Testimonials
Customer Testimonials
- Vicki Keane has always provided a full range of integrated human resources and benefit services to our company. She has helped us to keep our staff happy and productive. She's sensitive to the culture and goals of our company and makes all our lives better.
Joanne Strickland
HR Director at a Supported Employment Firm
Client Of Vicki Keane Since 2001
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- I can tell you that we have had nothing less than top notch service with Vicki Keane. Her assistance with our human resource needs is the true measure of professionalism. Her expertise in staffing, employee benefits and legal issues has proved to be exceptional. I would highly recommend Vicki and her company to anyone looking to ease the burden of all their human resource needs.
Melynda Brantly-Brown, Clinical Office Manager for a Large Medical Practice 
Client of Vicki Keane since 2005
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Look What our Candidates are Saying About Keane HR:
- Dear Vicki,
I want to thank you for assisting me in being hired by your Client. I have been there for a week and plan on being there for a long time to come. The position is a very good fit and I am confident it is going to work out very well for everyone. Thank you.
Scott Jamison
Recently Placed Warehouse/ Logistics Manager
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Look what our colleagues are saying about Keane HR:
- Vicki is truly a gifted HR professional. She works closely with her clients to get an insight into their culture and their strategic goals and then immerses herself as their dedicated HR professional. She has a special talent for balancing the needs of business with the best interest of the employees and earns the trust of business owners, managers and employees alike. This trust enables her be the best advocate for the company. They all trust she will handle each situation fairly and provide the best remedy for all involved. Employees always feel they have been treated fairly and this notion of good will goes a long way in mitigating the possibility of future liability.
Vicki has a strong command of all labor laws, wage and hour and and is cognizant of the ever changing face of Human Resources. She is committed to staying up to date on current legislation and how it impacts her clients and their businesses.
As an HR consultant when I am posed with an HR dilemma that could have more than one right outcome, I always look to Vicki for collaboration because I know she will think through all the potential outcomes and help guide me to thinking through all the aspects of the situation. As a former employee, I found Vicki to be a team oriented manager and a great mentor; always provoking thought in her team and helping them grow.
Ruth Hanna, SPHR.
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- Vicki Keane is a true professional in her field of HR Consulting and Recruitment. My daughter and I both have had successful experiences after seeking her advice on job recruitment opportunities. She is in tune with her customer's needs and does a great job of matching skills with the right job opportunity! As a result, my daughter is employed and very happy in her new role. I have also had several interviews that match what I am looking for and hopefully result in employment soon! I would highly reccomend Vicki Keane and her company, Keane HR Consultants, Inc.
Debbie Miller, Business Development Manager - August 2010
HR current events
Keeping you up to date with current HR Happenings
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Huge Jump in I-9 Audits
________________________________________________ By: Allen Smith
The number of I-9 audits multiplied over the past decade, rising from almost none—just three in 2004—to 500 in 2008 and 3,004 in 2012.
Employers should pay attention accordingly, as the fines for substantive and procedural violations of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) can add up quickly, Daniel Brown, an attorney with Fragomen in Washington, D.C., said on March 12, 2013, at the Society for Human Resource Management’s 2013 Employment Law & Legislative Conference.
Penalties
For knowing violations, IRCA penalties range from:
$375-$3,200 for each unauthorized employee for a first offense.
$3,200-$6,500 per unauthorized worker for a second offense.
$4,300-$16,000 per worker for a third offense.
For paperwork violations, the fines range from $110 to $1,100 per violation, he added.
When the government assesses penalties, the biggest factor it examines is the percentage of reviewed I-9 forms that have errors, said Brown, who is a former counselor to the assistant secretary at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). If more than 50 percent have paperwork violations, for example, the paperwork fines typically are $900 per I-9, which may be adjusted up or down, he added.
Put Yourself, Not Notaries, on the Hook
One frequent error employers make is failing to have someone physically present on their behalf while the new employee holds the I-9 in his or her hands and the employer representative fills out Section 2.
“The law has not kept up with business practice,” Brown remarked, noting that ICE has refused to ease up on this requirement even though telecommuting far from any office is commonplace. “Large employers ask all the time how they’re to do this,” he said.
A notary public is one option, but increasingly, notaries are hesitant to act in this capacity out of fear that they may be held liable if there are I-9 penalties later.
“We’ve helped employers prepare memos to take to notaries noting that the employer would be on the hook, not the notary,” he said, explaining that this makes it more likely the notary will agree to act on the employer’s behalf.
The notary doesn’t need to act in his or her official role as a notary, Brown added. A new employee’s mother could act on the employer’s behalf, though that wouldn’t ordinarily be advisable, he joked.
A local law firm is another option.
Or an employer may send a new employee to a bank, which probably has a notary who could act on the employer’s behalf.
“It’s a difficult thing to find a solution, especially within three days,” Brown acknowledged. Section 2 of the form must be completed within three business days of the employee’s first workday.
The notary is not required to sign the form as an agent of the employer but may simply sign it. And notaries should put the company’s address below the signature, not their own, but write in their name, Brown said.
Targeted Employers
I-9 audits used to be random, but now they are more often the result of disgruntled former employees complaining to ICE.
Also, ICE likes to go after companies connected with the nation’s critical infrastructure, such as those that run power plants, food-service businesses, those connected to
airports, or anything else that seems like “homeland security writ large,” Brown said.
Allen Smith, J.D., is SHRM’s manager of workplace law content.
This article is from the SHRM website: www.shrm.com
About the Society for Human Resource Management
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the world’s largest association devoted to human resource management. Representing more than 250,000 members in over 140 countries, the Society serves the needs of HR professionals and advances the interests of the HR profession. Founded in 1948, SHRM has more than 575 affiliated chapters within the United States and subsidiary offices in China and India. Visit SHRM Online at www.shrm.org.
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Employee Attitudes: Silence Is Not Golden
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By Rebecca R. Hastings, SPHR
When employee attitude surveys generate less-than-ideal results, leaders need to “accept the reality of that data” and share the results widely with employees at all levels of the organization, an expert says.
“Silence is not golden here,” said Linda Dulye, president of Dulye & Co., an employee engagement consultancy in Warwick, N.Y., during a webinar held March 15, 2011. Employers should share “the unvarnished views as they are,” she said, and should engage everyone, not just managers, in responding to the results.
Dulye & Co. advocates a six-step process to maximize the effectiveness of an employee survey.
Calibration
Prior to administering a new employee survey, organizations should look at previous surveys and their results and ask themselves a series of questions, such as “What’s the driving force behind the survey?” Is it simply “that time of year” or because the organization is trying to win an award? Is the survey tied to the organization’s business strategy?
Dulye said that before proceeding an organization should tap into a third party or a neutral employee group, such as a multi-level cross functional team, to consider the organization’s motivation for conducting a survey. The group should consider questions such as:
* What are we measuring?
* Who creates the questions?
* Can remote employees participate easily?
* Will all results be communicated?
* Who is held accountable for success?
Dedicate several months to calibrate, rather than simply repeating prior surveys, Dulye said.
Communication
It’s important to share straight talk with leaders about what is going well at the organization and what is not going well. “Bad data is good data if it really reflects what your workforce is feeling,” Dulye said. “Be direct and open. Package results for visual consumption. Clearly identify high performing areas as well as low performing and middle performing areas.”
It’s important to get leaders comfortable using the word “weakness” and discussing poor performance areas, according to Dulye. If “happy talk” dominates the survey discussion, it’s an indication that those involved have surrendered to their fears, she noted.
And when it comes to communicating results, Dulye noted, they should not be reserved “for executive eyes only.” Representative verbatim comments should be shared with employees—typos and all—as part of the numerical presentation of results, she said, to enhance the authenticity and transparency of communication.
Similarly, executives should not be expected to own responsibility for communicating results and follow-up efforts. Instead, she recommends that organizations select people who are not in HR or corporate communications roles and make plans to engage them before, during and after the survey period to explain why measurement matters, how it relates to business performance and how the organization will change as a result of the survey feedback.
Organizations can facilitate the communication process by providing results in a format that is simple and easy to follow. “If you can’t understand the chart in 15 to 20 seconds it’s too complicated,” Eric Hansen, measurement team leader for Dulye & Co., said during the webinar.
Coaching
Instead of allowing leaders to write survey results off by saying that “the data were what I expected” or “there were no real surprises,” they should see data as “a personal and professional coaching tool,” Dulye said, and as an opportunity for learning.
Collaboration
“Measurement shouldn’t be a solo exercise,” Dulye said. Yet in many organizations, she said, collaboration requires a paradigm shift from flying solo—the “me” way of doing things—to an inclusive measurement process—the “we” way of doing things. “Collaboration doesn’t come naturally or easily,” she added.
Once senior leaders agree on a few areas where performance needs to be improved, they should “sound the call for front-line employees to get involved,” she said. Though the size of a cross-functional action team will depend on the size of the project, Dulye said, 80 percent should be front-line workers and 20 percent should be supervisors—nominated from the bottom up or by peers—and supported by a senior-level champion to monitor and support, but not manage, the team. Such teams should be in place within a month after the results are released, she said.
“Let the teams do the talking about updating about their progress,” she noted. “Don’t communicate for them.”
And that goes for HR too. HR and communication professionals should “help leaders learn to let go and trust the thinking and recommendations of action teams,” she said.
Continuous Improvement
It is important to keep “a steady stream of data pulsing” to be sure that follow-up action plans are achieved, Dulye said. “You can’t wait twelve months to assess the follow-up from teams,” Hansen agreed.
That’s why he suggests that organizations conduct a series of pulse checks, using all available communication outlets, such as all-hands meetings, company intranets and online polls. Some employers might even use an online dashboard to give employees real-time access to the results from such mini polls.
Low-tech options such as informal “hall talk” and “management huddles” are another option.
But when such listening sessions are being held, Dulye & Co. recommends, leaders should “leave the PowerPoint charts at the door.”
Celebration
Organizations should take time to celebrate progress, Dulye said, by recognizing results, and the people involved in the process, at appropriate intervals.
And companies should give employees who have been involved in the survey process the chance to lead company meetings, speak at industry conferences, provide quotes for articles in business publications and act as tour guides for executive and customer visitors, she said, as another way to celebrate and recognize their efforts.
This process should act as a closed loop, Dulye said, cycling continuously from calibration and communication—during which time organizations identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats—to coaching, collaboration and continuous improvement—the time to take correction action and conduct pulse checks—to celebrating and recognizing progress, at which time the process begins anew.
“Data is a gift,” Dulye said.
Rebecca R. Hastings, SPHR, is an online editor/manager for SHRM.
This article is from the SHRM website: www.shrm.com
About the Society for Human Resource Management:
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the world’s largest association devoted to human resource management. Representing more than 250,000 members in over 140 countries, the Society serves the needs of HR professionals and advances the interests of the HR profession. Founded in 1948, SHRM has more than 575 affiliated chapters within the United States and subsidiary offices in China and India. Visit SHRM Online at www.shrm.org.