditional employment relationships.
Employers increasingly turn to agencies, temporary workers, and independent contractors to fulfill their staffing needs, but these nontraditional employment relationships can present a minefield of employment law risks. What are the criteria for classifying workers as employees, temporary employees, independent contractors, or joint employees? What rights, obligations, and risks do joint employment and other nontraditional employment relationships present? And how should you structure and manage nontraditional employment relationships to minimize obligations and risks?
Presenter: Barbara A. Fitzgerald, Esq., partner, labor and employment practice, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, LLP, Los Angeles, Calif.
Identity Theft: HR and the Nation’s Fastest Growing Crime Wave
Workplace Application: This session will examine how you can prevent the theft of applicants’ and employees’ identities through background checks, data security and other methods.
America’s fastest growing crime is identity theft, and HR is in the crosshairs. Confidential information held by HR has become a prime target for identity thieves. Identity theft incidents highlight the need for HR departments to employ a comprehensive background check program and associated data protection measures. This session examines what you can do to ensure the security of applicants’ and employees’ identities.
Presenter: Stefan Keller, president, Truescreen, Inc., Southampton, Pa.
Beyond Behavioral Interviewing: The Next Evolution. You must STOP Hiring the Best Applicant and Start Hiring the Best Employee
Workplace Application: This session delivers unique and very specific questions to use to conduct effective interviews, avoid the canned answers, and make sure you are getting the truth out of the applicant. This process will screen in those candidates most likely to be successful on the job.
In the last year the employment market has changed dramatically and applicants are desperate to get jobs. In most cases they are better at interviewing than the person doing the interview. Over the past 10 years employers have come to rely too heavily on behavioral and situation interviewing techniques which screen candidates in highly predictable ways and lead to hiring decisions based more on the applicant’s presentation skills and personality rather than the person’s actual ability to be successful on the job. This session will teach you the key interview questions that go beyond behavioral interviewing and separate the applicants who look good from those who actually will be good on the job.
Presenter: Mel Kleiman, CSP, president, Humetrics, Sugar Land, Texas
Stress Busting with Humor: I’m Outta My Mind, So Feel Free To Leave a Message
Workplace Application: This session will re-energize, revitalize and help you insulate yourself against all dimensions of daily challenges so you can optimize your effectiveness at peak levels—even in the face of chaos.
Feeling overwhelmed? Are things coming at you instead of vice versa? Need a festive recharge or humor at large? Kelli Vrla’s stress busting with humor program has the perfect productivity tactics to smoothly navigate the seas of stress. This session is a festive delivery of relevant, memorable and immediately transferrable skills designed to help you deal with challenges so that you can move transactions forward at full-throttle capacity. You will leave smiling and ready to roll.
Presenter: Kelly S. Vrla, CSP, CRMC, CEO, Consultant, Speaker, KSV Enterprises, Inc., New Braunfels, Texas
Please note: This session is for personal development and does not count for recertification credit as the content is not tied to the HR Certification Institute’s body of knowledge.
It Matters Who You Hire: The Secret Value of Screening New Employees
Presenter: Melvin J. Gravely, Ph.D., president, Validex, LLC, Cincinnati, Ohio
Recruiting Tools: The Continuing Evolution of Cutting-Edge Sourcing Technology
Presenter: Jason Leonard, president, Talent Maze, Dallas, Texas
