A Great Job Description for HR?

I received the most recent issue of The Futurist, the publication of the World Future Society. (I have just joined because I want to be a futurist. Saying that reminds me of the movie It a Wonderful Life where young George Baily says "I am going to be an explorer, because I am a member of the National Geographic Society." ) Anyway, I digress. The first article I read was the featured one entitled Wisdom Facing Forward-What it Means to Have Heightened Future Consciousness, written by Tom Lombardo. Lombardo is a psychologist and is the director of the Center for Future Consciousness and is the author of The Evolution of Future Consciousness: The Nature and Historical Development of the Human Capacity to Think about the Future. He also wrote Contemporary Futurist Thought: Science Fiction, Future Studies, and Theories and Visions of the Future in the Last Century.

Ok, so far you are saying "so what?" while stiffiling a yawn. But stick with me, I will get to HR. In this article Lombardo connects wisdom and future consciousness. To him both require similar thought processes. As I read further I started to think this would be a good job description for the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO). See if you agree. Lombardo defines wisdom as:

"...the continually evolving understanding of and fascination with the big picture of life and what is important, ethical, and meaningful; it includes the desire and ability to apply this understanding to enhance the well being of life, both of for oneself and for others.... wisdom sees the forest and not simply the trees. It searches to the horizen and beyond, and identifies what is really signigicant in life.... it combines knowledge with practical application (and) lastly wisdom has an ethical dimension. It is not simply self-serving, but is applied to the benefit of others."

Lombardo then goes on to define future consciousness as:

"...part of our general awareness of time, our consciousness of past, present, and future. It is the human capacity to have thoughts, feelings and goals about the future. It is the total integrative set of psychological abilities, processes and experiences that humans use to understand and deal with the future. Future consciousness covers everything in human psychology that pertains to the future."

To offer a summary statement Lombardo says "Wisdom brings the lessons of the past to the problems and challenges of today and tomorrow; heightened future consciousness see patterns across time and extrapolates from past and present into the future."

I don't know about you but that is a pretty good description of a skill set I would want to have in my CHRO. It sounds strategic. It embraces ethics and empathy. There is a future focus that allows proactive actions, yet maintains a touch point with the past.

Perhaps we should put more screening for wisdom in our HR hiring and promotion processes. What do you think? Know anyone in who exhibits both wisdom and future consciousness?

Independent Contractors and the ABC Test: The Future is NOW

When I joined the World Future Society I received a collection of forecasts taken from the society magazine called The Futurist. Included among them was the following.

Small governments will eclipse big governments as a threat to privacy/liberty. According to U.S. Census Bureau statistics, there are close to 90,000 local governments in the United States (school districts, special districts, municipalities, and townships), each of which may find ways to exert influence over individuals in ways that distant big government never could. — World Trends & Forecasts, July-Aug 2009, p. 8

Listening to a group of attorneys from Ogletree Deakins speak at the SHRM-Atlanta dinner last night, August 17, 2010, I have concluded that the forecast is already true. They were discussing the very difficult regulatory environment companies face in using Independent Contractors. Dealing with the Federal government is difficult enough. And as I have indicated in previous posts, the most recent being Independent Contractor Safe Harbor Now a Minefield, the government is looking for ways to make more money and capturing the taxes from "mis-classified" independent contractors is one way of doing it.

But the Federal government is not the only one to be doing so. Many state governments are also looking to capture "lost money" by re-examing in independent contractor status and other worker classifications. They are beginning to apply what is called the ABC Test. This is described as:

Under statute and case law, an "employment" relationship will exist (unemployment insurance coverage is required) unless and until the employer is able to demonstrate that all three parts of the so-called "ABC Test" are met. Those tests are: 

A. Such individual has been and will continue to be free from control or direction over the performance of such services, both under his contract of service and in fact; and

B.  Such service is either outside the usual course of the business for which such service is performed or that such service is performed outside of all the places of business of the enterprise for which such service is performed; and

C.  Such individual is customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation, profession or business.

Apparently Part B is the real bear. According to the attorneys most companies are failing that portion of the test.

Here is a link to Vermont's explanation of their use of the test. ABC Test. More and more states are using this test. They see the revenue that can be achieved from this as a gold mine.

If you are using Independent Contractors you need to carefully exam your relationships and your contracts. You need to ask yourself "Can we pass the ABC test?" If your answer is "NO", I would suggest you may want to be talking to your employment attorney or a good HR consultant.