I agree with you,

I have deal with domestic violence at my work place and is really sad, I’m glad people will get some kind of help.

Unions- I agree that in the past they were an important system to have in place but now days I really think they (Union Reps) are just making sure that it benefits them mainly, and I’m a daughter of a union worker who has stated to me several times that it was a benefit to him and the other workers at the beginning but towards the end of his work career it went all to he**. It just taught people to be lazier and ask for more money to boot! All these wages that they made were outrageous and he agreed with that.

Increase FMLA coverage- I deal with FMLA all the time in my job and I’m OK with 1 item on that list, giving coverage for domestic violence issues and sexual assault issues. I have seen this happen where I work and these ladies are in total shock and scared out of their minds when they come to us for help now and all I can do is give them a number to call and protect them while they are on company property (not an easy task with no security at our plant). But I have to disagree with the 24 hours of leave for parents to participate in their kids academic activities, we have sick time (3 days paid) that they can use on top of their vacation time which can go anywhere up to 4 weeks. I have a kid in high school and believe me I keep in touch with their teachers and keep on top of their grades, it’s called internet, e-mail , and phone conversation and my kids are doing great.

Expanded paid leave- Don’t agree for the reason above, already have 3 days sick time, emergency vacation and can use FMLA on top of that if needed for a chronic illness; it’s called intermittent leave.
Plus some Companies do have Short-term leave and Long term leave, the Honda and Toyota plants do…..

The last two issues I’m not even going to discuss because I’m OK with these two issues.

I would like to also add that alot of people are buying cars that are Honda’s or Toyota’s because they are built better, I own a FORD and I never will again because I have put so much more money into fixing it up that I’ve probably spend twice on it then I should have. That’s right I work at a Honda supplier Company and proud of it! Sorry Big 3!

I have been reading this dialogue from the beginning and I find it very intriguing. Philosophically, we generally agree that we want whats best for the employees. Happy employees are generally more productive employees. The greater productivity, the greater chance for increased profits.

Now the question we seem to be struggling with is a question of practicality. How can I monitor yet one additional thing? How can I stay in compliance with the law? I would suggest we move from how “I” monitor to how can “we” monitor our activities. Let’s just say the 24 hours for participating in children activities is enacted, how can this be monitored. Here’s one suggestion, implementing a “Brag Board”. The purpose of the “Brag Board” is to share sucesses of employees and their families. I am going to attend my daughter’s graduation from middle school, here’s a chance to put the program on the brag board and something that will confirm the employee’s attendance and participation. In other words, I am suggesting that we have to be more creative and to think outside of the box. The “Brag Board” doesn’t have to your specific function but a shared responsibility. Sometimes, I think we become defeated before we start the battle.

As new laws come into play, we might have to adjust existing policies. I am sure most of us say somewhere in our employee handbooks that things may change. Let’s just be open to applying the law and adapting and or changing when necessary.

Let’s look collectively to see what we can do to make our lives a little easier. The power of many voices can be very creative. I know you have some great ideas. Let’s start sharing the ideas with each other; I truly believe that human resources is the consciousness of an organization. We can do, yes we can!

The admonition (26-Michelle, 29-WorkingMom and others) to calm down is appropriate in terms of getting the right volume on this discussion and thereby keeping the communication channel wide open. Coming strong to the mike in CAPITAL LETTERS is OK but let’s not expect name calling, intellectual putdowns, alphabet cursing and ‘my candidate is better than your candidate’ advocay to add as much as shared experiences. Of which there are many and I have been informed by these good stories. They have added to the rich discussion mix that DRichie began for us and I’m sure he would encourage the same.

Here’s a personal story showing why reacting to early plans early is warranted and also says something about the bottom line between Government and seeing the bigger picture.

At the turn of the millennium, Congress wrote a law that every two years (starting in 2002) all Federal Agencies have to conduct a survey on how employees viewed their management practices and if their agency was a good place to work. If you have not seen these results, they post how each agency did and compared to private sector companies on the Partnership for Public Service Website. There are over 200,000 federal employees who respond. So far, so good!

But there is one caveat in all this that did not get initial exposure perhaps because everybody felt too calm. The law also required a shorter version of the survey to be administered in the odd-numbered years to a small sample of the agency’s workforce. That required each Agency to pay for administering an interim survey with a margin of error as great as 6% (the even-year survey has less than 1% margin of error).

The lesson learn: we have by law to do a short survey even though we have its equivalent and much stronger robust survey every other year. You can understand that change does not happen on yearly cycles – it takes 18-24 months to see incremental movement in organizational culture. There is no business sense to snap a picture in the middle of every single backswing. It’s good enough to wait for the complete flight of the ball you struck and see if you landed on the green or not.

So why did Congress decide to make this superfluous non-value adding event a law? Could it be that no one was coming strong to the mike at the I time of its conception? Could it be that no one really had a chance to use their Congressperson’s & Senator’s numbers on speed dial and talk to their offices regularly as 44-Shelia so wisely offers? Could it be that the Federal agency responsible for intelligent HR change (The Office of Personnel Management) did not speak-up – or was it their decision?

How ever you answer these questions, I would suggest it’s beneficial and good that any early plan, any internal personal intention, any personal agenda become transparent and opened up for public discussion.

Speak up and call often is the rule of democracy – for us all. Without screaming, dismissing or punishing others.

Thanks for reading me out!

The mind set exhibitied by a few of the posters here is very indicative of the GOP attitude these days, which is exactly why I feel the party has been hijacked.

Based on the way Obama ran his campaign and the thoughtful way he seems to be choosing people to fill his cabinet, I feel that I probably made the right choice in voting for him, but only time will tell. However, even if things don’t go well, that doesn’t necessarily mean that John McCain would have been a better choice.