Filed under: "Hurricane Season Preparation", Human Resources, Landrum Lagniappe, Risk Management
Gulf Power is hard at work, but it may take some time before power is restored. Be aware there may be power lines down in your yard. Be careful! If you have a generator, make certain that it is only operated away from the house. You can’t smell or see carbon monoxide fumes!
Stayed tuned to your local news reports; information is vital and will help you plan your recovery. If your cell phone works, update friends and relatives as soon as possible. This is one time when “no news is good news” is not good news! Roads may be blocked with debris, so you may not have city or 
county services for a while. If you have a medical emergency, dial 911 — but keep in mind that 911 should only be used for true emergencies!
Do not drink tap water until you are advised by authorities that the water supply is safe for consumption. Don’t even brush your teeth with tap water until you know it’s safe! And avoid skin contact with flood water and mud.
Now you can reflect on the time and effort dedicated to preparation and planning. But Hurricane Season does not end until November 30… don’t pat yourself on the back just yet. Be Prepared just makes sense! Stay Safe!
Guy Storey, ARM
Guy Storey is the Director of Risk Management for Landrum Human Resource Companies, Inc. He provides site inspections and training classes for client companies in the areas of safety and risk management.
For additional information, we have included a list of websites to assist you as you prepare for hurricane season, June 1 – November 30.
http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/HAW2/english/intro.shtml
http://www.onestorm.org/Default.aspx?ReturnUrl=/OnePlan
http://www.bereadyalliance.org/default.asp
http://www.weartv.com/newsroom/wx/features/hurricane/
Filed under: "Hurricane Season Preparation", Consulting, Human Resources, Landrum Lagniappe, Risk Management, Training | Tags: "hurricane escape route", "hurricane season", Communication, employees, Florida, Gulf of Mexico, storm surge, Training, Trust
nhc.noaa.gov
Before you go to the safe room (that would be an interior closet or hallway), make sure the exterior doors are secure and braced, and the curtains and blinds are closed. Stay away from windows and glass doors. Don’t be fooled by the “eye of the storm” …or the tornadoes that can follow!
If you have a sturdy table that will fit in the closet or hallway, it’s better to be safe under the table than to have no protection at all. A mattress is better than nothing but you may be there for awhile, and wearing a mattress for hours on end may become uncomfortable! Extra blankets or sleeping bags will make the safety zone much more tolerable. The battery-powered radio will keep you tuned to the weather report, and the flashlights are necessary to make shadow puppets…anything to pass the time!
Why do hurricanes always hit at night?
Guy Storey, ARM
Guy has created a series of Hurricane Awareness Articles to help businesses and individuals prepare for Hurricane season. More great tips will be posted during National Hurricane Preparedness Week, May 23-29.
Filed under: "Hurricane Season Preparation", Human Resources, Landrum Lagniappe, Risk Management, Training | Tags: "human resources consulting", "Hurricane Check List", "hurricane escape route", "hurricane season", Communication, employees, Florida, Human Resources, storm surge, Training
“Be Prepared” spelled another way is CHECKLIST. In other words, it is necessary to write important factors on paper when preparing for Hurricane Season. Remember, the “shortest pencil is better than the longest memory!”
Start with the “haves,” and finish with the “wants!” Protecting your home should be at the top of the list. Make certain you have adequate insurance coverage (and take the policy with you if you evacuate!), and purchase flood insurance if your home is at risk of rising water. Hurricane shutters are a worthwhile investment, but 5/8” plywood, securely fastened to the window frames, will protect the windows.
If you decide to “hunker down” and ride it out, you must have a Disaster Supply Kit. A first aid kit is first on that list, but cash and credit cards should be a close second. A 30-day supply of prescription medications is also very important. Non-perishable foods and bottled water are essential, and a manual can opener will help serve the canned tuna. Flashlights, extra batteries, a battery-powered radio, and a cell phone are necessities! A camera will be useful in the event that you suffer property damage, and a tarp, plastic garbage bags, a tool kit and duct tape may be needed to make immediate repairs and prevent further damage to your property. A generator is a wonderful addition, but don’t forget the extra gas to keep it running for several days. And don’t forget bug spray – it can make life a little more pleasant if your doors or windows are missing!
Guy Storey, ARM
Guy has created a series of Hurricane Awareness Articles to help businesses and individuals prepare for Hurricane season. More great tips will be posted during National Hurricane Preparedness Week, May 23-29.
Filed under: "Hurricane Season Preparation", Human Resources, Risk Management, Training, Uncategorized | Tags: "hurricane escape route", "hurricane season", Communication, employees, Florida, Gulf of Mexico, Human Resources, hurricane shelter, storm surge, tidal surge
nhc.noaa.gov
Are you prepared to the pack the car, notify family and friends of your escape route, and secure your property? “Be Prepared” takes on a new meaning when the time comes to seek shelter from the storm.
If your family is at risk, don’t gamble their safety and well being! Be decisive, execute your plan, and give Mother Nature plenty of time and space to stay out of harm’s way.
You have completed your checklist, boarded the windows (the common rule is that if you can keep the windows, you can keep the roof!), secured lawn furniture, BBQ grills and trash cans, and removed debris to avoid airborne missiles. Now you’re ready start the journey. Oops…the gas gauge on your car tells you that you’re on empty! Mental Note: Refill often… Don’t leave your gas tank near empty with an approaching storm!
What’s on your checklist?
Guy Storey, ARM
Guy has created a series of Hurricane Awareness Articles to help businesses and individuals prepare for Hurricane season. More great tips will be posted during National Hurricane Preparedness Week, May 23-29.
Filed under: "Hurricane Season Preparation", Human Resources, Landrum Lagniappe, Risk Management, Training | Tags: "hurricane escape route", "hurricane season", Communication, employees, Hurricane Ivan, storm surge, tornadoes, Training
No, it’s not Christmas in June! And there will be no celebrations during National Hurricane Preparedness Week, May 23-29…only preparation for the start of the 2010 Hurricane Season, June 1 through November 30.
Guy Storey, ARM
I still have fond memories of my Boy Scout days when “Be Prepared” was the key to a successful overnight camping trip, or an eventful canoe cruise down the Chattahoochee River. But, living near the Gulf Coast gives that old Scout motto new meaning – and great importance to survival from one of Mother Nature’s most powerful forces!
As we learned from Hurricane Ivan and many other catastrophic storms, the devastation can be felt many
Hurricane Ivan
We have been lulled into a false sense of security the last several years as the prognosticators have missed the mark on projections of storms making landfall. This could be the year that they are “right on,” and we can’t afford to ignore the risks of that Category 5 that could target our Panhandle Paradise.
Plan your escape route, pack your emergency kit, collect those important papers and documents, and communicate your plans to friends and family, both locally and away. It could save a lot of heartache during and after a storm… and it just might save your life.
Guy has created a series of Hurricane Awareness Articles to help businesses and individuals prepare for Hurricane season. More great tips will be posted during National Hurricane Preparedness Week, May 23-29.
Filed under: Consulting, Customer Service, Human Resources, Landrum Lagniappe, Notes from Elizabeth, Training | Tags: "Business Etiquette", "customer service training", "Customer Service", "human resources consulting", "workplace etiquette", Communication, employees, Human Resources, Job Performance, PEO, relationships, Training, Trust
post written by: Elizabeth Oakes,SPHR
Human Resources Manager, Landrum Professional Employer Services
I recently went shopping and needed a little assistance finding an item on my list. The first thing that ran through my mind was to just keep looking for the item so I didn’t have to take the chance on interacting with another unfriendly employee. How many times have you avoided assistance offered to you by a store employee because of a bad experience you previously had? Maybe a more accurate question there would be: Can you remember getting good service?
When I perform customer service training, I always ask the same few questions. I ask attendees to remember a time when they received bad customer service and write down a few notes about it. Almost immediately the attendees start scribbling furiously. You can almost feel the temperature in the room rise with the anticipation of sharing a negative customer service story. Before I ask people to share their stories I ask them to see the other side of that coin and remember a time when they received great customer service. It takes almost 5 full minutes of thought before even one person starts writing. Some attendees aren’t even able to remember receiving an adequate level of customer service. It’s an interesting dynamic that happens every time.
What I find even more interesting is the discussion after sharing the stories. It’s funny how many people
always see bad customer service as always happening to them, and yet those same people indicate never giving bad service. What I hope you’re thinking right now is: “If everyone is getting bad service but no one is giving bad service, then just where does everyone think it’s coming from?” Once starting that conversation I start to see the light bulbs come on as everyone realizes they aren’t entirely blameless. Everyone has their bad days. Everyone has had sick children, family problems, money stresses, a tough boss, and maybe even a flat tire on top of that. Some individuals may have all that and more at any one time. It’s hard to tell someone to “check it at the door” and think they can realistically do just that.
Fear not, supervisors! There are things you can do in tough times to help your 
employees improve their customer service skills. A great option, that costs nothing, is to schedule a 5-10 minute meeting midway through the morning with your customer service employees. This is a great time to bring up any successes the group has had, and to update staff on changes or new items of interest. You can use this time to notify each other of opportunities to make the team look like a success. Sometimes this short “pow-wow” is effective for nothing more than a chance to touch base and talk to each other without the normal hectic ebb and flow of customer service. Another way to help your employees is to give them a short break to regroup whenever they’ve worked with a particularly difficult customer. Sometimes discussing the situation will help your employee see what they did well, as well as what areas they could improve upon.
The best thing you can do to create a customer service-oriented workplace is to lead by example. Be present as much as possible, showing your staff what type of service you expect of them by doing it yourself. Ensure that all supervisors in the organization are embodying the spirit of service that we all find 
so elusive. Showing your staff what actions and phrases are acceptable is going to be much more effective than doing any number of customer service programs throughout the year.
And during that shopping experience I recently had… I eventually succumbed and asked for assistance. I found an employee on an extremely high ladder restocking shelves. When I asked her where I could find the hidden item, I also told her she didn’t have to come all the way down to help me and that she could just tell me where to find the item. She declined my offer, came all the way down the ladder and walked me to exactly where the item was located. All that with a smile, and never once made me feel put out. She even offered to help me find the rest of the items on my list. You know, I left there smiling and wrote a blog about it for everyone to read. Make sure you remind your staff that they never know who they are helping out today; it just might be someone with access to a public venue!
Landrum Human Resources offers Customer Service training classes and many other professional seminars; click here to learn more.
Elizabeth Oakes, SPHR
Elizabeth is certified as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) through the Human Resource Certification Institute and the Society for Human Resource Management.
Filed under: Consulting, Health Reform, Human Resources, Landrum Lagniappe, Notes from Jim | Tags: "healthy lifestyle", "human resources consulting", employees, Health Reform, Healthcare, HSA, Human Resources, PEO, wellness
post written by: Jim Guttmann, SPHR
Human Resources Manager, Landrum Professional Employer Services
Unless you have been living on another planet this past year, you would certainly know that health care is a hot topic around the water coolers, board rooms and households across this country. Ideas regarding how the rising cost of health care should be addressed and who is to blame are many and varied. Despite these differing views, most everyone acknowledges that health care costs play a significant role in the overall health of the U.S. economy. Faced with so much uncertainty and areas of disagreement, what can we do as individuals?
At Landrum Companies, employees are being asked to become “engaged” from two standpoints. The first is by living a healthier lifestyle. In recent years, Landrum has offered its employees numerous initiatives such as a monthly wellness newsletter, tips on healthy eating/drinking habits, encouragement to maintain a monthly exercise log, stress management and fitness
Landrum Running/Walking Team (photo on file)
These initiatives help confront what’s been found to be significant lifestyle issues for much of the American population. Specifically, problems associated with smoking, drinking too much, inactivity and poor diet. In a recent study appearing in the Archives of Internal Medicine, these four common bad habits alone can age an individual by 12 years! For more information on this topic, click here.
The other area addressed by Landrum and other employers is by way of a relatively new Health Plan option. The offering is a High Deductible Plan ($1,250 individual/$2,500 family (umbrella) when in-network providers are used combined with the opportunity to participate in a Health Savings Account (HSA). This offering requires a “shift in thinking about health care” from what most have been accustomed to in the past. Those open to this new paradigm in thinking will find many positive aspects to the program. In addition to a significantly reduced monthly premium under the medical plan, HSA contributions are pre-taxed, earnings on the account are tax sheltered and distributions from the account for qualified medical expenses are tax free.
Another key component is that the HSA account balance can grow on an unlimited basis and, unlike a flexible spending account; there is no end of year “use it or lose it” feature. In fact, the participants are the sole “owners” of the account and can even take their account with them if they leave the company. For Landrum employees, once they build up their HSA account balance enough to cover the medical plan’s out of pocket maximum of $5,000 per individual or family (in network); they are likely to become more informed and involved consumers of health care. (Note: it is entirely possible to reach the $5,000 balance in a matter of months). The IRS sets annual contribution limits. For 2010 the limit for an individual is $3,050 and for family plan the limit is $6,150, plus $1,000 annual catch-up contribution for eligible individuals over age 55.
That’s when the paradigm shift truly happens. As an engaged consumer, you have the freedom to play a more proactive role in terms of how and when health care services are purchased. That will certainly mean that providers of health care may come to understand that the cost/quality of care is important to you because, after all, you are directly involved in paying their bill.
As human beings there will always be uncertainty in that we never know when and to what extent we will need to use our health plan. No one is immune from unexpected illness or injury that may bring with it unanticipated health care costs. However, what we can all do is live a healthy lifestyle and become more informed and involved consumers of health care. Let’s get engaged!
Jim Guttmann, SPHR
Filed under: "Oil Spill Gulf of Mexico", Deepwater Horizon, Landrum Lagniappe | Tags: employees, Florida, Gulf of Mexico, oil spill, PEO, Training
The Gulf Coast has been the center of attention many times in the last several years. Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina were just two of the devastating hurricanes that ravaged the area. The Gulf Coast is once again the center of attention. Instead of hurricanes, this time the concern is focused on the potential impact of oil reaching our shores and impacting our way of life.
Louisiana has already seen oil sheens on its shores as a result of the April 20, 2010 explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Experts say calm seas and light wind have kept the slick from Florida’s shores.
No one knows for certain how much oil is actually being leaked into the Gulf waters, and only Mother Nature can predict exactly where it will go. When, where and/or if the oil reaches our Gulf Coast shores, there is a huge amount of uncertainty among the business community.
To stay informed, below are many local and regional resources with the most current available information:
Public information
(850) 921-0217
Ocean Circulation Group, University of South Florida
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce
Pensacola Bay Area Convention & Visitors Bureau
Environmental Protection Agency
Response Escambia County
850-471-6600
Volunteer Escambia County
850-595-5905
Santa Rosa County
850-983-4636 or 983-5223
More information on the state’s response to the BP oil spill:
Alabama • Mississippi • Louisiana
