Jim Parker is the founder and President of People Management Systems. With over thirty years of Human Resource management experience in Fortune 500, Family and Closely held corporations, he has a wealth of knowledge that works.
Being on the cutting edge in any field and staying there for any length of time requires perseverance and a great deal of luck. Through out his career, Jim has been fortunate to be in the right place at the right time and then had the tenacity to benefit from his luck.
In the early 70's, Jim joined with three other HR professionals to invent the employment Job Fair. "I don't remember who actually came up with the concept, we were all under a lot of pressure and brainstorming solutions." In 1973, AM International had gotten themselves into an accounts receivable bind and needed to hire 300 credit and collection people, essentially overnight. There's no way to do that with traditional methods - necessity is the mother of invention - and the Job Fair was born!
In the 80's, labor laws were changing. Jim was instrumental in the first test of the at-will doctrine. He supervised the employee termination, wrote the documentation, and testified in court to set the precedent. Today, any general employer/employee discussion will include a section on employment-at-will.
Classically trained at the Western Behavioral Science Institute, Jim learned team building on the cutting edge. "T groups", "team building", "team theory," Jim learned facilitation skills from the masters - Maslow, luft, Ingham, Rogers, and others. From outward bound experiences - to the board room - to partner discussions - to family members business succession discussions, Jim has mastered the group facilitation skills that are required.
During his tenure as Vice President and Chief Personnel Officer of a privately held corporation:
 | The company realized a 75% reduction in employee turnover. |
| It experienced a reduction in health care costs and installed a wage and salary system that capped labor costs. |
| The employee population almost doubled. |
When FEDEX won the Malcom Baldridge Award, Jim managed the Human Resource function their operations from Washington DC to Maine. This billion dollar in sales portion of FEDEX comprised over 300 locations with 15,000 employees.
FEDEX's growth throughout the 1980's is one of this countries greatest success stories. The company's commitment to it's people first philosophy has been the driving force behind its dramatic expansion in the world market. During this period Jim managed the Human Resource function for ten of the top twenty markets.
The Human Resource function has won numerous awards for excellence and the company has been recognized as one of the United States' 100 Best Companies.
Internationally, Jim has extensive experience managing the function in Canada and has developed Human Resource systems for operations in the United Kingdom and The Netherlands.
Prior to joining FEDEX, Jim was a member of the Divisional staff of The Charles Bruning Corporation. He has been a Manufacturing Plant Manager and a Corporate Strategist for AM International Corporation.
He helped develop the HR certification system and is recognized as being in the top 1% of his field.
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