Workforce Management Guidelines for Writers and Contributors

Mission Statement
What We Want
"Out Front" (front of book section)
"The Insider" (back of the book departments)
Online guidelines
Vendor note
Contact information

Mission Statement:

    Workforce Management is a semi-monthly business magazine for senior level human resources executive as well as other C-level leaders who make key decisions--for better and for worse--on people management issues in the 20,000 largest corporations in America. We believe that there is no more critical element to a business than its employees. The focus of Workforce Management is really about managing a major corporate asset--the company's people--to maximize the contribution to the bottom line. This is not HR for HR’s sake. It’s about results, not programs.

What We Want:

    Whether the issue is staffing, recruitment, compensation, training, motivation or benefits, the Workforce story focuses on corporate employee and employment issues through the prism of senior management. Thought about in that way, and written about in that way, many stories ought to engage the interest of human resource executives, CEOs, COOs, and CFOs.

    We want our features and departments to be the material that a senior VP of HR could take to his CFO and say, "These are the issues we need to address now." And ideally, it will be content that the CFO might read first, and flag for the VP of HR. While we want to focus on recognizable, larger (2,500 employees and up) organizations in our stories, we want to be read by workforce management leaders in companies with as few as 350 or 400 employees.

    Vendors, consultants and authors please note: With very few exceptions, we do not publish contributed articles or pieces submitted by vendors of workforce management products and services (also known as "byliners"). We are, however, always interested in hearing from all sources about interesting story ideas, and we want to develop our roster of experts in every aspect of workforce management. We're also eager to hear of any high-level workforce-management professionals you think would make good interviewees. Your ideas and your expertise help us develop great stories.

    Key question for every story: Is this the smartest way to run a company? The story must clearly tie workforce issues into the well being of companies, and demonstrate how astute workforce management practices (or the lack of them) affect business results. For-profit companies, of course, strive for greater profitability (non-profits, which we also write about, have different goals, but the key concepts cross over). But there are myriad ways to achieve that result. What we want to see in each story is a demonstration of how smart, innovative workforce management affects the bottom line: Gordon Bethune and his turnaround team at Continental employed renewed pride and teamwork to make the planes arrive and leave on time--leading to a more profitable airline. Starbucks’ enlightened approach to training and benefits connects directly to the productivity and attitude of its workforce--who in turn make coffee-buying and drinking an essential daily experience, thus making the company more profitable. And so on.

    Cover stories in the printed magazine run 2,500 to 3,500 words. We also want secondary stories (1,500-2,000 words, perhaps not as grand in scope or in company size), dealing with issues such as diversity, management, legal issues and implications, outstanding and outrageous performance. These too generally will be close-up portraits of leaders on the way up…and on the way out.

    We also want stories that cover the vendor side of this industry, noting that major advancement--as well as major problems--oftentimes originates with vendor activity. We want people stories on sellers of products, suppliers in compensation, heroes on the supply side, CEOs in outsourcing, technology, inventors of products and services used, people who do things on the sell side of the field. Note: these stories will not work if they are perceived as pandering or puffery!

    Stories should show the financial implications and impacts whenever possible. Stories should be developed with an eye to the expected payoff derived from management decisions and the costs inherent in these decisions. Management always wants to know this information.

    What did it cost XYZ Corporation to put in that Web-based employee portal system? What savings did it get them? If we’re writing about training fads, and a company is the latest to present the wildly popular FISH! program to its troops, what did the program cost to implement? What were the hard-dollar outcomes in productivity, or sales, or reduced use of Prozac by the employees? And if the HR leaders in the company didn’t bother to figure out the ROI, that’s a story, too.

    Stories should be written and edited as "news" features (see especially the page 1 Wall Street Journal news features. Also the New York Times, Business Week, and Forbes as role models). Further, these features need to be written in an active voice. Major Workforce stories react to news events and trends, explaining the how and whys, and what the developments mean for readers, through examples of people affected. And because we’re not a general business publication, the workforce management implications should be the focus of every story.

    Stories should be timely. Although we are a semi-monthly publication, we seek to peg our stories to events in news. United Airlines’ bankruptcy, for example, was the peg for a story about its workforce management woes, and how they must be addressed if the carrier is to survive. As the U.S. Treasury revised its advice about conversions to cash-balance pension plans, Workforce Management showed how some companies have successfully made the switch--and how some botched it. When the Space Shuttle Columbia was destroyed, we wrote a story about the aging of the NASA workforce, and how the agency must address the loss of key personnel and critical knowledge in the years to come. It’s Workforce Management’s job to show readers the workplace implications in stories, and provide breadth, depth, context and meaning.

    Stories should be about people. Stories should incorporate "people behind the scenes" who are making things happen. The writing should be story-driven, more anecdotal than it has been in earlier times when the magazine was more service-driven. Stories should be told through the actions of heroes and villains (and many mixtures of the two). Change doesn’t happen by itself. When a company introduces a revolutionary new consumer-driven health-care plan, it’s because someone recognized a problem (out-of-control health care costs), and found a solution. Perhaps the employees revolted when they got the news about the new plan, and that should be part of the story, too. Workforce Management stories have players and actors--men and women who did something to make a difference (good or bad). Some stories will be profiles of prime movers in the world of workforce management. An example would be SAS’s CEO Jim Goodnight, who set in motion innovative workplace programs that have helped the company save $60 to $80 million annually.

Some other examples:

    Cyrus Mehri, Bringer of Lawsuits: By filing huge class-action discrimination lawsuits, this Washington, D.C. attorney has become the person HR hates most. But could he win so often if something wasn’t terribly wrong in those companies? This profiles talks about who he is, where he came from, and why he’s so feared by corporate HR.

    Who is Bob Nelson, and How Did He Become the Rewards and Recognition King? His books sell in the millions. He’s a fixture at HR conferences. Companies turn to him for ideas on how to make employees productive and happy--at minimal costs. We profile Nelson, explain his approach, and see whether it’s really the answer to having happy, productive employees, or if it’s just another warm and fuzzy program whose impact is impossible to measure.

    Out Front: We sometimes commission and invite timely, news-pegged stories of 300-500 words to add variety to our front-of-the-book section. Examples of the kinds of stories include: "Like It or Not, Golf Can Drive Careers," on the link between the sport and business ascension; "Workforce Problems Imperil NASA," on the aging of that workforce, and the gaps in knowledge that will open as engineers retire; and "Tearing Down the ‘Maternal Wall’" on a study that documented how parents are the victims of workplace bias and as a result are increasingly suing their employers for job discrimination due to their status as parents.

    The Insider: We also want stories of 1,000 to 1,200 words for the back of the book departments--vignettes about developments and trends of interest, or people who did or attempted something of interest and value in categories including:

• Benefits
• Compensation
• Recruitment
• Rewards and Recognition
• Training
• Security
• HRMS
• Retirement Planning
• Investment Education
• Technology
• Legal issues
• Regulation
• Relocation

Online Guidelines

    Features. Online features should have all the characteristics described above in the "what we want" section. They should be newsy, timely, and people-oriented. They should be geared to a high-level audience, and should cover high-level executives. They should demonstrate how smart, innovative workforce management affects the bottom line. Past features have covered the vice-president of American Standard, the president of a hospital, and the CEO of Exult. They tend to run about 900-1,500 words, a bit shorter than print features.

    Tools. In addition to online-only feature stories as mentioned we’re always looking for "tools." These could be interesting analyst reports that cover workforce-management issues, interesting annual reports, conference-call transcripts, CEO speeches, recruiting radio ads, assessments, policies, forms, checklists, memos, mission statements, and other corporate information highlighting something about workforce management.

    Opinion. Online editorials of about 700-900 words about topics in news, sports, entertainment, culture, society, and business affecting workplaces appear in the "Work Views" section of the Web site. We accept submissions. Write about the stuff you talk about at the kitchen table--your passions. Don’t write about "why diversity is important" or "why employees deserve good benefits." Most everyone agrees; what we want to hear about it what you talk about behind closed doors.

    Payment: Fees are negotiated with each writer, depending on the complexity and length of the story. 

    Rights purchased: All rights.

    How to get in touch: Contact Executive Editor Carroll Lachnit at carroll@workforce.com or Editor John Hollon at (949) 255-5342.