Blog Post: Missed the August 12th SHRMA meeting?

For those that couldn't make the August SHRMA meeting on August 12th, it was a good one! The format of this meeting was different - a panel discussion on three topics with three speakers, ten minute sessions each followed by a short question and answer session.

I want to give a hand to President Pat Smolen for the very creative ice breaker at this meeting - got us all out of our seats and introducing ourselves to other members.

Steve from Linvatec, the first on the panel, discussed how his company rolled out a policy for a Smoke Free Campus. Kudos to Steve as he wasn't the planned presenter but instead a last minute replacement. Excellent job - wouldn't have known otherwise! Steve gave a rundown of the planning and implementation of the policy, as well as examples of what they included in their policy, some of the reasons behind the policy and how the policy has been received by the employees.

Lynn Heckler spent the next ten minutes on Employee Engagement (an employee's involvement with, commitment to, and satisfaction with work.) She had some impressive numbers to share about PSCU's survey results taken before and after implementation of steps to improve engagement. Lynn also talked a bit about what engagement actually is -truly engaged employees are more than just "happy workers." She briefly touched on how her company determined the key drivers and what they chose to address to improve engagement.

Last but not least, Steven Freedman talked about social media, specifically Linkedin. Steven, known as the "WD-40 of HR," has found great success networking via Linkedin and shared how he uses his connections to continually expand his network, with the goal of finding jobs, and even  "paying it forward."

Ten minutes is not nearly enough time to cover any of these three topics, but it was enough to peak our interest. For those wanting more information, SHRMA members can use the member directory on the SHRMA site to find contact information and reach out to Lynn, Steven or Dawn (Linvatec), or by posting a question on the SHRMA LinkedIn group where all SHRMA members with LinkedIn accounts have the ability to join the discussion or just follow along.

I'm looking forward to the next meeting on Wednesday, September 9th @ 7:30am, which will be the annual legislative update. Don't forget the October 14th meeting will be a joint diversity meeting with HR Tampa - "The Business of Faith: Religious Diversity from an HR Perspective."  The HR Tampa Expo is on September 16th and the theme this year is "You Can Make the Difference."

Want to learn more, visit the SHRMA site for membership information.