California’s People & Productivity Symposium
Proudly Presented by Employers Group

California’s People & Productivity Symposium is a day-long event that will bring together HR leaders and chief executives from around the state to hear from leading authorities on how organizations today can create the best environment to increase their company’s productivity.

The Symposium coincides with the Employers Group’s 110th anniversary celebration and the keynote luncheon will feature an address by either Victoria Bradshaw, Secretary of California’s Labor & Workforce Development Agency or Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In addition, Employers Group will be honoring select California employers for their achievements as a “Best Workplace.”

As an HR leader or chief executive you will not want to miss the day’s events as you will receive practical information that you can incorporate into your organization’s strategy and create a more productive environment!

Awards for you, EG Members!

Submit your company for consideration as a “Best Workplace.” Two levels will be included based on employee size (larger-scale and smaller size employers). In addition, Employers Group will recognize its longest consecutive member along with the member company who has been in business the longest. Don’t let this prestigious opportunity pass you by. Submit your company for consideration as a best place to work by June 23, 2006.

Location, Date and Times

Wednesday, July 19, 2006
8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Hyatt Regency – Irvine, California
Just East of 405 Freeway on Jamboree
with close proximity to John Wayne Airport
17900 Jamboree Road
Irvine, CA 92614

Registration Information

Employers Group Members
$300 Full Day Registration (includes three speakers’ books & all materials)
$150 AM Registration (includes keynote & awards luncheon and AM materials)
$150 PM Registration (includes keynote & awards luncheon and PM materials)

Non-Employers Group Members
$400 Full Day Registration (includes three speakers’ books & all materials)
$200 AM Registration (includes keynote & awards luncheon and AM materials)
$200 PM Registration (includes keynote & awards luncheon and PM materials)

For additional information, please contact Kristin Morris at 800.748.8484 or
email at 110th@employersgroup.com

Please give us your opinions!

Employers Group is looking at a new service that would help members measure and increase workforce productivity. Please read the concept below, then give us your thoughts by clicking to the response section.

THE CONCEPT
This program allows your management team to measure your workforces’ productivity and monitor its improvement as you improve your employment practices. It includes 5 key components:

1. An ongoing measurement survey of your organization’s 12 key business metrics (eg. sales/employee) and employee metrics (eg. % voluntary separations) based on information you provide. Your results, benchmarked against similar companies, are reported back to you quarterly. Once underway, you can identify the top performers among your employees as models.
2. An annual employee survey to measure their engagement with your business and their activities.
3. Assessment of your organization’s practices in key employment areas and recommendations for changes to improve productivity.
4. In depth training on the program, using the surveys and the key practices that increase productivity, how to work with the measures and have dialogues with your management.
5. As needed, assessment of your organization’s strategic/business plans and processes and alignment of your employment practices with these plans.

As part of this program, Employers Group experts can provide you with consulting to tailor it to your company, help implement it, give you the ongoing benchmarked reports, and help implement the employment practices that can improve productivity.

NEW! Introducing our Customer Advocate Program

To insure that we're delivering a level of service that meets your expectations, Employers Group has created a Customer Advocate position. Available by phone or email, this is the place to go if you believe you haven’t been dealt with satisfactorily on an answer, a project or a request – or if you have a suggestion on how to improve our services, from training registrations to the website. Simply contact our Customer Advocate at 1-800-748-8484 ext.3911 or email customeradvocate@employersgroup.com

Compensation Plans will be Severely Tested in 2006.
Will your plan be able to perform as expected?

Here are some signs that your compensation program may need attention:

• Shortage of critical skills – Increase in the number of product defects, higher training expenses, sub-par customer care. All these can weigh on your company’s performance.
• Too many employees above the established maximum – As the market moves, companies have been unable to market price their established minimums and maximums. Consequently, managers constantly “request” to have their new prized employees above the maximum of their range.
• Higher than average annual turnover – most companies can expect a 15% employee turnover every 12 months; some industries, however, might be higher. If yours is higher, it might be a symptom of employee dissatisfaction with your company’s offerings.
• Employee dissatisfaction with pay and benefits – Significant increase in the number of “spot” check requests from managers – usually to keep their “star” employees.
• Compensation practices are not effectively drawing in this year’s graduates to the company.
• Compensation costs exceed industry norms: Generally compensation costs comprise 61% of a company’s total labor costs (comp + benefits). Of course, there are industry exceptions, but everything else being equal, if your compensation costs exceed 60%; it’s a sign that company might be overspending in salaries without getting higher return on investment.

If your company is experiencing some of these signs, you can turn to Employers Group as we support cost-effective solutions that can help you fine-tune your compensation program!

Our surveys are updated annually and they cover over 1,000 job titles. Reports are free to participants – plus, market analysis reports to participants are an excellent way to detect out-of-market salaries. Our library houses a variety of national and industry-specific surveys. If you can’t find it in our surveys, we most likely can get it from our library. lf your needs require a total make-over including job evolution, market alignment, etc., we have consultants with proven experience to help you bring your compensation program under control.

Via EG’s Research Services, you also have access to the following value-driven compensation services:

COMPARATIVE MARKET ANALYSIS REPORTS (CMAs) Compare against your compensation database, which includes data for over 900 classifications - Results to you in 3 days! Using data collected via our survey program, we offer you a quick, simple and cost-effective way to compare your data against your peers. Via our CMA program, you simply give us your compensation data and within three business days you’ll receive a report showing you how your wages and salaries align to other pre-selected companies.

 

GEOGRAPHIC SURVEYS Obtaining local compensation data is now easier than ever! If you need compensation surveys for areas outside California, call us – we can help you. Through our relationships with other US associations, you can obtain prevailing compensation for many parts of the US. Additionally, our data from our local surveys can be customized to reflect prevailing wage/salary scales for other locations within the U.S.

 

CUSTOM COMPENSATION SURVEYS There are virtually no limits to the “special cuts” we are able to provide. We can design custom compensation surveys to meet your needs. Whether you have one or 50 jobs, we'll work with you in developing pertinent questions, and contact potential participants. The final product: a custom final report with information for a specific industrial park or geographic area. We have conducted surveys on a local, regional, and national basis. Our survey staff is also available to provide informal or custom surveys to members. These surveys have included specific positions, practices or policies in the past.

To learn more about our compensation special services, please call us at 213.765.3969 or email us at surveys@employersgroup.com!

Exempt Employees

Q: What does “exemption” mean?

A: Looking up “exemption” in the dictionary you will find that it means “…not subject to a law or obligation.” The common use of the phrase “exempt employee” refers to the fact that certain positions are not subject to state or federal law requiring payment of overtime and minimum wage. The federal law is the Fair Labor Standards Act. In California you can find the laws pertaining to exemption in the Labor Code and the Wage Orders.

Q: Are you required to pay an exempt employee a salary?

A: In order to satisfy the definition of certain exemptions a salary must be paid. These exemptions are the executive exemption, the administrative exemption and part of the professional exemption. Each of these exemptions also has specific tests for duties and has a minimum requirement for the salary. Some exemptions do not require the payment of a salary. These include outside salespersons and certain hourly paid computer professionals.

Q: What is a salary?

A: According to federal and California law a salary is a predetermined amount that is paid for each week’s work that is not subject to reductions for variations in the quantity or quality of the work performed during that week. With few exceptions an exempt employee will be paid the full week’s pay as long as the employee was ready, willing and able to work.

Q: Can the employer deduct from an exempt employee’s weekly salary for a day’s absence?

A: It depends. The employer may deduct for a full day’s absence if the exempt employee takes the day off for personal reasons. Also, if the exempt employee is sick for a full day, the employer may deduct full day’s pay for the absence, but only if the organization has a bona fide sick pay plan and the employee is not yet eligible or has exhausted the benefit.

The employer may not deduct anything from the weekly salary if the employee is available for work, but the employer does not provide it. The employer may not deduct for a day during which the exempt employee was on jury duty.

Q: Can the employer deduct from an exempt employee’s weekly salary for a partial day’s absence?

A: Deductions from an exempt employee’s pay may not be made for a partial day’s absence if the employee’s position is classified as exempt and the exemption requires the payment of a salary. However, on both the state and federal level a deduction from an account of sick pay, vacation or PTO may be made.

Recruitment Help: FAST and CHEAP!

Has the tightening labor market got you scrambling to find strong job candidates? Are you spending far more time on recruiting efforts than you can afford? If you’re looking for a truly FAST, CHEAP and EFFECTIVE recruitment solution, Employers Group has the answer - our recruitment partner, Decision Toolbox.

Since 2002, Decision Toolbox has filled hundreds of positions for Employers Group members for an average Cost per Hire of less than 7% of first year salary. They present the candidate who is ultimately hired within an average of 11 days from project launch.

Decision Toolbox helps employers stay competitive in recruitment by combining the power of effective marketing, high-level recruitment expertise, refined recruitment processes and the speed and efficiency of technology. With an average customer satisfaction rating of 90%, EG member feedback is consistently positive! In fact, we at Employers Group are so impressed with Decision Toolbox, we use them ourselves as our primary recruitment resource.

As the labor market continues to tighten, recruiting will demand more and more of your time. Don’t waste precious hours struggling through the process – let the experts handle it.

For more information on Decision Toolbox and recruitment services offered through Employers Group, call us at 800.748.8484, Option 3.

Near and Dear to Employees' Hearts
Compensation and Overtime Exemptions

Certainly all HR professionals must deal with the issue of overtime exemptions. The complexities of this subject being as numerous as they are and the cost of non-compliance, even minor calculation errors, being at an all time high you really can’t afford to be wrong even once.

One of the more challenging aspects of overtime exemption is the standards set by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). The most recent update took effect back on August 23, 2004. With almost two years since then you’d think that most employers would be in compliance by now but the reality is that the law is complex enough and the process of updating so daunting that a significant percentage still utilize policies that are out of date and which put them in jeopardy

So what’s an HR manager to do? Get Richard Simmons book on Overtime Exemptions!
The spiral bound green book entitled “California Employer’s Guide to the Federal Overtime Exemptions” is a legal compliance gem, written by the dynamic, employment law attorney Richard J. Simmons. In this publication Richard reviews the breadth of the new rules and the updated exemption tests contained in the law. The publication offers valuable insights into the critical features of the regulations, their relationship with California laws, and their impact on employers throughout the country. Included in the book are:

This publication is an essential resource for every employer. The avoidance of just one miscalculation will pay for the cost of the publication ten times over. And the employee satisfaction, or better, lack of dissatisfaction will be truly priceless.

Unquestionably a must-have for any complete HR library, this book and many others are available through the EG Store at discounted member rates. For more information you can visit our web site at http://www.employersgroup.com/products/books/index.shtml. Or you may call our Member Service Center at 800-748-8484 to speak with a representative.