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HVBF Monthly Meeting - Human Resources
Roundtable Host: Marriott Courtyard Attending: Bill Boden, Executive HR Each person attending was asked, as they introduced themselves, to share the way their company would recognize September 11. Mentioned were periods of silence, patriotic dress, displaying the flag or colors on clothing, driving with head lights on, reciting the pledge of allegiance, planned services and ceremonies. We will share these comments with the other members of the Forum. A special welcome to Maria Cerar of Special For You. Maria is concerned that our Roundtable benefits large companies only. I hope this meeting today indicates the universal nature of our concerns. Thanks to Ginny Terhune for coming today. Ginny represents The Jeffersonian and their interest in our activities. Our discussion theme was compensation. Since employee benefits are a part of compensation, we picked up on an earlier Roundtable discussion on low cost or no cost benefits. 529 plans to fund education for families was the lead off no cost benefit. Last year Dennis Carter of Legg Mason facilitated a Roundtable on these plans. For more information see the Summary of the HR RT of 12/06/01 in Events archive on our website. MTA rail passes were presented as a low cost benefit for employers to share in getting workers to the work place. This works particularly well for entry-level workers. For more information contact Susan Fine at PDP, sgfine@pdpgroupinc.com or Buddy Alves at MTA, balves@mdot.state.md.us. The Facilities, Security, Transportation Roundtable will discuss Share-A-Ride information on September 18 at the regular monthly meeting. Most participants in the Roundtable used brown bag lunches to distribute meaningful employee benefit information. Vendors and outside service providers are used to explain and answer questions on health plans, hospice and critical care services, employee assistance programs, and hospital services, continuing educational opportunities and shopping opportunities during the holiday season. Offering flexible spending accounts and then education employees of effectively using them. Baltimore County is available to talk to employees about day care and counseling services. Credit Unions offer financial services at no cost to employers. Federal, state and county law enforcement departments offer information on important security matters such as identity theft. One of our companies has regular weekly employee meetings where these subjects are presented to employees. Benefit Fairs can be conducted to permit employees to examine benefits of specific interest to them. Another member company has Health Week and offers massages, aerobics information and local hospital information. They also allow employees to transfer unused leave time to those with special needs. Companies can purchases season tickets for the symphony or similar events for employee use. The employees can use corporate memberships in the Science Center, the Aquarium or other civic venues. A company wide yard sale can be used to collect funds for a favorite charity. Be sure to track and publicize participation in these activities. Weight Watcher program sponsorships are effective benefits to improve the health of your employees. This summary is posted on our website. In the interest of privacy of our members, company names are omitted except as noted. If you have specific questions about any of the above, contact me for more information. Subjects suggested for future Roundtables:
Most members attending returned our feedback sheet. Thanks for all your program suggestions. Fifteen members indicated that their expectations for the meeting were met even though we may have deviated from a strict interpretation of “Compensation Issues”. Not bad but we will still do better. One member notes there are too many Roundtables. The three roundtables represent three different areas of interest. Remember membership is for your company. Please do encourage other members of your company to come to discussions in their areas of interest. |