Articles - General HR

Turn on most of the talk shows these days and almost everyone in recent days has had Tom Hanks on promoting his new film Larry Crowne. For those of you not aware of the plot,Tom Hanks plays the part of an employee who often has been rated by management and fellow employees as the best employee of the month for a big-box retailer.

He has worked for the company since he got out of the Navy and  is now in his 50's. He gets a request to come to the manager's office and is told he is being let go because he does not have a college degree.

With the knowledge that EEOC and the Department of Labor are cracking down on injustices in the workplace, have you stopped to look at whether or not the requirements you place on positions are actually bona-fide occupational qualifications. I would suspect that the retailer would have a hard time justifying that Larry Crowne coul dnot do the job because he does not hold a college degree.

We realize that in these tough economic times corporations are doing what they can to beef the quality of the workforce for the coming changes, but the Larry Crowne scenario opens a couple of concerns.

First, in the movie Tom Hanks plays an individual who is obviously a hard worker and in his 50's. So the question that come sot mind is did they violate the ADEA regulations and potentially discrimination laws by releasing Larry Crowne.

More important, the exit of Larry Crowne represents a knowledge drain from the store since his knowledge of how best to do his job goes out the door when you send him on his merry way.

So I leave you with two suggestions. First from the trailers it looks like a fun movie and it hits the theatres tomorrow. Take time over the weekend to go enjoy it. (By the way I get no compensation from the production company and Tom Hanks and I are both related to the 16th Presidient of the US).

Second really review the requirements of your positions and think about whether requiring a college education for a position such as Larry Crowne is a necessary requirement to perform the duties of the position or does it just make your organization look good int he eyes of the public?-----------------------------------------------------

Biography

Daniel T. Bloom is the founder and Managing Partner of Daniel Bloom & Associates, Inc. Founded in 1980, DBAI is a Largo, Florida based human Capital consulting firm. Serving corporate clients nationwide, we have assisted organizations from small real estate firms to members of the Fortune 1000 with various human capital related issues.

DBAI services three niche markets with services to assist organizations to maximize the human capital assets of the organization.

The first niche is comprised of those organizations with fewer than 100 employees who either do not have or never had a human resources department and now find them selves in need of expert counsel on human capital issues. We in essence become their HR department but on a retained basis where they can call us as the need arises.

The second niche market are those corporations with a small HR staff who have an urgent need for specialized human capital services and we can provide the expertise to complete the application of these services on a timely and cost effective basis.

The third niche is strategic human capital project completion for the large corporations on a divisional basis.

The service package of DBAI includes, but is not limited to, the areas of talent management, training, vendor management, policy design, relocation management, process improvement and EEO.

A resident of Florida since 1980, Mr. Bloom was an executive recruiter with several contingency recruiting firms in the metropolitan New York market, a member of the internal HR staff of the ECI Division of E-Systems (Now Raytheon), a licensed real estate broker providing relocation services to corporate clients, an educator and since 1980 a Human Resource Consultant. 

He is a national member of the Society for Human Resource Management, Worldwide ERC (the corporate relocation trade association), and the American Society for Quality. In addition he is a member in the Tampa Bay area of American Society for Training and Development, Tampa Bay Metro Business Leadership Network and the Tampa Bay Executive Forum. In addition he serves on the Expert Panel for the Round Table Group in the area of human resource issues.

Mr. Bloom received a Bachelor’s of Arts degree from Parsons College majoring in Education and Certification in Six Sigma from St Petersburg College. He holds certification as a Senior Professional in Human Resources from the Human Resource Certification Institute, a Senior Certified Relocation Professional from Worldwide ERC and a Six Sigma Black Belt from St Petersburg College.

Contact Danial viaࠗeb: http://www.dbaiconsulting.com
LinkedIn: http://www.twitter.com/dbainc
Twitter: http://www.facebook.com/dbainc

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