Debbie Friez, Vice President of Major Accounts at Burrelles Luce, appears on Conversations in Public Relations to talk about her work in public relations, the services Burrelles Luce offers communicators, and the ways she seeks the elusive work/life balance.
Debbie is a member of PRSA-NCC and in charge of the Professional Development Committee.
Part of the video series Conversations in Public Relations produced by Mary Fletcher Jones.
This summer, while most companies are struggling to stay afloat due to recession woes, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is quietly preparing for what could be the final straw for many small and medium businesses – a severe swine flu outbreak.
And this time around, employee communicators will have to deal with much bigger problems than finding a tactful way to explain that the workplace isn’t a daycare center for kids whose schools have closed due to the flu.
According to several news sources, the CDC is predicting that up to 40% of the U.S. population will become infected with swine flu this fall. That’s right, up to 40%.
A recent survey by the Harvard School of Public Health found that three out of five Americans believe that a there will be a widespread swine flu outbreak this fall, and 90% would be willing to avoid shopping malls, restaurants, movie theaters, public transportation, etc., for an extended period of time — up to two weeks — if instructed to do so by public health officials.
That’s bad news for those businesses and their employees.
Even if the swine flu outbreak fails to reach the predicted severity, most companies will have to deal with some level of absenteeism this fall, and some will find themselves having to decentralize their operations, with employees working from home.
My advice to communicators: don’t treat these predictions as hyperbole. Take time now to review your business continuity and crisis communications plans. Reach out to your counterparts in HR and make sure there is a policy in place for swine flu-related call-outs. Set up a phone number that your employees can call into to hear a recorded message about building closures and alternate work locations. Most importantly, let your employees know that the company is taking these preparations seriously.
As they say in the disaster business, the secret to surviving a crisis is to “plan for the worst, and hope for the best.”
Twitter can be an effective online public relations and marketing tool for your business or nonprofit organization. In this video, Samantha Maslaney explains how to use Twitter for marketing purposes, and the ways microblogging has been used by other companies to market products and provide online customer service.
Meet Rachel Maleh, a DC communicator and VP of Public Awareness at VSA arts, a nonprofit organization that celebrates the artistic achievements of people with disabilities.
In this video interview with Mary Fletcher Jones, Rachel shares her career experiences in nonprofit public relations. Topics discussed include the benefits of working for a nonprofit organization, how working for a nonprofit organization is different from working for a company or PR agency, and how to obtain a job in nonprofit public relations.
To learn more about VSA arts, please visit http://www.vsarts.org
Graphic designer and PRSA-NCC member David Hyson and graphic designers Katie Donohue and Kelsey DeSostoa explain the basics of good logo design.
Search Craigslist for Washington, DC and you will find postings for dozens of public relations and marketing internships. Some are paid, some are unpaid.
I read the internship descriptions and each one that is unpaid is illegal. Disgraceful.
In fact, most unpaid marketing and public relations internships in the Washington, DC area appear to be in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.
It’s a shame, because there are good, legitimate, paid internships to be had in the Washington, DC area. I paid my own interns, and if my tiny company can do it, any company or organization can do the same. It’s fair, and it’s legal.
Better Alternatives to Illegal Unpaid Internships
Students and job-seekers should know that there are alternatives to taking on illegal unpaid internships. In addition to paid internships, job seekers and students can always obtain experience through volunteering, which is a much better deal than unpaid internships. You can obtain valuable contacts through networking, and you often get to work on higher level projects in volunteer positions. Many nonprofit organizations and membership organizations need public relations and marketing volunteers, including all the major communications organizations in the Washington, DC area, such as PRSA-NCC and WWPR.
The Difference Between Legal and Illegal Unpaid Internships
Thinking about hiring interns? You should know that the Fair Labor Standards Act protects the rights of employees, including interns. It provides that a company who employs an unpaid intern must derive no tangible benefit from the intern’s activities. The intern cannot perform tasks for the company that benefit the company. They cannot do billable work. The intern cannot make copies or coffee. All the intern can do is receive the educational benefit of being at the company, and the company, ideally, should even be somewhat inconvenienced to be in full compliance with the law. There must not be any promise or hint of a job to come at the conclusion of the unpaid internship, as I saw posted in one of the Craigslist ads. Basically, a company has to take on an unpaid intern out of the goodness of their hearts, and be prepared to coach, mentor, and teach the intern as if the company were a vocational school.
The Six Criteria That Must Apply If You Don’t Pay Your Interns
If your unpaid intern meets the trainee criteria, you may elect not to pay them. But the trainee must meet all six criteria:
Interns May Not Replace Employees
Another important factor to understand is that it is illegal to use an unpaid intern to do the work at your company that a paid employee would do, but is not doing. Unpaid interns cannot be used like temps. In other words, if you bring on an unpaid intern to do something essential, like work on a specific project, edit or write a publication, or manage your social media efforts, than you are breaking the law. Plenty of cash-strapped Washington, DC companies and nonprofit organizations do this. What is legal: you can let an unpaid intern shadow an employee working on the project, publication, or social media program, and they can obtain hands-on experience while being closely supervised, but again, within the parameters of the law.
Offering College Credit Does Not Automatically Exempt Companies From Paying Interns
Providing college credit does not exempt a company or nonprofit organization from paying its interns! A common misconception is that a company or organization can elect to provide college credit instead of pay to interns in all circumstances. This is not true. Your intern may apply for college credit, which you can support, but you also have the responsibility to provide an educational environment that is the equivalent of a vocational school if you don’t want to pay them for the time they are with your company. If interns perform work for your company, even if they get college credit, you must treat them as employees, and they are entitled to the rights of employees, including wages. One of the interns at my company did earn three college credits for her internship, but she was also paid the same rate as and earned just as much as the other interns. It was the fair thing to do, and it was the law.
The School-to-Work Opportunities Act
One instance in which you may opt not to pay students is when you provide a learning experience that is consistent with the specific guidelines set in the School-to-Work Opportunities Act. The requirements are similar to the trainee requirements, but more specific. Among many other requirements, it specifies that any productive work a student performs for your company must be offset by the training and education you provide. The balance must always be in the student’s favor, and you must, in essence, turn your company into a vocational school for the student. It all becomes very simple to understand when you accept the fundamental idea that unpaid internships may benefit the intern, but not the company.
What Companies and Organizations Can Do To Comply with The Law
I understand that times are hard, budgets are small, and that companies and nonprofit organizations want to take advantage of the skills of interns. Many interns have web design skills, video production skills, and social media skills which are in high demand in the marketing and public relations community, and which can be expensive to outsource to contractors.
However, there really is no getting around the law. Unpaid internships, when legal, should cost the company money and resources. They are not for cash-strapped companies and nonprofit organizations on a tight budget. Unpaid internship programs are for well-heeled companies who have a mission to offer educational outreach to students.
Companies who wish to save money while getting the job done can do so by hiring paid interns, temporary employees, independent consultants, or through other means.
If you have hired unpaid interns in the past and are just now realizing that your company’s unpaid internship program may have actually violated their employment rights, then I hope you will come to realize that when you hire quality people for your internship program, they will bring value to your company or nonprofit organization. The simplest thing to do, in my opinion, is to pay them for that contribution.
Unless, of course, they happen to be your kids. The law exempts parents from complying with the law for their own children, oddly enough.
A Final Note…
Interns, don’t settle for illegal unpaid internships! People fought hard for these rights. Don’t give them up.
A few years ago, while waiting for a professional colleague in the lobby of her company’s headquarters, I leafed through a copy of the employee publication on display in the waiting area.
The company was at the center of an industry controversy, and I knew that much of colleague’s time – and her staff’s – over the past two months had been devoted to rebuilding the company’s reputation and employee morale.
So I was, admittedly, shocked when I saw that the “A” story on the front page was, “Laughing at Work.”
Diving deeper into the publication, I noted that more than half the content was devoted to employee transaction issues (a new password policy, extended hours for the Benefits line, etc.) and the remaining content was what I classify as “happy people” stories.
Not one sentence about the recent challenges, how management was addressing the issues, or the employee and teams who were working to rectify the problems.
Just “Laughing at Work.” And a “Guess Whose Baby Photo?” contest.
So what message does that send to employees? That management was trying to cover up the problems? That the employees shouldn’t worry their pretty little heads about the issue?
In fairness, I had no access to any of the prior publications or any other mass employee communications that the company might have issued during their crisis of confidence. But I suspect that the disconnect I saw in that publication was not a stand-alone issue.
The content of your employee publication, whether it is a printed monthly magazine (and I’m sure those have been slashed in the current economic environment), a bi-weekly email compendium, or a daily intranet homepage, reflects the role you expect your employees to play in the company’s success.
By limiting the content of your publication to “happy people” anecdotes and announcements of new employee discount programs, you miss the opportunity to speak openly to your staff about the challenges the company faces every day…and the important role your employees play in overcoming those challenges and driving success.
Susan C. Rink is principal of Rink Strategic Communications, which helps clients take their employee communications to the next level. Email her at rinkcomms@verizon.net.
Much time and effort are devoted to preparing for a layoff: announcements, notifications, group meetings, severance packages, outplacement assistance, etc.
When properly managed, the layoff process ensures that “downsized” employees have sufficient information, assistance and attention to lessen the sting of their job loss.
But what about the remaining staff members? What about their needs and concerns?
In the aftermath of a layoff period, many managers fail to recognize that their remaining employees aren’t ready to jump right back into “business as usual.”
These employees are the survivors, with all the fears and concerns they had before they learned that they were spared in the cuts. Plus, they have a whole new list of worries: “Who is going to do all this work now?” “How will my job change?” “Will my job be the next one to be cut?”
Smart managers will recognize that the layoff period is every bit as traumatic for survivors as for the departing employees. Instead of minimizing those concerns, smart managers recognize them and find ways to bring concerns out into the open, addressing as many as possible, as soon as possible.
Whether it’s small group discussions or one-on-one meetings, managers need to make survivor communications a priority; inviting employees to ask questions, offer suggestions and voice their concerns.
If nothing else, the remaining employees will walk away with a bit more clarity around their role in the restructured organization.
