State of the Workforce Summit 2008-October 22, 2008

The 2008 Election and Its Impact on the Workplace
Susan K. McKenna, Esq. - (Bio)
Jackson Lewis LLP

Employers already are facing an unprecedented number of federal legislative initiatives in areas as diverse as disability, paid leave, discrimination, wage and hour, and labor law – and the outcome of the election is expected to significantly impact what lies ahead.  This session will explore this year’s legislative highlights and what to expect when the new Congress is seated in January 2009.

Contagious Communication: How to Get a Message Across to the Listening Impaired
Monica Wofford, CSP - (Bio)
Monica Wofford International

Sometimes we talk and no one is listening, it's as if no one's home. Even more often, they listen, but hear something different than what we say. How do we get them to hear us and listen carefully, understanding every nuance of our message? How do we get our own internal voices to say things we want to listen to and then convey the right message to others. All of this and more you will learn with Contagious Communication with Monica Wofford, CSP.

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Futurcasting: Proactively Looking at Changes in our Future
Carolyn McMorran - (Bio)
Valencia Enterprises

The human resources/training profession is no stranger to dealing with changes. From shifts in our workforce to having to develop new and innovative learning strategies, our profession has had to continually adjust our practices to stay ahead and meet the needs of our employees.

This informative and inspiring session will help HR/Training professionals proactively look ahead to some of the changes that are will dramatically impact the work we do. The future of learning, knowledge management, shifts in demographics, and going green are just a few. From this session, you will be informed and be able to start to manage those changes in a way that will increase the strategic value of your department and stop the reactive cycle of chaos.

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Influencing Win-Win Outcomes – Effective leadership Training
Ronald Weber - (Bio)
University of Central Florida Continuing Education

What’s So Challenging About Winning People Over?
To win support for an idea, you need to convince people to change their __________ and often their work ________.

Since most people tend to resist change, winning support for an idea, even a “great” idea, can be hard. It takes determination and skill.
We may find it difficult to:
Tie your idea to benefits that appeal to the people your influencing
Persuade people that your idea will benefit the organization and them personally so they will want to participate
Convince people that your idea is based on sound information
Build relationship with people who are unlike you
Remain receptive to constructive criticism
Understand the difference between influencing and manipulation
Respond positively and persuasively to negative comments
Avoid alienating people by coming on too strong

Skills you will learn:
To avoid steamrolling ideas through everyone
To get your idea implemented by getting everyone on board
Learn to stress the benefits to each individual to win their support

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The New Revisions to the FMLA Regulations
Joanne B. Lambert, Esq. - (Bio)
Jackson Lewis LLP

After years of delay, the Department of Labor finally is set to issue new regulations which will significantly impact employee rights and obligation, and change how employers administer the Family and Medical Leave Act.  This session will focus on these important changes and how employers can comply.

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The New World of Recruiting and Hiring Top Talent
Joan Brannick, Ph.D., SPHR - (Bio)
Brannick Human Resource Connections

Do your recruiting methods produce lots of candidates but few, if any, who are truly qualified for the job you are trying to fill? Despite all the recruiting and hiring tools available to you, do you find it more difficult to find applicants who are motivated and have the right values for the job? Do many of your applicants appear to care more about themselves rather than the company or the customers? If you answered yes to one or more of these questions, welcome to the new world of recruiting and hiring top talent. In this program, you will learn about trends that affect your ability to recruit and hire top talent. More important, you will learn what you what you and your organization need to differently to succeed in the new world of recruiting and hiring. Finally, you will walk away with tips and strategies that you can implement immediately to recruit and hire top talent now and in the future.

The session provides the following benefits to all attendees:
Understand the workforce trends that impact you and your organization’s ability to recruit and hire top talent.
Know how to identify the key qualities of people who are likely to succeed in your organization.
Identify new sources for qualified applicants
Develop new ways of recruiting and hiring that attract top talent
Create an action plan for improving the overall effectiveness and efficiency of your recruiting and hiring practices

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Retain Right: World Class Strategies to Keep Top Talent
Joan Brannick, Ph.D., SPHR - (Bio)
Brannick Human Resource Connections

Why would anyone want to work for your company? What is your great employee profile? What is the number one expectation that new employees have about your company? The answers to these questions (and more) drive the retention efforts of world-class companies. This program describes retention best practice strategies and real-world retention examples from companies known for their ability to keep top talent. Most important, this program provides an action plan that will help your company begin to Retain Right.
The session provides the following benefits to all attendees:
Learn the key workforce trends that will affect your company’s ability to keep top talent in the next decade
Discover the three keys to keeping great employees
Learn about the retention best practice strategies that world-class companies use to retain right
Learn about specific examples of retention best practices from companies that retain right
Identify specific actions that your organization can take to “Retain Right”

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What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You: Companies Need to Provide Financial Literacy Education
Karen LeMonnier - (Bio)
Valencia Enterprises

There are an estimated 70 million “baby boomers” in the United States. Over one half of this group has saved less than $5,000 towards their own retirement. Employees' poor financial behaviors can result in substantial costs to the employer in the form of excessive tardiness and absenteeism, utilization of business hours to handle personal financial matters, loss of trained personnel, accidents and increased risk taking, just to name a few.

The Trial Lawyers of America are very prepared, well financed and eager to penetrate new markets by placing a spotlight on overwhelmed employers who are not “preparing” their employees for retirement. More lawsuits are expected as more than 75 million baby boomers move closer to retirement and realize they don’t have enough saved to retire. This session will help you learn more about what you can do to protect your company and employees.

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When the Economy Goes Left – Training is Right
David B. Guzinski - (Bio)
The Integrated Business
Presented thanks to the University of Central Florida Continuing Education

The economy is left and this is the right time to train. Training focuses on task and process improvement which will build the skills of your staff. If you maximize their learning and apply it to your business you can run a (lean) shop. No one knows more about the business than those that do it every day. Use your staff to improve processes and methods of how you do business (adjust). Employees want to be regarded as an important member of the team. This will allow them to develop and become a more valuable player on the team. But before you can mine value from their training you must first lay down the foundation of what’s expected and how it will enhance the business afterwards. No longer will you have employees sitting on the sidelines of the organization. No longer will you have employees producing repeatable, non-inspiring results. Now is the ideal time for training. Markets are down, prices are up, sales are dry and the economy is left. Training is Right.

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Workplace Safety: OSHA, Guns and Bullying
Lilly Chaves Moon, Esq. - (Bio)
Jackson Lewis LLP

The duty to provide a safe workplace has never been more challenging for concerned employers.  This session will examine the Occupational Safety and Health Act, Florida’s new “guns in the workplace” law, and the merging concept of workplace bullying.

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