MaineHR

HR Professional Day

I was thrilled with the turnout of  today's HR Professional Day in Augusta....between 60-70 folks. What a great collective presence and voice for Maine HR! I definitely think we raised some eye brows by taking up all the seats in the Labor Committee work session today!!

Special thanks to Bill Saufley, Lisa Noonan, Christine Riendeau, Sarah Conroy and the entire State Council and Chapter Legislative members for making today such a huge success...a well organized event, great speakers, excited participants and excellent presence at the State House. KUDOS!!!

Maine HR Council Update

Sorry I haven't written anything on the blog fpr awhile. The Maine HR Council board on LinkedIn is much more active...over 110 members and some great exchange. Check it out!

A few things happening in Maine's HR world:
1) We have rescheduled HR Profession Day in Augusta on Monday, April 6th. Registration at 8am and program starts at 8:30am. For full program, chekc out the meshrm.shrm.org website.
2) Have you signed up fothe ME HR Conference....space still available?
3) ME Best Places to Work is back. Deadline is end of May. This is a GREAT time to assess your employee's level of to engagement and to compare w/ other companies.
4) Are you all on the HR Times mailing list....the next publication will be coming out in April.
5) Are you a SHRM member....there is a great $140 cost for 1st time members (this is a BARGAIN). Also SHRM allows members in work transition to carry membership up to a year for free.

This is a great time for HR...let's stand as a united voice.

Maine Best Places to Work

Seeking volunteers to help with the Annual Maine Best Places to Work Awards Banquet to be held in Ocotober. If you would like to support this excellent Maine business event, please let me know.

Regards....David

HR Times Articles

Surveying Maine HR professionals..... What topics, articles, profiles, interviews would you like to see in YOUR publication, HR Times?? We want to know what you are interested in seeing in future editions of HR Times? If anyone is interested in writing an article, deadline for the Spring edition is February 20th. Also if anyone is trying to reach over 1,000 Maine HR professionals and wants to be one of our publication adverstisers/sponsors, please let me know.

Maine's unemployment rates hits 7%

A 43% increase in the State's unemployment rate in one year. What can the HR profession do to help unemployed workers? What can the Maine HR Council/Chapters do to support our colleagues who are affected by layoffs or downsizing?

LD 84 - An Act to Ensure Fair Pay

Would love to get your response to proposed bill to Maine legislation? Do you support, oppose or are neutral to it? Do you think the SHRM - ME Council should take a stand?

LD 84 - An Act to Ensure Fair Pay - Employee wage information: An employee may inquire about, disclose, compare or otherwise discuss employee wages, and the employer may not interfere with, discharge or in any manner discriminate against the employee for such inquiries, disclosures, comparisons or other discussions.

SUMMARY This bill protects from employer discrimination employees who inquire about, disclose, compare or otherwise discuss employee wages

ME HR Convention Registration Now Open

Registration for the 14th ME HR Convention is now available.                                                   Sign up at http://www.mainehr.com/convention.

This year's theme is "The HR Kaleidoscope". It is scheduled from May 12 -12th and is once again held at the Samoset Resort. Come join in the the best education and networking event available to Maine HR professionals.

Regards.....David

Time and Interest in Volunteering!?!?!

We are seeking additional members for the ME State Council. Current volunteer opportunities are Scholarship (setting up staff development/education scholarship for ME SHRM members), Recognition (creating a new state-wide HR leader and HR project awards to be rolled out in 2010) and At-Large Membership (55% of ME SHRM members are at-large and have no affiliation with one of our 7 local chapters...looking for an at-large member interested in helping the State Council communicate at reach this important group).

If someone is interested in one of the above opportunities or wants to lead any state-wide HR project, just let me know.

The commitment is 8 monthly teleconferences, plus work on the your assigned project. We also provide leadership development and free admission on Tuesday of the HR State Conference. We do encourage Council Directors to participate in an annual strategic planning session, as well as the Council's events, such as HR Professional Day (March 2nd in Augusta) and Best Places to Work (October), as time allows.

Regards....David Pease                                                                                        (davidpease@roadrunner.com)

 

Challenging Time

Recent news story begin with...industry bailout, jobs lost, falling stock prices, company bankruptcies...not the type of news we want to hear now during this holiday season or ever. 

The current economic and employment situation is clearly a challengege for the HR professional, but it also provides us a stage to utilize our knowledge, skills and attributes to benefit the employers and the employees that we are paid to represent and advocate.

We have a tremendous opportunity to evolve our profession and add value to our companies by expanding our internal consultant skills to serve as a trusted adviser, strategic business partner and expert influencer to facilitate meaningful change, organizational efficiency and increased productivity.

Do you have the competency, credibility and courage to lead our senior leaders to coallaboratively deliver optimal value for sustainable organizational improvement and change?

This blog has been created to provide a forum for my Maine HR colleagues to share and support one another to be the business leaders who will influence economic recovery and prosperity for our beautiful State.