Smokers more likely to visit hospital. Use Facebook to circulate your resume

The MTSG View

On
business, the workplace and employee relations

February, 2008

 

Improving Employee Health
and Productivity

than nonsmokers and stay in the hospital about a day-and-a-half longer
Meanwhile the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that, on
average, smokers cost their employers about $3,400 annually in lost productivity
and medical expenses With numbers like this, it's no wonder that some
employers have considered instituting a smokers' surcharge to help workers kick
the habit But will tacking on an additional $25, on average, to a smoker's
monthly insurance premium really get them to quit?

Georgia, Alabama,
Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, and West Virginia have laws in place that
allow employers to provide nonsmokers with reduced
health-care premiums That may seem like a passive attempt to control workers'
off-duty habits, but those laws don't actively restrict or prohibit what
workers do in their off time If they did, the Employee Retirement
Income Security Act (ERISA), the federal statute that protects employee
benefits, might supersede the states' ability to enact legislation that seeks
to take away a right that ERISA affords

Health-care inherently involves
ERISA, so employers should be aware that prohibiting smokers' conduct probably
isn't a solution Another approach could be to lobby legislators to pass
legislation mandating that insurers must provide nonsmokers with lower
premiums Employers should also consider offering benefits that seek to promote
healthy- lifestyles If workers have a chance to attend yoga classes,
smoking-cessation seminars, and weight-management programs through work, they
may be able to alleviate some of their stress - stress that often leads to
unhealthy habits like smoking Also, wellness programs could have a positive
effect on employers' bottom line According to the American Journal of Health
Promotion, sick-leave use was cut by nearly 30 percent after the start of
wellness programs in a year-to-year comparison

If you're looking for tips on how
to launch a wellness program, visit http://wwwwelcoaorg/freeresources/pdf/aa_quit_smoking1pdf, where the Wellness Councils of America offers free advice
addressing smoking in the workplace

 

Free Job Counseling!

Looking
for a job can be daunting Even more daunting can be trying to figure out the
most suitable jobs for you There are several resources that every jobseeker
should have bookmarked for researching potential matches and analyzing how much
additional education or other special training might be needed to land that
perfect job

For
starters, the US Department of Labor (DOL) and US Department of Education's
Career Voyage website is designed to provide information on high growth,
in-demand occupations along with the skills and education needed to attain
those jobs The website - wwwcareervoyagesgov
- is broken down into several high-growth industries, including advanced
manufacturing, aerospace, automotive, construction, energy, financial services,
health care, homeland security, hospitality, information technology, retail,
transportation, and emerging industries, such as biotechnology, geospatial
technology, and nanotechnology It offers overviews for each area, along with a
list of the in-demand occupations in each field and a list of apprenticeships,
2- and 4-year colleges, and other training options that will help candidates
secure jobs The site also provides a "career compass" for the jobs it lists,
meaning it gives insight whether they require realistic, investigative,
artistic, social, enterprising, and/or conventional learning styles and job
skills

In
addition, check out the DOL's Employment and Training Administration programs,
resources, and online tools, which assist workers in all stages of the job and
career development Learn how to: assess your skills to make the right career
choices; explore career options by tapping into the DOL's resources and online
tools; gain experience and credentials; and search for jobs Go to http://wwwdoletagov/jobseekers/ for more information

Lastly,
visit the US Bureau of Labor and Statistics at http://wwwblsgov/oco/cg/cgjobouthtm, where you'll find a career guide by industry and details
about the job market in each state

Employment
20: Social Networking

Facebook,
LinkedIn, MySpace By now you've probably heard the names But if you haven't
familiarized yourself with what they do it's time to get busy Social
networking sites are rapidly becoming a standard tool for networking jobseekers
and inquiring HR managers

Facebook
allows users to create a professional profile, post resumes and view resumes
in their professional network Users also can write and receive recommendations
from their Facebook friends and colleagues, edit their resumes in real time,
search resumes and view the 100 top resumes on the site

Facebook
also lets users sync their LinkedIn profile and recommendations LinkedIn is
another networking tool that jobseekers can benefit from using because it
allows users to connect to current coworkers and industry experts Users can
update their profiles, request recommendations and add their professional
contacts The idea is that through each user's network, he or she can use the
network to find and secure a job

For
instance, through LinkedIn's Jobs Insider, users can download software that
allows them to see if they have any potential connections at a prospective employer
and to request an introduction to the hiring manager Users can also use
LinkedIn to search for jobs in their area It also allows hiring managers to
post jobs and to forward those jobs to individuals in the hiring manager's
network

Jobseekers
should be warned, however, about what they post on more socially geared
networking sites MySpace, for example, offers email, networking
community, video, and weblog space, but isn't a place
you should relax your sense of good judgment and decorum As a general rule,
ask yourself if an employer could formulate a judgment about you based on the
information you've presented on your site? If the answer is yes, what would that
judgment be? If it's negative, change the wording or nix the language
altogether Also, don't use these sites to post provocative or compromising
photographs of yourself or others and don't use them to go on ad nauseam about
your pet peeves Doing so could prove to be career suicide since employers
have been known to search social networking sites for candidates' posts

Super HR: Lessons
from the Giants

Before the Super Bowl it wasn't
hard to find people using the New England Patriots as examples on how to run
their company, charity or personal lives, not to mention their youth sports
teams One loss doesn't change the fact that the Patriots stress team
above individual, an admirable quality for any organization But one
win has changed the perception of the Giants and confirmed what it takes
to overcome long odds: self-confidence and preparation The Giants believed
they could win and they planned well to pull it off That's a lesson for
managers and job seekers alike

HR Blog Watch: Race at
Your Place

There's been nearly as much talk
about "what" the final two Democrats running for president this
year are as there has been "who" they are With the Democratic
nominee sure to be either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, Americans will have
race or gender on their minds when they vote for the next chief executive
Carmen Van Kerckhove, president of the consulting firm New Demographic, writes
the blog Race in the Workplace,
helping people learn about race without "the misery of diversity
training"