This edition is going to start with a bit of a different spin. Why you may ask? Because the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is encouraging employers and employees across the country to participate in national Drug-Free Work Week 2007, set for Oct. 14 to 20. As a healthcare provider and practice, you may want to consider participating.

Authorizing Time Off

Q: Can you require employees to work? Or, put another way: Must you always authorize time off for employees?

A: Minimizing the 'revolving door' syndrome can be a challenge for any eyecare practice. To establish the cause of your turnover, you must first determine why new employees are leaving. Dig deep and be prepared to tackle the issues head on.

Of course, a variety of laws permit employees to take time off without adverse consequence. For example, employees may have a "right" to be absent for jury duty, military leave, a sick family member, a new baby, their own illness, and related situations. Similarly, you are required to approve absences necessary to accommodate an employee's disability, pregnancy or religious activities.
Unless you're required by law to authorize a leave, you generally have the right to control when employees work.

Re-certification Guidelines for FMLA

Q: Once an employee has a FMLA certification, does the Department of Labor (DOL) allow the employer to request re-certification?

A: Yes, you may request a new FMLA certification every 30 days, but not more frequently unless there is a change in the employee's condition. If the health care provider puts the employee out for more than 30 days, you may request re-certification only after that time expires. A recent DOL opinion letter states that you can request a new re-certification annually.  

Submit your questions to one of our experts.

DOL’s Drug Free Work Week: Activities for Business, Trade and Professional Associations

DOL’s Drug Free Work Week: Ideas for Individual Employers and Their Employees

The Family and Medical Leave Act

Society of Human Resource Management

National Institute on Aging

Three Key HR Practices to Help Boost Profits and Sales for Small Businesses

According to a study by Cornell University presented in August 2006, smaller businesses create 22 percent higher growth in sales, 23 percent higher profits and 67 percent less turnover when three key HR practices are implemented.

Practice 1: Hiring Based On Fit—When a company hires qualified applicants, taking into consideration organizational fit and culture, those applicants will be better suited to fostering and contributing to the work environment and more likely to remain with the company long-term.

Practice 2: Create a Family-Like Environment—Employees in smaller companies like optical labs, expect more personal attention and well-rounded involvement and, consequently, perform better in these work environments.

Practice 3: Empowerment and Discretion—When small companies give employees greater discretion, authority and responsibility they outperform their market peers.

The research compared smaller companies to their industry peers, differentiating them based on key human resources practices and strategies. The study, was based on surveys of top managers and owners as well as employees from 323 small businesses. The companies ranged in size from 8 to 600 employees with an average of 53 employees—not unlike the size of many eyecare practices. The surveys focused on various organization characteristics related to sales, profitability and turnover.

These three key HR practices are easy to talk about, but often difficult to live up to. It is important to note that these practices, once institutionalized, can significantly enhance revenue, profitability and retention.

The other key finding in this research is that these factors impact small businesses as much as large businesses. Most of the research previously conducted has been on larger companies and is thought to only apply to the Fortune 1000. The majority of American businesses, like ECPs, are comprised of less than 50 employees and therefore, this research now clearly demonstrates the value of these key HR practices for the smaller business model.

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Fragrances, Allergies and Other Workplace Problems

How could something as benign as the scent of an employee's perfume cause havoc in your practice? There is growing evidence that some people have allergies to odors in the workplace, including fragrances.

And in some workplaces, employees are complaining loudly about the problem.

So what are some of the symptoms?

• Headaches
• Nausea
• Difficulty breathing
• Hoarse voice or loss of voice
• Difficulty concentrating
• Tingling of the lips and skin
• Muscle and joint pain

Whether fragrance sensitivity becomes a medical condition is determined on a case-by-case basis. Some of the medical diagnoses that are exacerbated by fragrance sensitivity include asthma, allergies, multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS), environmental illness (EI), and migraines.

So, should you mandate your workplace as fragrance-free?

Experience shows that some employers that have adopted such a policy have had difficulty enforcing it since there are fragrances in everything from perfumes to personal-care products to even cleaning supplies and soap.

One employer asked employees and visitors to voluntarily abide by such a policy attempting to become a fragrance-free work environment. According to a statement released by the unnamed organization, they said, "We want to educate our workforce and clients about the real effect chemicals and fragrances can have on individuals with sensitivities. Many people are unaware that the scents they use can actually make another person ill."

It is presently up to employers to decide for themselves whether they should make their work environment fragrance free or just make adjustments necessary for employees with diagnosable ailments that may be protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

Do remember that an individual may have a disability if he or she has an illness or condition that substantially limits one or more major life activities, has a history of such impairment, or is regarded as having such impairment.

A simple, common sense approach would be to raise employees' awareness of the issue, asking them to curb the use of their favorite fragrances in your practice.

Ridding the work environment of heavy and unnecessary fragrances that you can control and by raising employees' awareness of the problem may assist you in preventing potential employee requests for work accommodations related to their fragrance sensitivities and other possible medical issues.

Top Ten 'Very Important' Aspects of Employee Satisfaction

Employees’ View	HR’s View
Compensation & pay 59%	Relationship with immediate supervisor 70%
Benefits 59%	Compensation & pay 67%
Job security 53%	Management recognition of employee job performance 65%
Flexibility to balance work/life issues 52%	Benefits 62%
Communication between employees and senior management 51%	Communication between employees and senior management 60%
Feeling safe in the work environment 50%	Opportunities to use skills & abilities 49%
Management recognition of job performance 49%	Career development opportunities 49%
Relationship with immediate supervisor 48%	Flexibility to work/life issues 49%
Autonomy and independence 44%	Job security 48%
Opportunities to use skills & abilities 44%	Career advancement opportunities 46%

Source: Society of Human Resource Management 2007 Job Satisfaction Survey Report

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Employees Prefer Gradual Retirement 

A study of more than 20,000 U.S. adults over 50 finds that most prefer gradual retirement to the idea of working one day and retiring the next.

Three out of every four older workers would prefer to reduce their hours gradually than retire abruptly, according to Bob Willis, a University of Michigan economist.

Employers' lack of flexibility about working hours usually prevents gradual retirement. Among working study participants between the ages of 57 and 67, only 13 percent described themselves as partially retired.

If employers allowed partial retirement, the number of employees between 62 and 69 who are completely retired would drop by 10 percent to 15 percent, taking some of the strain off the Social Security rolls and raising the rates of experienced workers in the labor force, explained Willis.

Willis presented the findings to policymakers in Washington. His findings are also published in Growing Older in America: The Health and Retirement Study, a book produced by the National Institute on Aging.

This study is of specific value to eyecare professionals and practice management staff where the continued shortage of trained, qualified and customer-focused talent continues to be a problem.

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