smAlbany 2013 presentation http://ww.smAlbany.org

1. Successfully Integrating Today’s
Entry-Level Employee into Your
Company’s Culture
William Obenauer
Business Management Instructor
Southwest Vermont Career Development Center

2. Ground rules:
• This presentation will discuss changes in legislation.
• This presentation will discuss changes in American culture.
• These topics will be discussed with the sole purpose of explaining
the unique needs of employees that have resulted from these
changes.
• This presentation will not comment on the positive or negative
impacts of any cultural or legislative changes in our country.

3. Are you hiring the
right people?

4. Are you hiring the right people?
Hiring the best candidate
vs.
Hiring the right candidate

5. 21.90%
24.70%
33.50%
0.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
35.00%
40.00%
1975 1995 2012
Americans Age 25-29 With Bachelor's Degree
Information Courtesy of National Center for Education Statistics

6. 0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
40.0%
25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50-54 55-59 60-64 65-69 70-74 75+
Age
Percentage of Americans With College Degrees
Information Courtesy of U.S. Census Bureau

8. How does this impact us in the Northeast?
State Population Age 25-
34 with Bachelor’s
Degree
MA 53.4%
NY 47.7%
CT 46.3%
NJ 46.0%
NH 45.6%
VT 43.8%
RI 43.4%
Information Courtesy of the Chronicle of Higher Education and based upon 2010 U.S. Census Data

9. Today’s premium for college degrees is caused partly by
increasing selectiveness among employers about whom
they hire and screening based on education
even for positions that do not require higher skills.
June 12, 2013
Today’s premium for college degrees is caused partly by
increasing selectiveness among employers about whom
they hire and screening based on education
even for positions that do not require higher skills.

10. The smarter, the
better, right?

11. “According to 2011 research by management-
consulting firm Gallup, 71% of American
workers are either not engaged or actively
disengaged from their jobs, with highly
educated and middle-aged workers the least
likely to feel involved in and enthusiastic about
their work.”
May 31, 2012

12. Costs of boredom in the
workplace-
• Lack of productivity
• Significant errors
• Accidents

13. Cognitive psychologist John Eastwood
of York University, Canada-
“Boredom has at its core the
desiring of satisfying
engagement but not being
able to achieve that.”

14. Overqualified employees want to do
meaningful work, but aren’t given the
opportunity to do so.

15. If you hire an overqualified salesperson, what are
some tasks that he/she could perform in order to
decrease boredom and increase the value that
he/she provides to your company?
• Inventory sales analysis
• Develop merchandise layout
• Purchasing
• Customer feedback analysis
• Develop promotional strategies

16. If they’re not
bored, we’re good
then, right?

17. Where does
engagement fall?

18. Safety
Physiological
This will fall!!!

19. We base wages on the
competitive market, not on
our employees’ needs.

20. Have you ever gone to
work hungry?
How productive were you?

21. Basic economic factors for the college graduate
• Average reported monthly student loan payments for college graduates
are $300 per month.
• Excluding the cost of your home, your total debt payments should not
exceed 25% of your take-home pay
• Your home payment should not be more than 30% of your take-home pay
• Total debts should not exceed 55% of your take-home pay

22. Student
Loan
Car Home Monthly
Take-Home
Pay
Est. Gross
Salary
Est. Gross
Hourly
$0 $250 $500 $1363.63 $25500.00 $12.26
$0 $250 $1000 $2272.72 $40800.00 $19.62
$300 $250 $500 $1909.09 $34700.00 $16.68
$300 $250 $1000 $2818.18 $50100.00 $24.09
When you hire people who need to earn more than
you’re offering, you will not meet their needs, and
eventually, they will refuse to meet yours.

23. Low turnover
increases morale
and the feelings of
safety and security.

24. So I’ve hired the right
employees.
Are my problems solved?

26. 2012 U.S. Retail Sales
$4.3 Trillion
Sales for Top 100 Retailers
$1.8 Trillion

27. The world-wide web came
online in 1993. Along
with it, came email.
Today, 294 billion emails
are sent each day.
Texting with your mobile
phone was first completed
in 1989. In 1995, only
about one message was
sent by customers per
month. The average
increased to around 35 in
2000. Today, sending a
text message is the most
widely used service on
cell phones.
In 2004, 1 million people
used Facebook each
month. Today, more than
1 billion people do.

28. Between 1970 and 1990, the number of single parent
families in the United States doubled.
In 1975, only 40 percent of mothers with a child younger
than age 6 held a paid job. As of 2010, 64.2 percent of
women with children younger than age 6 were in the labor
force.

30. How employees are portrayed on television is
becoming a self-fulfilling prophesy

31. “I am not a role model,” Charles Barkley

32. Where do schools fall into this?

42. What this means to you as the employer…

43. Title VII
It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer -
(1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to
discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms,
conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual’s race, color,
religion, sex, or national origin; or
(2) to limit, segregate, or classify his employees or applicants for employment in
any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment
opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, because of
such individual’s race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.

44. Americans With Disabilities Act
Sec. 12112. Discrimination
(a) General rule
No covered entity shall discriminate against a qualified individual on the basis of
disability in regard to job application procedures, the hiring, advancement, or
discharge of employees, employee compensation, job training, and other terms,
conditions, and privileges of employment.

45. Age Discrimination Act
SEC. 623. [Section 4]
(a) Employer practices
It shall be unlawful for an employer-
(1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual or otherwise discriminate
against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or
privileges of employment, because of such individual’s age;
(2) to limit, segregate, or classify his employees in any way which would deprive or
tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely
affect his status as an employee, because of such individual’s age

46. What prospective employees hear:
• I’m an American; I have rights.
• Things in the workplace must be fair.
• You need to have a really good reason to fire me.

47. How you can work with these perceptions:
• Give employees honest feedback on their performance.
• Have the difficult conversations.
• Keep employees informed on the state of the business.
• Explain business decisions when possible.

48. • Hire the right employee (not the best employee).
• Develop a wage system based upon what meets the needs
of both your employee and your business (do not
develop wages based only upon competition).
• Be prepared to train your employees on soft skills. Train
them on what they need (not what you like to teach).
This provides you with the opportunity to integrate your
company’s culture into your employees habits.
• Provide honest feedback.
• Maintain open dialogues on the state of the business.

49. Use your local high schools and tech centers as
resources. They cannot meet your needs unless you
communicate specifically with them. State laws
require that technical education programs have
community members on their advisory committees.
Don’t be afraid to participate.