ORC Sightlines

June 2008

In this issue:

Staffing in Asia-Pacific Region Challenges HS&E Managers

Health, Safety, and Environmental (HS&E) activities are becoming more and more important in Asia-Pacific companies and operations. Among the many challenges of managing the function in that region, however, is the difficulty of finding and retaining skilled HS&E professionals. At the last meeting of ORC’s Asia-Pacific Health, Safety, and Environmental Forum, 40 delegates broke into four groups to debate the causes of the problem and collaboratively propose solutions.

The HS&E function faces some of the same staffing obstacles that confound efforts to manage talent in other functions in the region: simply too few qualified people to fill the demand. Consequently, salaries are rising constantly and even marginally skilled and experienced individuals have their pick of opportunities. But HS&E managers must deal with some additional issues that their counterparts in manufacturing, sales or R&D may not have to be concerned with to the same degree. The common denominator in these issues is the status of the HS&E function in the region.

The fact is that health and safety work is not yet seen as a core activity in many companies in Asia. Line managers give it little support, especially when they fear that it may conflict with their productivity goals. In most companies, there is little in the way of recognition or a clear career path for HS&E professionals. Often, job descriptions are too brief, leaving to the HS&E professional to figure out for him/herself what to do and how to try to make an impact. Sometimes, HS&E staff is responsible for all the three portfolios and may even have additional responsibilities for areas such as quality, security, or human resources. Consequently, health and safety practitioners in many companies perceive themselves as being asked to do an impossible job with inadequate resources, appreciation or reward. They are all the more ready, then, to jump ship when another position offering better prospects appears.

The working groups brainstormed a number of strategies to address these problem areas from a variety of angles—compensation, organizational structure, branding, and career management:

The working groups agreed that future benchmarking with one another regarding these areas would be extremely helpful. Norman Tan, ORC’s Vice-President, Safety, Health & Environmental Services Asia Pacific, and the ORC Asia-Pacific HS&E Forum’s Steering Committee are working on next steps to facilitate this. ORC plans to share its recommendation on training and certification at the next regional meeting in Singapore in July.

Special thanks to Eddie Wong from Cargill Asia who led the design and planning of this workshop and the four facilitators of the breakout groups: N.K. Chan from Colgate, Vipin Nair from 3M, Ken Tsang from Dow Chemical, and Dean Roderique from Baxter. For more information on these issues or on ORC’s Asia-Pacific HS&E Forum, contact Norman Tan, +65 6457 1600.

HR Technology: What HR Leaders Should Know

Today’s businesses must grow to survive, and to a great extent that growth will depend on companies’ ability to innovate and to optimize the capacity of the workforce. These business imperatives are changing the demands on HR information systems, according to ORC’s chief operating officer for global consulting, Jodi Starkman.

Speaking to members of ORC’s Future HR Leaders' Network, Ms. Starkman argued that capacity building has to be a top priority for HR, line management, and leadership, but in today’s complex organizations, it is no simple matter to get one’s arms around exactly what the company’s current capacity is and what it needs to be. HR technology needs to deliver answers to these questions:

The complexity of organizations in which many kinds of workers (regular employees, contractors, contingent workers) are owned and tracked by multiple functions and managed differently in different locations often makes it difficult to come up with straightforward answers. As collaborative work processes replace solo efforts as the norm, information about who has the most influence on the organization, who has the relationships that facilitate knowledge transfer, and whose advice is most valued by colleagues and most valuable to the company, becomes increasingly critical. In most companies, this kind of information – that is, the informal structures and exchanges that enable effective collaboration – is not defined and tracked at all.

Capturing and integrating all this information across global companies is taxing the capacity of HR information systems. Patchworks of ‘best of breed’ applications are challenging to manage, at best, and many companies are searching for integrated talent management suites that can bring together and analyze all the disparate pieces of information of HR data. This starts with a business-driven data model that defines all of the important data elements – something that HR leaders need to define, rather than leaving to IT staff. To build and use information technology effectively, the managers and users of such systems also must become more collaborative. Vendors must partner more closely with their clients, and HR, IT, and business leaders must knock down whatever silos may be separating them.

To discuss issues your company may be facing in managing talent and talent management technology, contact Jodi Starkman at +1-212-719-3400. For more information on the Future HR Leaders' Network for high potential experienced HR generalists and specialists, contact Susan Carter at +1-212-852-0389.

Plaintiffs’ Attorneys Get More Creative, Aggressive in Wage-and-Hour Class Actions

California’s employment law climate was once regarded as somewhat unique. The state’s courts recognized a number of rights and protections not generally provided in other areas of the U.S. But, employment lawyers take note: what happens in California no longer stays just in California, according to Lynne Hermle, a partner with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe.

Addressing a recent meeting of ORC’s Employment Law and Litigation Group, Ms. Hermle warned her audience of American in-house labor and employment lawyers that plaintiffs’ attorneys around the country are picking up on strategies that have proven successful for wage-and-hour suits in California and are asserting an expanding array of new types of claims. Joint employer suits, in which plaintiffs’ attorneys argue that the employer shares liability with the temporary or staffing agency for transgressions such as late final paychecks, are becoming more common, as are actions challenging exemption from wage-and-hour rules for a variety of professional workers. Accountants, financial analysts, software engineers, programmers and brokers have all been found to be nonexempt under California law and, in some cases, under federal law as well. Meal and rest claims have risen dramatically after the California Supreme Court decision in Murphy created a four-year statute of limitations. (The obligation of employers to “provide” meal breaks as opposed to “offering” meal breaks is unclear but may be resolved by the Brinker case that is before the California Supreme Court.)

Ms. Hermle suggested that employers audit their wage-and-hour practices to identify problem areas, such as inaccurate job descriptions, which might leave them vulnerable to aggressive class-action claims. But, she warned, before undertaking an audit, employers should make sure management buys into the need to correct any issues turned up by the audit. The audit should be scheduled so that it will be completed in time for corrections to be made. Finally, in case any future litigation does emerge, take care that the audit is conducted under privilege.

For further information on wage-and- hour class-action suits or to learn more about ORC’s Employment Law and Litigation Group, contact Nita Beecher, +1-212-852-0436.

 

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