Organizational Maintenance

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By Andrew Coutermarsh
Reprinted with permission from the March 2002 Issue of Identity Marketing

Well, here we are almost at the end of the first quarter of the new year. Hopefully, as this goes to press, we have begun to see some signs of economic recovery; or we are at least remaining cautiously optimistic for the remainder of the year. For many of us, 2001 was a tough year involving eroded profits, downturn in sales, stock declines, and the resultant layoffs, cuts in benefits, bonuses, etc. All of this in addition to the stress and ultimate disruption from the events of September 11.

So here we are, running "lean and mean" waiting for things to pick up. How can we best use this "downtime?" This is a prudent time to take a look at some organizational maintenance. Why not take the time to clean up some of those issues that you've been putting off until you "got around to it?"

Compensation & Benefits
It's time to review the latest salary surveys to make sure that your starting wages are where they should be. With rising unemployment, there should be a little less pressure on wages this year. If you have been in an extremely tight labor market, you may find that your starting wages may be somewhat inflated. Whatever the case, it's time to take a look.

If you haven't "shopped around" for benefit providers in a couple or three years, this is a good time to do it. Markets are tight, but it's worth putting some pressure on your current carriers. If you can find a carrier that will give you a 5% - 10% break, you may be able to leverage that with your current carrier.

How about doing an employee survey to see which benefits mean the most to your staff? You may be paying for benefit plans that nobody wants or needs. You may also find that employees are interested in some of the group discount, employee purchase plans that will cost the organization little more than some set-up and administration time. You could improve morale without spending a fortune on increased benefits.

If you haven't already, now would be a good time to implement a Section 125 Plan to allow for Health Care Flexible Spending Accounts and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts that allow employees to contribute pre-tax dollars to an account that will reimburse them for dependent care and health care costs that are not covered by your health plan.

This will save you money also, because every dollar that goes into one of these accounts is a dollar on which you do not have to pay F.I.C.A. tax. There are special "use it, or lose it" rules, as well as other issues that make it prudent for you to seek the advice of a competent benefits consultant before implementing a program such as this.
This is also a good time to review the Summary Plan Description (SPD) for each benefit plan to ensure that each is current. This also applies to any enrollment information that is provided to employees.

Policies
So how old is your policy manual anyway (or do you even have one)? It's amazing how fast the years fly by. Before you know it, your handbook is out of date by five or six years. Let's face it. Policies should be dynamic. Our environment is changing so rapidly that the policy we write today is obsolete tomorrow. (An exaggeration, but not by much)

We are dealing with issues today that were not even imaginable 25 years ago, i.e., AIDS in the workplace, Internet pornography, computer viruses, etc.

Are there new issues emerging for which you may need policies? Conversely, are there policies on the books that are no longer necessary?

Do your written policies match the actual practices? There is no faster way to hang oneself than to behave contrary to one's own policy.

Compliance
If you haven't already, this is the time to review your list of participants for the 401(K) and pension plans. Make sure any excluded employees are identified and that all "key" employees and "highly compensated" employees are defined properly. Remember that the rules changed as of January 1, 2002.

For any benefit plans with a calendar plan year, now is the time to gather the necessary information for the upcoming 5500 Form submissions. This includes financial data, numbers of participants, total employment for the year, etc.

This also would be a good time to review the accuracy of each employee's minority coding and position category for the annual EEO-1 Report.

Do you have an Affirmative Action Plan? Don't forget to provide the annual analysis and develop new goals and timetables for the new year.

Job Documentation
When was the last time you took a hard look at the actual number and kinds of positions that exist in your company? Are all positions still necessary? Are there areas in the company that may require new positions with totally new skill sets? Do the positions still reflect the nature of the work performed? Put together a small task force to evaluate the situation.

How old are those job descriptions? Like policies, job descriptions should be dynamic, changing with the changing needs of the organization. Make sure that the ones you have accurately describe the duties and responsibilities for each position.

Process Improvements
Process improvement is usually the last, and should be the first area of improvement looked at. Take the time to map out each of your processes from order-taking to shipping, including all administrative activities.

Once mapped, look for redundancies and "hand-offs." A "hand-off" occurs when one person relinquishes the work and the responsibility/accountability to another person. The more redundancies and hand-offs you can eliminate, the more efficient the organization will be, with fewer bottlenecks.

Take a look at all forms and reports. Can forms be consolidated or eliminated? Are people reporting on what's necessary or what may be of interest? If decisions are not made from the data reported, or it's not a compliance issue, eliminate the report.

Too often, reporting, or "tracking" is implemented because of a breakdown in the process or system. Unfortunately the reporting or tracking becomes institutionalized and is being performed long after the breakdown is repaired. Take a look to see how many reports are being prepared because "it's always been done."

Training
So business is a little bit slow. Aren't people always complaining that necessary training never happens because we're too busy? Well take advantage of the slow-down and do some of that training. Don't forget that if you have instituted new policies there may be some training involved. The same is true if you have made process improvements and changed how the work flows.

Take care of that compliance-related training that you've been putting off. Numerous states require annual training for supervisors in the area of sexual harassment. If you fall under the federal Drug Free Workplace Act there may be some mandated training that needs to be done. Make sure any HAZMAT training is current and that any required CPR/First Aid training is provided on a timely basis.

Now is also a good time to review and redesign your New Employee Orientation, making sure that new policies, benefits, etc., are adequately presented and written materials are up to date.

Although no one likes to see an economic downturn, in some ways it can offer an opportunity. If you are having a slow time, use it wisely. Take care of some of these maintenance tasks so that when the recovery happens, your organization will be ready.

This is not meant to be an all-inclusive list. Each organization will have these and many more maintenance tasks that require attention. At issue is how we view these tasks. We should consider them as a 3,000-mile oil change. It may be tedious, but it prolongs the life of your business.

Andrew Coutermarsh has an MS in management from Antioch University/Antioch New England Graduate School where he is a member of the adjunct faculty teaching human resource development. He holds SPHR (Senior Professional Human Resources) designation from the Certification Institute of the Society of Human Resource Management. He is also the director of human resources for Prime Resources Corp. He can be reached at acoutermarsh@primeworld.com.