4 MAY 2018 • FOGHORN The Changing Nature of Human Resource Management Human Resources (HR) is a growing area in the workplace that touches on many organi- zational components that may not have been the case a decade or more ago. For a long time, HR quite simply was the department respon- sible for hiring and firing employees, as well as managing the company’s benefits. Not any longer. Here at Padelford Packet Boat Co, human resources encompasses three distinct areas: customer service, crew and passenger safety, and legislative and regulatory compliance with federal, state and local government employment law. Customer Service We focus on customer service because we are in the people business. Our employees are the frontline of guest service interactions and we believe the most important part of our operation. Over the years, our approach has shifted, some by our design and some by the realities of change. Change for an established business is the first and tallest hurdle. It is too easy to get stuck in the “well, we used to do it this way” line of thinking. Today, we believe that our coworkers should be provided with a safe, secure and enjoyable workplace. Sounds simple, but the last part, “enjoyable,” is sometimes the most difficult to remember and focus on. In practice, it’s the easiest to accomplish when you consider your negative experiences with poor customer service. We all want to set the stage for guests by providing them with a positive experience from the moment they enter our business. This can only be accom- plished if the employee/employer relationship is positive and non-adversarial. Safety Crew and passenger safety might seem to fall outside of the normal purview of HR. To me, it’s the most important thing we do. As I write this article, we have had a 16-inch snowstorm in late April followed by a rapid snowmelt leading to high water and the probabil- ity of flooding. Honestly, our focus is always on crew and passenger safety as part of a positive customer service experience. The HR component of this is in training coworkers to understand the vast difference between the land-based venues they may have worked in the past and the marine environment. Because most of us hire seasonal workers it is important that we have in place effective training programs to get employees up-to-speed on customer service practices and safety practices. Then it becomes equally important to provide refresher training through- out the season. If you are looking for in- formation to improve your crew training, I encourage you to consider using PVA’s Online Training Program which is available through the “Member Resources” portal on the PVA web site; www.passengervessel. com. You will need a User ID and password. If you have not received one, contact PVA’s Eric Christensen at 1-800-807-8360 x26 or echristensen@passengervessel.com. Employee/crew training is not only an in- vestment in your employees but in your business as well. We have focused on the development of a safety man- agement system developed by PVA called “Flagship.” Our company was fortunate enough to be a beta tester and, as a result, we were able to get a jump-start in imple- menting this important program. To date, the lessons we have learned through Flagship have as much to do with the employee‘s role in initiating positive change as the employer. Without a joint employee/employer accep- tance of change a non-productive check the box system will prevail. Compliance Lastly, let’s discuss everyone’s favorite, legislative and regulatory compliance. As part of the changing dynamics in labor law we have experienced a push for local labor laws that supersede state and federal regulation in some cases. Our first experience with local (city) labor laws was last year when Saint Paul, MN passed a sick and safe time regulation that is a great benefit for the employee, but a murky mess for the employer. In our case, the regula- tion took away much of our ability to verify sickness or absence with a return to work approval from a physician. Coupled with the U.S. Coast Guard’s addition of pre- scription opiates to the drug-testing panel, we have many unanswered questions in regards to legitimate opiate prescriptions and return-to-work issues that our local regulations now forbid us from asking. In our case, on the local regulatory side, an employee has to be absent for three consecutive days before we are allowed to ask for a doctor’s note. The popularity of ever increasing local labor laws on top of federal and state obligations is onerous to track and keep up with. In the end, it is important for us amongst all the chaos created in today’s HR environment to remember that em- ployment is a two-way street and it’s in our best interest to provide a safe, secure and enjoyable workplace. Gus Guspardo President n LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT Gus Guspardo