What Is an Advocate and Is It For Me?

Today's post is from Brian Spencer. He is our intern this semester at ILSHRM as well as Rogers HR Consulting.  He will be graduating this May from UIS with a degree in Management and focused on beginning a new career in HR.  He has been a tremendous asset to us in promoting the Advocacy Program here in the state and help coordinate projects for the upcoming Legislative Conference this April.  Connect with him on Linkedin

Many of you have heard about ILSHRM seeking to build an Advocacy Team throughout the state.  Some of us have new representatives that were just sworn into office this past month, so it is a great time to start planning to introduce ourselves and the value that we can bring to them as professionals who represent both, our companies and our employees, rather than a party affiliation.  As I have been talking to people about advocacy I have noticed some of the first questions that come to mind are: 

“How much time is involved?”

“What am I supposed to say to my elected official when I talk to them?”

“What exactly is an advocate anyway?” 

Well, I will start with the last question first.  An Advocate is simply someone willing to establish and maintain a relationship with their local elected official and set themselves up as a support person in the area of HR.  Additionally, as our legislative team sees bills coming that require attention, information will be passed to you to help educate your elected official on how it could impact our field and our people. 

            This takes us right into the next question.  I have heard that it can be intimidating to call or speak in person to our elected officials.  In fact, I was rather intimidated the first time I spoke to one of my legislators in his office, but it has been refreshing to find that they truly want to hear from us. We are their constituents first and foremost; in addition, we represent our companies and our employees.  Often times the conversations start with a simple introduction of ourselves and our profession, and then offering ourselves as a resource for them in the future.  One of the best things we can do is to simply be nice.  We are simply a resource for them in an area where many do not have as much expertise as they would like.

            And now, for the question about time; the next “most valuable commodity of our day” according to some.  To say that many people are overcommitted today would be an understatement.  This is a project that I can comfortably say does not take an exceptional amount of time.  In fact you may likely only get to speak with your official for 15-20 minutes at a time to begin with.  If you will maintain this extension of service about once or twice a quarter the result may surprise you.  The ultimate goal is for us to get to a place that by time the Legislative Conference comes next year we can go to the capital and they will hear our name and come out to say, “Hey Brian, how are you?  What can I do for you?”  Then you will know your time has been well spent!

            As a follow up point…  Don’t forget to say “Thank you.”  We all know what it is like to be worn down by criticism.  For people in office this can be a daily grind that becomes wearisome.  Besides the fact that it is nice to be appreciated, it lets them know you are watching! 

            If this sounds like something that could be exciting for you, or if you would simply like some more information please click here and give us some basic information so that we can follow up and help equip you to be an Advocate!

(Special thanks to Terry Steczo who helped to coach me through each of these points.)

Illinois Legislative Update

Here is the first blog coming, thanks to the assistance of ILSHRM’s blogger in chief, on some proposed legislation in Illinois for 2013 (98^th Session).  We as HR professionals in Illinois, are attempting to become more involved in actions up front to provide information on the impact to our employees of upcoming legislation.  So, as the first few days of introduction of legislation begins – here are some of the things we will be watching:

We are looking forward to input from you (individually or via your chapter legislative chairs) on some of the actions being proposed.  How will it impact your organization?  Should we continue to follow the item?  How can you get more information? Etc. etc.

In the Illinois General Assembly, we have new acts being proposed for use of medical cannabis, the establishment of a Department of Minority and Women Inclusion, and a requirement for hospitals to develop and publish nurse-to-patient staffing ratios to include a description of essential functions (which will take precedence over the Hospital and Nurse Licensing Acts).

Amendments suggested would allow unmarried dependents to be covered until age 29 under medical benefit programs; expand the definition of “minority” in several acts to include those of Middle Eastern origin.  There is also a proposed amendment to the Unemployment Act to delete language on discharge for misconduct regarding requirement of a violation of reasonable rule or policy of unit be deliberate and willful and deletes language requiring an instruction from employing unit be explicit.

In addition there are already three “shell” bills in the House and two in the Senate.  These are proposals for a “technical change” to the existing Act.  The proposed bill acts as a placeholder until enough interest can be garnered for a better description of what is intended.  These are interesting as they can sometimes become the “overnight” actions taken late in the session!

The process is interesting to watch and requires that as HR professionals we step up to provide information to our elected representatives (non-political) on how some of the proposals may impact our organizations and how the issues may be addressed to better meet the goal of the proposal (or, sometimes, why the idea is not a good one because of unexpected implications that were not intended).

This is a good time to remind you of our upcoming Legislative Conference on April 10 and 11 where YOU can learn more about the process – and have an opportunity to meet with your senator or representative in person. Our registration page is here. 

Watch for a legislative update from our lobbyist in the next day or two.

-Kay Titchenal State Government Affairs Director ISC SHRM

The Cliff - The Hill And A Voice

The ILSHRM Crew posing before lobbying.

The end of the year has passed now, and the jury is still out on whether or not my efforts and the efforts of 380 of my SHRM peers will really pay dividends.   During the SHRM Leadership Conference, we were part of the largest contingent from any Leadership Conference to storm The Hill.   Our message had mostly to do with preserving existing tax code, for employee benefits.  We spoke about preserving benefits for college reimbursement, health care deductions, and the continuation of tax credits for retirement contributions. So with the Fiscal Cliff behind us it would appear that our efforts were effective, in as much as we did not hear about these benes  being whacked, in the 11th or maybe I should say 26th hour.  But this whole mess got me to wondering, did our efforts really matter? Was it worthwhile?

I have been involved in business and life long enough to know that you don't win all the battles, just ask Mr. Obama or Mr. Boehner.. Sometimes any small success is a victory. So even if our trip to The Hill does not result in the exact outcomes that we desired, we (all of us who participated) all made progress in the relationship building area.  This is largely what the whole effort  of going to Capitol Hill, is all about, the relationship thing,  I like many others am trying to build a relationship with our folks in Congress, so that if they ever have questions or need information about HR, they might contact me.  Remember, and the SHRM A Team tells  us this repeatedly, there are only two members on Capitol Hill who have any experience as an HR practitioner.  You can do the math 2 divided by 535 is 0.003,  three tenths of one percent, a very small minority.

These folks in Congress are busy every minute of the day and if you can make just a small in-road into getting their ear about an issue or two that is a success. While we did not get to speak to either one of my Illinois Senators, my group did get to speak with our Congressman Aaron Schock from Peoria, IL.  Rep. Schock listened to our issues as did his staffers.  As for the Illinois Senators, we did not see Sen. Kirk as he was still recovering from a stroke.  Regarding Senator Durbin, nothing was said regarding his whereabouts.  We did meet with one of his staffer, who was most gracious and attentive - but at my advanced age they all (All Congressional Staffer) make me feel like I am talking to my children.

While some of the HR folks who attend the Lobby Day are overwhelmed by the whole process, I find it exciting and invigorating to be that close to the process and to think that I actually do.... have a voice!

-Dave Ryan Director of Social Media ISC-SHRM