Welcome to the April 26, 2006 issue of The Total View

Published by Success Performance Solutions, Written by Ira S. Wolfe

Visit our Human Resources Blog and Perfect Labor Storm Blog where we can post daily (and more often) human resource updates, news, and Perfect Labor Storm facts. 

What's Inside:

Health Care Benefits Survey

Health care costs are out of control. Massachusetts just enacted a law imposing a $295 per employee fee on every employer if they didn't provide employee benefits. Maryland hopes to require private companies with more than 10,000 employees to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on employee health benefits or make a contribution to the state's insurance program for the poor. Employers
are telling employees to stop smoking and lose weight or pay more for these health care coverage.

Are these states and employers on the right track or are they headed down a slippery slope?

Please take a few minutes and share your opinions in this short HR Health Care Benefits survey. Results will be published in an upcoming issue of The Total View.

Please forward this to colleagues or clients, HR professionals and senior executives. The more respondents the better.

A Busy Week Indeed!!

Ira S Wolfe, founder of Success Performance Solutions, participated in two big interviews last week:

1. Ira was interviewed for David Greenberg's Mastermind Inner Circle. His interview can be heard at:
Trends That Will Change the Way You Do Business or downloaded at: :
Ira S Wolfe MP3- Trends That Will Change the Way You Do Business
The topic was "".

2. He was also interviewed by Stephen Miller, editor/manager of SHRM Online's Compensation & Benefits Focus Area, on the subject of Sleep Deprivation Brings Lower Productivity, Higher Health Care Costs. For SHRM members, login.  For non-SHRM members, contact us..

3. And don't forget to register for:

The Greater Valley Forge Human Resource Association
Organization Development Special Interest Group presents

Navigating the Talent Management Rough-Water:
Charting for the Labor Shortage Ahead

Keynote Speaker: Ira S Wolfe, Author - Perfect Labor Storm

What does all the current buzz about “Talent Management” mean in light of the impending labor shortages we face? This forum is your opportunity to get an insiders view of the latest statistical data as well as hear how several well known companies are “battening down their hatches” to prepare for the changing tides.

Listen to presentations and ask questions of:

• Ira S. Wolfe, Author and Founder of Success Performance Solutions
• Virginia Clarke, VP Organization & Talent Management, SAP America
• Gail Townsend, Organizational Development Specialist and Tiny Dyer, Human Resources Generalist, W. L. Gore
• Scott Cook, Sr. Director, Human Resources, Day and Zimmerman

To learn more or register for Navigating Talent Management Rough-Water.

1.   The Waiter Rule Reveals A Lot about Character

Whether you are interviewing an employee or negotiating a deal with a client, you can learn a lot by just sitting back and watching how other people respond and react. Raytheon CEO Bill Swanson wrote a booklet of 33 such observations called "Swanson's Unwritten Rules of Management." Among the 33 rules, "a person, who is nice to you but rude to the waiter, or to others, is not a nice person." He calls this The Waiter Rule.

(Note: It should be noted that after an article about Swanson was published in the USA Today, a reader revealed that nearly all of these "unwritten rules" have indeed been written -- by another author in fact, sixty years ago. He alleges that Mr. Swanson has plagiarized from the little-known book "The Unwritten Laws of Engineering" by W.J. King (1944, American Society of Mechanical Engineers). It is not my intention to take sides or point fingers but to use the excellent illustration provided by Mr King and "re-created" by Mr. Swanson.)

We've all been party to the dining tirades, outbursts and obnoxious behaviors of bosses, clients, and even employees. Granted there is no excuse for poor customer service. There is even less reason to berate publicly a waiter or waitress for making a mistake, especially if the problem wasn't their fault.

Swanson warns about people who have situational values. They turn up the charm when they want to impress and turn it off when dealing with people who they view as inferior. Steve Odland, Office Depot CEO, agrees: "people who have situational values have situational ethics and those people are to be avoided."

People who speak in a condescending manner in one situation are just as likely to repeat the behavior again when placed in a similar situation. When interviewing, these freebie clues are dead-on-give-aways about how a prospective manager will treat employees or a vendor will treat you behind your back. There's a fine line between demeaning an employee who isn't meeting expectations and firmly letting him know how dissatisfied you are with his performance.

Short fuses and condescending behavior are just two examples of what you can learn by just watching what's going on. But just as important is what doesn't happen: the dinner guest who can't make up his mind what to order or who doesn't want to make a scene when the order or service isn't right.

Just like the pompous dinner guest should alert you to potential aggressive and narcissistic behavior, indecisiveness about which salad dressing or entrée to order could be a sign of things to come when this same individual is faced with making a choice while conflict avoidance behavior at the dinner table hints at how people might respond when required to hold others accountable.

The Waiter Rule reveals a lot about who we are and how we treat others. But if wining and dining candidates isn't in your game plan, behavioral and personality assessments serve up exactly what you need to know before you hire or promote.

To learn more about online personality tests like TotalView, Business Values and Motivator, CriteriaOne DISC and our newest system ASSESS.

2.  Perfect Labor Storm Alerts # 525 to 527

Don't miss day-to-day updates on Perfect Labor Storm. Save the Perfect Labor Storm blog to your favorites.
 

Just Released! Listen to "Trends That Will Change The Way You Do Business" - FREE Download.

Fact #525:   In 1990, there were 37,306 Americans who were at least 100 years old. By the year 2010, there will be 131,000. And, by 2050, projections by the U.S. Census Bureau anticipate there being 834,000 centenarians. To put that figure in perspective, those 834,000 people who will be at least 100 years old in 2050 would outnumber the current populations of cities such as Baltimore, Indianapolis, San Francisco, Boston, or Denver. In fact, they would surpass the populations of all but the top 11 U.S. cities counted in the 2000 Census,

Fact #526:  The percentage of Americans ages 65 to 74 who are obese has risen from 18 percent to 36 percent over the past two decades, according to a federal study......and 40 percent of boomers are obese.

Fact #527:  By 2012, nearly 20% of the total U.S. workforce will be age 55 or older, up from just under 13% in 2000. (Source: "Labor force projections to 2012: The Graying of the U.S. Workforce," Monthly Labor Review, February 2004

Don't be caught in storm without all the facts. "The Perfect Labor Storm Fact Book: Why Worker Shortages Won't Go Away" is a must-read leading edge forecast that predicts workforce trends for decades to come. Order your copy today - Only $7.95.

3.  Customer Service Skills

Customer Service Skills Profile
This easy-to-use assessment solves one of your biggest headaches in customer service - ensuring consistency in your staff's performance.

How? By giving employee a clear picture of their unique strengths and areas they need to work on - and the motivation to acquire all the skills of an all-around good customer service giver.

Employees can rate themselves in seven competency areas widely considered to be critical to the ability to provide exemplary service:

Temperament / disposition
Communicating clearly
Engaging in joint problem solving
Building warmth and empathy
Attentive listening
Resolving conflict
Carefully negotiating

Learn more about Customer Service Skills Profile:

4.   Quotes from Hire Authorities

We must open the doors of opportunity. But we must also equip our people to walk through the doors.
Lyndon Johnson

5.    Ask The Hiring Expert
As a hiring manager or small business owner, what is the most nagging question you have when it comes to hiring smarter, in less time, and finding the right person for the job?"

Don't be afraid to ask - no obligation, just submit your question and we'll respond within 24 hours. To ask your question, go to Ultimate Hiring Solution.

Employment tests are an important part of the hiring process, as they objectively assess proficiency and give employers quick results. Good testing software will help eliminate guesswork and ensure that you find the right person for the job.

We are pleased to introduce an office skills testing package which includes assessments to evaluate ten basic office skills. Our testing software makes it easy to determine a candidate's abilities in the areas of typing, data entry (both numeric and alpha numeric), ten key, grammar, basic math, proofreading, vocabulary, filing and spelling.

In addition to our standard tests, we also offer testing on MS Office products such as Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook and others.

If you wish to purchase our office skills tests, you may either purchase software for PCs or buy them online, on a pay-as-you-go or unlimited usage.

More about Office Skills Tests:

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Ira S. Wolfe Copyright 2006 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission only.