Yuma chapter is first to join SHRM in 2004

The Southwestern Arizona HR Association (SAHRA)--2004's first Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) chapter and the first to charter under new, stricter guidelines--hopes the chapter will help HR professionals make a name for themselves in the rapidly growing city of Yuma.

Yuma is the third-fastest growing metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the country, according to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Yuma County Chamber of Commerce. It is one of only three MSAs in Arizona.

And businesses are growing by leaps and bounds, said Sharon R. Gardner, MPA, SPHR, president of SAHRA and vice president of HR for Yuma Regional Medical Center. Her employer hired 150 registered nurses in one year, attributable overwhelmingly to growth and not turnover, she said. Many local employers report 50 percent growth in a year, she added.

Some of Yuma's employers and working conditions set it apart from other cities. Agriculture is big business--90 percent of the lettuce grown in the United States is grown in the region--while a Marine Corps base and Army testing ground are also significant employers. Located halfway between Tucson, Ariz., and San Diego, Yuma employers often deal with laws in two or more states, undocumented workers, and the need to communicate in both Spanish and English.

With no professional development organizations but a real need to share resources and knowledge, Yuma's HR professionals decided in November 2003 to form an SHRM chapter. SAHRA welcomed 35 members during a July 14 chartering ceremony.

SAHRA is the first chapter to charter under guidelines passed by the SHRM Board of Directors in June 2003 requiring all new SHRM chapters to have 100 percent SHRM membership and to have at least 25 members. Old rules required at least 10 members, with 30 percent of the membership being SHRM members.

Gardner said she and a group of about 10 colleagues studied options of chartering under old and new SHRM chapter guidelines and decided to join under the new rules.

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"People miss out on national member benefits," Gardner said. "Some of the momentum gets lost, and the expectations lower. Now, we are setting our sights [on promoting] education opportunities [for HR professionals] to become certified and recognized as a profession, not just paper pushers."

Strict Guidelines Strengthen Chapters

Mark E. Christensen, manager for SHRM's Southwest Central Region, noted that the fledgling Yuma chapter struggled initially to recruit the required number of members. In fact, SHRM leaders had visited the area for several years to drum up support for a chapter before they were able to find volunteers to take up the cause.

"But with the new guidelines, Yuma is stronger," Christensen said, adding that the requirements will make the chapter stronger in the long run by drawing members who are more engaged in the profession and more willing to devote time and energy.

Many chapters chartered under the old rules last year, and some of those "are not half as far along as Yuma," Christensen said. "The difference [between the chapters] is phenomenal," while the communities in which the chapters are located are actually similar, he said.

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There are many chapters that struggle to maintain 30 percent membership, Christensen said, and some of those chapters require much of the regional leaders' time and energy to help them maintain chapter membership, recruit new members or find new volunteer leaders. However, 100 percent SHRM membership chapters often are more committed to the chapter, leadership and professional development.

"Chapters need that many committed members, they need to be way more engaged and more willing to take on leadership roles as well as understand the benefits of SHRM membership and how that helps with professional development," Christensen said. "They make stronger chapters."

For example, the five SHRM chapters in Utah are each 100 percent chapters, a feat accomplished last year, Christensen said. The chapters decided they wanted to "raise the bar" and challenge themselves, he said, and they mapped out a two-year process to transition. Now, SHRM membership as a requirement to join the chapter is not a cause for alarm, Christensen said, as people have gotten used to the idea. "People will join if they really want to."

New Mexico has made a similar long-term goal to transition its five chapters to 100 percent membership.

SHRM is on track to see a similar number of new chapters in 2004 as it welcomed in 2003. In 2003, between Jan. 1 and Aug. 1, 10 chapters affiliated with SHRM, said Betsy Knight, SPHR, vice president of member relations. For the same period in 2004, eight chapters have affiliated.

Seven of those chapters are Special Interest Chapters, formed by former Employment Management Association members. Though these chapters were formed from members of the disbanded Professional Emphasis Groups, they still had to follow SHRM's new chartering guidelines.

"Groups do want to affiliate, and we hope for continued affiliations," Knight said.

SAHRA Looks To the Future

With a succession plan in place to keep strong leaders at the helm of the chapter, SAHRA's goals include offering educational programs to increase members' fundamental knowledge in issues such as the Fair Labor Standards Act, wage and hour law, and employment law, Gardner said.

"We have quickly formed committees on training and education, membership, employment law, and an intranet committee for the web site. We didn't have a good source of compensation surveys in our own market, so we are exploring how to do that," Gardner said.

She added that the committee would also like to focus on workforce development and supervisor training.

For more information, visit www.shrm.org/chapters.

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