HVBF Monthly Meeting - Human Resources Roundtable
Thursday, February 6, 2003, 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM

Host: 

Loyola College in Maryland

Attending:

Mike Bender, Apex Professional Staffing Inc
Bill Boden, Executive HR
Heather Chism, JMT
Marcie Cohen, Ultimate Staffing
Jason Conners, Apex Professional Staffing Inc
Al Copp, Woodhall Wine Cellars
Siri Cowden, UBS/PaineWebber
Bill Cummings, G.C. Personnel,
Robert Deane, Morgan Stanley
Susan Fine, PDP Group
Ed Greenbaum, Aon Consulting
Pat Kilroy, Systems Alliance
Lauren Lutz, Broadmead Inc.
Francesca Lynch, Aon Consulting
Susan Meier, Firaxis Games
Gary Meyerl, Msg. O’Dwyer Retreat House,
Steve O’Connor, TESST College of Technology,
Mark Ostrowski, Right Management Consultants
Patricia Paul, NRT Mid-Atlantic,
Mark Robertson, NuTec Design Associates
Shirley Tyler, Right Management Consultants
Richard Webb, Atlantic Financial Federal Credit Union
Gail Williams, McCormick & Co
Jennifer Winiecki, Stella Maris

Chairperson Susan Fine opened the Roundtable. Each person attending introduced themselves and their companies. A special welcome was given to guests and prospective members Mike Bender and Jason Conners of Apex Professional Staffing Inc., Marcie Cohen of Ultimate Staffing, Bill Cummings of G.C. Personnel, and Lauren Lutz of Broadmead, Inc.

The discussion today was on company policies.

The first policy discussed was attendance during inclement weather. Factors affecting this policy depend on the nature of the business. Some facilities do not have the option of closing. A childcare center does not have the same considerations as a manufacturing or service based business. The growing trend today is an increasing awareness by employees of the responsibility to get to work. The sense of the roundtable was to pay workers who get to work and not to pay those who don’t. In most cases, those who don’t attend may charge the time to vacation. There was a sense that this creates a loss of control by supervisors since it turns out to be a vacation day without prior approval. Several companies allow extra time for employees to arrive and one based the decision to compensate on a mathematical formula derived from the number attending compared to the number not attending. Some companies have the option to allow work from home. A few twenty-four hour operations give bonuses to those workers who remain at work during a weather emergency.

The next policy was background checks. Not everyone does them. The need relates to the nature of the business and the job description. Background checks could be local, regional or national depending on the scope of the business. Credit checks are important to those handling money. A minority of participants did drug testing. Educational checking is important in some job descriptions. In this area, employees may be liberal with the descriptions of their educational qualifications. The names of several companies that perform background checks were mentioned.

We could have used more time this morning. Many of the feedback forms indicated a need to do this again and cover more policies.