New Minimum Wage Poster from DOL

Well, the new Federal minimum wage is about to become the law, so everyone needs to consider whether they need to raise their wages, at least for certain positions. Here is a nice poster, which summarizes the key points and lists the new minimum wage. Note that regular increases in minimum wage are scheduled for July 24, 2007, July 24, 2008, and July 24, 2009.

Here is the poster, in the form of a Pdf file.

So, Why Do Young Adults Feel They Are So "Entitled?"

According to an article in today's Wall Street Journal, entitled "Blame It on Mr. Rogers: Why Young Adults Feel So Entitled," it is all Mr. Rogers fault!! Hard to believe, that good-hearted Mr. Rogers should be blamed, huh?

The article goes on to state that four reasons for why young adults feel so entitled (or, are spoiled rotten, depending on how what phrase you wish to use). One reason offered is that our culture has essentially spent too much time telling young adults that they were great. The article cites a study indicating that narcissism among college students is growing.

A second reason offered is that too many parents explained their children's poor behavior by saying "they're just kids."

A third reason: kids have been taught they are on the same level as adults; the use of first names for adults by children is part of the problem (perhaps it is a symptom, though, not a cause).

Fourth: Parents have focused too much on their kids lives and not enough on their own. Kids, in essence, have become the focus of our culture.

My thoughts: the school of "hard knocks" is going to teach young adults a lot about life. Too many children have inflated expectations about work and life.

Click here to read the complete story.

Hiring People When Your Company Doesn't Pay Well

In a rather interesting article on ere.net, Dr. John Sullivan provides expert advice on how to convince candidates to accept jobs that don't pay well. Among the suggestions he offers are:

1. Offer the candidate a chance for salary reconsideration 6 months or so later;

2. Make the offer in person (gives you, the hiring manager, a better chance to respond to objections)

3. Have the CEO call with the offer or write a personalized note with the offer letter (shows the importance of the offer).

4. Offer other non-financial rewards ("Sometimes a title, working at home, a dress-down atmosphere, the opportunity to work on a "wow" project, great equipment, rapid learning..." can be very attractive to a candidate).

Click here to read the rest of this excellent article.

EEOC Issues "EEO State of Federal Government" Report

Recently, the EEOC issued a review of the 2006 EEO State of the Federal Government, listing a review of the EEO performance of the Federal Government. There is lots of interesting information here, I think, even for private-sector firms. For example, there is information on what should be in an anti-harassment policy -- the report notes, for instance, that

A common problem the Commission encounters is that some anti-harassment procedures, while comprehensive in nature, include separate definitions of sexual harassment. This suggests that, from a legal standpoint, sexual harassment is somehow different in kind from harassment on other bases. It also conveys the impression that sexual harassment claims might be subject to a different standard of liability than other forms of harassment. A more effective approach would be to include sexually oriented verbal or physical conduct within a comprehensive definition of discriminatory harassment.

Also interesting is the suggestion for accountability that managers and supervisors are evaluated on EEO.

Lots of other facts and figures are provided in this report; click here to see the whole report!

Women Claiming Discrimination: Survey Shows Interesting Results

According to a recent survey,

Thirty-three percent of female workers said their gender works against them
when applying for a job, while 11% said it works in their favor.

That's a pretty high percentage; however, over half of women say their gender has no effect on hiring.

So, what do women report doing about discrimination? About half said that they did not report the incident.

More than 2/3's felt reporting the incident wouldn't help; nearly half feared they would be labeled a trouble-maker. Only about 3% took legal action as a result.

This is an interesting survey, if for no other reason, it shows what women are likely to do if they feel they have been mistreated (most don't think they were taken seriously and even more felt that the pepetrator was not held accountable).

Click here for more information on this survey.

Executives Work in the Trenches

Today's Wall Street Journal ((6/25/07) reports on companies that have top executives work the entry-level jobs for days at a time, to learn more about what it is like at that level.

Besides providing insights into customers, I think that this experience helps managers learn more about the problems that entry-level employees face.

Happy Birthday to HRMplus!!

Welcome to my new blog; I will cover HRM issues such as employment law, hiring, interviewing, testing, compensation, and so forth. Previously, I blogged under the website blog.easiconsult.org.
Prior to that blog, I blogged for George's EmploymentBlawg. So, you can see, I have been around the blog corner!

Stay tuned, then, for more blogging in the future on HRMplus, the newest HR blog in town!