Workforce Week®

	www.workforce.com
	March 25 - 31, 2007 Vol. 8 Issue 13

In This Issue ...

Workforce News of the Week
Special Feature: Expats in Demand
Special Feature: Leaders Face Ethical Land Mines in China
Special Feature: Q&A: Wal-Mart's Linda Dillman Talks About Changing Health Care

2007 Optimas Awards Winners: The Most Forward-Thinking Companies

Forum Post: Smoking Policy?

The Business of Management Blog: Best Brains Win

Best in Shows: HCI 2007 National Human Capital Summit

Commentary: Facebook Faux Pas

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Comment or Suggestion?
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Workforce News of the Week:

At J&J, Smokers Keep Flame Alive Despite New Ban: Johnson & Johnson banned smoking on its properties in January, and since then employees who smoke have had to brave the elements and improve their map reading skills.
Click to read more. >>>

House Immigration Bill Drops Basic Pilot Program in Favor of Biometric Identification: A co-author of the bill says it would implement a biometric card system for employment verification instead of relying on the current electronic system run by the Department of Homeland Security.
Click to read more. >>>

Paid Sick Leave Bill's Impact Depends on Legislative Details
HR practitioners are concerned about how the measure would affect paid-time-off provisions. They also balk at the bill's definition of a full-time employee as one who works 30 or more hours a week, which many companies consider part time.
Click to read more. >>>

Survey Points to Growing Dissatisfaction Among HRO Buyers
Click to read more. >>>

Drug Study Taps Counseling to Cut Harmful Interactions
Click to read more. >>>

Would Exercise at Work Help Smokers Kick the Habit?
Click to read more. >>>

Employees Believe Plastic Surgery Helps Their Careers
Click to read more. >>>

Committed Parents Make Better Employees
Click to read more. >>>

Towers Perrin Wants Second Opinion
Click to read more. >>>

Special global report: China
Feature: Expats in Demand

"Localizing" the leadership of China operations with Chinese nationals has long been a goal for multinationals, both to save on compensation costs and develop a better understanding of the country. But given the tight market for managers, fast-growing multinationals continue to rely on expatriates.

Special global report: China
Feature: Leaders Face Ethical Land Mines in China

Navigating the terrain of business ethics is tricky for leaders in China. Executives in the country can easily slip and find themselves either unsuccessful or stuck in a globally publicized scandal.

Also:
Caring for Coke's Talent in China >>>
China's Mr. Hyatt >>>
China Matters Blog >>>
China Matters Podcasts >>>
China's Too-Fast Track >>>
China: Are the Kids Alright? >>>

Feature
Exclusive interview
Q&A: Wal-Mart's Linda Dillman Talks About Changing the Health Care System

Linda Dillman, formerly Wal-Mart's chief information officer and now its executive vice president of risk management, benefits and sustainability, is trying to use technology to change the health care industry and, in the process, improve health care quality and drive down costs through greater efficiency.

Feature
2007 Optimas Awards Winners
The Most Forward-Thinking Organizations in Workforce Management

For 17 years, the Optimas Awards have recognized workforce management initiatives that directly improve business results. While many of the qualities involved in creating excellent and profitable organizations don't vary, each year's winners do reflect the changing business environment.

In the early '90s, human resources shed its administrative straitjacket. In the dot-com era, innovation reigned, and companies showered employees with unprecedented perks. In the crash that followed, the winning organizations showed a resolve and a determination to do more with less.

Now, as the global economy changes dramatically, a different theme is emerging. In nearly every category this year, the winning organizations' entries centered on talent. How to find it—sometimes in dizzying numbers. How to bring people into an organization quickly. How to maximize their abilities. How to steep them in a company's culture. How to retain the best people in the face of ever-increasing competition.

It's our pleasure to honor the achievements of the 2007 Optimas Award winners, and to share them with you

Click on the links below to read about the Optimas-winning companies.

GENERAL EXCELLENCE
Goldman Sachs & Co., New York

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, California

ETHICAL PRACTICE
Putnam Investments, Boston

FINANCIAL IMPACT
GM Service Technical College, Troy, Michigan

GLOBAL OUTLOOK
Infosys Technologies, Bangalore

INNOVATION
Best Buy, Richfield, Minnesota
CultureRX, Minneapolis

MANAGING CHANGE
Luxottica Retail, Mason, Ohio

PARTNERSHIP
CVS Pharmacy, Woonsocket, Rhode Island

SERVICE
U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Washington

VISION
Sun Healthcare Group, Irvine, California

Discussion
Smoking policy?

Posted in the General Forum:
A reader writes: "We have a few office employees who routinely go outside to smoke several times a day. This can add up to an additional hour per day spent away from their work. Their managers have requested that the breaks be kept brief. This results in a short-term improvement. We don't want to have our managers keep a stopwatch on every smoking employee. Is there a policy that works?"

Join the discussion. >>>

Workforce blog: The Business of Management
Best Brains Win

Workforce Management editor John Hollon writes: "I'll occasionally include in this blog some of the best ideas that I pick up at [conferences], and the best this week comes from William Taylor, the founding editor of Fast Company and author of Mavericks at Work: Why the Most Original Minds in Business Win."

Click here to read the blog. >>>

Conventions & conferences
Best in Shows 2007: Notes From Key Workforce Management Conferences and Conventions

Ever wanted to attend an important conference or convention but just couldn't make it? The staff of Workforce Management will bring you reports from key workforce management conventions and conferences throughout the year in this exclusive Web feature. We'll report on the buzz at each show as well as highlights from selected seminars, presentations and speeches. We hope that Best in Shows will be the next best thing to actually being there.

Read about HCI 2007 National Human Capital Summit; Vurv Revolution 2007; CUE 07 (Lawson conference and user exchange); the Work-Life 2007 Conference & Exhibition, sponsored by WorldatWork and the Alliance for Work-Life Progress; the 2007 Strategic E-HR Conference: Maximizing the Value of HR Through Technology; Pensions & Investments 15th Annual East Coast Defined Contribution Conference; the 2007 Deploy Solutions User Conference; and the Conference Board 2007 Employee Health Care Conference. >>>

Also:
Best in Shows 2006 >>>

The Last Word
Facebook Faux Pas

Whose bright idea was it to use Facebook or MySpace to get information about job candidates? Certainly not any employer/defendant who has sat with me at counsel table in a case involving hiring discrimination.
Read more about the perils of recruiting using Internet social networking sites. >>>

Also:
Caution Advised When Using Social Networking Web Sites for Recruiting, Background Checking >>>
Social Networking for Recruiters >>>
Taking Time to Think: The Irony of Bill Gates' Legacy >>>