IN THIS ISSUE:

1. Feature Story: Telecommuting Arrangements Benefit Employers As Well As Employees

2. Cathie's Corner: Identity Theft: Everyone's Responsibility

3. USERRA Requires Prompt Reemployment, Despite Employee's Dishonesty

4. Free Reports: Get Ready For The New FMLA Rules

5. HR Soapbox: Company Holiday Parties: Eat, Don't Drink, And Be Merry?

AHI's We Couldn't Make This Up

Instead of going the traditional route of posting a job ad online or in a newspaper, Toronto's Virgin Radio encouraged listeners to enter its latest contest. The prize? A job as an on-air personality at the station. To enter, all listeners had to do was submit a résumé. The pool of "contestants" was narrowed down and a select few won the right to have an on-air audition.

1. FEATURE STORY:
TELECOMMUTING ARRANGEMENTS BENEFIT EMPLOYERS AS WELL AS EMPLOYEES

Telecommuting is not a brand-new concept. For years, this flexible work arrangement has been recommended as a way to address employees' concerns about their work/family balance.

When fuel prices rose dramatically earlier this year, telecommuting was touted as an environmentally responsible way to cut down on fuel consumption while also cutting out-of-pocket costs for increasingly money-pinched employees.

And even though fuel prices have gone back down, these arguments in favor of telecommuting are all still valid.

"That's all well and good…but what's in it for us?" some employers may still wonder, justifiably concerned about their bottom line. Human resources management expert Carol A. Hacker, president of Hacker & Associates (Alpharetta, GA), is armed with a plethora of answers to this question. As part of AHI's upcoming web conference, Critical Success Factors For Managing A Remote Workforce, Hacker spells out the various benefits you can potentially reap from a carefully implemented telecommuting policy. Among them:

• Flexible work policies, including teleworking, can attract top-level applicants.
  
• You can hire the best talent regardless of where they live.
  
• Real estate expenditures and associated energy costs are reduced, due to having fewer people in the office.
  
• Offices can be consolidated for even greater savings.
  
• There's little need to relocate key employees when company offices are expanding, closing, relocating, etc., or when employees move.
  
• When employees move from verbal communications to e-mail or other web-based communications, the company has a better documentation trail.
  
• Remote working lets employees expand their workday and operate more productively.
  
• Daily workplace conflicts are absent, resulting in fewer employee complaints.
  
• As a cost-cutting measure, it can be a way to prevent the loss of good employees who might otherwise be laid off.
  
• Adding it as a perk can help reduce turnover if employees become upset with other cutbacks (e.g., if you are forced to discontinue annual raises and/or bonuses).

Besides making the business case for telecommuting (and pointing out the challenges involved), Hacker also delves into the practical considerations of implementing a successful telecommuting program. One key piece of advice: "Don't implement before you're ready. Any technology and HR issues must be fully resolved, or the program will flounder." These issues are numerous, including:

• providing/making sure teleworkers have adequate resources and equipment,
  
• implementing tracking systems for payroll (particularly for employees classified as non-exempt under the Fair Labor Standards Act),
  
• creating policies spelling out when, where, and how company-owned equipment may be used, and
  
• training teleworkers on data security procedures.

In working to resolve these and other issues, it's essential that you "bring together all the stakeholders," Hacker stresses. "HR, IT, and Facilities Management all need to be involved to manage a remote working process effectively."

To find out from Hacker what other critical steps you should take before you implement a telecommuting program at your organization, sign up now for AHI's live web conference, Critical Success Factors For Managing A Remote Workforce, to be presented on December 15, 2008.

Live Web Conference 
Critical Success Factors For Managing A Remote Workforce 

Monday, December 15, 2008
1:00 PM-2:30 PM Eastern

A remote workforce can benefit employers by cutting real-estate expenditures, increasing the talent pool, lowering turnover, and increasing productivity.

However, along with these benefits comes a new set of challenges. Supervisors are used to communicating with employees face-to-face. How can they connect with and direct employees who work off-site?

Failure to properly manage off-site workers can cause them to become isolated and miss opportunities to contribute — offsetting any potential cost savings.

We invite you to join AHI and HR consultant Carol Hacker for this live web conference that will help you and your managers learn how to bridge the gap between remote workers and those in the office.

2. CATHIE'S CORNER:
IDENTITY THEFT: EVERYONE'S RESPONSIBILITY

In this day and age where identity theft is a major concern, new employee privacy laws are springing up all over the place. My state just implemented a new one, to be effective next month. Other states have them to varying degrees, from variations on HIPAA to restrictions on the use of Social Security numbers. But what are the employees doing to protect their information?...Continue the story.

3. USERRA REQUIRES PROMPT REEMPLOYMENT, DESPITE EMPLOYEE'S DISHONESTY

Delaying the reinstatement of a military service member by subjecting them to your company’s standard return-to-work process may violate the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act's (USERRA) requirement of prompt reemployment....Continue the story.

4. FREE REPORTS: GET READY FOR THE NEW FMLA RULES  
 

Check out the Free Report, Get Ready For The New FMLA Rules, which gives you a detailed breakdown of the new Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) rules finalized by the Department of Labor (DOL), and even points out where these final rules differ from the proposed rules. Learn about the new procedures used for taking military family leave, the new definitions of "continuing treatment," "periodic treatment," and "qualifying exigency," and much more.

5. HR SOAPBOX: COMPANY HOLIDAY PARTIES: EAT, DON'T DRINK, AND BE MERRY?

Due to the economy, many companies are cutting back when it comes to year-end holiday parties, if not cutting them completely. The silver lining is that at least you don't have to worry about employees overindulging at the open bar. Those of you who are holding such celebrations, do you grapple with the question of whether or not to serve alcohol?...Continue the story.