The local IPMA-HR Chapter meeting has been set for Thursday, October 22nd at 8:30am at the Brecksville Community Center. Karen Seidman, R.N., M.P.H., consultant to the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, will review the basics of seasonal flu and pandemic flu and share current information about vaccine and antiviral medicine. Cost will be $10 for members and $15 for non-members which will include breakfast. If you are interested in going, you should contact esiegfried@cityofparma-oh.gov by this Friday, October 16, 2009.

I find it extremely difficult to predict the future. Everytime I try to I am wrong.

So I provide this report from IPMA-HR on job losses in the government. There are of course two issues. One how many losses will there be over the next two years. Two, how will this impact the relative ratio of government to private sector to NGO.

From IPMA-HR, “According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), there was a decline of 263,000 jobs in September. This marked the 21st consecutive month of job losses and since the start of the recession the number of unemployed persons has increased by 7.6 million. The government sector lost 53,000 jobs in September. All sectors of the government experienced job losses, with the federal government including the United States Postal Service losing 6,000 jobs, state government including education declining by 10,000 jobs, and local government including education falling by 37,000 jobs.”

We have previously discussed the phenomena of employers searching social network sites for information on job candidates. The September issue of IPMA HR News report on a CareerBuilder Survey that finds 45% of employers use social network sites to research job candidates, up from 22%.

Of those:

1. 29% use FaceBook
2. 26% LinkedIn
3. 21% MySpace
4. 11% Blogs
5. 7% Twitter

My question would be what exactly people are searching for on Twitter? Are they following job candidates for a number of days? Again, the lesson, be careful of what you post online.

The Partnership for Public Service has done a lot of really good work on HR issues in government. In the most recent (September) issue of IPMA HR News Magazine, Bob Lavigna has an excellent article on senior leadership in the federal government. The main points of the article can apply to many organizations:

1. Many leaders have technical competencies rather than managerial or leadership competencies leading to an overemphasis on agency specific issues.
2. The recruiting and selection process is broken. One result is a failure to bring in external talent.
3. Agencies fail to assist external talent with transitions to government roles.
4. Competencies are not integrated.
5. Development is not a priority.

I guess a simple summary would be – apply basic principles of HR.

The newest issue of HR NEWS from IPMA-HR includes an intriguing article on “What’s on the Minds of HR Directors.” My version of their summary is:

1. The economy – the effects of the recession will be felt for a long time
2. Public safety departments are not sharing equally in cuts
3. When openings exist, there are large numbers of applicants
4. Few pay raises
5. Age related 1 – Organizations are staying away from early retirement incentive
6. Age related 2 – current retirement plans may be too generous and may not be sustainable
7. Age related 3 – there are issues with allowing retirees to return to work
8. Greater use of non-monetary recognition
9. And finally — HR systems are under stress

I serve on an IPMA-HR committee that recently looked at Workforce Planning in the public sector. The 2009 IPMA-HR Benchmarking Committee Survey on Workforce and Succession Planning is now available on the website at: http://www.ipma-hr.org/content.cfm?pageid=42. More than 300 members completed the survey which describes how workforce and succession plans are created and implemented. New this year: the report includes ten case studies from various agencies with workforce plans.

The fall series of meetings is starting. Start marking your calendars. The next local IPMA-HR meeting will be held on Thursday, October 22nd at 8:30am at the Brecksville Community Center. The speaker will be Karen Seidman, R.N., M.P.H., consultant to the Cuyahoga County Board of Health, who has been working with the various aspects of pandemic influenza preparedness since June, 2006. She will review the basics of seasonal flu and pandemic flu and share current information about vaccine and antiviral medicine. There will be an opportunity to discuss issues and concerns related to pandemic flu in your business environment. Cost will be $10 for members and $15 for non-members which will include breakfast.

Generational issues remain a hot top in human resource management. Predictions regarding baby boomer behavior are especialy important in workforce and succession planning. This leads into the topic of the impacts of the economy on retirement. Counter to the predictions of many, the retirement age for men has been falling. However, financial issues may lead to a reversal in this trend. According to NPR and Watson Wyatt Worldwide Inc., a retirement consulting firm, three-quarters of those now planning to postpone retirement cite the loss of savings in their 401(k) accounts as the single biggest reason, the survey showed. The respondents also said they need to work longer because of rising health care costs and fears about price inflation. If Americans do keep working longer, it would reverse a decades-long trend toward earlier retirement.

Of course, the financial crisis has probably had its own direct impact on the process of workforce planning. Many US organizations appear to be putting off workforce planning as a way to respond to the uncertainties of the market and the tightening of belts. As with many human resource practices, we seem to reduce our emphasis on future planning at the very time we need it most.

The New Haven decision is in. I guess you never want to say a predictable decision, but it probably was:

If you are interested in public sector hr certification, IPMA-HR offers professional certification designed specifically for public sector human resources professional.IPMA-HR offers two certification designations:

IPMA-Certified Professional (IPMA-CP) for HR “generalists.”

IPMA-Certified Specialist (IPMA-CS) for HR professionals who specialize in any number of highly technical skill areas – Employee Labor Relations, Employee Selection, Organizational and Employee Development, Benefits Administration/Risk Management, HR Research, HR Management Systems, Recruitment, HR Diversity/EEO, Compensation, Classification.

If interested, check out IPMA-HR.