Illegal Immigration: Hiring, Penalties, Solutions

If you read my previous post, you know that I’m alarmed at the number of illegal immigrants living in the United States.

THE MAGNITUDE

Part of the reason it’s shocking is the magnitude of the problem: anywhere from 10-14 million people with most people guessing 12 million people here illegally.

The 2005 Census indicated the entire state of Pennsylvania, including large cities such as Philadelphia, Pittsburg and Harrisburg totaled 12,429,616.

Here are some state population listings from the 2005 Census:
Illinois 12,763,371
Pennsylvania 12,429,616
Ohio 11,464,042
Michigan 10,120,860
Georgia 9,072,576
New Jersey 8,717,925
North Carolina 8,683,242

THE NEW HIRE PROCESS

I work in Human Resources and when we make a new hire, we have 3 days in which to complete a Federal form, the I-9. You can see this form at http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/formsfee/forms/files/i-9.pdf. There are specific instructions and the company must view documents indicating the person has the legal right to work in the United States. You can read about the process and penalties at http://www.uscis.gov/graphics/services/employerinfo/EIB102rdln.pdf.

The Employee signs “Under Penalty of Perjury” that she/he is: “A citizen or national of the United States”, “A Lawful Permanent Resident” or “An alien authorized to work until {date}”.

The Employer, usually represented by a Human Resources professional, must sign under the following statement:

“l attest, under penalty of perjury, that to the best of my knowledge, this employee is eligible to work in the United States, and if the employee presented document(s), the document(s) l have examined appear to be genuine and to relate to the individual.”

Page 3 of the I-9 provides a list of acceptable documents for certifying work eligibility. This list offers three columns of possible documents, and you can use something from Column A or one from Column B and one from Column C. Column A lists “Documents that Establish Both Identity and Employment Eligibility”, including the US Passport, a Certificate of US Citizenship, and other federally issued documents. Column B lists documents that establish identity such as a Driver’s License. Column C lists documents that establish employment eligibility such as a US Social Security Card or other items.

Penalties for misrepresentation, for providing or accepting on the I-9 are serious. You can read the penalties at http://www.immigrationlinks.com/news/news1113.htm. and http://www.immigrationlinks.com/news/news1113.htm

Using forged or counterfeit documents are punishable by law, and soliciting people to work who do not have the right to work in the United States is also punishable. The Social Security site lists penalties for abusing their system, and you can read about it at http://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/ssact/title02/0208.htm. If you use a forged, altered, counterfeit, etc. Social Security card, you “shall be guilty of a felony and upon conviction thereof shall be fined under title 18, United States Code, or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both.”

There are severe penalties for false US Passports as you might imagine. One website, http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/false-passport-application.html, noted:

"Those found guilty of making false statements in the application and use of a passport can face:

1. Fines
2. Incarceration (jail or prison): up to 25 years for using the false statements in connection with international terrorism, 20 years for using the false statements in connection with trafficking drugs, or 15 years for other uses, or
3. Both a fine and incarceration"

QUESTION ABOUT THOSE FORGED DOCUMENTS

If a worker provides a Social Security number for the I-9 and payroll, and this is a fraudulent document, the money paid by the company to the Social Security account is being credited to someone else’s retirement funds. The Social Security Administration sends reports to you regarding the money you’ve deposited through your payroll. Check it carefully.

Let’s assume there’s a hot market for documents and a crime ring needs to get a whole lot of ID’s at once – names and Social Security numbers. Wouldn’t it be a great black market to get some of the stolen laptops we keep hearing about? Identity theft takes on additional ramifications.

TEMPORARY OR GUEST WORKER VISAS

I’ve heard this discussed as if it were something new. It isn’t. There is a temporary visa process if you are an agricultural worker, for example, and that is an H-2A. You can read about it at http://faq.visapro.com/H2A-Visa-FAQ2.asp. There are many other types of visas, but when politicians talk about the “value” of illegal immigrants in our economy, about doing jobs that other people don’t want, agricultural and janitorial work are the only types of jobs I think they are discussing. Believe it or not, there are people here legally who can and will do this work, and a visa such as the H-2A can take care of the agricultural needs. The key is that it must be enforced.

HEARTBREAK GOES BOTH WAYS

Let’s also address the dangers people face while sneaking into the country. If coming in from Mexico, you can run across the border, sometimes through miles of desert. Another option is to come in through the underground tunnels, facing miles of darkness, rodents, and many difficulties. In 2005, 516 bodies were found in the desert, and according to one CNN report I saw, the total number of dead bodies out there may be 1,000 or more.

There are stories of individuals and families with heartbreaking reasons for coming to the USA, and many of these people are hardworking, honest, and reliable, just wanting to get a chance to feed themselves and their families, educate the children, have a decent life. That said, it would be a mistake to lump all people into the same category. It’s very clear that a percentage of illegal immigrants are tying up our law enforcement resources, our justice system, and our jails.

On the June 15, 2006 CNN website, they stated that since May 26, 2006, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement {aka ICE} has arrested nearly 2,100 illegal immigrants across the country. “Officials said the raids are aimed at child molesters, gang members and other violent criminals, as well as people like Da Silva who sneaked back into the country after a judge threw them out.” Da Silva was a Brazilian arrested in 2002, deported, but returned to the USA. He now faces up to 20 years in prison.

More from the CNN site: “The operation has caught more than 140 immigrants with convictions for sexual offenses against children; 367 known gang members, including street soldiers in the deadly Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13; and about 640 people who had already been deported once, immigration officials said. The numbers include more than 720 arrests in California alone.

More than 800 people arrested already have been deported.”

The radio reports indicated that we had illegal aliens working in sensitive positions in airports. Stunning, but not surprising considering the Keystone Cops approach to law enforcement in this area.

“There are more than 500,000 "fugitive aliens" who have been deported by judges and either slipped back into the country or never left. There is often a disconnect between local and state prisons and the federal government that allows illegal immigrants to serve time and be released without being transferred to federal officials for deportation.”

OUR OWN GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE REPORTED AND RECOMMENDED…

Our U. S. Government Accountability Office released GAO report number GAO-05-646R on May 9, 2005: “Information on Certain Illegal Aliens Arrested in the United States”. You can find the report at http://www.gao.gov/htext/d05646r.html and this includes specific data of arrests, crimes, and incarcerations. Read it and weep. I mean it. Recommendations were made and apparently ignored.

MY RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NOW, AND I AM SURE TO THINK OF MORE LATER

If we took our laws seriously and enforced them, this issue would partly take care of itself.

A company that is determined to have gone out of the way to find, hire, utilize illegal immigrants - put the CEO and CFO or business owner in prison. Publicize the heck out of it and more companies will think twice about this practice.

If it’s found that an employee has used forged, altered, or counterfeit documents to secure work, punish that person as prescribed by our current laws and again, publicize this widely in every language.

Illegal immigrants who happen to give birth in this country do not automatically have a child who is an American citizen. The parent or parents are here illegally and are to return to their home country, and the child is a citizen of that country. Until their return to the native country, any bills for medical care, schooling, and other measurable expenses will be charged to that person and deducted from aid we send to that person’s home country. I am not talking about people visiting the country on a visa who happen to give birth here but return home.

Criminals who are illegal immigrants can either be deported or the costs of their trials and incarceration can be deducted from aid to the person’s nation of birth. For example, the USA currently provides around $30M/year in aide to Mexico. If the US costs for handling and housing criminal illegal aliens from Mexico total $15M/year, we deduct that money from our aide to Mexico. Mexico would have added incentive to fix their own economy for their citizen’s well-being and monitor their northern border. {I realize singling out Mexico seems very unfair, but you must review the statistics. I could also have said Uzbekistan, but their numbers are substantially smaller.}

We need a national identity card with biometric prints to cut down on our false documents. This issue goes beyond our current topic and into national security.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Want to read an interesting article covering some of the same topics with additional links? Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_immigration_to_the_United_States.

SUMMARY

This is a serious problem we must face without fear of being politically incorrect. As a sovereign nation, we have the right to protect our borders, to enforce our laws. I lead workshops about preventing sexual harassment and I know that many people will find ways to break or bend the laws, but the more we educate and enforce, the high penalties, mandatory education, and adverse publicity can lessen the numbers of problems. We should do the same for this issue.

I am honestly surprised at the strength of my own emotions about this issue. Again, as always, I invite your considered opinion. If you just want to rant, please don’t do it here; I really want your opinion, even if you disagree. If you agree, please let me know and pass along this blog site. One of the reasons I have written this much is my own frustration with our elected officials. Contact your representatives, attend their meetings, call their offices, and be heard. Don’t let their only contacts be either insiders or lobbyists.

Illegal Immigration

I used to live in Los Angeles. It’s huge: spread out over a large area, densely populated, heavy-duty traffic jams. According to a 2004 estimate, there were about 3.5 million residents including all the cities incorporated and unincorporated, in the County of Los Angeles. The entire county of Los Angeles has 10,179,716 residents (as of July 2004). You can read more data at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_County%2C_California

There is another census page listing countries by population, mid-2005 estimates http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004379.html.

Chad 9,826,419
Hungary 10,006,835
Tunisia 10,074,951
Czech Republic 10,241,138
Belarus 10,300,483
Belgium 10,364,388
Portugal 10,566,212
Greece 10,668,354
Serbia and Montenegro 10,829,175
Senegal 11,126,832
Angola 11,190,786
Zambia 11,261,795
Cuba 11,346,670
Niger 11,665,937
Malawi 12,158,924

Why would I bring all this up? Illegal immigration.

I’m positive this will be a controversial posting and I’m inviting you to think and read and reach your own conclusions. I have read that the number of illegal immigrants in the United States has grown to as many as 12 million, and they now account for about one in every 20 workers.

It’s completely shocking to me to see that there are that many people who have snuck/stayed in this country. I do not think that any other country in the world would allow this. In my naïve way, I thought there may be a few thousand illegal immigrants, and was stunned to learn that with all of our concern about security and patting down old ladies and babies in airports, we have millions of people here who should not be here.

I've worked with many great people from all over the world and when the bubble burst in 2000, most of them had to return to their countries.

My father’s grandparents came to this country in the 1800’s and obeyed the laws to get here. My mother’s parents were also immigrants in a time that Jewish immigration was limited. Her father came from Poland, worked and saved money and sent for family members, one by one. The ones who chose not to come or it was too late – they were murdered by Nazis. Mama’s mother was from the Ukraine and, as a child, witnessed countless horrors in the Pogroms. As a young woman she fled to save her life. Because of immigration restrictions, stayed in England for about two years before coming to the States. She spoke English with a Russian/British accent. She also sent for family members, and the ones who did not come...many were murdered, a few survive.

My family came to the United States to be free to practice their religion and not be persecuted and they had heard America was a wonderful place.

The Center for Immigration Studies “is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit research organization founded in 1985. It is the nation's only think tank devoted exclusively to research and policy analysis of the economic, social, demographic, fiscal, and other impacts of immigration on the United States.” You can find their website at http://www.cis.org.

In a study “The High Cost of Cheap Labor“, they note “Based on Census Bureau data, this study finds that, when all taxes paid (direct and indirect) and all costs are considered, illegal households created a net fiscal deficit at the federal level of more than $10 billion in 2002. We also estimate that, if there was an amnesty for illegal aliens, the net fiscal deficit would grow to nearly $29 billion.” Please take some time to read the article explaining how they reached this conclusion http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html.

Some people claim that no Americans would do the work that illegal immigrants do, and I don’t believe that for a moment. There are many places in the USA where high school kids, part-time workers, college students, and many others do exactly the same work and have done so for years. There will always be a percentage of the population that may be uneducated, undereducated, unmotivated, or completely satisfied by the work that is available.

I don’t know the magical answer to the 10-12 million people who are here illegally. This is not a racist issue, and I think a lot of people do not speak publicly for fear of being labeled as racists. I have sympathy for people who are seeking a better way of life.

And I also have to think of our country.

What do you think? I invite you to share your opinions if you can do it without flaming people, and please back it up with personal experience and facts. Just mull it over BEFORE you post as once you do post, you and I can't remove it.

Music: “Nessum Dorma”

Here's something a little different for this blog, something not so serious.

Do you like music? Are you open to listening to different kinds of music, trying it at different stages of your life?

When I was growing up, my father was a salesman by day, musician at night. He played piano, organ and accordion and was in a jazz combo in North Carolina playing clubs, weddings, any gig that came along. He was a wonderful musician and could take any song, change up the tempo, rhythm, interpret it differently each time. He loved jazz, pop and show music, and seemed to be open to any kind of music. My mother enjoyed this, too, and she also listened to opera and classical.

I loved my father’s music, but I also loved rock. Opera was just not for me. Not until a few years ago.

I saw the Three Tenors on public television and just loved their sound. It didn’t matter that I did not understand the words. Brian Boitano’s winning skate in the 1994 Olympics was performed to “Nessum Dorma”, an aria from Puccini's Turandot. The music was so moving I could not get it out of my head. Many skaters have used this aria – Meno and Sand, Sarah Hughes, and now Shizuka Arakawa in the 2006 Olympics, again a winning skate.

Interested in learning more about this aria? You can read an article putting the aria in the context of the opera.

If you click here, you can read a little more, read the translation, and hear the aria.

Amazon has a couple of free downloads of this aria.

Many famous singers have recorded Nessum Dorma, but an out of left field singer was Aretha Franklin substituting for an ailing Pavarotti at the Grammy Awards a few years ago. The crowd gave her a standing ovation and I had chills. What a singer, what an aria!

I realize her version wasn’t for everyone, but I consider music as living, breathing, open to interpretation.

Give it a whirl, try the links I’ve provided, and let me know what you think of the music.

Helping Others

My philosophy is that we, as human beings, are obligated to help others however we can. This has nothing to do with leadership and everything to do with the way we choose to live our lives.

You can help others in small or large ways. I don’t think any of us are multimillionaires, but do you know that even $5 can mean that a parent won’t have to skip a meal so the kids can eat? Or maybe you have a job lead so that another person can find a position and help him/herself.

We have many people in the Silicon Valley who are living on the edge. A few years ago, in the depths of our Depression, I was in a networking group through a local top MBA program. One of the participants had been a highly paid individual who did save money but also admittedly lived “high on the hog”, treating himself to many dinners out, expensive vacations, and very expensive clothing. When we met he had been out of work for over two years and literally sold every CD and DVD and extra items he owned via eBay and Yahoo. He was eating once a day and making soup last a long time. He turned the heat down and slept in sweatshirt and pants. He economized in every way. This was a highly educated professional who was scared about the next step – seeing if he could move in with his parents. He had done “survival jobs” he could but it really isn’t enough to live in this area, especially if you live alone. He was very honest about his situation. Thankfully he was able to find his new position via networking. And he learned a huge lesson about how to save money for the rainy day, as you never know when it will storm.

There are many people who are still living on the edge and I have to say that as someone who was born in the USA and used to think we were the greatest superpower, I find it shocking to think about this. I’m not trying to be political at all right now. I’m just saying that I used to think of people in this position as having some reason: mental illness, drug or alcohol abuse, people who have just dropped out of our society for some reason. That really isn’t the case now. There are plenty of people who are working but it’s so expensive to live here and healthcare is through the roof, they are suffering.

InnVision is in need of donations: cash, clothing, electronics, computers, food, or other contributions are greatly appreciated. If you’d like to volunteer or donate directly, please go to http://www.innvision.org/.

We have many job seekers who have posted resumes on our bulletin board at http://www.ourhrsite.com/cgi-local/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=NeedAJob. If you have an opening, please think about going there and reviewing the postings. We have some GREAT people looking for their next opportunity. If you’re seeking work, remember that many companies choose not to post positions but do search through our board for free resumes.

If you have an open position, HR or otherwise, please post on our board. Our site averages over 2,000 views each day, the board is free, and you never know who the readers know.

What are our legislators thinking?

Have you received an email directing you to a petition to stop drive-thru mastectomies?

I’ve received it many times over the years, and got another one the other day from my cousin. The link is at http://www.lifetimetv.com/reallife/bc/pledges/bc_mast_pledge.html. It’s a legitimate site and the contents are a source of tremendous frustration for me. Please take a moment to read the petition, sign if you agree, and then come back here.

My cousin had copied many family members, and this is what I wrote:

“I know many of you and hope you can tolerate one more comment on this. For those who do not know me, I have just celebrated my 5th year since my breast cancer surgery, and am very happy to say that I'm here. I'm healthy and cancer-free.

According to the Lifetime website: "Lifetime has been working to pass this legislation since 1996 and now has collected more than 10 million petition signatures".

Exactly how many signatures does our government require in order to pass this legislation? Since Lifetime (only one of the supporters) has been working on this since 1996, WHAT ARE OUR LEGISLATORS WAITING FOR?

If you hear anger and frustration on my part, you're right! First of all, finding a second opinion is important to double-check your diagnosis and treatment options. Mastectomy is extremely painful and you're at risk, as with other surgeries, for infection and reaction to medicines. Being in the hospital is the ONLY place you should be following this surgery.

If you are in a position where you know someone who would be responsible for voting for this, can you ask that person to explain what is holding up this common-sense, medically sound, humane legislation? What EXACTLY will it take to end this madness and pass the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2005?

If you pass along the original email regarding the petition at http://www.lifetimetv.com/reallife/bc/pledges/bc_mast_pledge.html, please include my note. I need some answers, don't you?”

My aunt in Virginia inquired at the Y-ME National Breast Cancer Organization. This note is from Margaret of Y-ME:

“Yes, this is still timely. However, the best thing to do is to ask your friends to get their representatives in Congress to sign on as cosponsors to H.R. 1849 and S.910, the Breast Cancer Patient Protection Act of 2005. They can check whether or not their members have signed on by going to http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.html and putting the bill number into the search feature. Then on the next screen click on Bill Summary and Status. Then click "Cosponsors' and it will give you an alphabetical listing of senators or representatives who have signed to cosponsor the legislation.

For our area of Northern Virginia, neither senator has signed to cosponsor, and Rep. Moran is the only representative who has signed on. From MD, Van Hollen and Wynn have signed on. Neither Maryland senator has signed on. Del. Norton has signed.

And then of course, we must get both House and Senate leadership to agree to bring the bills to the floor.”

My aunt went to the website and wrote: “I found 141 cosponsors are in the House and only 7 in the Senate.”

I would ask of you that if you care about this issue, check on your leaders and push for their sponsorship. Ask them to prod others to pass this Act and insist it be done NOW!

It's been 5 years.

2000: My marriage was happy and we had an 11 year old son. I had a great contract with a fabulous manager and the money was rolling in. My volunteer activities were fulfilling. Stocks were up and business in general was booming.

But I had my very own Y2K problem. I had a suspicious test, did a biopsy that was not conclusive, had another biopsy. This played out over a series of months, at a time of my life where things had been great. I had cancer and my surgery was scheduled for August 2.

It's hard to convey how deeply it hits you when you hear the words that are something along the line of "I'm sorry to tell you this, but...".

I had a feeling this would be bad news, and that's why Bill (my husband) was with me. I had brought pen and paper, was ready to take notes.

Take notes, I did. Now ask me if they made any sense. The answer is no, they didn't. Once you hear the words, your mind races. Is this a simple procedure? Will it just be an excision? Will I have chemo and lose my hair? Will I lose my life? And the fact is that the way my mind works, I thought I could be a goner.

I'd had experiences with people who died of cancer including my mother and two of her sisters. Of course, reading the newspaper, I noted people my age who died of cancer.

There positive role models, too. My sisters were both survivors and I'd had friends and acquaintances who had also survived.

But in the moment of hearing those words "I'm sorry but..." my mind skipped all over the place to the people who'd lived and the ones who had died.

We left the office and went somewhere, I don't remember. I was shaky and scared and calm all at once. I was not ready to die.

One of the hardest parts was telling my family members. Looking at our son and telling him I had cancer, telling him I wouldn't die although I really didn’t feel 100% certain. Telling him that kids can't wish this on a parent so he should not feel guilty – that seemed to calm him. {Now I know what he’d been thinking!} I told him with certainty that I was going to die someday, but not now and not from this. Telling my sisters - that was really hard news to break over the phone. As both had survived their own bouts, they knew what I was up against.

I don't want to go into all the details here of what was done, decisions that were made, the treatments I had and what they were like. I did have surgery, chemo, know what I look like bald. I had two kinds of cancer, one of which was very aggressive so it's a good thing I was proactive in my exams and that I had really great doctors.

I think about it almost every day. Serious illness can be a gift. You have your priorities and material goods are not among them. Think about what is meaningful in life and appreciate it. My husband, son, family and friends are deeply loved and appreciated.

It makes you more fearless in the world. I take more chances in sharing information, just like I'm doing here.

Some people are not open about being survivors, and I understand their reasons. It can knock you out of contention in the workplace and some people will forever tilt their heads and look at you with great concern: "How are you feeling, really...?" And I assure them that I'm fine, and that's truly the case, but that doesn't matter, does it?

I’m aware and am angry as anyone could be that we are not further along with prevention, diagnosis and treatment. I’m impatient with our system of insurance that penalizes the patient for being ill. I’m sick over the needless loss of people who don’t have insurance or are without the resources to find and pay for good care.

Because this is a long subject, I’m going to post a separate note about a petition and lack of action by our government.

Over the years, I went frequently at first to my Oncologist. Then it went to every 3 months. Then every 4 months, then 6 months.

And on August 2, 2005, it was 5 years since my surgery. When I say “I’m glad to be here”, I mean it!

Five years is a magical number to cancer survivors.

Now I’m not “in remission”, I’m CURED!

Suddenly I’m Silent

It was a nasty cough, persistent and annoying. Although I chug-a-lugged cough medicine and hot fluids, downed lozenges, and pumped up the vitamins, this just didn’t stop.

I gave a 2 hour workshop Tuesday morning and coached a client in the afternoon. By the end of that session I was hoarse, and in the morning, I had laryngitis. I went to the doctor, got some pills, cough medicine and allergy medication along with strict orders to avoid talking - even whispering would strain my vocal chords. The pharmacist was speaking softly but when she heard my whisper, she started whispering in return! She is not the only one to have done this.

I’m learning a lot from this experience of not talking for four days and reserving my hoarse voice today.

Our son is pretty good at ready lips and followed my charades. There were certain issues that needed discussion, so pen and pad came out. Among the people I’ve seen, he was the best at lip reading, and I wonder if that’s because he knows me so well or that at 16, he’s used to communicating silently with peers during class.

At home I kept the answering machine on and if my son was around, he was to answer for me and I’d stand by to write notes. Both he and my husband had to make some phone calls for me. It’s made me think of the people who utilize machines to “talk” on the phone, how much personal expression, nuance and emotion is lost in the process. If you’re writing email or IM’s you can include an emoticon so your reader understands more.

I went to the market and when the cashier started to chit-chat, I motioned that I couldn’t talk. She looked at me; spoke a little louder and a little slower, “C-A-S-H OR C-R-E-D-I-T”.

I had a professional meeting and as I enjoy interacting with people, I typed up a list of comments and questions, and at the top explained that I had laryngitis but was not contagious. I wrote things like “how are you”, “what are you up to”, “how’s your family/cats/dogs/horses, etc.” and I’d point to the sentences to get people talking. This did get people talking and laughing. It was good to be posing my questions and just listening.

In my efforts to communicate and put people at ease, I was more expressive and kept an appropriate facial expression – welcoming smile, concern, “and then what” look. I was animated, and went out of my way to “accommodate” others.

If there is some small misunderstanding, it's easier to just let it be than go out of your way to correct it. If you're trying converse by notes, by the time you write a thought, others are onto the next topic.

Working from home, I didn’t need to think much about it, just concentrated on trying to get well and work with some clients via email and messaging.

Had to run over to the market and this time found a clerk who helped me in the self-checkout line. She asked me something and I motioned that I couldn’t speak, and she briefly told me what to do then walked away. If I’d had a follow-up question, I couldn’t have gotten her attention other than running over to her.

Some people have joked that my family must be enjoying this. Yup, that’s funny. You have to assume that either they know my family is funny and sarcastic and has a mean sense of humor OR that they feel my family deserves a break from all the nagging and whining that I do! Quick – which one is it?

Just a brief time of being without a voice has shown me a lot about how isolating this can be, how the person without speech must go out of his/her way to be in this society, and how much you lose when you can’t verbally express yourself.

I’m very grateful this is just for a short time, and have given a lot of thought about people who cannot speak from birth, disease, or surgery. Even if you are fluent in sign language, once you step away from other signers, you’re alone. If you need help you can’t ask for it, if you’re in danger you can’t yell, and if you’re injured or ill you may not be able to communicate your problem.

What work options do you miss out on and what accommodations can be made not just for handling a workload, but incorporating a person into the company?

It’s something to mull over and I hope you have some insights and ideas to share here.

Time for an Update or Two

It's challenging to find enough time in the day for all the things I'd like to do. Like many adults, I'm juggling family, career, volunteer activities and my own hobbies. I'm not the best of jugglers, but I try. This blog is one of the things that fall by the wayside.

I understand that a few people are reading this, but I can't see statistics on this site and don't know how many people are out there. I have received some comments in my personal mailbox but not many here. You're welcome to post and I encourage response.

When I started this blog, I was working part-time at one company, then had two part-time positions, back to one now on to other things. It seems to be a trend, this part-time work.

I decided to go back to HR Consulting, Contract Recruiting and doing Sexual Harassment seminars to comply with AB 1825. You can read more about my business at http://www.ourhrsite.com/scindex.html.

It was not the easiest of decisions to return to consulting. I do enjoy being part of a team, learning from others and contributing on an ongoing basis. The changing nature of the workplace especially as it pertains to my field leads me back to consulting.

Much has been made of offshoring, but outsourcing to other companies or individuals are also front and center. Because companies need flexibility and the laws are becoming so complex, it often pays to hire someone from the outside to handle a project.

I wonder what you think of all this. It seems to me that this gives a company flexibility, but I'm not sure of the long-term impact of the situation. I have a lot of thoughts about this but will spare you. I'm brining it up so I can hear your thoughts, concerns, experiences, and recommendations for best utilizing outsourced labor.

What are your thoughts?

Desire for leadership

Our family visited Washington, DC earlier this year. It’s striking to see our magnificent capitol and the monuments to our leaders and memorials for our citizens. It’s very moving to me to see these tributes.

Seeing these sites and reading our history reminds us that we have had truly great leaders who have truly inspired and led, enabling us to maintain our freedom. Millions of people throughout our nation’s history have sacrificed their lives as soldiers or perished as victims.

As I write this September 11, our citizens are deeply in need of inspiration and comfort, security and peace of mind. The images and trauma of this date are inescapable.

We should always remember the terror of this date, and we should demand more of our leaders to avoid another terrible event.

Is it too much to want our politicians to express ideas, plans, and hopes for the nation and not drag the opposing parties through the mud?

Where is our Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Lincoln or Roosevelt? If they lived in our time, would they want to run for office or remain in their homes? Would you want to expose your family to the treatment our candidates endure? Would you like to see some return to civility and decency?

It’s ridiculous for any candidate and his or her family to suffer the invasion of privacy we see as commonplace now. We as Americans should not tolerate it and we should send this message to the press: cover the ideas, analyze the events, and demand meaningful dialogue and debate. Let’s have unbiased reporting and accurate representation of the candidates’ plans. If you’re expressing an opinion, let it be known it’s an opinion, not fact.

We should not be dealing with what I consider to be distractions from the issues. I lived through the years of the Vietnam War and I remember the draft and dissention. I knew boys who signed up, some who were drafted into service and some who looked for any deferment possible. If you’re around my age, you probably have the same experience.

I would never judge anyone solely on the decisions they made at that young age. The current Presidential candidates are around 35 years past their time of service. Why don’t we acknowledge that people evolve and change, that few in their 50’s are as they were at 20?

Previous elections have used flag burning or prayer in school as distractions and that’s not being tossed around too much this year. Now we’re stuck in arguments about Vietnam instead of dealing with more pressing issues such as:

Stability for Afghanistan and Iraq and extracting our forces

Focusing on what’s happening with North Korea, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Israel and the Palestinians

Worldwide healthcare and disease crises – pandemic disastrous viruses, HIV and AIDS

Reasonable healthcare plans for Americans

The Economy

Civil Liberties

Environmental Issues

Education

Poverty

…just to name a few topics. We have huge international and internal issues to deal with, and we don’t need the distractions.

We have a lot of things wrong with the way we approach our elections, and I feel that if we focused on the issues and made some fundamental changes in election laws and in the ways we allow our candidates to be treated, we’ll get the leaders we really deserve. Maybe we’ll have great leaders earning their own monuments again.

And more about voting...

The San Jose Mercury News had an article on August 27 about single women not voting. There is an organization called "Women's Voices. Women Vote." You can read about this group at http://www.voterparticipation.org/.

Their research showed that 22 million women did not vote in the last presidential election.

I saw another article that said only 28% of women between ages 18-24 voted.

My mother knew the issues and was deeply patriotic, knowing that one of our precious freedoms was the right to vote, and that it comes with the obligation to be informed. She would get up early, drive through any kind of weather in order to go out and vote, and she was a great inspiration to me.

There is a website, http://www.vote-smart.org/. This is a non-partisan citizen's group devoted to printing the facts: "biographical information, issue positions, voting records, campaign finances and interest group ratings."

Don't make your decision based on who looks like he'd be fun to hang out with. Don't base it on the best recipe submitted to a magazine, allegedly by the candidate's spouse.

Look at the facts and vote for the person you feel will lead us in the best direction.

Whatever your leanings, and I'm not inviting political discussion, get informed, be involved, GO VOTE. If you're too busy to take time during the day, you can vote in advance and mail it in. This is called an Absentee Ballot. Don't be silent - our country needs our brainpower!

America needs us - I mean all of us, men and women, all eligible ages, races, beliefs, religions. Our thoughtful voices can make a difference.

Precious and Hard Won Right to Vote

I'm not inviting specific political discussion here, but am posting this email this email from a friend. I thought it was important to share, and have also posted it on my website bulletin board. This is a great essay but the author is unknown.

For Women Everywhere
(The author of this essay is unknown.) ***************************************************
Do you ever wonder what to say to all those women who are considering not voting this year?

Remember how women got the vote...

The women were innocent and defenseless. And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty-prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 helpless women wrongly convicted of "obstructing sidewalk traffic." They beat Lucy Burn, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air. They hurled
Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a
heart attack.

Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women. Thus unfolded the "Night of Terror" on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there
because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of
it colorless slops--was infested with worms. When one of the leaders,

Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured
like this for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because--why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work? Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?
Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new movie "Iron Jawed Angels." It is a graphic depiction of the battle these women waged so that I
could pull the curtain at the polling booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder. There was a time when I knew these women well. I met
them in college--not in my required American history courses, which barely mentioned them, but in women's history class. That's where I found the irrepressibly
brave Alice Paul. Her large, brooding eyes seemed fixed on my own as she stared out from the page. "Remember!" she silently beckoned.

Remember. I thought I always would. I registered voters throughout college and law school, worked on congressional and presidential campaigns until I started writing for newspapers. When Geraldine Ferraro ran for vice president, I took my 9-year-old son to meet her. "My knees are shaking," he whispered after shaking her hand. "I'm never going to wash this hand again."

All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote. Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege. Sometimes, it was even inconvenient. My friend Wendy,
who is my age and studied women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she looked angry. She was. With herself. "One
thought kept coming back to me as I watched that movie," she said. "What would those women think of the way I use--or don't use--my right to vote? All of us
take it for granted now, not just younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn." The right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her "all over again."

HBO will run the movie periodically before releasing it on video and DVD. I wish all history, social studies and government teachers would include the movie in their curriculum. I want it shown on Bunko night, too, and anywhere else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think a little shock therapy is in order.

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy. The doctor admonished the men: "Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity."

Our right to vote was hard won, and the duty to vote - and vote intelligently, knowing the issues, is a duty of all American Citizens. Whatever your politics, LEARN AND VOTE!

Interesting Outsourcing Data

I was watching CNN today and saw the President and CEO of Aelera, Dustin Crane, speaking about a study he had done regarding outsourcing, costs and success. Their report is on their website at:

http://www.aelera.com/pdf/overhere_vs_overthere.pdf

I've heard complaints from other companies about difficulties in outsourcing overseas and wonder if anyone has some business experience with this. What are the plusses and minuses? Any regrets? Is your company employing people overseas? How are the internal communications? Is it cost effective when you consider infrastructure, smooth communications between teams, travel back and forth, etc?

HR People and Bad Reputations

I've worked very hard to do my best in each job - serving internal and external clients with respect and professionalism, and I know many HR professionals who do the same.

My recent personal experiences along with the experiences relayed by people seeking jobs have given me insight into the reasons why people complain about HR.

It is not my intention to offend, but rather to state what many people outside our field say so openly: they have little or no respect for HR. I'm not saying that's the case for each company as there are many known for stellar HR departments.

I do think it is the case that many people fall into this field because they were good at staffing or they were great administratively, seemed to keep track of paperwork, so were anointed with the responsibility of being the HR person.

Some of those people went to classes, read books and joined professional organizations to learn what they should do regarding: recruitment and retention, compensation and benefits, training and organizational development, etc.

Some of those people were so swamped doing the job they had no time for classes.

Then there are some people, just like in any field, who don't know what they don't know, and have no desire to find out. Simply unprofessional.

There were some great HR people who were laid off during the downturn, so there is either no person in the HR role or someone who is ill-equipped to assume the duties.

And it's either the unprofessional people or the un-staffed or the under-prepared people who give ALL HR people a bad reputation. People generalize.

Here's an example.

A woman, herein called "X", saw an interesting position that had been posted just about everywhere. It suited her background so X went through the laborious chore of copying and pasting her resume into the website, filled in certain fields, and customized a cover letter. And when X clicked on the submit button, up popped a webpage that both thanked her for her resume and said there was an error and the resume was not received.

X repeated the process and received the same message. She called the company and the Receptionist provided X with a name and phone number to confirm receipt of the resume. X left a message on the contact's voicemail. {Also contacted the Webmaster who never replied.}

When X followed up a few days later, the HR person was irate that she had her name and number and demanded to know how X found her! X was very surprised, to say the least, and calmly repeated her information. The HR person grudgingly checked for the woman's resume - and it had not been received.

I've submitted resumes and never received an acknowledgement note, and that's not a big issue for me, however it is a professional courtesy easily extended to candidates. But it's the rude response that stays with you.

The same day this happened to me, I presented to a job search group. Several of the attendees were completely trashing HR people for their lack of professionalism and lack of response. And it's not the first group where I've had this experience.

Common complaints from job seekers:

- I don't know if they received my resume.
- I was called for an interview and never called back, no one called to emailed to tell me what happened.
- I was treated rudely and unprofessionally.
- I was told an offer letter would be sent but they reneged, did not provide any reason.
- They don't seem to value people.

Now I know it's not a job seeker's market, but I really don't feel there's an excuse for this behavior. Additionally, it makes ALL HR people seem inept, and I sincerely resent that.

What can we do to change this situation? Please post your thoughts, experiences and ideas.

Motivation and Change

I recently gave a talk about motivation to a job search group. We discussed what motivation is, why it's important, and how to get it.

Yesterday I received a lovely note from one of the attendees. He had been a VP Engineering for many years and was pursuing a post as a CEO. As a result of one of the exercises, he reconsidered what he really wanted to do. This was interesting: he had been after the top job as he seemed to feel this was the expectation from the world around him, including his retained search friends. As a result of the exercise, he realized that what he really wants is less travel, more time with his family, a fulfilling job but not the top post.

If you're curious about the exercises I gave the group, here's one of 'em.

WRITE DOWN YOUR FAVORITE ACTIVITIES AND GOALS

1. Write down five-ten favorite activities, the ones without which your life would feel empty. You should get to do your favorite activities at least weekly, and preferably, daily.

2. Write down the top five goals you want to accomplish in your career. Your selected career must enable you to reach these goals.

3. List everything you’d like to do in your lifetime. Your chosen career must allow the accomplishment of these dreams or at least, most of them.


Looking at the list and examining my own life, I've come to see that I have some changes to make, too.