Dear SafetyXChange Members:

Before I begin, I want to thank those of you who have sent me comments and questions. I really wish I could reply to each of you directly and immediately. Unfortunately, the sheer volume of notes makes that impossible. I've spoken to Glenn and we both agree on the following advice:

Post your questions on the SafetyXChange discussion group (http://www.safetyxchange.org/forum/).

Posting will improve your odds of getting an immediate response; it will also enrich the quality of response you're likely to receive. After all, as the old saying goes, 11,000 heads are better than one. One more thing: Taking advantage of the SafetyXChange discussion group will gain you new colleagues and help build your network. And, with the expected surge in demand for management talent in 2006, networking will be the key to career success in the coming year and beyond.

Okay, now let's get down to the business end of this week's story:

Pay-for-Performance Arrangements

An increasing number of companies have adopted so called "pay-for-performance" arrangements with their employees. Many of these companies are concerned that these arrangements aren't delivering the expected results. If you're responsible for aligning your team's performance with business results or providing feedback or coaching in a performance program, you may well be interested in the findings of this survey of 265 large U.S. companies across all industries and a complementary survey of 1,100 workers conducted by Watson Wyatt and WorldatWork.

The Watson Wyatt/WorldatWork Survey

According to the survey, most employers that have gone to pay-for-performance are using an array of best practices in their performance management programs. Such best practices include:

• A formal annual review (98 percent),
• Programs to help poor performers improve (96 percent)
• Methods for offering coaching and feedback (91 percent)

The Implementation Challenge

However, the survey also found that implementing these best practices has been a problem for most companies. Although 92 percent of programs are designed to link pay to performance, only 79 percent of employers say that their managers are moderately or greatly effective at it. Employees see even more room for improvement with only 52 percent indicating that their managers tie pay to performance.

Companies will have to overcome these problems in the implementation of their performance management programs if they hope to align performance with business results.

The Effectiveness of Managers

Managers like us also struggle with providing formal career development and planning. While the vast majority (82 percent) of performance management programs are designed to include career development, only 37 percent of employers say that their managers are at least moderately effective at providing it. And only 31 percent of employees say their companies offer career development.

One step toward improving managers' effectiveness may be to provide them with appropriate training. Only 36 percent of organizations have a formal training program to enhance managers' ability to manage rewards. Managers at companies that offer such a program are more effective at providing coaching and feedback, providing formal periodic performance discussions and helping poor performers improve.

Conclusion

There's a lot at stake here. Effective management of pay-for-performance programs has a direct and immediate impact on a company's business success. The survey found that companies with strong performance management programs post significantly better financial results than those with weak programs.

For more information on these findings and performance management you can download the Watson Wyatt Research Report, Strategic Rewards® and Pay Practices: The Need for Execution - 2005/2006 Survey Report. There is a fee for this report. http://www.watsonwyatt.com/research/resrender.asp?id=w-865&page=1

Some Parting Words

John D. Rockefeller: Oil tycoon who valued communication skills in his managers.

John D. Rockefeller once said, "I will pay more for the ability to deal with people than any other ability under the sun." One aspect of this ability is effective communications. Rockefeller was a great communicator and very persuasive in conversations. Make it your resolution for 2006 to pay careful attention to every conversation.

Wishing you Career Success - as well as a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah and Joyous Kwanzaa,

Lauryn Franzoni
ExecuNet
www.execunet.com

HEROES OF WORKPLACE SAFETY

Santa Claus

St. Nicholas: 4th century bishop known for generosity to children.

Santa Claus is believed to be based on St. Nicholas who lived in Myra in what is today known as Turkey around 300 A.D. An orphan whose parents died of the plague, Nicholas was taken in by monks and became a priest at the startlingly early age of 17. He quickly gained a reputation for generously giving away church wealth as gifts to those in need, especially children. Legend says that he would throw small bags of gold down the chimney where they'd land in stockings hung by the fireplace to dry. Nicholas later became a bishop which explains why he is associated with a bishop's hat - or miter, a long flowing gown and a red cape.

The Catholic Church canonized Nicholas after his death. This was also around the time that the Church began celebrating the modern holiday of Christmas. So it was natural to make St. Nicholas part of the Christmas legend.

Santa Claus: The Thomas Nast illustration for Harper's Weekly.

Protestant reformers wanted to keep the legend but not the association with a Catholic Saint. So St. Nicholas evolved into national variants. The English called him Father Christmas, the Germans Weihnachtsmann (Christmas Man) and the Russians Grandfather Frost. For some reason, Americans took to the Dutch version Sinterklaas, which they mispronounced "Santa Claus."

The Coca Cola version of Santa Claus, circa 1934.

But the American part in developing the modern Santa legend went much further. The American political cartoonist, Thomas Nast, invented the modern look of Santa Claus. His drawing for the cover of the 1863 year-end issue of Harper's Weekly depicted a fat, jolly old guy with a white beard, red suit and stocking cap and long-stemmed pipe. Starting in 1931, annual Christmas ads from Coca Cola refined the Nast version and produced the Santa Claus of today.

Why is Santa a hero of workplace safety? Because his elves are fully trained in the hazards of toy making. They're equipped with a full regalia of protective equipment and ergonomically sound workstations. Santa's workshop has never, to SafetyXChange's knowledge, suffered a lost-worktime injury or been cited for an OSHA violation.

ALL OF US AT SAFETYXCHANGE WANT TO WISH YOU AND YOUR FAMILIES A HAPPY, HEALTHY AND SAFE CHRISTMAS, HANUKAH AND KWANZAA!!!

We will keep publishing next week, starting Tuesday, but in a shorter version.

Glenn Demby
Editor-in-Chief
SafetyXChange

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