I spent the past two years doing more investigations than I have during the 16 year
history of my business. The economy impacted this, of course. People were laid
off and filed claims, or they were afraid they were going to be laid off and filed
claims.
At the same time, because of the economic downturn, organizations put off
proactive kinds of prevention solutions such as workshops or training.
While investigations can be interesting, and I always strive to give clients a neutral
and defensible investigation I feel badly that clients and their employees have to
go through this. It's never the best use of anyone's time, especially a leader. In fact,
when people ask me what we do, I frequently say that we help leaders solve people
problems so that they can focus on what's really important.
Happily, after a two year period of clients delaying prevention workshops, we're
seeing a trend of returning to proactive solutions, instead of cleaning up messes on
the back end.
Resolve to Be Proactive in the New Year
If you want to look for proactive solutions, look no further than our client United
Rentals. Founded in 1997, United Rentals, Inc. (UR) is the largest equipment
rental company in the world, with an integrated network of more than 550 rental
locations in 48 states and 10 Canadian provinces. Their diverse customer base
includes construction and industrial companies, utilities, municipalities, and
homeowners.
Because UR is in the construction business, they've had a challenge attracting
women. They also wanted to create a diverse workforce that reflected the
community. UR started at the board level, creating a diverse group, including two
women and a Hispanic director.
Although they had very few claims from their general employees, they wanted to
be proactive on diversity issues. At the request of UR's Vice President of Human
Resources, Craig Pintoff, we designed a series of Women In Construction
meetings, held around the country. These small group meetings focused less on
training women and more on listing to their concerns and suggestions.
In addition, board members and/or executive officers kicked off the meetings and
stayed through the session to listen to the women's stories and concerns.
Here is the successful agenda that we developed:
Lunch with introductions
Company Timeline
Individual Timeline–Participants
Personal Highs and Lows —Participants
Break
The Meaning and Stages of Diversity
Dyads discuss United Rentals
-
Where the organization is at
-
Where is UR heading
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Where should UR be heading
Feedback from Participants
Dyads Discuss Individual Experiences
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What has worked
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What has not worked
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Work/Life issues
-
What is needed from UR to be successful
Gather experience–Participants
Concerns, Next Steps, Accountabilities
Closing Remarks
The result was a series of lively meetings that allowed the women of UR to feel
that their voices were heard, to allow them to network with other women in their
region, and to give them ideas about potential career path for the future. Each
session was followed with a series of conference calls to allow the participants to
continue the discussions.
What will 2011 bring for our US economy? No one has an accurate crystal ball
but what we do know as I wrote in
Tough Conversations with Your Employee is
that proactive is always better than reactive.
If you analyze what a lawsuit really costs, including both hard and soft costs, such
as damage to your reputation as well as the internal time of your employers and
managers, the loss can be staggering. It's not just the average $300,000 you spend
to settle a claim or judgment, nor is it the average $300,000 in attorney's fees, it's
the incalculable loss of your reputation and your leaders' time.
If you look at these costs, the costs of prevention training is minimal.
Not to mention that, in terms of values, it's the right thing to do.
We wish you a happy and
proactive 2011.
Copyright © 2011. No part of this material may be reproduced without written permission from Lynne Eisaguirre,
Workplaces That Work, 303-216-1020, Lynne@Workplacesthatwork.com, www.workplacesthatwork.com
