Month: August, 2012
Friday, August 31, 2012
SDSEO members occupy all sorts of roles in state employment. From support staff to supervisors to top administrators, we represent and support all. We ask all SDSEO members, regardless of role, to step up and be positive, productive employees that do the right things. But, really, when talking about who can really affect state employees and state employment for the better, I think it's the supervisors that matter most. If you treat your employees great, they'll be great. If you selectively treat them based on if you like them personally, you'll get greatness of nobody: those you don't like know they don't have a chance with you, and those you do like will take advantage of you, as that's the system you have put into place. Think about it.
The Argus Leader ran a story about South Dakota's rating for managing money. I have a quote in the story. The story link is here.
The South Dakota Retirement board meets next Wednesday and Thursday. A little writeup from reporter Bob Mercer's blog is here.
I've been talking forever about a new website design. Well, it's almost here. Stay tuned...
Categories: Blogs, Media, Member, South Dakota Retirement SystemThursday, August 16, 2012
A review of the SDBHR benefits news briefing.
Categories: Benefits, Benefits News Briefing, Bureau of Human Resources, MemberWednesday, August 15, 2012
(The quotation marks in today's post are mine and do not indicate a statement by anybody other than myself.) I spoke with someone who has been placed into the state's new "cost control" system for those with chronic conditions and who are on the state's health plan. The key part of the system is "case managers" who are to contact and monitor those with have been identified as being "high cost." If one relies on anecdotal evidence, I guess things are kind of "buggy" with the system, with the case manager component having the most bugs. If you are placed into the cost control system, please email or call me and let me know what you think about how the case managers operate. Call at 1-800-257-3736 or at (605) 224-8241, or email the office (office@sdseo.org) or myself (erico@sdseo.org).
Categories: Bureau of Human Resources, Health, Member, SDSEO OfficeMonday, August 13, 2012
I get quite a few phone calls from state employees some weeks. Other weeks, maybe just a couple. But of all the calls I get, there's just one kind I don't like: a call from a state employee who has been terminated from his or her position. I say those are the worst calls because they don't have to happen. Why don't they have to happen? Because of the SDSEO. With the SDSEO as an advocate and as an ear, it's my opinion that a state employee has a better chance of having a happy, healthy career as a state employee. At the SDSEO, we work for you.
In part, the SDSEO's mission is to see that members have better careers and career experiences. In line with that mission, all members have access to the SDSEO's main office, and all the assistance that we can provide. If you are a member and have a career question or issue, and if you want advice and assistance outside of state government, all you need to do is call or email, and we'll give you all the help and answers we have and can get. Really, it's that easy. Call at 1-800-257-3736 or at (605) 224-8241, or email the office (office@sdseo.org) or myself (erico@sdseo.org).
I encourage members to contact us if they have issues or questions, because what I most often see when it comes to employees who have been terminated from their position is a lack of understanding about the requirements and processes one must follow as a state employee. I see it as our job to help you understand those requirements and processes, so that you will never have to call me after you have been fired. Even if it seems nobody else wants you to succeed in your position, I guarantee you the SDSEO wants you to.
Not a member? Join here!
Categories: Board of Regents, Bureau of Human Resources, Grievance, Member, SDSEO Office, TerminationFriday, August 10, 2012
Have done a bit of traveling around the state the last couple weeks. I love traveling and meeting people, because I learn something new about what the SDSEO can do for state employees from everybody I meet. Sure hope to meet you someday.
Here's a roundup of some of what I've posted to Facebook and Twitter over the last couple weeks:
Twitter re-tweets
- A blogpost from Bob Mercer about an upcoming hearing on worker's compensation and proposed changes to South Dakota worker's compensation law. The post is here. The agenda for the meeting is here. Many of the proposals were part of failed efforts to change the law this past legislative session. I was at the legislative committee meeting where the proposed bill failed, and I recall the State Bar Association representative saying at the time that the proposals were all or none, in that either the Bar wanted all of the changes or none. The proposals failed. That wasn't the first time they had failed, though, as they were brought before the worker's compensation advisory board in both August and September of 2011. The advisory board voted against the changes at the September meeting. The minutes for Aug. 2011 are here, and the minutes for Sept. 2011 are here. I wonder what value "out-of-state" practitioners would add to the mix?
- An Argus Leader story by David Montgomery about Gov. Daugaard's 2011 budget cuts. That story is here. Something that gets left out of stories about the "surplus" is how many South Dakota public employee jobs were lost due to the cuts. (I lost my job at South Dakota State University when the unit I worked for was shuttered in June 2011, though the budget cuts may not have been fully to blame for the job losses in the unit for which I worked.)
- A blogpost by Montgomery about early polling data. It is here. Note that the poll is not of "likely" voters only.
- A Mercer blogpost about upcoming 2013 South Dakota Board of Regents meetings. It is here.
Facebook posts
- A blogpost by Montgomery about early dropouts in South Dakota legislative races. It is here.
- Another Montgomery blogpost, this one about an entity taking on South Dakota Republican leadership. It's here.
- A Mercer blogpost about Nielsen polling in South Dakota. And it is here.
- A Mercer news story about this week's Board of Regents meeting. It's here.
Categories: Facebook, Member, SDSEO Office, Social Media, Twitter