Keynote Address:
Liars Exposed: How to Identify Dishonesty in the Workplace
Phillip R. Maltin
Partner, Gordon & Rees, LLP
As details of the sub-prime mortgage debacle continue to unfold, what is readily apparent is that corporate dishonesty did not come to an abrupt end with Enron. Sadly, duplicity appears to be a permanent part of the modern organizational landscape. Interestingly, in many respects, human resources remains the last hope for safeguarding again unethical behavior in the workplace. But what exactly is "the secret" to identifying dishonesty? Is there a single behavior that is always identified with dishonesty? For instance, does averting eye contact necessarily signify deceit or can it mean something else? What role does the voice play? Can we"listen" for dishonesty? In this unique and entertaining keynote presentation, celebrated attorney Phillip Maltin will offer precise and remarkably accurate recommendations for how to identify conduct associated with dishonesty. As a trial lawyer, employment expert, and dynamic speaker, Phillip combines his knowledge of substantive law with the practical experience he has gained as both a criminal prosecutor and a private lawyer. For the past nine years, Mr. Maltin has prosecuted criminal cases for the City of Los Angeles through the Fellowship Program of the prestigious Trial Advocacy Project. On July 16, come hear his insights into the inner-workings of dishonesty. Whether interviewing potential employees for a position or performing first-rate investigations into workplace misconduct, the techniques and information in this presentation are indispensable for HR professionals and executives who want to develop their communication skills, powers of perception, and ability to identify dishonesty. The presentation will include several video examples of the conduct discussed.


An Update on Employment Laws Governing Meal/Rest Periods, Overtime and Exemptions
Alison S. Hightower, Esq.
Shareholder, Littler Mendelson, PC
Suits alleging misclassification, off-the-clock work, unpaid overtime and premium wages for violating California’s meal and rest break requirements are on the rise often brought on behalf of hundreds, thousands or even tens of thousands of current and former employees. A recent verdict in Alameda County against Wal-Mart exceeded $170 million, and settlements by Fortune 500 companies are in the multi-millions, even tens of millions. Exposure is even greater here in California because our laws have expanded the rights of employees and California’s statutory requirement that an employer “provide” meal periods and rest breaks has not been clearly interpreted. This session will update this complex area using an interactive approach with hypothetical examples based on real cases. In particular, the session will teach participants:
• What are the clear—and not so clear—legal requirements for meal and rest breaks in California.
• The latest arguments being made by employees in wage and hour litigation.
• What choices employers can make to minimize their litigation.
• How to evaluate your organization’s potential exposure to costly litigation.


Show Me the Numbers: Getting Heard with HR Metrics
Richard Greenberg
President, The BreakThru Alliance
Reams of data without defined meaning. The pressure to make an impact. A lack of focused action. It is time to take a fresh look. Do you know which HR and workforce metrics you must track, trend, and benchmark to drive organizational success? Great HR professionals know that the more you can quantify results, the more likely you will have the ear of senior leadership. This session is designed to help provide insight into why measurement is critical to link your people strategy to business outcomes. Several examples of key performance indicators that leading companies adopt in their workforce and HR scorecards will be shared and analyzed. By the end of the session, you will be able to begin building and/or enhancing workforce metrics for your organization. More importantly, you will be in a better position to turn employee data into meaningful information and results. This session will focus on:
• A methodology for developing “line of sight” from strategy to metrics.
• An overview of the most critical and most utilized metrics, including ones you might not expect.
• Evaluating which metrics should matter the most to you and your executives.


The San Francisco Health Care Security Ordinance (HCSO) - Employer Options
Michelle L. King, CFC
Director, Benefit Dynamics a division of Pension Dynamics Corporation
In July 2006, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously passed the Health Care Security Ordinance. This ordinance, effective January 9, 2008, requires businesses with employees who work in San Francisco to make health care expenditures on behalf of those employees. Many employers are confused about how to comply with the ordinance: whether or not it applies to them, which employees are eligible, how to calculate the required expenditure amount, and what “counts” as an expenditure, among other concerns. One option is to make payments directly to the city of San Francisco. This makes employees eligible to participate in the Health San Francisco Program or the city-run Medical Reimbursement Accounts. Again, many employers are confused and uninformed about how these programs work and what their choices are. This presentation will give an overview of the ordinance itself as well as explore ways that employers can meet their expenditure obligations, including a few, creative alternatives to the city plan. Attendees will leave with a comprehensive understanding of what their obligations are as well as the pros and cons of the various choices they have in order to meet these obligations.


The Emerging Role of the HR Business Partner
Valerie Frederickson
CEO, Valerie Frederickson & Company
According to a recent Deloitte Consulting survey, despite rising demands from the executive suite for the HR function to support overall business objectives, the transformation of human resources, particularly at large global companies, is still largely about savings, systems and processes. But that landscape is changing dramatically for organizations and their HR professionals. At forward-thinking, market-driven companies, HR’s contribution is increasingly being measured by how well HR supports the company’s business objectives and addresses the strategic people issues – and not by administrative efficiencies and cost-controlling capabilities. At these progressive organizations, a new role is rapidly emerging to build the alignment between human resources and business operations: the HR business partner. This seminar will examine the emerging role of HR business partner and its future role in the organization. Topics discussed will include:
• The background and experience needed to succeed in this position.
• How to meet expectations from both the executive suite and HR.
• Roles and responsibilities: are you a trouble-shooter, a trusted consultant, or a jack-of-all-trades.
• The consulting processes that should be part of your tool kit.
• Coaching and resources to augment your skills.


The Global Leader's Journey: Success Strategies for Navigating the New World of Work
Helen Peters
Leadership Development Practice Head, Torchiana, Mastrov & Sapiro, Inc.
Whether you are part of a Fortune 100 multinational or a smaller organization in growth mode, globalization is transforming the way we do business. With the new demands on all organizations to think globally, act globally, and compete in an increasingly diverse and dynamic marketplace, the development of truly global leaders has become an imperative for organizations both large and small. Join us to discuss what global leadership really means. Along the way, we will examine some of the striking differences between leadership approaches across cultures as well as strategies to take in developing successful global leaders at your own organization. For instance, does your CEO want to know:
• What the characteristics of a successful global leader are?
• Whether your company has the leadership talent to succeed in the global economy?
• How you plan to identify, develop, and retain that talent?
On the other hand, do you personally:
• Struggle with the leadership style of your parent company in Germany?
• Wonder what to expect on your first trip to Singapore?
• Find yourself perplexed by your UK counterparts?
• Understand what Chinese and French leaders have in common?
• Know what to expect with a Japanese boss?
Although the specifics may vary, this session will help you answer these questions as well as discover the potential landmines and opportunities of the global leadership landscape.


Web 2.0: Finding and Engaging Top Talent with Professional Networking
George Seiters
Senior Director, LinkedIn
Online social and professional networking has been among the hottest recruiting topics in 2008. The potential for sourcing qualified and high-quality employees with Web 2.0 is clearly tremendous, but the best methods for reaching and engaging this talent are neither straightforward nor intuitive. With an estimated 20 million users, LinkedIn is the largest and fastest growing professional networking web site on the planet. Almost one million new members register at LinkedIn each and every month. This session offers a rare, insider perspective into the inner-workings of Web 2.0 and how to use professional networking web sites to your organization’s full advantage. In particular, you will learn best practices for sourcing, selecting and engaging talent on the web. Topics include:
• Why people participate in social and professional networking.
• How companies can benefit from professional networking.
• How to build a successful professional profile and presence.
• The importance of building a high impact network.
• The best way to post jobs and leverage referrals.
• How to find the tools that are best for your workflow.


Employee Leaves of Absence: How To Navigate California's Unique Rules on Disability, Family Leave, Workers' Comp and Pregnancy Leave
Matthew P. Vandall, Esq.
Miller Law Group
Even employers who comply with the ADA and FMLA can find themselves easily tripped up by the array of California laws governing employee leaves of absence for illness and injury. To make matters worse, complying with one set of laws - such as workers' compensation - can cause you to inadvertently run afoul of another. For instance, conflicts between the laws can arise in the following areas:
• California's FEHA provides greater protections to disabled employees than the ADA and new employer obligations.
• California's pregnancy disability leave law grants additional time off for pregnant workers beyond what the FMLA requires.
• California's family leave law (the CFRA) differs in significant ways from the FMLA, and California employers must comply with both.
• California's workers' compensation laws can create new employer risks when there is overlap between an occupational injury and family or disability leave.
This session will help you manage the complicated interplay between the various leave requirements that apply to California employers and will provide a useful compliance flow-chart.


The Annual Employee Appraisal: Avoiding the Common Mistakes
Conchita Franco Serri, Ed.M., J.D.
President, Serri Compliance Training
When flawed or poorly executed, annual employee appraisals can potentially become a minefield. They can be expensive, time-consuming, and morale-busting. Most notably, they can become damning evidence for future employment discrimination and retaliation claims. By contrast, when designed and implemented correctly, employee appraisals can become an asset to the company. A well-conducted employee appraisal brings credibility and integrity to the organization, improves communication, engages teams, rewards employees for attaining their annuals goals, provides documentation support for succession planning, and creates a defensible legal trail when necessary corrective action is taken against employees who perform below expectation. As such, becoming familiar with effective performance management processes and best practices becomes an essential skill for managers who aim to optimize the productivity of their teams. This session will focus on the most common mistakes that are made during the performance appraisal process, as well as best practices. In particular, this session will discuss:
• Aligning an individual employee's functions with strategic business objectives.
• Coaching for accountability related to performance expectations.
• Documenting performance to support compensation.
• Career development tracking.
• Creating a defensible paper trail to support decisions, articulate a business rationale, reduce disputes and support the integrity of the process.


Invest in Your Investigations: How to Properly Conduct Workplace Investigations
Helene Wasserman, Esq.
Partner, Ford & Harrison LLP
When employers either suspect, witness, or are advised of potentially improper conduct in the workplace, their first instinct is to investigate. Yet, properly conducting investigations takes thought, planning, and time. Unfortunately, many employers who have the right idea to conduct the investigation don’t necessarily execute the investigation properly. Conducting workplace investigations is not an area where employers should take short-cuts as properly conducted investigations can prevent litigation in its entirety or, at a minimum, make a lawsuit easier to defend. This session will provide guidance as to how to properly conduct workplace investigations. Specific topic areas addressed will include: how to identify the right witnesses to interview, how the interviews should take place, who should be present during investigatory interviews, the importance of proper documentation, as well as issues related to confidentiality of investigations.


Succession Planning
Debbie McGrath
CEO, HR.com
This session will explore some of the more innovative ways as well as the true and proven methods to handle succession planning of your executive team. In addition, you will be able to interactively share market research based on a recent survey of HR Executives on their best practices on succession planning. Topics will include: building a talent pool, handling HIPOS, and the latest technology.


Identity Theft: Understanding the Impact and Taking Action in the Workplace
Bill Butkovich
Vice President and Identity Theft Risk Management Specialist, Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.
How does identity theft impact a business, its employees and its clients? There are 5 common types of identity theft, and each has an adverse effect on the workplace – not to mention additional work for the human resources department.  When an employee becomes a victim, both work performance and attendance usually suffer. Luckily, help is on the way. New legislation will impact employers and employees alike, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is strongly advising companies to understand their new responsibilities. In particular, they stress four major compliance areas that businesses need to implement. By attending this informative session, you will:
• Learn about the steps a business should take to mitigate exposure.
• Learn about FTC expectations and new legislation directly impacting companies.
• Receive tips and valuable information pertaining to Non Public Information (NPI).
• Leave with resource sheets on identity theft and the FTC.


The Cultural Fit Factor
Lizz Pellet
CEO, EMERGE International
While organizational culture has been touted since the early 1990's as essential for business success, there has been little connection between culture and the employment branding process. By knowing "who you are" and "who you are not" from a cultural perspective, you can create an employment brand that increases the ROI of recruitment and retention programs. By paying attention to congruence, alignment and fit, organizations can attract and retain the "right" employees and repel those who just won't fit. Blending relevant business examples with the results of a comprehensive employment branding study of over 100 companies, attendees will gain an understanding of how to:
• Assess and define an organization's cultural framework.
• Clearly define "fit" to identify the type of employee you desire to attract and retain.
• Build an employment brand in the context of culture.
• Understand how to connect culture and brand.
• Increase the ROI of recruitment and retention.


Pre-Employment Screening: Best Practices, New Developments and Legal Issues
Lester S. Rosen, Esq.
President & Founder, Employment Screening Resources (ESR)
It has become a statistical certainty that employers who fail to exercise due diligence in their hiring practices run the risk of hiring criminals or imposters, as well as increased workplace violence, theft and litigation. Human resources professionals are now faced with the stark reality that:
1) Fraudulent résumés run as high as 40% of the applicants considered. Applicants often misrepresent their experience, level of education, and ability to perform essential functions on the job.
2) Up to 10% of applicants that sign background waivers have a criminal record.
3) On average, at least half of all new hires don't work out.
4) Negligent hiring is one of the fastest growing areas of employment litigation.
5) Employee dishonesty costs U.S. business over $50 billion annually and over 45% of inventory shrinkage is employee-related.
In addition, employers also face legal and privacy challenges in performing background checks. In this session, learn best practices when it comes to due diligence in hiring and employment background screening. Audit your current practices and legal compliance through case studies and a legal update. As a bonus, this session will also focus on unique, "only in California" aspects of background checks.


Immigration: Hiring the Best and Brightest When Visa Options Are Limited
Norman C. Plotkin, Esq.
Partner, Jackson & Hertogs LLP
To the frustration of many HR professionals, the current H-1B cap has already been reached. So what can employers do to bridge the gap until October 1, 2009 when new H-1B visa numbers become available? This session will examine the H-1B crisis in depth along with several other issues that are critical to employers including:
• Alternatives to the popular H-1B visa.
• Extending Optional Practical Training.
• Delays in the permanent residency process after labor certification is approved, including visa retrogression.
This session will also review some of the more important recent changes in the immigration arena as well as the status of upcoming legislation. Immigration law and policy is dynamic, yet staying abreast is crucial when it comes to hiring and retaining the best and the brightest employees in 2008 and beyond.


Strategies for Implementing a Successful Recognition Program
Cindy Ventrice
President, Potential Unlimited
One of the main reasons why people leave their jobs stems from the lack of sincere appreciation. Ideally, while also improving morale, productivity, and profitability, employee recognition programs are supposed to address the need for appreciation, but far too many of these programs fall short of this objective. After investing a significant amount of time and money in a recognition program, it can be confusing when survey scores show little change or improvement. Worse, it can be aggravating when employees respond to programs with downright apathy or suspicion. If you have been tasked with creating or revamping an employee recognition program, maybe you have encountered obstacles like these ones: executives who delegate full responsibility to others, managers who claim they are too busy to get involved, and organizational actions that run counter to the guiding message of the program: “You are valued by this company.” Even if you are able to develop an effective recognition program that is highly regarded by employees, rarely will you be able to achieve the bottom-line results that top management expects. Of course, this should not come as a huge surprise, after all, successful recognition programs require a total approach that involves the day-to-day support of top leadership and line managers, alike, and a culture that includes peers in the recognition process. In this session you will learn:
• What employees mean when they say they want recognition.
• How to prepare for the realities of managing a recognition program.
• What it takes for a recognition program to provide a positive ROI.
• What the “50/30/20 Rule of Recognition” is and why most programs make the mistake error of omitting it.
• Which three strategies are guaranteed to make your program a rousing success.
In addition, Cindy will sign her new book immediately following the session.


Exploring Coaching: Straight Talk that Leads to Success
Veronica Wolfe, CPCC
Principal, Wolfe Associates in affiliation with Merit Resource Group
Coaching as a business profession has been around for many years. During the past decade, though, it has taken many twists and turns. Recently, it has reached a level of complexity and confusion that nearly every time the term is used, a definition seems required to clarify context and intent. For instance, there is personal coaching, team coaching, performance coaching, development coaching, and transition coaching. There are coaches to improve results while there others to address and resolve issues. Sometimes the client is the individual being coached while other times the client is the organization whose employees are being coached. In terms of results, coaching can sometimes lead to top performers getting even better at what they do. On other occasions, coaching can result in very capable individuals leaving an organization. This interactive session will help to clear up any confusion and help to develop a line of sight appreciation for the value that coaching should bring to companies. Along the way, the presentation will take a look at:
• What coaching is and what it isn’t.
• How coaching connects to employee engagement and innovation.
• The barriers and misperceptions of its value.
• How coaching helps with retention and improves bottom line results.
• What it should mean to your organization.