The post-election chatter has now turned to the “transition” from the Bush administration to the new Obama administration. That got me thinking. It is time to start planning your company’s transition to the new administration as well.
While the political environment is still uncertain (it looks like there will be at least 57 Democratic votes in the Senate and perhaps even more with the results in Alaska, Georgia and Minnesota still up in the air). But there are two things we know for sure:
- The Obama administration will appoint much more pro-labor officials into the Department of Labor, the National Labor Relations Board, OSHA, EEOC and other key departments.
- Congressional Democrats will act early on a number of key changes to labor and employment law. As we sit today Democrats probably only need to turn 2 Republican Senators to pass legislation and get it to Obama’s desk (the two Independents and Arlen Specter are solid votes with Democrats on union-backed legislation). The Employee Free Choice Act will be at the very top of that list.
Here are the key steps that should be part of every company’s “transition plan” for the new environment:
- Appoint a transition team. Just like Obama has begun appointing the key advisers who will manage the transition for him, your company needs to identify a “transition team” whose job is to identify key vulnerabilities most likely to occur in the first few months of an Obama administration and to manage implementation of the action steps you develop.
- Conduct a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) based on the best evidence available. How would the most likely legislative changes impact your business? Due to industry, competitive environment or geography are you likely to be an early target of unions, government agencies or employment lawyers? How would you attack your company based on what you know? What tactics would work best?
- Develop a two-track plan for the new environment. This should include a proactive track that covers things you can begin implementing immediately, even before the legal landscape is settled, to help ensure your company is a “hardened target” for outside intervention. The second track is your reaction plan. Setting up early warning systems, training key leaders and developing ready-to-launch tools are critical paths for this track.
- Identify internal and external resources that you will use in a worst case scenario. The worst case scenario is that companies will face multiple threats at once – a smart union will attempt to overwhelm the resources at a target company. How will you deploy internal and external resources to deal with this threat. In today’s environment you may have the luxury of a week or two to get your act together. It is very likely that your case will be over in that period of time under the new rules. If you are going to rely on internal resources your job is to get that team completely up to speed (perhaps developing checklists or other tools that allow non-subject matter experts to easily implement the plan you develop). If you are relying on outside resources, make sure whatever communication tools or outside consulting resources you plan to use are pre-approved so that all you have to do is pick up the phone to deploy them when the time comes.
- Be flexible and plan for both best and worst case scenarios. Even if Republicans are able to force a compromise on the EFCA this year remember that unions are already targeting more Senate races in 2010. And I can’t stress enough that the EFCA is just one of the big changes heading your way – as shocking as this may sound, for many companies the EFCA will be the least important change to the law. Your plan should be flexible and revisited regularly. Speed will be of the utmost importance in the new environment. Be ready for whatever is going to get thrown at you.
- Start lobbying now. With all the talk of how to prepare for the worst case scenarios I don’t want to leave the impression that all is lost. As we sit today a small number of Republican Senators will be critical to getting anything done in the next two sessions of Congress. This makes the job of letting your congressional delegation (especially your Senators) know where you and your company stand on these issues. Plan on helping your employees engage in the political process and let them know about how these proposals could impact their company.
Those are the key elements to your “transition plan” and you should get started today. If you need any help developing your transition plan don’t hesitate to drop us a line.
