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  • Volt Information Sciences Provides Update on Fourth Quarter Business Performance

    Human Resource News
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:48 pm
    Volt Information Sciences, Inc. today provided a business update and reported selected unaudited financial information for its fiscal 2011 fourth quarter ended October 30, 2011.

  • The Secret to Successful HR Projects

    Fistful of Talent
    Tim Sackett
    25 Jan 2012 | 9:26 am
    I think the world is broken into two types of people: 1. People who do things the hard way. 2. People who let other people do things the hard way. I’m going to tell you what kind of person I am, but I actually didn’t write this piece, I shopped it out to someone on FreeLance.com for $5. The Secret Sauce ingredients to great HR Projects aren’t much different!   Too often we let our own pride get in our way to really do great HR work, fast. Let me explain.  There is almost nothing you can come up with in HR, that someone in a bigger company, with more budget money and…

  • Fewer Companies Offering Perks and Incentives to CEOs

    HR Vendor News
    admin
    25 Jan 2012 | 7:00 am
    Kansas City, Kan. – Executive compensation packages are being dissected under a microscope these days and companies are finding it more difficult to offer perquisites and incentives to their companies’ leaders, without facing backlash from the public. The Executive Compensation 2011/2012 survey results found the number of companies offering perquisites to CEOs has fallen from 89.8 percent in 2009 to 61.5 percent in 2011. In 2009, 28.3 percent of companies reported offering company cars to their CEOs. This dropped to 23.5 percent in 2011. Offering annual physical exams fell from 21.4…

  • Manpower Group calls for new flexible strategy

    Human Resource News
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:19 am
    Small businesses around the UK could be among those set to alter the way they approach their workforce following the publication of a new report.

  • Employers supportive over business school study

    HR news from People Management
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:40 am
    The majority of organisations would be supportive of employees who want to take MBA programmes to advance their careers, a People Management mini-survey has suggested.
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    Career Hub

  • Job Search Next Practices: Online Identity as Competitive Advantage

    Jc
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:52 am
    You'd be surprised, but only about one out of 10 of the technology executive clients I speak to have a built-out online identity - that is, they show up in more places than just LinkedIn. The time is past when...

  • Visualizing a “New You” is Essential to Changing Careers

    Norine Dagliano
    26 Jan 2012 | 8:00 am
    One of the more difficult hurdles to surmount when making a career change is to begin thinking and talking about you in a new way. If you want your prospective employer to see you play the part for which you are “auditioning,” it is essential that you take on the persona of that “character”.

  • Job Seach Tip: 5 Sites Where Recruiters Could Be Looking for YOU!

    Jc
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:34 am
    Job search today is bewildering to many. Social media. Job boards. Recruiters. Networking. Should you have your resume out on the Web? Or not? How do you get on recruiters' radar? Today I'm only going to talk about one piece...

  • Following Up After a Job Interview

    Louise Garver
    24 Jan 2012 | 5:31 pm
    Over the last couple of years, some executives may have experienced a longer gap between jobs than ever before in their careers. As someone who wants to move to the next step in the interviewing process, you are anxious to...

  • Just Keep Swimming, Just Keep Swimming

    billiesucher
    19 Jan 2012 | 9:20 am
    This is not a test. For each of the movie lines below, can you name the movie associated with each quote? Who knows, maybe one day in a job interview you will be asked to cite your favorite movie line...
 
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    Lance Haun

  • The Most Important Person On The Internet: Happy Tim Sackett Day

    Lance Haun
    23 Jan 2012 | 8:15 am
    Normal business attire for Sackett. Click to enlarge. Ever since Laurie Ruettimann suggested a Tim Sackett day, I’ve been stoked. Not because I think Tim deserves any sort of recognition, especially on any of those influencer or top blogger lists. Because, really? It’s entertaining as hell when he doesn’t get picked. I played kickball when I was a kid in school and there was this little kid named Ricky who was kind of an annoying little wise ass. And while he was good at kickball, he always got picked for our teams way too late. He’d be picked in the fourth round and…

  • What Word Limit? The Constraint Is Your Ability To Write A Compelling Tale

    Lance Haun
    17 Jan 2012 | 1:05 am
    On the last post, I had a commenter ask if I thought my 2000 word post was well received. It’s a good question and one question I often get is about the length of blog posts. Some people say 400 words should be your goal. Some people say no more than 600 to 800 words. Supposedly, nobody reads anything over 800 words online. Generally speaking, I keep my posts on TLNT below 800 words. I’ve dipped into 1,200 word territory on occasion but that’s pretty rare. Now, I would be interested in doing a long form series for TLNT but what has been better for online publications, at…

  • Finding Your Writing Voice: One Tip From A Non-Expert

    Lance Haun
    12 Jan 2012 | 7:44 am
    Last week, I wrote a blog post that was almost 2,000 words long. That’s not that exceptional. What’s surprising is that I sat down and wrote the entire piece in about 90 minutes. The fact of the matter is, I spent a ton of time on that post. Reading (and re-reading) material about the subject, thinking about it, thinking about my approach and then thinking about the key points I wanted to cover. I’m not the quickest thinker in the world. It means I’m not the greatest conversationalist in the world, nor am I prone to amaze you in a casual conversation. And please,…

  • Picking Your Brain Isn’t Highway Robbery (Or Why Charging For Expertise Has A Short Shelf Life)

    Lance Haun
    5 Jan 2012 | 7:52 am
    I’ve read a lot of articles about brain picking (1, 2, 3, 4 to name a few). You know about brain pickers, right? These suckers who think they can just glom a bunch of free information off of you and run into the wind like they’ve stolen something valuable from you? Man, who are these people? Eff them! If you want this information in my brain, you need to pay me some cashola! Otherwise, you’re locked out. Sorry, but I don’t care if you’re my dear old Dad or a former boss who has stuck his neck out for me, either. Except, that attitude is completely and utterly…

  • Using career paths as retention tools

    Ben Eubanks
    20 Dec 2011 | 7:15 am
    What are your tips for creating and communicating a clear career path as a retention tool? I saw this question posted recently on an HR site and thought it was worth exploring. And then recently I read this post by Deidre Honner, the HR Maven. It’s a classic example of how not to do the above. Here’s a snippet. Someone doing it wrong I was contacted by someone who works outside my organization, asking for some career advice… I asked her about her current employer.  They are a large area employer with several locations. Seems there would be lots of opportunity and…
 
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    Human Resources News - Human Resources News Headlines | Bizjournals.com

  • Skybridge Marketing may add 200 jobs with expansion

    27 Jan 2012 | 5:24 pm
    Skybridge Marketing Group is close to finalizing a deal to expand its operations in Bemidji and create up to 200 jobs. The Bemidji Pioneer reports that the Greenfield-based marketing company, which used to be a business unit of Archway Marketing Services, is expected to finalize the deal next month. The company, which also has an office in Winnipeg, Ontario, and has more than 800 employees in the U.S. and Canada, expects to hire up to 50 people by July and eventually employ 200 people in Bemidji...

  • Former Palm chief Rubinstein leaving HP

    27 Jan 2012 | 3:40 pm
    Jon Rubinstein has left Hewlett-Packard Co. as of Friday, according to All Things Digital. Rubinstein is a former executive of Apple Inc. who helped to create the iPod. He later ran handheld device maker Palm, which was acquired by Palo Alto-based HP (NYSE:HPQ) in 2010 for $1.2 billion. He was the senior vice president of HP's PC business. Rubinstein reportedly completed his commitment to HP after its purchase of Palm, and has no immediate plans other than taking a break from developing webOS, he told AllThingsD...

  • Adscend: McKenna, Facebook case full of ‘fake claims’

    27 Jan 2012 | 3:37 pm
    Delaware-based Adscend Media LLC says it is being wrongly accused of hijacking clicks and "friending" on Facebook as a deceptive means of spreading spam, and the company accused Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna of blindsiding Adscend with the "false claims." Adscend's response Friday came a day after the company was attacked by Facebook and McKenna as a spam-spreading scourge plaguing social networking sites such as Facebook. The online ad network is the target of federal lawsuits in Washington and California filed Thursday by Facebook and McKenna (pdf, 27 pages), accusing the company…

  • TN Senate: Multi-pronged unemployment reform arrives

    27 Jan 2012 | 2:50 pm
    Whatever its fate, a spate of legislation filed Thursday makes it clear unemployment insurance will at least be a source of debate this year in the Tennessee General Assembly, as promised. While Senate Republicans have called unemployment reform a top priority — to the joy of some business advocates who believe fraud is burdening the system — it’s been unclear how much traction the issue would get there or in the House. Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey has called it a top priority. “I’m still very interested in reforming our unemployment (system) in Tennessee,” the Republican head of the…

  • Mosaic having a hard time finding workers in Canada

    27 Jan 2012 | 2:39 pm
    The CEO of The Mosaic Co. said Friday the fertilizer company is having a hard time finding workers in western Canada. Jim Prokopanko told Bloomberg at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, that it was a "real challenge" competing against Canada's energy companies for workers. "It's a gold-rush, boomtown mentality going on," Prokopanko said. The tight labor market comes three years after Mosaic laid off 1,000 workers in Canada. Plymouth-based Mosaic (NYSE: MOS) has been doing business in Canada for a long time...
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    HR Vendor News

  • New White Paper Explains How to Thrive in the Changing World of Media Relations and Social Influence

    admin
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:00 am
    CAPITOLA, Cal. / January 27, 2012 – Social media has created a world of dizzying potential where it’s easy for PR and marketing practitioners to share news with HR press, analysts and decision-makers. Yet media relations has become tougher than ever, according to a new white paper from HRmarketer.com and SocialEars. The comprehensive article is titled “Social Influence: Thriving in a New World of Media Relations,” and is available for complimentary download from the marketing software and services provider at http://www.hrmarketer.com/content/?p=407#more-407 (no…

  • Achievers Named As Finalist in Seven 2012 Stevie® Awards for Sales & Customer Service

    admin
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:00 am
    San Francisco  and Toronto (PRWEB) January 27, 2011 — – Achievers, the leader in employee rewards and recognition solutions, was named today as a finalist in the sixth annual Stevie Awards for Sales & Customer Service. “To be deemed a finalist in all seven categories we applied to this year is incredibly exciting; this honor was only possible because of Achievers’ talented and passionate team,” said Razor Suleman, Founder and Chief Evangelist, Achievers. “Our success stems from our high-performance culture, our non-negotiable values and engaged…

  • Select International Acquires Several New Clients

    admin
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:00 am
    Select International, a provider of employee assessments and hiring systems, announced that it has partnered with several new clients and is providing its assessment solutions to improve and support their talent strategies.  Some of the new projects are outlined below: - Levin Furniture, a leading local furniture and mattress retailer in the Pittsburgh and Cleveland markets is using Select International’s new interactive, self-guided and modular-based training program, Select Interviewing® Online, as well as the SecureFit® screening tool for all hires. - Gateway Health Plan, a…

  • Triple Creek Wins Gold 2011 Brandon Hall Excellence in Technology Award

    admin
    26 Jan 2012 | 8:00 am
    Triple Creek, the leader in enterprise mentoring and structured social learning software, today announced their Open Mentoring 5 enterprise mentoring software won a gold Brandon Hall Excellence in Technology Award in the area of Best Advance in Social Learning Technology. “All of us at Triple Creek are thrilled to have won this award and are quite honored to have been recognized as a gold winner by the industry experts at Brandon Hall Group,” said Randy Emelo, President and CEO of Triple Creek.  Designed to foster people-to-people collaborative learning for dispersed…

  • Fewer Companies Offering Perks and Incentives to CEOs

    admin
    25 Jan 2012 | 7:00 am
    Kansas City, Kan. – Executive compensation packages are being dissected under a microscope these days and companies are finding it more difficult to offer perquisites and incentives to their companies’ leaders, without facing backlash from the public. The Executive Compensation 2011/2012 survey results found the number of companies offering perquisites to CEOs has fallen from 89.8 percent in 2009 to 61.5 percent in 2011. In 2009, 28.3 percent of companies reported offering company cars to their CEOs. This dropped to 23.5 percent in 2011. Offering annual physical exams fell from 21.4…
 
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    HUMAN RESOURCES NEWS - Google News

  • HR-XML Consortium, Inc., Recertifies Questionmark - Business Wire (press release)

    28 Jan 2012 | 4:38 am
    HR-XML Consortium, Inc., Recertifies QuestionmarkBusiness Wire (press release)(BUSINESS WIRE)--The HR-XML Consortium has recertified testing and assessment technologies and services provider Questionmark as conforming to the Consortium's open data exchange standards. “Questionmark has supported f open standards to exchange and more »

  • Former Bryant HR director Shayne King sues city for termination - Today's THV

    28 Jan 2012 | 12:34 am
    Today's THVFormer Bryant HR director Shayne King sues city for terminationToday's THVWe're talking about Bryant Mayor Jill Dabbs and the city's former human resources director Shayne King. King says she's kept quiet for the past year on her termination from Bryant City Hall. But she felt it was now time to get her story out.and more »

  • HR Projects Moving Forward - Human Resources Journal

    27 Jan 2012 | 9:51 pm
    HR Projects Moving ForwardHuman Resources JournalThe University of Wisconsin has being making an effort to overtake the human resources system and is currently going through the second phase of the process, which will take place next week since legislations has given the University of Wisconsin the

  • Vanno's goal: Organize Utica's human resources - Utica Observer Dispatch

    27 Jan 2012 | 5:50 pm
    Vanno's goal: Organize Utica's human resourcesUtica Observer DispatchThe city's newest Human Resources chief – his technical title is labor relations specialist – said the office needs to be “organized, not just reorganized,” and will have a seat at the table during negotiations with powerful unions that make up more

  • TBS H.R. officer to lead next Seal speaker program - Mississippi State Newsroom

    27 Jan 2012 | 4:28 pm
    Mississippi State NewsroomTBS H.R. officer to lead next Seal speaker programMississippi State NewsroomThe 1:30 pm public program featuring chief human resources officer for Atlanta, Ga.-based Turner Broadcasting System takes place in the McCool Hall atrium. Walker, a Mississippi native, is the latest guest for the College of Business' Leo W. Seal Jr.
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    HR Morning

  • Pay-for-performance: Not all it’s cracked up to be?

    Tim Gould
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:35 am
    Pay-for-performance plans are widely regarded as the smartest, most efficient way to handle employee compensation. Now two management experts say the programs are not only ineffective, they’re harmful. Business school professors Bruno Frey and Margit Osterloh, writing on the Harvard Business Review website, say pay-for-performance programs “suffer from four inescapable flaws”: Things change so fast in today’s economy it’s impossible to figure out which tasks will be critical even in the near future Employees on pay-for-performance plans constantly game the…

  • The real reason your best performers want to leave?

    Tim Gould
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:32 am
    Has the recession made companies loosen their ethical standards? A lot of rank-and-file employees seem to think so. The most recent biannual survey from the Ethics Resource Center indicates that 47% of employees said their company culture had “weak ethics.” That’s the highest level since 2000  — and a jump of 7% in two years. What’s more, the percentage of employees who perceived pressure to compromise standards in order to do their jobs climbed five points from 2009, to 13%. Fewer workers believe senior leadership is committed to ethical conduct, according to…

  • See the moment.

    Staff
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:00 am
    When your employees can get vision care when, where and how they want. Put the power of EyeMed Vision Care to work for you with in-network access to nearly 40,000 independent eye doctors and more than 6,700 retail locations.1 1. Based on the EyeMed Access Network February 2011. visit us on the web at www.whyeyemed.com

  • Free job postings and more with TheLadders

    rsalter
    25 Jan 2012 | 3:37 pm
    TheLadders Passport is your free recruitment solution that allows you to connect with an exclusive community of professionals who can excel in your most critical open positions. These aren’t just any candidates—each one meets our stringent requirements, like a $100K minimum salary and the experience and education to move businesses forward. With Passport, you’ll have free access to posting, networking and communications tools that will help you identify and engage the right candidates quickly and efficiently. Click here to sign up!   

  • No surprise here: Another banner year for EEOC

    Tim Gould
    25 Jan 2012 | 10:59 am
    Once again this year, retaliation was No. 1 on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s hit parade. The agency released its year-end numbers this week, and, as expected, it was a record campaign. The agency took in an all-time high 99,947 charges of employment discrimination and obtained $455.6 million in relief for complainants. The agency filed 300 lawsuits, resulting in $91 million in payments to complainants.  The EEOC also pointed out its continuing commitment to fighting “systemic litigation” — 23 of the lawsuits filed involved systemic allegations…
 
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    HRM Today Featured Posts

  • Pushing The Right Button

    Chuck Csizmar
    24 Jan 2012 | 12:00 pm
    Not every employee is capable of selling products or services to potential customers. The selling process requires an employee to possess a particular set of interactive and persuasion skills, as well as a compatible personality profile (garrulous, self-confident, unafraid of rejection, etc.). While some employees enjoy the challenge, most want no part of it and only a minority are neutral about the idea. For those tasked with a selling job, it’s typically a reflection of individual personality that would generate success or struggle. For compensation practitioners, having the right person…

  • Women 100 years away from boardroom parity

    Adi Gaskell
    18 Jan 2012 | 12:00 pm
    Earlier this year the Chartered Management Institute released research revealing that gender pay equality among managers could be 98 years away. The 7th annual UC Davis Study of California Women Business Leaders paints a similarly bleak picture. It reveals that less than 10% of the 400 largest public companies based in California has a female chief executive. Despite efforts to improve gender equality, this rate has improved by just 0.2% in the last year. In addition, the study shows that over a third of the biggest companies in California have no women on their board of directors. This is a…

  • Stuck In HR!

    Just Another HR Lady
    11 Jan 2012 | 12:00 pm
    So you wanted to be in HR ever since college and now you’ve finally landed your dream job in some well reputed organization. But now that you’re into it, you find that your daily tasks are performed in the same manner as they‘ve been done for ages. Your personal role is limited and, sometimes, you feel that HR doesn’t have a considerable role in the company’s main agendas. If they prioritize, HR Issues always come second when it boils down to deciding the future strategy for the company. In these situations most HR professionals look to other – mostly senior people or those who…

  • To Err is Human; Making up for it in a way that strengthens your brand, divine.

    Joe Panepinto
    14 Dec 2011 | 11:00 am
    Businesses spend millions of dollars every year to create bigger, louder, and more unique and memorable marketing experiences to attract new clients. They work to carefully and painstakingly plan out touchpoints and client journeys, engagements and events, with the goal of hitting just the right note at just the right time when they’re trying to win you over to their brand. But while that’s all fine and good – for us and for them – it’s only half of the equation. The other half is how your brand responds after a messed up a client interaction. A significant part of your brand’s…

  • You Can’t Handle the Truth

    Chuck Csizmar
    7 Dec 2011 | 11:00 am
    Do you remember this line from the movie “A Few Good Men?” Jack Nicholsonwas telling Tom Cruisethat average folk couldn’t deal with the harsher facts of life. As a result, higher ups would tell them what they wanted to hear. They would offer excuses, verbal hedges that sidestepped reality and offered the illusion of comfort. Today we remain stuck in the mire of a severe economic malaise, a situation that is causing enormous employment anxiety, deep concern for the future and perhaps more than a few sleepless nights. As organizations ponder the question of whether employees can handle…
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    HRmarketer.com Blog

  • Listmania and Social Influence

    16 Jan 2012 | 3:27 pm
    Last week the HR Twitter world was ablaze with the release of John Sumser's latest "Top 25 Online Influencers in Recruiting" list. It's the fifth edition of John's popular ranking, but the first time he's used our SocialEars to compile it. As you'd guess, we were thrilled to see our media analytics and monitoring technology put through its paces in a very public way. It was fascinating to see the results and the vocal reaction that followed.As you'd expect with this kind of list, the top 25 influencers (including our own Kevin Grossman) happily announced their rankings and congratulated each…

  • Don't Forget the Call to Action! Sounds Simple, I Know. But it Happens.

    14 Jan 2012 | 3:06 pm
    I received an e-mail from the president of Chico State University, my alma mater. "Fancy!" I thought. He's going to appeal to my sense of loyalty to the place where I spent some of the best years of my life. He's going to inform. He's going to challenge me with a strong call to action. This felt special since I'm not used to receiving e-mails from the university president. It's a mass e-mail, yes. But never is the sender the university president and the subject line read,"CSU Receives No New Funding." Sounds serious. So I open the e-mail. Fast forward through the five paragraphs worth of…

  • Ten Steps for Media Relations in a Social World.

    30 Dec 2011 | 1:25 pm
    In the latest Fortune Magazine I read that it takes 212 steps to make a pair of Allen Edmonds shoes. The process takes three days. A pair of the company's wingtip shoes costs $295 - $550.American Craftmanship lives (or, so says Fortune).Imagine if after this 212 step three day process, Allen Edmonds just tossed the shoes out on the sidewalk and slapped a price tag on them - hoping that a few passers-by would make a purchase?Silly, huh? But this is exactly what most companies do with their so-called media relations.They spend hours crafting a news release and running it up to the executive…

  • A SocialEars Trend Analysis Snapshot. What's trending in HR?

    29 Dec 2011 | 12:34 pm
    Using HRmarketer.com's recently launched SocialEars software -- social media analytics software for the human resources marketplace -- I spent an hour or so analyzing the data we've accumulated the last 6 months and found some interesting trending data in the human resource industry.I randomly selected the following three human resource topics from the SocialEars data (there are hundreds of similar examples):Voluntary BenefitsSmoking CessationTravel Expenses The three graphs on this blog post highlight some of my findings.Without getting into the details of the SocialEars algorithm, we…

  • #HRTechChat: The SAP acquisition of the SuccessFactors acquisition of Jobs2Web

    14 Dec 2011 | 10:18 am
    It's time for #HRTechChat once again! This Friday, 12/16, from 2 - 3 pm ET (11 am - 12 pm PT).Friday's topic: SAP's acquisition of SuccessFactors' acquisition of Jobs2Web.Please check out this guest post from Brent Skinner, co-creator and conspirator of #HRTechChat:The Future of HCM Tech Is Not Premise-basedWhat's more exciting than stories about big companies buying smaller companies? Big companies buying smaller-but-still-big companies, that's what—in the cloud. And that's what we witnessed this past weekend, when the very, very big SAP AG acquired the not-exactly-small cloud-based HCM…
 
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    Ask a Manager

  • update on employers who want to monitor your bathroom usage

    Ask a Manager
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:03 pm
    Since answering this question from a reader whose employer was limiting her to three bathroom breaks a day unless she got written permission in advance, a commenter pointed out that OSHA rules are likely at play here. OSHA — the Occupational Safety and Health Administration — says that prohibiting employees from using the bathroom outside of scheduled break times can create unhealthy working conditions … and while it doesn’t require that employees be given free and constant access to bathrooms, or that X breaks be allowed per hour/day, it does require that employees have…

  • after rejecting me, employer is compiling a whole document of feedback

    Ask a Manager
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:03 pm
    A reader writes: I’ve been looking for a position in the creative industry. My application generally consists of a resume, cover letter, “teaser” images, and a link to my portfolio website. An agency I would love to work for informed me that they’ve decided not to move on to the interview phase with me. Their email included the typical “we’ll keep your information on file for future opportunities.” They also offered to send feedback regarding my application. I’d love to find where I can improve and expressed my interest in receiving their…

  • can I get my wife’s ex-boyfriend’s company to send me the emails they sent each other?

    Ask a Manager
    26 Jan 2012 | 4:05 pm
    A reader writes: I just found that my wife has been talking to an ex-boyfriend through her work email and his work email as well. I saw that there were 23 messages among them, but I only got to page 3 before she deleted them. She says he contacted her after 10 years and admits to getting caught up in all the attention and memories. He lives in Missouri, but just from the few emails I could see it was leading to trouble. Now my question. My wife says that at no time did she ever want to meet him or was anything going to come of this. But since I could not read the remaining 20 pages of emails,…

  • secrets of a reference-checker

    Ask a Manager
    25 Jan 2012 | 3:00 pm
    Over at U.S. News & World Report today, I spill about reference-checking secrets. Soon I’ll have given away all the secrets and there’ll be nothing left for me to do anymore. You can read it here.

  • how to survive an awful coworker and management that won’t act

    Ask a Manager
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:00 am
    I probably won’t have time to write a post today, so instead I’m posting this interesting letter from a reader about a frustrating situation with a coworker: There is a bad employee in my office. He has a long history of being shuffled from department to department, doing little to no work, but filing copious complaints and lawsuits to keep his job (one department fired and rehired him three times due to his lawsuit threats, before finally dropping disciplinary procedures and transferring him). In my department, things came to a head with my Old Manager — there were so many…
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    Compensation Force

  • Is Your Profit Sharing Plan a BINO (Bonus in Name Only)?

    Ann Bares
    20 Jan 2012 | 9:31 am
    Jack Stack - founder/CEO of SRC Holdings, author of The Great Game of Business and considered by many to be the father of open-book management - has this to say about discretionary profit sharing plans (from the Inc. article The Problem with Profit Sharing) (bold emphasis mine): By profit sharing, I mean the practice of taking a percentage of a company's profits, putting it into a pool, and disbursing it to the company's employees, usually sometime after the close of the year. Understand, I'm not saying that this is a bad thing to do, just that the benefits of doing it are…

  • Pay Boundaries: Empowering & Emboldening? Or Frustrating & Demotivating?

    Ann Bares
    12 Jan 2012 | 9:44 am
    One of the challenges in compensation design and management is building programs that reward workers fairly, competitively and in ways that engage them in the success of the enterprise -- without creating a sense of entitlement.  Especially when it seems as though entitlement is hard-wired into our culture. That's why I read Whitney Johnson's Harvard Business Review blog post Battling Entitlement, The Innovation Killer with such interest. She speaks of all the ways we inadvertently reinforce that sense of entitlement -- with our children, with our employees, even with our…

  • Dear Bonus Plan: Are You Distributing Value or Creating Value?

    Ann Bares
    11 Jan 2012 | 10:03 am
    Great conversation with a client yesterday who is working to shift her organization's employee bonus plan from a purely discretionary one to one which will more directly engage employees in making the organization better.  This is an enormous change, as those of you who've done it or even contemplated it know.  It goes right to the heart of the employee's relationship with the employer -- and to the core purpose of the pay program. We talked about ways to have a conversation about this shift with top executives.  I like to do it by positioning plan approaches as either…

  • Significantly Above Market Wages: Blessing or Curse?

    Ann Bares
    6 Jan 2012 | 8:23 am
    What is the worst thing you can do to an employee? According to management consultants Doug and Polly White, authors of the CFO.com article The Worst Thing You Can Do to an Employee, once you put aside things that are clearly "illegal, unethical, immoral or unsafe," the worst thing you can to an employee is to pay her or him significantly more than a free-market wage. Anticipating skepticism and even hosts of volunteers willing to be thus put upon, the authors press on to share their experience with the sometimes devastating effects that can follow circumstances allowing a worker to…

  • Five Reward Strategies for 2012

    Ann Bares
    30 Dec 2011 | 10:21 am
    What lies ahead for managing pay programs in the New Year? I've jotted down my thoughts on five key reward strategies for 2012, and posted them over at the Compensation Cafe today. Strategy number one is: Not Just Competitiveness - But Competitive Advantage!  It's time we learn that creating a competitive reward program is not simply about mimicking the pay practices of your labor competitors - or about paying as much as (or more than) they do.  It is about using the available reward dollars to create competitive advantage.  It is about crafting programs and practices that…
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    Evil HR Lady

  • 5 ways to shake up your new team’s culture

    Evil HR Lady
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:19 am
    Dear Evil HR Lady, I just read your article, 5 Reasons employees aren’t sharing their ideas, and I’ve recently joined an organization as a manager where your list of reasons were the norm under my predecessor. I’m getting a lot of the ‘That’s not how we’ve always done it’ response, and nil creativity. The open and inclusive, asking for ideas style is drawing blank looks, confusion and well, fear I think. Bear in mind, these people have worked for ten years in this repressive culture and are having a hard time letting it go. How can I demonstrate I…

  • Are your personal financial problems ruining your career?

    Evil HR Lady
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:06 am
    You’re on the verge of the bank foreclosing on your house, your spouse was laid off 6 months ago, and your 13-year-old twins need braces. What you really need is a big promotion. So how come, just when you need it most, it goes to the guy who has no student loans, a wife who just got made partner at her law firm, and kids with perfectly straight teeth? To read more, click here: Are your personal financial problems ruining your career?

  • The Winner of the Slippers is…

    Evil HR Lady
    24 Jan 2012 | 1:47 pm
    Jeanne who wrote this comment: I had a doozy of a co-worker. She had multiple issues bu this was the worst. In a shared office, someone arranged the pushpins on a corkboard to make a smilie face. She went to HR claiming that out west some serial killer had used smilie faces to show he was the killer so now she knew the guy who played with the pushpins wanted to kill her. It caused a lot of problems. In honor of her coworker, I’ll add some smiely faces. :>) :>) I do have Jeanne’s email address (thanks!), so I’ll hook her up with the fabulous people at Lovesac!

  • Can you be fired for skipping lunch?

    Evil HR Lady
    24 Jan 2012 | 1:17 pm
    Working through lunch seems like doing a favor for your employer, but it could get you fired. To read, click here: Can you be fired for skipping lunch?

  • 5 Reasons employees aren’t sharing their ideas

    Evil HR Lady
    23 Jan 2012 | 2:08 pm
    Dear Evil HR Lady, I work for a great company! We have a culture that we’ve worked hard to establish and continuously improve …. we have an extremely low turnover rate and, for the most part, great feedback scores from our employees. Unfortunately, one of the things we seem to have an area of opportunity on is “employees feeling comfortable providing their opinion.” What could be behind this? How can we ensure that employees feel that they can talk with us? To read the answer click here: 5 Reasons employees aren’t sharing their ideas
 
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    Fistful of Talent

  • FACE IT: We Build Cool Space Because We Don’t Know How to Build Great Managers…

    Kris Dunn
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:25 am
    That’s right, I said it. Whether we can afford to build it or not at our company, we focus on thinking about the office layout and how tricked up we can make it look because we don’t have the guts to build great managers of people. Keyword:  Employer of Choice. What’s employer of choice mean?  Lots of things to lots of people.  At its core, though, is the thought that we’re going to do things differently enough at our company to make you want to work “here” for the same money as our competitors would provide – mainly because we’re cooler than…

  • The CYA Report E6: Guest Tom Williams from Happiily

    hdombeck
    26 Jan 2012 | 12:00 pm
    The CYA Report is a free flowing, sometimes mature discussion of HR and Talent Issues. On today’s show, we have guest Tom Williams, Chief Happiness Officer at Happiily, a software company that measures employee engagement through sentiment. Hosts: Kris Dunn and Dawn Burke Interview Segment: Tim Sackett  Producer: Holland Dombeck Music: intro – The Mighty Mighty Bosstones – “Someday I Suppose” interview – Cypress Hill – “Rock Superstar” outro – The Beastie Boys – “Egg Man”   00:43 - Kris Dunn and Dawn Burke…

  • It’s awesome when the CEO blogs. Right?

    Steve Boese
    26 Jan 2012 | 8:17 am
    You’re a pretty hip HR professional, right? After all, you’re reading Fistful of Talent, which labels you squarely as a 1%-er on the great continuum of hipster HR.  You’re all over LinkedIn of course, that’s obvi, but you might even have your own blog, or one of those happening Twitter accounts we hear so much about.  But basically you get it. I mean, you get the essential meaning of how social media works, how social networks continue to change the way we work, play, shop, communicate, collaborate; and you’ve heard ad nauseum about how more social, open, and…

  • Paul Hebert on Incentives May Not Trump Culture

    Paul Hebert
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:57 am
    Why did your incentive program fail?  Maybe because you focused the program on “sacred values.” Company/corporate culture is a hot discussion these days.  From @zappos (everyone take a drink) and Netflix – every company wants to be the “it” girl of corporate culture.  Culture drives engagement they say.  Much corporate treasure is spent to reward behaviors that drive the culture the company has, or hopes to have. Read the whole post at Paul Hebert’s I-2-I  (an FOT Contributor Blog)

  • The Secret to Successful HR Projects

    Tim Sackett
    25 Jan 2012 | 9:26 am
    I think the world is broken into two types of people: 1. People who do things the hard way. 2. People who let other people do things the hard way. I’m going to tell you what kind of person I am, but I actually didn’t write this piece, I shopped it out to someone on FreeLance.com for $5. The Secret Sauce ingredients to great HR Projects aren’t much different!   Too often we let our own pride get in our way to really do great HR work, fast. Let me explain.  There is almost nothing you can come up with in HR, that someone in a bigger company, with more budget money and…
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    Flip Chart Fairy Tales

  • Poverty, inequality and self-employment

    Rick
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:16 am
    Following on from yesterday’s post on inequality, I discovered this OECD country report on inequality in the UK. Assortative Mating (see yesterday’s post) has played a more significant role in increasing the earnings gap in the UK, says the report: Unlike many other countries, the earnings gap between wives of rich and poor husbands has grown strongly: this gap was about GBP 3,900 in 1987, but increased to GBP 10,200 in 2004. [Expressed in 2005 values] But not as much of a role as self-employment, it seems. Remember last month, I was less than enthusiastic about the jump in the…

  • How far has gender equality increased class inequality?

    Rick
    26 Jan 2012 | 8:10 am
    The arguments about high executive pay rumble on. I have been reading around the subject, which is complex, and I will post something on it in due course. In the meantime, though, here is an interesting discussion I came across when looking at the causes of household income inequality. Christine Schwartz of the University of Wisconsin—Madison reckons that some 25-30 percent of the increase in household inequality in the USA, over the 40 years between the mid 1960s and mid 2000s, can be accounted for by the association between spouses earnings. In other words, richer men marry richer women…

  • NHS reforms are killing efficiency savings say MPs

    Rick
    24 Jan 2012 | 4:07 am
    The Commons Health Committee has confirmed what many of us predicted over a year ago; that the turmoil of the NHS restructure will kill off all hope of achieving the 4 percent annual efficiency savings demanded by the Nicholson Challenge. Its conclusion: The reorganisation process continues to complicate the push for efficiency gains. Although it may have facilitated savings in some cases, we heard that it more often creates disruption and distraction that hinders the ability of organisations to consider truly effective ways of reforming service delivery and releasing savings. Any major…

  • ‘We’re not with the veto guy,’ say British firms

    Rick
    13 Jan 2012 | 2:29 am
    A good friend of mine, like many people from Northern Ireland, has both a UK and an Irish passport. In the aftermath of the Iraq invasion, she chose to travel on her Irish passport for a while. Given the bad feeling against Britain in may countries at the time, she felt it was safer. According to ITV’s Laura Kuenssberg, David Cameron’s veto of the EU fiscal compact is having a similar effect on some British companies. For the many who have applauded the stance the PM has taken so far, and there are very many, don’t there don’t be mistaken that there are very real risks too.

  • Rewards for failure – Don’t blame employment law

    Rick
    10 Jan 2012 | 12:19 am
    The people who want to get rid of employment protection will try anything. Unfair dismissal legislation has been blamed for stifling economic growth and preventing efficiency improvements in the public sector. All baloney, of course. Now, though, City AM’s Allister Heath says it’s stopping shareholders from getting rid of under-performing senior executives. He has a five point plan for tackling excessive boardroom pay. Here is point 4: The fourth change required is that we need simple contracts that allow CEOs to be fired for breaching performance targets without a pay-off (which…
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    Shauna Moerke is...

  • The Myth of Free Time

    Shauna
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:22 am
    How many times do you find yourself at work wishing that you had a couple more hours in the day to get stuff done? Or you look over your to-do list of household chores and wonder how you’ll manage to fit it all in over a weekend, much less relax or have quality family time too. Add in friends, social obligations or even social media, wow. If only you had some more free time, right? Yeah, free time, how likely are you to get that? Having just moved to a new state, I find myself in possession of this mythological free time. Except that I don’t really. Finding a new job, unpacking,…

  • Professional Development

    Shauna
    12 Jan 2012 | 7:22 pm
    As this new year starts picking up steam, I find myself in a good position for self-reflection. I am moving to a different state, back on the job market, and looking towards a year full of potential. What better time could there be for professional development? Professional development isn’t easy though. Not only does it require an honest self-reflection of one’s abilities and failings, you also need to seek out honest, constructive feedback from others that you are willing to actually listen too. Those are hard things to do but both are necessary, even if you find yourself…

  • New year, New opportunities

    Shauna
    4 Jan 2012 | 7:00 am
    Yay, 2012 is officially here and so is my obligatory new year post! As a blogger it’s like mandatory. You are totally excited I’m sure. So long 2011, our time together was full of craziness, both good and bad, and you went by fast. But enough reflection, it’s a new year so that means looking forward and I’m super excited to see what 2012 has in store. - Moving to a new state - Getting re-settled/unpacked - Finding a new job - Trying for my SPHR(?) - A new tattoo - Devoting more time to my blog and social media (Is that possible?) - And there is even talk of 2 puppies…

  • A Message from Santa

    Shauna
    21 Dec 2011 | 9:19 am
    As a minion, I try to stay tuned into the Henchman (woman/person/fairy tale creature) community. It’s a great way to network, trade war stories, and it becomes somewhat of a support group on how to handle the egotistical and deranged dictators that we all love to serve. Henching truly is a misunderstood career choice and I don’t need to tell you how undervalued us nameless and interchangeable minions can sometimes feel. But on the plus side, I sometimes get special “insider” information form the community. So just in time for Christmas, here is a special message from…

  • A rock and a hard place

    Shauna
    8 Dec 2011 | 12:45 pm
    Now, I don’t usually discuss politically charged subjects on this blog, I try to keep it more about funny rants/opinions/occasional information, but this story came through my reader today and it just so full of HR gray area that I had to post it to you, my darlings readers, because I was curious how you would react to it. Quick Breakdown: A Macy’s employee saw a transgender customer exiting the women’s dressing room. She approaches the customer and refuses to let her re-enter. Macy’s has an LGBT policy that allows transgender customers to use either the men’s or…
 
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    Lisa Rosendahl

  • {Labor} Relations and this HR Pro

    Lisa Rosendahl
    10 Jan 2012 | 6:00 am
    As an HR professional and leader, I have touched just about all there is to touch in day-to-day organizational HR and after being in this game for over 18 years, I have come to the conclusion that I {suck} at labor relations. Actually, I am pretty good but you have got to know that the very nature of the labor-management relationship can stress the people pleaser in me. Collaboration, mediation, hold your line, give an inch, negotiation, agendas, partnership, and positions . . .  labor relations can be a running reel of contradictions. When faced with contradictions in your HR…

  • A Corporate Culture Resource Guide

    Lisa Rosendahl
    3 Jan 2012 | 6:00 am
    Do you know Ben Eubanks? One thing you'll quickly realize about Ben is that he never sits still. After the success of his HR certification guide, Ben has turned his sights to workplace culture.  "I am a firm believer that having a strong culture at work is a way for companies of all sizes to increase engagement, decrease turnover, and build a sustainable business." With that, Ben put together a guide to help you Rock Your Corporate Culture. With the main guide, worksheets, videos, and other bonus items that cover "hands on" applications of culture, readers will learn how to inject…

  • Dress Codes, Distractions and Olivia Newton-John

    Lisa Rosendahl
    13 Dec 2011 | 6:00 am
    Nailing down collective support for appropriate business dress is like herding cats. What I see as an appropriate "wish I knew how to dress like that" outfit can be another's dress code violation. When it comes to personal choices, we'll simply never all agree as human resource professionals, business professional or as individuals. That's the beauty of choice. One thing we all can agree on is dress-as-a-distraction whether you are in a meeting, on stage presenting, or simply making your way across your company campus. Ponytails may be cute on some women <myself excluded> but add in a…

  • Cell Phones and Parental Controls: A Day In The Life Sunday

    Lisa Rosendahl
    11 Dec 2011 | 8:00 am
    A few weeks ago, week the kid was pining for a cell phone. Actually, it's been a few months now but she kicked her efforts up a few notches recently with Christmas and her 11th birthday in sight. Today, she has a metallic blue phone of her very own - fully personalized the way she likes it. What gives? No, it wasn't slide show she put together on "Why I Need a Cell Phone" <although it was a nice touch> that changed our minds. We started swaying that way after I lost the kid and just last week, it became the right time for us. She's swimming 3 nights a week at a local high school pool…

  • Lisa Rosendahl. Leadership. Human Resources.

    Lisa Rosendahl
    6 Dec 2011 | 6:00 am
    Could you lend a blogger-girl a hand? Google me. Seriously. I once wrote a post, Jingle Bells, Confidence and Fage Yogurt, and even now - one year later (!) Google and Squarespace analytics both show that Jingle Bell(s) is the number 1 search term that lands people here. I know, I don't believe it either. Nonetheless, SEO Ninja that I am not, I know this isn't good news for a Leadership and HR blog. This holiday season, it is my mission to knock you know what from the top spots of my search term Christmas tree and replace it with "Lisa Rosendahl," "leadership" and "HR." Interested in…
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    Gautam Ghosh on Human Resources

  • The Future of the Resume

    Gautam Ghosh
    26 Jan 2012 | 11:20 am
    Image via Wikipedia I tweeted this WSJ article "No More Résumés, Say Some Firms" and got some interesting responses from folks. Yes for some jobs your "web presence" is becoming more and more important. And others require you to do online quizzes and solve problems before you can apply (therefore weeding out people who don't meet some requirement for the job) One recruitment consultant replied that two of her clients ask her to send candidates' social network URLs to them. And one of them, a startup IT firm, insists that all the candidates should have tech blogs. (this is in India!)…

  • The Best Companies to work for - social media wise!

    Gautam Ghosh
    20 Jan 2012 | 11:06 pm
    Fortune put out its list of 100 best companies to work for. But it also put up another list on which of the top 100 are leveraging social media and networks both externally and internally. I loved the list and thought I'd share some examples here: Marriott : The longtime face of Marriott International, Bill Marriott, has operated a blog since 2007, and the company uses mainstream social media such as Facebook and Twitter extensively. the company ventures into new ground with its My Marriott Hotel social game. The game allows users to manage different elements of a Marriott hotel. Even with…

  • Executive Search Firms and Social Media

    Gautam Ghosh
    19 Jan 2012 | 12:11 pm
    Image by Esthr via Flickr An interesting meeting I remember with an executive search firm was "We don't need to go social. Our ability to charge a higher search fee is based on senior exec people not being available" Another exec search firm (one of the biggest in the world) has asked me to address their "researchers" in their Knowledge center. So what do you think? Is the Exec Search firm a fundamentally different one that they inhabit? If yes, how does it impact the profitability ? If you want to talk to me about a story or a speaking engagement, contact me on gautam@gautamblogs.com or call…

  • The Talent Series event report

    Gautam Ghosh
    18 Jan 2012 | 2:48 am
    From left: Lucian Tarnowski, Madan Padaki, Pratik Kumar and Krishna Prasad As you know we had planned a gathering of business and HR folks in Bangalore on 6th January to have a conversation about Talent and Technology and specifically about the Future of Talent in India. There were some fascinating points and experiences shared about what employability means, the future of training and teaching and how technology is transforming organizations. Read the full report here Members of the audience Photos via Dheeraj Prasad Related articles Future of Talent in India - Panel Discussion by…

  • HR should act as an enabler for Social Business

    Gautam Ghosh
    17 Jan 2012 | 2:03 am
    Image by Cristiano Betta via Flickr On the social business news blog Michael Brito posted about the SHRM survey that finds that HR would play an increasingly important role in Social Business. However the crux of that involvement focuses on "creating and enforcing a social media policy" To me that sounds like policing - not acting as the enabler and empowering the energy of the employees to be the organizations' advocates on social media. To do that the focus has to be on building an empowering and trusting culture within the organization and then following that with education and training on…
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    the HR Maven

  • Birthdays

    25 Jan 2012 | 7:43 pm
    It's been ten days since I have written anything.  I have been busy with birthday celebrations, reading advanced copies of amazing books, celebrating with friends, and buying Apple products.  That's a pretty full agenda. Before my current employer, I never appreciated the workplace culture of "pretending" about birthdays.   Everyone pretending that no one knows that someone has a birthday, stealthly circulating a card to be signed, smuggling in treats or something to share, then everyone acting surprised when the birthday wishes fly.Yuck.So at my current job, we do it…

  • Post conference - Title IX

    15 Jan 2012 | 4:28 pm
    I am back from the Title IX conference.  It was sobering.  It was profoundly sobering.  At times, I was simply stunned. I need you to read this letter - the Dear Colleague letter written by Russlynn Ali, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights.  You can download it here.PLEASE READ THIS LETTER. Sexual assault and sexual harassment occur on our college campuses at alarming rates.20%, 1 in 5 women will be the victims of an attempted or completed sexual assault while in college. 6% of men be the victims of an attempted or completed sexual assault while in…

  • Conferences

    9 Jan 2012 | 4:00 am
    There are two types of conferences that I have observed in my professional career.  Conference type 1 is comprised of good stuff and good people, usually in good places.  Or at least warm places.  Conference type 2 is interesting content.   That's about it.  I am attending conference type 2.  For the next several days, I will be sitting in a classroom in, wait for this, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where I will be filling my brain with all kinds of details on investigations.  Let's review.  My benefit colleagues travel to warm places in the dead of winter…

  • Saying no

    5 Jan 2012 | 5:52 pm
    A few weeks ago, I had lunch with Jennifer Miller.  The power of social media - we met on twitter, connect IRL with lunch at FMG, and have stayed in touch.  Our time and efforts on twitter may wax and wane, but I am grateful to know her.  And stay in touch.  At our lunch, we talked about our current jobs, work, and such.  Jennifer is doing more presentations and we talked about our reservoir of topics.  She also mentioned another colleague who really refined her niche by turning down work and focusing on only what she does best.  That was a mind-bender for…

  • A new year

    1 Jan 2012 | 2:05 pm
    St Ignatius had some things going right, especially the gratitude part.  For these things, and many, many others, I am truly grateful.1.  A wonderful life.  Blessed doesn't even begin to touch it.2.  Those present in my life.  My husband.  Samson.  Friends. Wow.   2.  A dream come true.  3.  An exceptional job at a phenomenal college working with the most incredible people.  Ever.  4.  Arms, legs, eyes, ears, and a brain that works.  Well, at least the first four all the time.  The brain, most of the time.  I…
 
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    This blog is profersonal.

  • Moneyball: Would You Take That Job Offer?

    Jason Seiden
    25 Jan 2012 | 1:24 pm
    I just finished watching Moneyball. Great film. Here’s a scruples question, based on the ending: Let’s assume that the owner of a competing company recruits you. He wants you to move across country for a new—and more prestigious—job—for about 60 times your current salary. Assume also that you are passionate for your current job, for your current company, and for the game-changing process you’ve begun to put in place at your current organization. Assume also that you have a ten year old daughter who lives nearby, with her mom. Do you take the offer? I have two girls.

  • 5 Ways Running Will Make You a Better Communicator

    Jason Seiden
    21 Jan 2012 | 10:19 am
    I’m reading Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall, and I’m riveted. So many things in this book resonate with me… about the tools we use… attitude… technique… I can’t believe how similar running is to communicating! I’m pleasantly surprised that the path to being a good, injury-free runner shares many of the same principles with the path to becoming a good communicator, including: Forget what you know. Just because you’ve been doing it your whole life doesn’t make you an expert. It just means you have a lot of experience making the…

  • The Dark Side of Social Media: Interpersonal Ineptitude

    Jason Seiden
    20 Jan 2012 | 10:12 pm
    What happens when a tech savvy, Gen X communication expert talks with a Luddite Boomer communication expert about social media and the future of the “business relationships”? Awesome insights happen, that’s what. Especially about the dark side of social media. And good news: I recorded everything for you. Click here to listen. Ed Ruda, industrial psychologist, coach to top executives at major companies (think McDonald’s-, Lockheed Martin-, and Pfizer-sized companies), and also my father-in-law joined me for an episode of Beyond Social, during which we debated the risks…

  • Using Online Information in Real World Conversation

    Jason Seiden
    15 Jan 2012 | 4:06 pm
    In the past, meeting someone meant talking to a person with whom you had no idea if you shared any common interests. You’d break the ice and go from there. And loosely speaking, extroverts were people who had an easy time with this while introverts struggled. With LinkedIn and social media, all that is changing. Not entirely, of course… but now, because of what you can learn about a person online, you often learn a person’s interests before ever meeting. I have a whole theory about how relationships are changing—how control over relationships is being democratized, and how…

  • Webinar: Pimp Your LinkedIn Profile

    Jason Seiden
    9 Jan 2012 | 4:19 am
    Join me this Thursday, Jan 12, at 12pm Eastern (9am Pacific), for a webinar on how to build a LinkedIn profile that drives business results. Here’s why: In October 2011, LinkedIn invited Ajax Social Media’s social coaches to work with participants at LinkedIn’s Talent Connect 2011 user conference. The results? 98% of coaching participants said Ajax helped them better understand how to use their LinkedIn profiles as a business tool. 100% said they learned something actionable. 94% said they were already implementing what they had learned a week after the conference. Join me…
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    Polly Pearson's Blog

  • What Does Branding Have to do with Culture, or *Gasp* Human Resources?

    polly pearson
    25 Jan 2012 | 4:35 pm
    I scratch my head to this day that my professional life currently sits at the intersection of  brand, culture and human resources.  How did a business-centric, brand relations pro get caught up in HR? Luck, mostly.  But I'm convinced that those three elements, together, are key to making a major impact in the modern organization. With social-everything, the power of your company brand is in the hands of "the people" more than ever. Are your people and your culture included in your brand strategy? They better be. Branding, and what your brand shouts, needs to start in…

  • Social Power at Work

    polly pearson
    11 Sep 2011 | 1:03 pm
     Great read out this week by the always impressive David Kirkpatrick  (@davidkonline) for Forbes: Social Power and the Coming Corporate Revolution. He added a nice, updated package of research and meat to the subject of social media at work, including case studies and/or interviews with the likes of Salesforce.com, Adidas, Domino's, Zappos, ING, Ford, Rypple, Zaarly, and Yammer ... as well as management gurus Gary Hamel, Shoshana Zuboff. He put forth the notion that social unrest in countries and regimes are early indicators of what is to come within companies.  You heard it…

  • Why Allow Social Media at Work?

    polly pearson
    30 Jun 2011 | 1:51 pm
    Just last night I was chatting over friendly cocktails with a group of amazingly intelligent women when I realized one of the women was looking at me like I had two heads.  Her contribution to the conversation went like this, "I am a very private person. I realize some day I'll have to understand this social media space, but ..." The day for people and organizations to start understanding this space, if they haven't made the move yet, may well be today. Today is Social Media Day, as declared by many cities, and enthusiastically cheered on by many professionals who believe…

  • How to Get an Inspired Workforce

    polly pearson
    14 Jun 2011 | 11:55 am
    The most intimidating assignment I ever had was to figure out a way to get a large, disenchanted workforce to get charged up with the company strategy, and trust management again. (Note: I found investors and media to be comparatively easy in this regard -- but EMPLOYEES?  They don't want to be told, and they can't be sold, right?) I believe I found the keys to that kingdom. In fact, discovering how to solve this challenge became one of the most rewarding times of my career.  Many of my findings are played out in Daniel Pink's book "Drive," covering the…

  • The Basics of Employment Branding

    polly pearson
    28 Apr 2011 | 4:34 pm
    I participated in an executive round-table with the senior HR officers of some MAJOR companies recently. Everyone went around the room and shared their current challenges. I was amazed how often employment branding came up. In fact, I think every executive mentioned the need for better branding of their company to help recruit, retain and/or engage their workforce.  Even companies you and I would think of as truly great companies, cited better branding as a priority need.  If you are in this situation, here are some things that might bring you some peace of mind, or a way to begin your…
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    Inflexion Point

  • 5 Career Lessons From The Road

    Mark Stelzner
    12 Jan 2012 | 12:02 pm
    During a flight last week I overheard a tearful conversation between a husband and wife. Both were shocked by news received just prior to their departure, namely that the wife’s position had been eliminated and her severance, although generous, would not support them for long. The husband had lost his manufacturing job eighteen months prior and had been taking care of the children while his wife worked. Now, as they left for a short anniversary trip, they really weren’t sure where they were headed or what they should do. After over an hour of difficult conversation, the husband…

  • Are You A Corporate Hoarder?

    Mark Stelzner
    30 Nov 2011 | 7:55 pm
    A close friend recently transitioned from an extremely large organization to a small, fast-paced and entrepreneurial startup. We met shortly after he completed his first all-hands meeting, during which the CEO said something that got his (and my) attention. Namely, that the difference between the new firm and their much larger competition was based on one absolutely critical and innovative tenet – “There will be no corporate hoarding.“ What Is Corporate Hoarding? Information and knowledge still represent power and this is truer in today’s economy than ever before.

  • Getting HR Practitioners To The Podium

    Mark Stelzner
    15 Nov 2011 | 12:11 pm
    In December of 2009 I made an HR New Year’s resolution to listen more and speak less, stating that: “I believe that there is an answer to every question our HR industry faces. It’s out there. It already exists. That’s not to say that innovation is dead, but instead that HR has done a historically lousy job of seeking answers from within.“ In the two years since that declaration I’ve spoken at over thirty HR conferences and industry events. Two obvious conclusions can be drawn from these facts – 1) I’m pretty awful at keeping New Year’s…

  • Two Easy (And Legal) Ways to Gather Competitive Intel

    Mark Stelzner
    1 Nov 2011 | 4:28 pm
    According to a February, 2011 Financial Times article, US intelligence sources estimate that industrial espionage will cost American businesses between $100-250 billion dollars annually. Increased global competition, pressure to rapidly and persistently innovate and pure profiteering are oft-cited motives for both physical and electronic means of securing proprietary information. Even the seemingly benign HR industry isn’t immune from these concerns with the settlement between Halogen and SuccessFactors reading like a SP(HR)y novel – creation of a bogus company, the duping of…

  • 6 Tips for Stress Free Business Travel

    Mark Stelzner
    17 Oct 2011 | 9:38 am
    Erin Palmer wrote me in the midst of some of the most horrific business travel I’ve experienced in my career. Cancelled flights. Broken luggage. Stinky rental cars. Overbooked hotels. Terrible food. In other words, I needed some advice. So when she pitched me on the idea of tips for stress free business travel, I jumped at the opportunity to gain from her wisdom. Now if you’re asking yourself, “Why does an HR blog feature a piece on business travel?“, let me explain. The Global Business Travel Association projects 2011 business travel spend of over $250B –…
 
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    Blogging4Jobs

  • LIVE during the Dash

    Ray_anne
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:10 am
    Have you heard about your dash?  As in, How’s your dash going?  In this instance, your dash represents the mark on your tombstone that separates your date of birth from your date of death. In other words, it represents your life, the part during your existence in which you lived on earth. And while it’s weird to consider, I have always found the “dash” reference to be a bit monotone and sedentary. It just doesn’t suggest life to me or all the events: crazy, sullen, happy, or sad, that occur during one’s lifetime. And as humans, we sometimes, tend to…

  • Time Off Manager by IronFlow: HR Tech Review

    Jessica Miller-Merrell
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:17 am
    Earlier this year I made an announcement about some changes happening here on the site.  One of those changes included a twice monthly review of a human resources and recruiting product or service under what I’m calling “HR Tech Review.”  I want to give industry practitioners insights into new technology and services that goes beyond the trade show demo or sales call.     In my mind, the best type of innovation happens out of necessity.  Time Off Manager by Ironflow Technologies—the latest tool in HR tech—is one of those great innovations born out of necessity.

  • Moving Forward by Letting Go

    Ray_anne
    26 Jan 2012 | 8:02 am
    A while back, I received an email from a friend about bananas. The gist of the email was to extol the numerous virtues of the banana. Such as the instant energy boost from eating just one banana, how it is the leading fruit among athletes, how just two bananas supply enough energy to complete a strenuous ninety-minute workout. Also expressed were the different maladies that are alleviated by the ever-lovin’ banana including depression, PMS, anemia, high blood pressure, constipation, heartburn, motions sickness, stress, strokes and so on… There was also talk of using banana skins…

  • 52% of US Companies Will Add Jobs in Next Year

    Jessica Miller-Merrell
    26 Jan 2012 | 6:17 am
    Recruiting Strategy Key 2012 in War for Talent    All signs are pointing towards an improving economy and yesterday’s release of Talent Technology’s State of Recruiting for 2012 supports what many in the industry are seeing.  Business is happening.  Hiring and adding new staff is in the works with 52% of companies planning on adding jobs in the next 12 months making the importance of an solid recruiting strategy even more important.  In case you were wondering, the survey which had 1,100 respondents offered insights mostly from the US and Canada with the majority of…

  • Determine to Succeed

    Ray_anne
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:02 am
    Just Do It! “To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts.” ~Henry David Thoreau When you wake in the morning, do you look forward to your day? Do you stretch your arms above your head with the desire to wake and start your day or do you slunk back down under the covers, trying to catch more zzz’s or practice avoidance a bit longer? Morning has the ability to smack you in the head with reality. Reality awaits those ready to face it and will wait even more patiently for those wishing to evade it a bit longer. Each day represents another chance to do it…
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    Talent HQ

  • Retarget Job Seekers After They Click and Run

    Jason Buss
    18 Jan 2012 | 8:57 pm
    Ask a job seeker, and they’ll tell you it doesn’t take long before they get lost or frustrated online during their job search. For starters the amount of duplicate job content has, at a minimum, doubled in the past year alone.  From the tens of thousands of job boards, aggregator sites, and social recruiting approaches, who can blame them. Corporate career sites have long been the answer to engaging and converting site visitors to candidates (or applicants).  With all of the technology and targeted search capabilities for job seekers, you’d expect the conversion rates to…

  • Top 5 Recruiting Fails for 2011

    Jason Buss
    16 Dec 2011 | 6:39 am
    The story lines were..  The latest and greatest way for you to find a job (if you are a job seeker) or to source and hire a job seeker (if you are a recruiter). Here are the top 5 recruiting #fails of 2011: #5 – Twesume:  While twesume was just announced, it’s still 2011.  This is yet another example of a waste of time for both job seekers and recruiters. #4 – The Online Recruiting Transformation:  Huh? When you don’t hear about something for a year after it’s announced (or see any results in search engines), it’s a #fail.  This was the case with the…

  • HRC – 2012 Corporate Equality Index Rankings

    Jason Buss
    15 Dec 2011 | 7:57 pm
    The Human Rights Campaign Foundation has released the 2012 Corporate Equality Index.  The 100% ranking carries more weight than in previous years – and is more difficult to attain. 3 years ago the HRC provided participants notice that there would soon be more stringent qualifications for the 100% ranking.  How has it impacted employers?  Last year, 337 companies earned 100% rankings, and for 2012 the number dropped significantly to 190. A few examples of the heightened requirements for companies to be ranked as best places to work for LGBT employees include: Increased emphasis on…

  • Announcing The 2011 Recruiting Awards Winners

    Jason Buss
    19 Oct 2011 | 1:32 pm
    Minutes ago at the LinkedIn TalentConnect Conference the 2011 inaugural Recruiting Award winners were announced live – in front of the nearly 2,000 conference attendees and USTREAM viewers.  The winners were awarded with $5,000 in cash and prizes, in addition to a contribution to a charity of their choice from Talent HQ. When the awards were announced earlier this year, a unique crowd-sourcing element was the unique element compared to other awards in the industry.  Thousands of votes were submitted online from recruiting practitioners, TalentConnet conference attendees, and the panel…

  • LinkedIn Announces Talent Pipeline – A CRM Solution

    Jason Buss
    18 Oct 2011 | 12:45 pm
    LinkedIn continues making waves in the recruiting industry.  From tripling the number of attendees at this years TalentConnect Recruiting conference (while other recruiting conference organizers struggle), to announcing new products and expansion. The site is approaching 30 billion page views for 2011 as it sets targets on replacing things like Resume’s, business cards and rolodexes with business intelligence.  Some say the powerhouse has transformed recruiting.  How? With the ability to source passive talent at massive scale, with a simple platform. How do recruiters track all of…
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    Simplicity @ the other side of Complexity

  • A political paradox for OD & HR

    21 Jan 2012 | 3:17 pm
    “This is a political issue and we should resolve it politically”, said the senior consultant. I heard this interesting piece of ‘wisdom’ at an early stage in my career as an OD/HR consultant and it had left me somewhat confused. I knew that as external consultants one of our main tasks was to diagnose the core issue/root problem correctly (as opposed to merely documenting the symptoms) so that we can design an intervention at the appropriate level. I also knew that ‘workplace politics’ existed in many of our client organizations. What confused me was the part that said ‘we…

  • Decoding the 'IR mindset'

    30 Dec 2011 | 11:30 am
    “You need to be careful when you interact with him. He has an IR mindset” I was given this cryptic piece of advice by a friend many years ago. This led to an interesting discussion on what was meant by the term  ‘IR (Industrial Relations) mindset’. After that, I have heard similar ideas being talked about in many other organization contexts.  Recently I did some thinking about the common themes emerging from these discussions and this post is the result! Let me begin by saying that this 'IR mindset' need not necessarily have anything to do with the way ‘Industrial…

  • Appropriate metaphors for Organizational Commitment

    27 Dec 2011 | 9:37 am
    "We need more commitment in this organization. Employees should just trust their managers and the organization and do what they are asked to do. Instead, they get confused and start asking questions", said the senior HR professional. It was my second encounter with this person (See 'Passion for work and anasakti', for the details of the first encounter that happened many years ago). Like what happened last time, this statement set me thinking. I have realized that interactions like this prompts me to examine my own opinions/assumptions and hence enrich my understanding. That is why I treasure…

  • Paradox of ‘passive resistance’

    24 Oct 2011 | 3:02 pm
    “There is too much passive resistance in this organization! When I suggest something, everyone agrees. But they go back and do whatever they wanted to do", said the frustrated business leader. ‘Passive resistance’ is a term that is heard quite often in business organizations. Let us begin by taking a look at this phenomenon from a broader perspective. From a psychological point of view, passive resistance is a form of passive-aggressive behavior. Passive-aggressive behavior involves acting indirectly aggressive rather than directly aggressive. It usually manifests as procrastination,…

  • Do we need a new ‘defining myth’ for HR?

    7 Oct 2011 | 1:41 pm
    This post is an attempt to explore the intersection of two of the key themes of this blog - the nature of the HR function (see 'Philosophy of HR') and creating meaning as HR professionals (see 'Architects of Meaning - From CHRO to CMO' Meaning (finding meaning in work) is becoming an increasingly critical issue at the workplace. Hence, 'facilitating creation of meaning' becomes an important opportunity and challenge for HR professionals. While 'Architects of Meaning' touched upon HR interventions to enable leaders and employees to create meaning at the workplace, it did not focus…
 
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    Profitability Through Human Capital

  • Leadership...Where Has it Gone?

    23 Jan 2012 | 4:42 pm
    Over the last few months I have been so surprised by recent lapses in judgement and leadership. I have to ask, why is this so rampant? Where has all of our character gone?My first disappointment as of late was the whole Penn State, Joe Paterno scandal. I mean how does someone know about an incident of child abuse and NOT report it to the law. I don't care what loophole existed for working in a University. You have to put your morals and ethics first especially when it involves children. Joe Paterno died a few days ago, his legacy forever tarnished. When does a Captain of a large cruise ship…

  • What is HR's Moneyball Metric?

    16 Jan 2012 | 3:17 pm
    I finally watched Moneyball this weekend and what a movie that was. Of course, all the way through the movie I am thinking how does this apply to HR and companies in general.It was so interesting that the team was using anecdotal data to "hire" new players. I loved it when the data geek talked about players potential and hidden nuggets of gold that went unnoticed due to poor batting averages. He pointed out it is not necessarily about batting average, but really about getting on the base. It was a metric in baseball, that no other team was using. Historically, the players with the highest…

  • Is the HR Generalist Dead?

    9 Jan 2012 | 6:08 pm
    Today I had a very interesting conversation with a few HR consultant friends of mine. We were discussing the status of the external HR Consultant who is a generalist versus a consultant that specializes in particular area of HR. The consensus was that the generalist in the consulting world is dead. Maybe that is a strong statement, maybe not dead....but on life support.The reasons had to do with an over supply of consultants that are generalists and the need for organizations to hire subject matter experts that are deep in their knowledge on a certain subject, like compensation for example.I…

  • Employee Survey Data, Check..Now What?

    3 Jan 2012 | 7:50 am
    Many companies conduct annual employee surveys. The data comes in and is reported on and then we wait for the next year for the next results. The results come in for year 2 and they are exactly the same or in some cases scores have gone down. This begs the question, what can you do with employee survey data?Here are some best practices we have used with our clients over the years:1) As soon as possible communicate high level survey results back to employees. If you have decided on actions that will be taken as a result of the survey scores, then give your employees an overview of those…

  • 2011, It's a Wrap: 10 Ways to Tell if HR is #Winning

    29 Dec 2011 | 7:19 am
    Well it's that time of year again, when we bloggers look into our crystal balls and predict what's going to happen next year. Check out this link for Laurie Ruettimann's predictions here. I always read her's. I want to take a slightly different slant for my predictions this year...I would like to think about how we will know when HR as a profession has "made it?" We have been talking about improvements to this function for years...and years.And years. So...How will we know that HR is #winning? (had to use the lame hashtag). Here are just a few of my thoughts on the subject:1) When HR and…
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    hr bartender

  • Friday Distraction – Training for Cappuccino

    Sharlyn Lauby
    27 Jan 2012 | 4:40 am
    When I saw this cartoon I loved it – both as a training pro and a foodie. Hope you enjoy it too. Now, where did I put my cappuccino? Cheers! Click to enlarge

  • The Inevitable Shift From Jobs to Skills

    Sharlyn Lauby
    26 Jan 2012 | 4:40 am
    Years ago, I was working on a consulting assignment involving a company’s customer service challenges.  The company decided the answer was to throw bodies at the situation. The assumption? More people = Better service.  At some point, I was talking with the senior vice president of operations about the decision.  And I asked, “Will there come a time when the company examines the additional staffing numbers versus the scheduling system?”  He looked at me a bit puzzled. I completely understood why the company decided to hire more people.  They needed to do something immediately. …

  • Social Learning: 3 Trends for 2012

    Sharlyn Lauby
    24 Jan 2012 | 4:30 am
    According to the 2011 Training Industry Report from TrainingMag.com, total expenditures in training appear to be increasing. The amount spent on training jumped about 13% from 2010, including increases in overall training budgets and payroll, and spending on outside products and services. With organizations spending more toward training, it only makes sense they will want to know how to create more engagement and learning retention (aka “value”) within training programs.  I could see a social component emerging. My latest post over at Mashable shares three trends in the area of social…

  • HOW TO: Start a Tough Conversation at Work

    Sharlyn Lauby
    22 Jan 2012 | 5:30 am
    One of the questions I’m often asked is how to start a difficult or challenging conversation.  It might be a sensitive topic, performance matter or personal issue.  In my experience, managers often want to either: Tap dance around the topic with “small talk” – conversation about football, movies, pets, etc. and then launch into the coaching discussion.  This can send mixed messages to employees about why they are there.  It’s better to keep the message on point.  Or… Get straight to the point.  Do not pass go and do not collect $200.  This can come across as a bit…

  • Friday Distraction – The Working Gender Gap [Infographic]

    Sharlyn Lauby
    20 Jan 2012 | 4:40 am
    Last Friday, I introduced a new feature called the “distraction”.  The goal is for it to be a quick read that will provide a much needed break in the day. Today’s post is an infographic from Mercer.  I always like any opportunity to learn a ton of data in a short time.  Hope you find this chart on gender gaps as interesting as I did.  Cheers!
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    I2I - Incentive Intelligence

  • Incentives May Not Trump Culture

    Paul Hebert
    25 Jan 2012 | 6:41 am
    Why did your incentive program fail?  Maybe because you focused the program on “sacred values.” Company/corporate culture is a hot discussion these days.  From @zappos (everyone take a drink) and Netflix – every company wants to be the “it” girl of corporate culture.  Culture drives engagement they say.  Much corporate treasure is spent to reward behaviors that drive the culture the company has, or hopes to have. But recent research may show that your reward program has less effect on culture than you think, and in fact, may be wasted money. An article entitled “When the brain…

  • FOT Webinar: Social Recruiting MacGyver Style! (How to Recruit via Facebook)

    Paul Hebert
    24 Jan 2012 | 7:30 am
    As you all know (or should!) I am FOT#3 at Fistful of Talent – THE #1 HR focused multi-contributor blog on internet according to my non-scientific survey tool (I asked other contributors at FOT.)  If you don’t read it you should.  It’s a cornucopia of HR goodness – irreverent and intelligent – funny and fascinating – timely and tongue in cheek. 2012 is a big year for us FOTers – we’re branching out and doing speaking gigs and webinars – and we got one coming your way.  Two of our best are gonna serve up the smarts on Feb 2, 2012.  Tim Sackett and Kris Dunn are teaming up…

  • When “Mobile” Recognition Makes Sense

    Paul Hebert
    23 Jan 2012 | 7:27 am
    Last week I posted that “mobilizing” employee reward and recognition programs was a red herring.  My thought process was that recognizing employees isn’t a function of “location” but a function of effort on the part of managers.  Many in the incentive industry are launching “mobile” apps for their incentive and reward platforms selling it from the “Managers can now recognize people in the moment” point of view. I took a negative stand and said no manager is going to stop what they are doing and recognize someone just because there is an app for that.  They won’t stop…

  • Are Mobile Apps For Rewards and Recognition Red Herrings?

    Paul Hebert
    18 Jan 2012 | 6:34 am
    Question for you all… Is having a mobile application for your rewards and recognition system important?  Is it needed? Or is it simply a solution in search of a problem?  Is it marketing bluster and me-too-ism?  Is the development of apps and mobile tools to reward and recognize people really something the market needs and wants (and when I say market, I mean the users of reward systems – not the buyer, not the seller.) I don’t know.  Based on the seller side of the equation – mobile is the sh*t… everyone is jumping on. How Is It Better? I spend a lot of time with clients and…

  • I Like You – Here’s Some Money

    Paul Hebert
    16 Jan 2012 | 7:50 am
     Peer to Peer programs (P2P) are pretty much a standard offering in employee reward and recognition programs today.  If you’re not looking at P2P as a feature in your program – got back and start over.  P2P is a common and well-liked option within a company’s recognition strategy. For those under a rock – P2P is where one employee can give recognition to another employee as they see fit.  In many cases these recognition events are without monetary reward – but do provide the employees with a way to highlight performance above and beyond.  What’s nice about P2P is that they…
 
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    About.com Human Resources

  • Want Powerful On-the-Job Training?

    27 Jan 2012 | 3:00 am
    Explore the power of on-the-job training to enhance employee development in your organization. Use job shadowing as a significant component in on-the-job training, too. Probably because I was a jointly-appointed training coordinator and OD consultant for a GM plant earlier in my career, both training and OD have always remained dear to my heart. An early memory that has always stayed close, too, is the day that the tool and die guys invited me to their training meeting and asked me to be their training coordinator. In those days, you could be assigned a job, but you couldn't do the job, if…

  • Interview Questions for Employers to Ask

    26 Jan 2012 | 3:00 am
    Have you ever wanted sample job interview questions that you can ask prospective employees? These sample interview questions for employers to ask candidates focus on various skills and attributes that you want to identify in your potential employees. I've continued to add additional interview questions to these samples and seek feedback about what other topics I should cover. I'd like to continue to write sample interview questions, but I can use some feedback about the topics you need. On each group of questions, I have also made suggestions about what you are looking for in your job…

  • The Best Perks Are Free

    25 Jan 2012 | 9:30 am
    What employee benefits do employees really value? The best perks do not have to cost the employer any money at all. For example, the newest generation of employees, the millennials, in particular, and employees in every generation, actually, value flexible work schedules. Sure, providing flexible schedules might take a bit more work, especially in departments that have to have coverage at all times. But, the payback in employee morale is enormous. Employees can better manage their work and life balance when they don't have to miss work to take junior to the doctor. Or, an employee can stay at…

  • Make the Super Bowl a Workplace Win

    25 Jan 2012 | 3:00 am
    Ready for Super Bowl Monday? Think creatively about what you can do to harness and capitalize on the Super Bowl's impact on your workplace. You can make the Super Bowl a workplace win when you find positive ways to enhance team building, motivation, and employee engagement. Glassdoor.com*, a jobs and career community, asked the pertinent question: Is the Super Bowl good for the workplace? Glassdoor.com surveyed employees asking what the Super Bowl does to the workplace the Monday after the game. They found: 20% of employees say that employee morale is typically better in the office the day…

  • Do Your Job - Despite the Threat of Lawsuits

    24 Jan 2012 | 9:20 am
    The Wall Street Journal made several key points I'd like to share. Fear of losing costly lawsuits is making employers hesitant to fire employees who are underperforming. And, human resources professionals, who must monitor and lead the process, yet don't have to work directly with an underperforming employee, are often blamed for not letting non-performing employees go sooner. Indeed, some of these fears and concerns are well-founded. Laws about retaliation by employers fill the books these days. Passed to protect workers, these laws are now protecting underperforming employees and making…
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    TalentedApps

  • Customers and Employees: Two Sides of the Same Coin

    Anadi Upadhyaya
    14 Jan 2012 | 11:24 pm
    Do you treat your employees the way you treat your customers? You may need some serious thinking before you answer this question. Customers are your key to business survival. Initial few customers are very important and critical for your business to sustain. Over the period your customer base increases and when you have many customers, you start giving more attention to some over the others as they add more value to your business. To manage your customers properly, you divide them in groups based on the value they bring to your business. Some customers are always special to you and you will…

  • Why trust requires accountability and consequences

    Meg Bear
    13 Jan 2012 | 11:47 am
    As a leader it is your job to build an organization that trusts each other.  Trust is the glue that keeps everyone together and opens up the opportunity for great things to happen. In order to have trust, your must have accountability — it is not possible to get trust by edict.   Without accountability, trust is damaged, and repairing trust becomes a management time sink. Accountability comes when there is alignment with both rewards and consequences.  We talk a lot about rewards and high performance, but we probably don’t talk enough about consequences. There must be a shared…

  • Some Great Books from 2011

    Mark Bennett
    12 Jan 2012 | 6:56 pm
    Here are some great books from last year that helped me think about Social Business, Business Strategy, Leadership, and how the way we think affects our ability to succeed with them. If you haven’t read them yet, you might want to check them out. Strategy The Essential Advantage: How to Win with a Capabilities-Driven Strategy by Paul Leinwand and Cesare R. Mainardi I read this early in the year after reading the authors’ Strategy+Business article, “Do You Have the Right to Win?” (registration required.) This main point of the book is that unless your business strategy, portfolio of…

  • Don’t just connect the dots — keep them connected

    Meg Bear
    11 Jan 2012 | 8:30 pm
    Patty has a fantastic blog post about how you need to connect the dots for your team.  I love how she makes it so clear, that our job is to help people understand how their work matters. Since we know that purpose is a key to motivation doing so not only protects the results, it also increases the satisfaction of the results. A perpetual cycle of goodness, if you will… but, connecting the dots is not really a one time concern. As a leader, you need to build systems to identify places where people and processes are missing the connection.  You need to be looking out for any evidence…

  • Help… please

    Meg Bear
    10 Jan 2012 | 5:52 pm
    When I was younger, so much younger than today… OK, enough with the serenade… I’ve been thinking a lot these days, about asking for and offering help. I’ve come to realize that most are reluctant to ask for help — and I’m noticing this has a huge downside. In trying to think about how to help people become comfortable asking for help (read that one again, it’s deep), I think the trick is to focus on being more helpful. So I want to know When was the last time you helped someone else?  Is it something you are doing regularly?  Is it a goal of yours?
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    Steve Boese's HR Technology

  • Telling People What to Do

    Steve
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:00 am
    There are some people that really like giving out orders, and some, (certainly fewer), that like being told what to do. But I suspect the majority of us fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum. As leaders or parents or when acting in any role that puts us in a position of authority, we want to set some basic direction or ground rules, and then sit back happily and watch our charges carry out their duties and tasks without much meddling or the need for intervention and correction.Click image for larger size Face it, how many times do you have to tell your kids to clean up their room…

  • WEBINAR : Social Recruiting MacGyver-Style

    Steve
    26 Jan 2012 | 6:33 am
    MacGyver is probably the coolest TV-hero ever.  He is cooler than you could ever dream of being even if you only dreamed of being MacGyver. He could make a cannon from a old microscope, turn a bedframe into a catapult, and do just about anything else with s Swiss Army knife and some duct tape. Smart, agile, resourceful - and able to rock a mullet as good as anyone before or since. Possessor of many of the qualities of my friends from Fistful of Talent, Kris Dunn and Tim Sackett. Why the clumsy transition from the legendary MacGyver to KD and Sackett, who are also legendary, but for…

  • How much does the office furniture matter?

    Steve
    25 Jan 2012 | 6:52 am
    Like most of you, I've worked in all kinds of office layouts over the years. Cube farms, open plan, private offices, 'hotel' desks for more transient workers. I am sure at one time or another I have spent time in all of them. And I probably don't have any really strong feelings about any of the office spaces I've worked in. They were, and are, mostly forgettable. Aside from the one consulting project years ago where my 'office' was a telecom equipment closet and an extra door propped up on some boxes was my desk. That one I still remember for some reason.Look like your office? But there is a…

  • Inside the iPhone: Biscuits and Tea

    Steve
    24 Jan 2012 | 7:00 am
    This past weekend the NY Times had an in-depth piece on some of the decisions and processes surrounding the manufacture of Apple's iPhone. The excellent piece is absolutely worth your time and attention, as it provides some fascinating insights into the requirements, expectations, and outcomes from a high-volume, high-tech, design, development, and manufacturing process today. Suffice to say some of the commonly-held assumptions about United States firms inability to compete for most of the value-added supply chain and manufacturing processes for the iPhone are validated - US universities are…

  • Checking it Twice - Happy Tim Sackett Day

    Steve
    23 Jan 2012 | 6:00 am
    Happy Tim Sackett Day! What the heck is Tim Sackett Day?  Let's take a step back and try and explain. In the last couple of years, more or less tied to the growth and increasing importance of social networking, online reputation, and emerging consideration, (and attempts to quantify), digital influence; the Human Resources and Recruiting world has seen a plethora of published influence lists, rankings, and other measures of (variously), popularity, importance, influence, quality, and so on.Tim!!! While the relevance, accuracy, and importance of any of these kinds of lists can certainly…
 
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    Federal Employment Law Articles

  • EEOC Reports Record Number of Discrimination Charges

    26 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pm
    Executive Summary: According to information released by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), in 2011 the agency received a record number of discrimination charges and obtained a record amount of relief for discrimination claimants.

  • Agencies Issue Information on Regulatory Priorities for 2012

    25 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pm
    Federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL), Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) have issued their regulatory plans and agendas for 2012. Issued on January 20, 2012, the agencies’ semi-annual regulatory unified agendas outline the regulatory actions that the agencies will likely propose or issue in final form during the upcoming fiscal year. The unified agendas are published in the spring and fall of each year. Although published in January, the latest documents represent the fall 2011 agendas. The fall agendas include…

  • The ADA Amendments Act of 2008: Practical Implications for Employers in 2012 and Beyond"

    25 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pm
    Employment and labor law attorney Molly Hughes Cherry co-authored an article for the Defense Counsel Journal, a publication of the International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC).

  • New National Defense Authorization Act Affects Some Medical Providers’ Status with OFCCP

    25 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pm
    The National Defense Authorization Act (“NDAA”), signed by President Barack Obama on December 31, 2011 exempts from Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) jurisdiction those medical providers who participate in the Department of Defense (DoD) TRICARE program, DoD’s health care program for active and retired military personnel. This legislation is intended to overturn a 2010 U.S. Department of Labor administrative law judge’s ruling that a Florida hospital providing medical services on behalf of a federal contractor that had contracted with the DoD to establish a…

  • Immigration eAuthority (January 2012)

    25 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pm
    February 2012 Visa Bulletin: EB-2 India and China Priority Dates Leap Forward One Year; H-1B Fiscal Year 2013 Filing Season - Get Ready for April 2; PERM Profile - Updates and Trends in the Labor; Certification Process; Compliance Corner.
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    Bayt.com Blog

  • How can I convince a great candidate to join for less pay?

    Suha Mardelli Haroun
    16 Jan 2012 | 5:30 am
    Question: I recently interviewed a candidate for a regional sales manager position, and was very impressed with the interview. In fact, I am very keen on getting him on-board immediately. However, we are currently in the salary negotiation phase and the salary he is expecting is more than we are willing to offer as basic compensation. But if the additional bonus on target achievement is considered, the pay we have for offer is more than his expectation. With that in mind, how do I convince him to accept our offer? Answer: As a recruiter, it is always an exhilarating feeling when you realize…

  • مقبالات عمل عدّة لا تؤدي الى عروض، ماذا أفعل؟

    Bayt HR Guru
    12 Jan 2012 | 6:53 am

  • Interviews but no Job Offers, Help!

    Bayt HR Guru
    10 Jan 2012 | 8:14 am
    Question from Job Seeker: I have received many interview calls from Bayt.com, some in my target industry and some in others.  Please advise me what I am doing wrong as none of them have translated into a relevant job offer yet. Answer from Bayt HR Guru: We have received this complaint from a few of our Bayt.com professionals over the years.  Their CV is complete and professional enough to land them the interview call from Bayt.com’s community of top employers but somehow they lose focus or fail to attract or engage their preferred employer sufficiently during the interview…

  • Interview with Ravi Chandra, Regional Human Resources Manager – MENA at Jotun Paints & Powder Coatings, UAE

    Ravi Chandra
    27 Dec 2011 | 5:33 am
    Bio:Ravi holds a degree in psychology and a post-graduate in human resources. He has extensive experience in operational and strategic human resources. He has been working with Jotun Paints since last 15 years and currently is the Regional Human Resources Manager for Jotun in MENA region. Questions: 1. How do you like living and working in the UAE? Dubai is a cultural melting pot and has a truly international working environment. It’s a lot of fun interacting with different nationalities. I find that cultural understanding as well as sensitivity to different ethnic temperaments and…

  • How do I develop an HR strategy?

    Suha Mardelli Haroun
    18 Dec 2011 | 8:19 am
    Question: Hi, I work for a company that is a training resource provider with an employee count of about 30. My manager has asked me to draw up the HR strategy for our company for the coming year. Since this is the first time for me in this position, I am not sure how to go about with this. Do you have any advice on how I can start on it? Answer: Developing a comprehensive yearly (or 5-year) HR strategy is necessary for every organization. Since you are new in this position, you can start of by understanding why it is important. Your HR strategy is based on the needs analysis of your workplace…
 
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    upstartHR

  • CEO to Worker Pay Ratio-Get Over It

    Ben
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:00 am
    AKA I’m putting on my capitalist hat I have been reading so much lately on the CEO to worker pay ratio numbers, and frankly it’s making me sick. I’m channeling the devil-may-care attitude of Tim Sackett today, so I’ll probably make half of you mad at me. You’ll get over it and we can still be friends. Promise. There are several common threads to the stories about the ratio of CEO pay to worker pay, fairness and envy being the most often. I think the arguments are irrelevant at a minimum and an attempt to stir up class warfare at worst. Let’s look at each…

  • Why and How I Read a Book per Week

    Ben
    25 Jan 2012 | 5:00 am
    Someone reached out to me the other day to ask what books I might recommend for an HR Generalist. I’ve been doing a handful of book reviews lately, and I also saw that my good friend Trish wrote on the topic as well, so this seemed like a great time to bring up my philosophy on business books. Get an MBA… From books? One of the best resources I’ve come across with regard to organizing and explaining the need to read books is PersonalMBA.com. Josh Kaufman has put together a resource to help business leaders learn everything they need to know without adding in the time and…

  • Using a Team Mentality for Higher Performance

    Ben
    23 Jan 2012 | 5:00 am
    Studies show that athletes who train in groups perform better than athletes who train by themselves. This is true not only as an athlete, but at work as well. I’m currently training for the 2012 Andrew Jackson Marathon in Tennessee. While I would have been able to get enough training under my belt to finish the race, there’s no way I would have trained as hard as I have without the great companions I have. When March 31st rolls around, I am going to be ready for my first marathon. How can we translate the success that I’ve seen as an athlete to the workplace for all of us?

  • 2012 SHRM Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia

    Ben
    20 Jan 2012 | 5:00 am
    So, are you thinking about going to the 2012 SHRM Annual Conference in Atlanta, Georgia? Yeah, me, too. I was able to attend back in 2010 due to the boundless generosity of my friend Eric Winegardner. However, at that time I was working in a 6-person HR department as the low man on the totem pole. Nobody cared what I thought. Nobody wanted to hear my ideas. So when I returned from the event, my enthusiasm and fervor was quickly extinguished. While I enjoyed the experience, I didn’t get a lot out of the event in the form of takeaways. If I can attend this year, that’s going to…

  • Creatively Ever After (Book Review)

    Ben
    19 Jan 2012 | 5:00 am
    A while back I received the Creatively Ever After: A Path to Innovation book by Alicia Arnold to review. I had a tough time getting started, and it sat on my shelf for a few weeks at one point. I’m a naturally creative person and a fan of solving problems through a creative process. However, I just couldn’t get into this book. It might be that I don’t have much trouble coming up with ideas, or it could very well be some other reason. I’d love to hear from someone who is a more analytical thinker about what they thought of the book. No offense to Ms. Arnold, but this…
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    Free Human Resources Magazines and Downloads from alltop.tradepub.com

  • Joomla! 1.6 Essential Training

    24 Jan 2012 | 5:20 pm
    The course also explains how to change the site look and feel with Joomla! templates, install plug-ins and extensions, assign users to create and edit content, and much more. Exercise files accompany the course.Topics include:Understanding Joomla!A quick tour of the Joomla! InterfaceUsing the media managerCreating individual articlesLinking to a PDF or other documentAlong with the free video training tutorials you will also receive monthly offers, tips, and insider information you won't hear elsewhere--including special discounts extended to newsletter subscribers.After taking advantage of…

  • Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta Preview

    23 Jan 2012 | 1:50 pm
    The course covers the new Book module and integration with Blurb, an online book printing service; the video playback and editing options, including the ability to color, tone, export, and publish movies; and the image editing enhancements in Lightroom 4, including the Image Adjustment Brush for correcting color and noise.Topics include:Why use Photoshop Lightroom 4 Beta?Video playback and trimmingEditing the color and tone of a video fileOrganizing video files in a Lightroom databaseCapturing a still image from a video fileExporting or publishing a video to your hard driveAlong with the free…

  • Google Analytics Essential Training

    23 Jan 2012 | 2:00 am
    This course covers the out-of-the-box functionality, from account creation to reporting fundamentals, and explains how to glean insights from the vast array of data available.Topics include:The pitfalls of hit counting and turning data into informationDefining goals and conversions: Why do you have a web site?How does Google Analytics work?Using language identification to segment usersUsing flow visualization to see common pathsReal-time data for time-sensitive analysisAlong with the free video training tutorials you will also receive monthly offers, tips, and insider information you won't…

  • Joomla! 1.7: Access Control Lists in Depth

    23 Jan 2012 | 2:00 am
    The course also includes tips and tricks for styling the offline access page and working with the ACL Manager extension. Exercise files accompany the course.Topics include:Introduction to ACLDefining usersDefining access levels and their roleAssigning access levels to modulesTesting loginsAlong with the free video training tutorials you will also receive monthly offers, tips, and insider information you won't hear elsewhere--including special discounts extended to newsletter subscribers.After taking advantage of the free video training, you can access all of the video tutorials by becoming a…

  • Human Capital Management Trends 2012: Managing Talent to Lead Organizational Growth

    16 Jan 2012 | 4:50 pm
    Getting talent right is getting business right. Aberdeen's Human Capital Management (HCM) research has continually shown that in order to meet business challenges, grow the organization and keep customers happy, the right talent must be hired, retained, deployed, developed and engaged. This study of nearly 300 organizations, conducted in November and December 2011 looks at the key strategies, technologies, and capabilities deployed by Best-in-Class HR and talent management practitioners, and the positive impact those activities are having on business performance.Request Free!
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    Interesting Bits From Brad Herbert (www.HerbertHRC.com)

  • New Management Principles for a New Age

    Brad Herbert
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:55 pm
    I am totally digging a new site called Management Innovation eXchange. It's a bold attempt to throw away everything we now do around management and fully rethink it using the essence of the web as inspiration for how we can work together in the future. If you care about bringing out the best in yourself and others, then actively exploring new approaches to collaborating, learning, and growing needs to be job one. Here's my favorite quote from the article. It totally nails it: "The good news is that we now have a viable alternative to the management status quo. Thanks to the Web, we can…

  • Living Your Life Large

    Brad Herbert
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:59 pm
    A busy life does not mean a satisfying life, or one even aligned with your values. It's easy to not reflect on what matters to you, or the contributions you want to make to others, if you let distractions and your inner saboteur keep you in the same patterns and world view.What would your life feel like if you slowed down and deeply considered - and lived - a life aligned with your values and life purpose? Have you ever met or witnessed someone truly alive with his or her purpose? There's a different energy to their presence, and to the way you interact with them. As you think about 2012, I…

  • Culture Eats Strategy For Lunch

    Brad Herbert
    25 Jan 2012 | 4:21 pm
    Everyone has heard the expression "Strategy eats culture for lunch" by now, but not all leaders have slowed down enough to address it proactively and with the conviction they do with other parts of their role.I think this stems from many leaders being so task and accomplishment focused (i.e., the "doing") that they often don't take the time to reflect on what lights them up personally (i.e., "being"). This lack of deep insight into their values makes it almost impossible to authentically lead a discussion around organizational values. Without this foundation of self and collective insight,…

  • Avoid This Common Recruiting Mistake

    Brad Herbert
    25 Jan 2012 | 4:16 pm
    You need to read this article in ERE about the absolute insanity of recruiting people with a set of promises that you know full well your organization cannot deliver. It's the equivalent of lying while dating and we know how well that turns out. It's a short read, but really puts a nice framing on the importance of integrity and focusing on the things that matter: nurturing a healthy, productive culture.

  • Activision: Great Example of Agile Leadership

    Brad Herbert
    18 Jan 2012 | 12:53 pm
    I'm a big fan of agile development practices because it facilitates a culture of ongoing learning. Basing your development resources on explicit assumptions and experiments allows organizations to learn what things customers want and helps to remove the emotion from decision making. I've seen first hand how a failed "experiment" produces a "huh...ok..." moment from people versus a hit to someone's ego. In today's world, regardless of your sector, nurturing rapid learning (creating, sharing, and applying knowledge) is job #1 for most leaders. But agile is not just a development process; it's…
 
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    The Staffing Advisor

  • Are Your People a Drag or a Sail?

    Bob Corlett
    23 Jan 2012 | 4:29 am
    We staff a lot of new initiatives. And we’re often brought in when executives want to rethink how they have staffed a position. So I regularly hear how executives talk about the intersection of strategy and people. And some executives describe their current staff like a tractor pull–a powerful engine (strategy) is dragging a heavy sled behind it (the current staff). Organizations often say “people are our most important asset” but people are also the source of most of your problems.  People often disappoint you. Top performers quit. Average performers often fail to deliver.

  • Managing Expectations in the Hiring Process

    Bob Corlett
    16 Jan 2012 | 12:40 pm
    Have you ever interviewed an ideal candidate, gone through a lengthy interview process, excitedly put together a job offer, expected a quick acceptance … and then you were rejected? Of course you felt disappointed, and perhaps even embarrassed. When it comes unexpectedly, the rejection stings even more. But why does disappointment feel so bad? Neuroscience can explain why … and neuroscience also yields a few clues why your job offer might have been rejected. It’s all about expectations. In a recent column in the New York Times, Alina Tugend interviews David Rock, author of…

  • Despicable Behavior

    Bob Corlett
    13 Jan 2012 | 11:55 am
    Some people love to tell stories of dumb things candidates do. Some people love to collect idiotic phrases from cover letters. Some people love to dwell on the details of why someone gave a terrible interview. I detest that behavior.  Our candidates are people to be respected and served. Your candidates are potential employees, referral sources, customers, or donors. The minute you allow petty story telling about the people you serve, you have stopped serving them and started down a slippery slope of condescension and arrogance. I once worked in a staffing firm that had a policy of firing…

  • What’s Worth Reading

    Bob Corlett
    2 Jan 2012 | 7:48 am
    Clients always ask me for articles about their specific challenges, and in the past I would hunt through my old Twitter posts to find the best articles I’ve read and shared. But that was like throwing all my clothes on the floor of my room today, hoping to be able to find a clean shirt to wear next Thursday. So over the past few months, I’ve “cleaned my room” to categorize the most useful and timeless articles I’ve read, where we can both read them any time. Here are links to the topics: Recruiting Advice for the Small to Mid-Size Organization Interviewing and…

  • What High Performing Organizations Do Differently

    Bob Corlett
    19 Dec 2011 | 8:32 am
    Imagine a problem has just occurred that will cause your company to lose $15,000 per month in revenue, and might soon cause a string of similar problems. Which solution to the problem would you choose? Solution A) This solution has no upfront costs, but it diverts your internal resources away from their current work, takes 4 months to implement (costing $60,000 in revenue) and is projected to lose an additional $24,000 during year one, with the likelihood of continuing losses of $36,000 per year thereafter. This solution has a 50% chance of failing completely and if it does fail, it might…
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    XpertHR - Employment Intelligence

  • Is the national minimum wage 'a machine to destroy jobs'?

    Michael Carty
    27 Jan 2012 | 2:40 am
    Given the current backdrop of ongoing economic uncertainty, subdued pay awards, rising unemployment and falling inflation, news of the annual increase to the national minimum wage for 2012/2013 (due to come into effect on Monday 1 October 2012) will be particularly closely watched. Prudential Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam has reignited the national minimum wage debate, arguing that "the minimum wage is a machine to destroy jobs" (at the World Economic Forum in Davos, yesterday).The Low Pay Commission (LPC) is scheduled to deliver its 2012 report - which will set out its recommendations for…

  • Just how much is your job costing you per year?

    Michael Carty
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:00 am
    One to ponder for a Friday: What does the simple act of turning up to your day job, and keeping yourself fully fed and watered cost you per year? Or, alternatively, how much is your job likely to cost you over the course of your life?This is the subject of a fascinating infographic created by Guardian Jobs, and shared by a number of bloggers over recent weeks, including Louise Triance's UK Recruiter Blog.The infographic (with data drawn from a range of sources), includes the following sobering revelations:You are likely to spend (on average) eight years, seven months, 17 days and two hours…

  • Benchmarking stress management (2): Actions taken on work-related stress

    Michael Carty
    26 Jan 2012 | 1:00 am
    Just over half of employers are taking action to deal with workplace stress, new XpertHR Benchmarking research reveals.Employers who are acting to tackle stress levels are most likely to pursue "a preventative, positive approach" to stress management.The survey reveals the following on actions taken by UK employers to combat stress:The most common measure taken to combat workplace stress is offering flexible working options. This is followed by initiatives to manage stress-related absences. Public sector employers are significantly more likely to take such measures on stress.One in four…

  • UK economy back in negative territory, as GDP contracts by 0.2% in Q4 2011

    Michael Carty
    25 Jan 2012 | 3:30 am
    The UK economy has slumped back into negative territory.The economy shrank by 0.2% in the fourth quarter of 2011. This is according to latest estimates of growth in gross domestic product (GDP) published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) today (Wednesday 25 January 2012).Osborne: Negative GDP growth is 'disappointing but not totally unexpected'The BBC reports, that Chancellor George Osborne has described today's figures as "disappointing but not totally unexpected."Osborne said:[The GDP figures for Q4 2011] are not entirely unexpected because of what's happening in the world and…

  • Benchmarking stress management (1): Employers forced to scale back stress management efforts

    Michael Carty
    25 Jan 2012 | 1:30 am
    The economic climate is forcing some employers to scale back their efforts to tackle workplace stress, XpertHR Benchmarking research finds.One in five employers has been forced to reduce their efforts to tackle workplace stress in order to save time and money, as a direct consequence of tough economic times.This figure more than doubles to over two-fifths of organisations in the public sector.These are among the key findings of the latest XpertHR Benchmarking survey on stress management. The survey is based on responses from 205 organisations with a combined workforce of 509,976 employees.
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    Mumblr

  • Change & Communications Study Report: Implications For Asia Pacific

    Abhishek
    13 Jan 2012 | 8:44 pm
    Towers Watson (my employer) recently released a report on The 2011/12 Change & Communication ROI Study report. It has great insights about what could organizations do to build Clarity, Confidence and Community in their organizations through effective communications and change management. While I leave you to enjoy the full report, I found some of the charts interesting as they showed geographical breakdowns including Asia-Pacific level data. In terms of ensuring that employees are business literate and have a good view of organizational performance, there seems to be little variation…

  • After Your Employee Survey…Bias For Action

    Abhishek
    22 Nov 2011 | 10:12 pm
    I work with several companies on rolling-out the results of their employee surveys. I do executive presentations, employee town-halls, enterprise-level action planning, frontline action planning, KPI setting – the whole works! In my experience, the companies who come out successful from such initiatives are the ones with a strong “bias for action”. They have a sense of urgency for getting things done, for making the workplace better, for taking the organization forward. Often companies, leaders and HR professionals fall into the “excessive deliberation” trap.

  • Building A Sustainable Employee Engagement Strategy

    Abhishek
    22 Oct 2011 | 4:31 am
    Here is a link to an article I published on Towers Watson’s website, titled “Building A Sustainable Engagement Strategy”. Through this article, I urge companies to take a hard look at their employee research constructs and make sure that the frameworks they are using are helping them focus on the right issues. We need to make sure that the Employee Engagement models we are using are evolving with the times. Filed under: Business, Employee Engagement, Human Resources, Management Tagged: Consulting, Employee Engagement, Employee Retention, HR, Human Resources, Ideas,…

  • Key Analytical Skills for HR Professionals

    Abhishek
    15 Oct 2011 | 8:31 am
    HR organisations in several companies seem to be getting better at collecting data from multiple sources – HRIS data, financial metrics, people metrics, performance metrics etc. However, still, top-notch data analysis remains under the domain of a few specialists. I just come across a few HR professionals who can readily grasp the technical details of a multiple regression or a utility analysis for measuring the impact of engagement on attrition. As HR functions vie to get that seat at the table and position themselves as true business partners, senior executives will be looking at HR…

  • Transformative HR: Book Review

    Abhishek
    23 Sep 2011 | 9:08 am
    As many of you know, I love to read! While I have an appetite for all kinds of books, news & blogs, I just love great content on HR. And often, that’s the hardest to come by. One of my favourite authors on HR is John Boudreau. I became an instant fan when I read and reviewed his book Retooling HR. I felt that the frameworks, approaches and tools he talked about can not only help HR professionals to up their game, but can also help in talking coherently, logically and meaningfully with the business. The application of usual business analysis tools such as portfolio management,…
 
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    Easy Small Business HR

  • 3 Strategies to Help Small Business Owners Address Tardiness

    Howard
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:38 pm
    The office culture in any given small business is one of a kind.  Part of the romanticism, in fact, of starting a small business, or working for one, is that the constricting rules that apply in the corporate world don’t necessarily apply in the small business.  Dress code is often thrown out the window, e-mail [...]Supervisors Toolkit: How To Supervise: What Your Boss Never Told You Before You Took The Job- A Step-by-Step Guide For New and Seasoned Managers. http://www.HowToBeASupervisor.com Your Toolkit Includes: 1. Three versions of the ebook, (Kindle/Nook/PDF) 2. Twelve months of…

  • Tardiness in the Workplace: Do’s and Don’ts for Supervisors

    Howard
    10 Jan 2012 | 8:46 pm
    $3 billion. That’s how much in productivity experts estimate American companies lose to tardiness in the workplace every year. In fact, a whopping 20% of workers admitted they were late at least once a week, according to a CareerBuilder.com survey. Chronic lateness bites into the bottom line, making tardiness solutions a priority for supervisors who [...]Supervisors Toolkit: How To Supervise: What Your Boss Never Told You Before You Took The Job- A Step-by-Step Guide For New and Seasoned Managers. http://www.HowToBeASupervisor.com Your Toolkit Includes: 1. Three versions of the ebook,…

  • HR 101: Interview Lingo: Words You Need to Know – Revisited

    Dianne
    5 Jan 2012 | 11:26 pm
    Ever wonder what the difference is between “terminating” an employee and “firing” an employee, or if there is any difference at all? Easy Small Business HR’s “HR Dictionary” takes the mystery out some of the human resources jargon by highlighting some of the definitions of words most often used by those in the position to hire and manage staff. Some basic terms used by HR professionals when interviewing candidates: Behavioral Interview – an interview technique that requires that the person being interviewed provide specific examples that support their responses.Supervisors…

  • ESBHR Podcast #29: Five Employee Management Strategies To Start Using ASAP

    Dianne
    4 Jan 2012 | 10:28 pm
    (6 mins, 59 secs) In this HR podcast episode, I discuss five strategies that you can incorporate into your management “toolkit” right now that will strengthen your employee management skills. The recommended resource referenced in this podcast: How to Supervise Toolkit. Get more tips on interviewing, hiring, managing and engaging your employees. Dianne Shaddock is [...]Supervisors Toolkit: How To Supervise: What Your Boss Never Told You Before You Took The Job- A Step-by-Step Guide For New and Seasoned Managers. http://www.HowToBeASupervisor.com Your Toolkit Includes: 1. Three…

  • Managing Workplace Stress – A Supervisor’s Go-To Guide

    Howard
    3 Jan 2012 | 7:39 pm
    American workers put in the longest hours of any industrialized country, according to the International Labor Organization. That’s probably no surprise to you as a manager, especially when you consider that downsizing and budget cuts often mean more work is shouldered by fewer team members. But that’s also made a priority. So how can supervisors [...]Supervisors Toolkit: How To Supervise: What Your Boss Never Told You Before You Took The Job- A Step-by-Step Guide For New and Seasoned Managers. http://www.HowToBeASupervisor.com Your Toolkit Includes: 1. Three versions of the ebook,…
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    alstin communications

  • When it Comes to the Candidate Experience, There’s No Easy Fixes.

    Tony Rosato
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:52 am
    If you really want to see a VP of HR get nervous, ask him or her about the candidate experience at their organization. Like profanity-laced tirades and red faces? Ask a job seeker what happened the last time they applied for a position through an ATS. Of course, there are some wonderful exceptions out there, and I am so proud that many of our clients have made the candidate experience a goal in 2012, but I think we all know that for the most part the CE is still pretty lousy. From my vantage point, it’s one of the biggest topics facing HR, and now that the job market is beginning to improve…

  • Bringing home the bacon, frying it up in a pan.

    Christy Parker
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:45 am
    I have not one memory of a high school guidance counselor or college advisor using the phrase “flexible schedule” when purporting to help me figure out — between the ages of 17 and 21 —  plans for the next 40 years of my life as a wage earner. They used phrases like, “salary range,” “benefits package,” “room to advance,” and “stability.” Though those were are all very historically important factors to mull over, the thing that I failed to take into consideration at the time was that the counselors and advisors I talked to were men. Sure, I wanted the same advice they…

  • The Benefits of Blogging

    Kate Gamble
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:57 am
    So you’re in the middle of your professional career and you want to sharpen your skills, or maybe, you’re a job seeker and you happen to find yourself with some free time. You’ve heard before that embracing social media, learning the ins and outs of popular sites such as LinkedIn, and blogging can help your career, but you’re still not convinced? The Get Busy Living Blog posted a piece on the “10 Reasons To Start a Blog Today.” From networking opportunities to brushing up on your writing proficiency, blogging offers many rewards that are sometimes overlooked. Here are just a few…

  • Stay Positive

    Migdalia Gonzalez
    24 Jan 2012 | 11:00 am
    So many things happen throughout the day. Emails get lost, servers go down, printers break, phones ring off the hook… sometimes we are left in a head-spin and it’s really tough to stay positive. I came across this video today (word on the street is that it has gone viral) about this awesome guy. He is blowing minds while playing his violin when a rude audience members ringtone destroys the classical mood with the common Nokia ringtone. Doe the violinist flip out? Curse at everywhere? Break his instrument and walks off stage? Let’s take a look. Well played. Well played. How…

  • Have You Ever Been in a Presentation Like This?

    Tony Rosato
    20 Jan 2012 | 8:10 am
    With the very notable exception of working with a great group of talented people, I think my favorite part about working at Alstin is the presentations we do. Perhaps I was denied attention as a child, or I’m just a ham, but I love getting in front of people and telling them about Alstin. As someone who’s always out and about, meeting people and learning about our industry, I also attend a lot of presentations. Most are great, but some… I think this video is funny because so much of it rings true. My personal favorite is the forgotten fourth bullet and the appearance of the smug IT guy.
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    PAK HR UPDATES | HR Jobs | HR Trainings | HR Internship | HR Resources

  • Advance HRM Certification (Evening Program in LHR)

    PAK HR UPDATES
    23 Jan 2012 | 5:08 am
    Highly Keen – The HR Institute is now Offering a 3 Months Advance Certification (Level - 2 Certification) Course “Certified Practitioner of Advance HRM (CPAHRM)”; Starting from 16th January, 2012. Optimize this opportunity to enhance your Practical Knowledge and Exposure of advance concepts in HR Field and give a boost to your career.Course Modules:Module - 1: Introduction to Advance HRMModule - 2: Employar BrandingModule - 3: Electronic HRM (e-HR)Module - 4: Knowledge ManagementModule - 5: Calculating ROI of HR InitiativesModule - 6: Business Awareness for HR PractitionersModule - 7:…

  • Training Need Analysis by Dr. Hanif Mohammad

    PAK HR UPDATES
    23 Jan 2012 | 5:01 am
    PSTD is pleased to announce its next program to conduct Training Need Analysis. This is an integrated program exclusively being offered for HR Practitioners that will help them to determine the training needs within their organization and equip them to meet crucial training challenges. This program is scheduled for February 8-9, 2012. For registrations and details please contact 021-35855985 and 35854462 or you can write to hina.ashdar@pstd.com.pkRead more »

  • MANAGER TODAY FORUM: Spirituality at Workplace

    PAK HR UPDATES
    23 Jan 2012 | 4:48 am
    MANAGER TODAY FORUM: Spirituality at…

  • Lahore HR Forum 97th Session Friday January 13 , 2012

    PAK HR UPDATES
    12 Jan 2012 | 9:35 am
    Date: Friday 13 January 2012Time: 18:30 to 20:00 Venue:University of Central Punjab - UCP HAll Near Shaukat Khanum Hospital, Lahore OPSCOM Team, on behalf of LHR Forum, is pleased to invite you on 97th Session “Panel Discussion” of Lahore HR Forum as per following schedule:Topic: Human Resources-Challenges & Opportunities, Way forward- Bureaucracy OR EmpowermentPanelists:1. Mr. Bakthiar Khawaja2. Brig. (R) Taimur Afzal Khan 3. Haroon Waheed4. Kehkashan Awan5. Dr. Samina Qurat ul AinParticipation fee for Non-Members is Rs. 500/- per participantRead more »

  • Superior University “Job Fair 2012" on January 18

    PAK HR UPDATES
    12 Jan 2012 | 4:54 am
    Superior University is holding “Job Fair 2012 & Consultancy for Future” for the students and fresh graduates on January 18, 2012 and PAK HR UPDATES will do the video coverage of the event and publish it. Job Fair 2012 of Superior University would be held at the Raiwind Campus of the University. The Job Fair timing is 8am to 5pm. Job Fair is a, open session and everyone can come to get consultancy and guidance about their future and also submit their CV’s to the top organizations of Pakistan. In the Job Fair experts would take part in the discussions on different topics. Read more »
 
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    Compensation Today

  • Canadian Cities Battle for Winning Wages

    PayScale.com
    25 Jan 2012 | 7:04 pm
    From Vancouver to Montreal: PayScale Covers Canadian Cities’ Wage Trends By Bridget Quigg, PayScale.com The next time a Vancouver Canuck fan takes a jab at a Montreal Hab supporter, the Hab can come back with, “Well, our pay is growing faster than yours!” Is it? Yes, according to PayScale.com. The PayScale Index now includes trends for six Canadian metros and if you look at the ranking, Montreal is ahead of Vancouver by 0.4 percent in the last 12 months. Can you guess which town is number one? Positive Reults for Canadian Wages The PayScale Index shows wage trends for full-time, private…

  • Salaried Employees Work Hours: Laws from FLSA

    PayScale.com
    23 Jan 2012 | 5:40 pm
    Exempt Employees and Rules Requiring Specified Hours You probably are aware that exempt employees generally should be paid the same salary regardless of the number of hours they work or the quantity of work they produce. But, can you require them to work a certain schedule and track their hours? Q: Can we require salaried, exempt employees to work a specific schedule and to clock in and out for any purpose other than to track paid time off? We have several exempt managers who need to be at work during the same hours that the employees they supervise are here. But, we are concerned that if we…

  • Simplified Compensation Software - PayScale’s 2012 Winter Release

    PayScale.com
    18 Jan 2012 | 12:12 pm
    Your Life Is Now Officially Easier The product team here at PayScale just released its latest version of our compensation planning software, PayScale Insight. We want you to know about the improvements we've made because they were inspired by people like you, the hard working HR professionals and business owners out there who face the task of determining base salaries, raises, bonuses and countless other major compensation-related decisions every day.We hope you'll find that the newest Insight features make sense to you and provide the elusive "helping hand" you've been waiting for. Insight…

  • How to Determine New Employees' Annual Bonuses

    PayScale.com
    16 Jan 2012 | 5:22 pm
    When to Give an Annual Bonus to a New Employee Chances are, you have recently been tasked with the job of determining (or at least helping to determine) what your employees’ end-of-year bonuses should be. With your long-term employees, you've have had some historical practices, as well as a, hopefully, comprehensive performance review to rely on to help you. But what do you do with employees who haven’t been with the company for a full year, including those who may have joined very recently? While there are no hard and fast rules, here are some approaches for you to ponder. Luck of…

  • Salary Negotiation Tips for Employers

    PayScale.com
    13 Jan 2012 | 4:29 pm
    How to Respond to a Request for a Raise It’s that time of year again: the annual salary budget has been set, performance evaluations are done, and suddenly managers are hiding behind closed doors, anxiously dreading “the talk.” The annual compensation conversation doesn’t need to be a daunting, mysterious process, either for managers or the staff they supervise. Employees will ask for a raise. They will. In fact, it’s their job to ask for a raise. It’s also their responsibility to come to the conversation prepared with a clear and well-thought-out rationale for why they believe…
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    In Full Bloom

  • Reflections On A Long Career — Part I — Life-long Learning

    Naomi Bloom
    21 Jan 2012 | 10:11 am
    "If I could turn back time" I’m a year older than Cher, and we would both “turn back time” if we could.  Who wouldn’t?  We also share having had a very long career — if nothing else — and mine is still in high gear.   But it’s about what it takes to develop and sustain a long career that I’m writing here.  Mostly, for Cher and for me, it takes staying in shape (mentally and physically), staying au courant, and working your ass off. Lifelong learning and personal growth are at the heart of any long career.  But for a marathon…

  • An Open Letter To HR Executives

    Naomi Bloom
    13 Jan 2012 | 5:00 am
    There But For The Grace Of G-d Go Any One Of Us Dear Sir/Madam, We may not have met, but I’ve got your back.  I’m on your side when it comes to using effective HRM practices and business rules to drive improved business outcomes in your organization.  I know how hard it is to draw those lines of sight from needed business outcomes, like faster time to market, lower costs of higher quality customer service, greater insight into customer profitability by market segments, and greater organizational capability to support global growth, to the specifics of what HR does to improve…

  • Ruminations On Being Overweight And Smoking

    Naomi Bloom
    10 Jan 2012 | 8:49 am
    This post was inspired by a discussion thread among the Enterprise Irregulars about the challenges of quitting smoking and maintaining a healthy weight, one of which I’ve overcome and the other of which will always be a work in progress.  It really does take a  village, and I’m grateful to mine, to deal with life’s challenges. Climbing Mayan Pyramids Sept 1983 I started smoking in 1960 when it was absolutely the norm in my family/social circles/etc.  When I came home from school or work on one of my Mom’s mahjong party days (yup, that’s what Moms did before…

  • So You Think You’re An HRM Business Analyst/Product Strategist?

    Naomi Bloom
    6 Jan 2012 | 5:00 am
    A Business Analyst’s Work Is Never Done Originally published, 2/4/2011, I’ve updated this post on 1/5/2012 to emphasize the tremendous, really critical importance of understanding and making effective use of data analysis to drive improved decision-making.  So that you can spot the updates, I’vedone them in italics. As many of you know, I’ve worked extensively with HRM product strategy/product management leaders as they envision and then specify the capabilities of their HRM software products and related outsourcing services.  But as our industry has moved from…

  • There’s True SaaS, And Then There’s SaaS InFullBloom

    Naomi Bloom
    3 Jan 2012 | 5:00 am
      Monet -- Field of Flowers and Windmills near Leiden In my last post, I provided a minimum definition of true SaaS and described the potential benefits for both vendors and customers who adhere to this now well-established concept in enterprise software.  But the potential benefits are only realized as vendors move from delivering the basics of true SaaS to what I call SaaS InFullBloom, so perhaps I should trademark that phrase.  Unlike the minimalist definition of true SaaS, knowing what else goes into achieving SaaS InFullBloom depends on the nature of the applications, the target…
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    The Business of Talent - Josh Bersin

  • Getting Bullish on SAP in the HR Marketplace

    27 Jan 2012 | 10:16 am
    SAP, the world's largest application software company, just announced the best revenue and earnings growth the company has made in many years. The company's quarterly revenues grew by 12% to over $3.4 billion Euros and profits rose by 23% to $1.6 billion. And now that the company has announced its plans to acquire SuccessFactors for $3.4 billion, the company has become a very serious player in the HR software marketplace. SAP's Legacy in HR SAP has quite a legacy of experience in the HR market. Going back to the early 1990's when SAP R/3 was first announced (the company's…

  • The Business Case for Talent Management: Steve Ballmer Agrees

    22 Jan 2012 | 12:40 am
    Talent management makes money. If you are trying to build a business case for a corporate talent management program, here is some astounding data: Of the 700+ organizations we studied in 2010 and 2011, only 7% told us that they have a "strategic talent management" program. We defined talent management in four levels of maturity: * Silo'd (all HR practices operate seperately, with little standardization) * Standardized (HR practices standardizes, but not highly integrated with each other) * Integrated (A talent management leader in place, but integration still in process) *…

  • Yikes. Training spending up 9.5%, highest increase in 3+ years! A renaissance.

    17 Jan 2012 | 6:26 am
    Wow.  After more than three years of decline in spending, corporate training budgets just jumped up 9.5% last year.  (Just released, 2012 Bersin & Associates Corporate Learning Factbook®).  Good news for corporate HR teams and business leaders in general. This is a huge increase, bringing the average spending per employee to over $800, or $1021 in the High-Impact Learning organizations.  In addition, spending on "informal learning" or social learning doubled this year over last, further reinforcing our thesis that corporate L&D is undergoing a true…

  • We are Greater than Me: Building an Agile Organization

    11 Jan 2012 | 5:28 pm
    Late last year I attended two major talent and leadership conferences in Stockholm. At these events I had the opportunity to meet with various HR leaders at Electrolux, Ericsson, Logica, BT, Maersk, Grundfos, Unicredit, Bertelsman, and others. What I learned is something important that we are building into a broad research framework we will launch at our IMPACT 2012 research conference this year.   Let me present a preview here. Building an Agile Organization Over time, if you look at all the businesses that thrive and compare them against those that fail, you find one thing in…

  • New Jobs Report Looks Good - Are we Out of the Woods Yet?

    6 Jan 2012 | 8:05 pm
    Bullish news for the US economy:  this week the ADP employment report and the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report shows that the economy added 200,000 jobs in December and the US unemployment rate dropped to 8.5% (down .6% since August). Many of these jobs are in non-cyclical businesses (healthcare, food service, and manufacturing), which shows that companies are starting to invest for growth. It's clear to me (and our research confirms this) that businesses are now investing again. In our most recent research to senior HR executives around the world, 35% of…
 
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    Glennlist

  • Tips on How to Recruit IT College Students

    Michael Glenn
    19 Jan 2012 | 10:35 am
    Wake up Corporate America! IT college students don’t give a rat’s patootie about your company unless you’re Google, Facebook, Microsoft or Oracle. So stop sending your wind-tunnel-tested-hairdo-fast-talking-gum-chewing agency recruiters…OR the overweight 30ish working-mom-corporate-recruiter-I-need-a-microwave-to-nuke-my-leftovers…OR  Wendel the dorky-recruiting-manager-acid-jeans-running-shoes-wearing-a-braided-belt to college campuses. Stop it. It ain’t working. You want to hire IT college grads, you send your recent college grad hires to do the job.

  • The Best Laptops for Recruiters

    Michael Glenn
    29 Dec 2011 | 11:16 am
    Here are some Laptops that I recommend for contract recruiters or independent recruiters. Dell XPS 15z - Solid laptop with an 2.7GHz i7 chip and 750GB hard drive. Also, will run a battery for over 5 hours and weighs about 5.6 pounds Acer Aspire TimelineX 583OTG - 2.3GHz i5-2410M. 640GB hard drive. The battery lasts for over 8 hours, but it weighs almost 7 lbs. Samsung Series 9 - is ultralight with an i5 processor, but you will need an external hard drive because it has a 128GB solid state hard drive Apple Macbook Air - Apple’s i5 core processor with slim body and ultralight makes this a…

  • New Web Browser for Recruiters and Sourcers to Try! Maxthon Web Browser

    Michael Glenn
    27 Dec 2011 | 10:49 am
    Here is another tool for the geeky recruiter, but this tool is actually a Web Browser. Maxthon is a fast browser that has not ONE but TWO built in search engines called Webkit and Trident. The one thing that most recruiters and sourcers #fail to realize that a web browser (not just add-ons) is a useful tool in the recruiting toolbox. I actually use FireFox to do most of my sourcing, Chrome to cloak my web searches, IE on Applicant Tracking Systems, and Safari when I want a Flash free web browsing experience. Now I have Maxthon to test out. It has an ad-blocker, a screenshot taker (really…

  • What Monster.com Needs to Change Now to Survive Tomorrow

    Michael Glenn
    19 Dec 2011 | 11:55 am
    Monster Worldwide has a lot changes to make, but some speculate the company could possibly be bought out. All of the buyout rumors is around the stock price and being booted from the S&P 500. (MWW). This is not surprising since they haven’t really done the right changes to survive surges towards Facebook.com,  Linkedin.com and Indeed.com Truthfully, Monster.com has become a great place for “get rich” scams and preying on the desperate unemployed folks. Monster can really right the ship though. It needs to do something quickly. Relying heavily on Recruiting budgets, job…

  • Facebook Timeline Improvements

    Michael Glenn
    16 Dec 2011 | 8:52 am
    I am not a fan of Facebook Timeline. I got a chance to tinker with the Timeline preview today and realized that my Apps, and my Fan Page is gone. Timeline makes it extremely difficult to showcase your Fan Page and Apps. If Fan Pages are invisible or removed from the new Facebook update (Timeline), a lot of people will stop using Facebook on a regular basis. Some people have tied a lot of their social media budgets into Fan Pages. Right now, my Facebook Fan Page does not show up in my Timeline nor do the posts. The Facebook Apps is another one. I recently began using BranchOut. This App has…
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    The Workforce Institute

  • Right Person, Right Place, Right Time

    Joyce Maroney
    5 Jan 2012 | 2:59 pm
    I’ve had several outstanding customer experiences in the last two weeks that point to the importance of empowered and engaged employees on the front lines of an organization.   I don’t know how these organizations hire or train their people, but I know that the results are working (at least for me).  Following is the story [...]

  • Peace on Earth and Good Will to Workers

    Joyce Maroney
    22 Dec 2011 | 12:57 pm
    We hosted an interesting tweet chat this week with an illustrious group of HR experts  regarding their reflections on 2011 and predictions for 2012.  We talked about a variety of issues that have been hot topics in 2011 and that will undoubtedly continue to be important in 2012:  employee engagement, closing the skills gap between [...]

  • Would you (still) marry me?

    Joyce Maroney
    30 Nov 2011 | 3:10 pm
    Today is my 26th wedding anniversary.  At 6:30 this morning, my husband called me from the road to ask me to marry him.  He’s done this every year since 1985, the year I clinched the best deal of my life.  And every year I say yes. This got me to musing about the fundamentals of human [...]

  • The ‘Learn and Earn’ Baker’s Dozen

    Joyce Maroney
    4 Nov 2011 | 12:57 pm
    Within the next few weeks, our new book Elements of Successful Organizations will be available for order on Amazon. This anthology follows the book we published last year, Creating the Workforce – and Results – You Seek. In this sequel, we continue the conversation. I’ll fill you in more about the contents of the book [...]

  • The Pleasures of the Commute

    Joyce Maroney
    20 Oct 2011 | 9:53 am
    Recently, I had a podcast discussion with our board members John Hollon and Sue Meisinger about the benefits of working from home for both the employer and the employee.  As the cartoon here illustrates, telework is not an option for all jobs. I was thinking about that while driving to work this morning.  I have a [...]
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    Omega HR Solutions

  • Recordkeeping Under the FLSA: A Revisit

    Michael Haberman
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:15 am
    Here is a revisit to a post written last year. I keep running into a lack of understanding of what the FLSA requires. I am currently writing 30 Days to More Effective HR and the first part deals with the FLSA. (30 Days will be released by subscription in the near future.) So here is the post from last year called Recordkeeping Under the FLSA. As an HR consultant that specializes in working with smaller businesses I frequently get asked what records have to be kept and how long do they need to be kept. Well that is not an easy answer. Various statutes have different requirements. So in this…

  • A Miracle Drink for HR

    Michael Haberman
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:15 am
    In the January 24th issue of the Wall Street Journal there was an interesting article entitled An Energy Shot for the Brain. (Sorry no link, I actually read the paper version.) Since it caught my eye I read it and thought “Hmmm I know a lot of HR people that could use an energy shot for the brain.” (Of course I also know some HR people that could use a shot to the brain… but that is a different story.) The story is about a purported brain enhancer called citicoline that is showing up in beverages and dietary supplements. My reaction was yippee a miracle drink for HR!Before…

  • FMLA Leave Expanded by Federal Court Decision

    Michael Haberman
    25 Jan 2012 | 7:15 am
    The definition of when an employee is protected by FMLA was recently expanded by a decision of the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. According to attorneys Jeff Nowak and Eric B. Meyer the decision on Pereda v. Brookdale Senior Living Communities, Inc. altered how a request for FMLA leave must be considered. According to Eric “…in 2005, a Pennsylvania federal court recognized ….that an employee’s FMLA rights become sacrosanct upon requesting FMLA — even if the employee is not yet FMLA-eligible — provided that the employee has satisfied all FMLA service…

  • Death of the HR Generalist: A Reponse

    Michael Haberman
    24 Jan 2012 | 7:15 am
    On January 9th my friend and fellow consultant, Cathy Missildine, wrote a blog post entitled Is the HR Generalist Dead?  Her post was based upon a discussion that I participated in along with another two consultants. The basis of the discussion was a general a comment made about the state of business for consultants. One member of the group made the observation that many consultants who provided “generalist” services were not doing as well as “specialist” consultants.  One example was a compensation specialist whose business was doing quite well, while we knew…

  • “What Should I Do With My Life Now?”: A Revisit to a Favorite Post

    Michael Haberman
    23 Jan 2012 | 7:15 am
    I originally published this post on April 2, 2009. I really like it and was reminded of it the other day. So I am republishing it so today’s readers can see it.Author Po Bronson (see his bio here) has an article in the  April 2009 issue of Fast Company magazine that is the same as the title of this blog post. In this article he discusses one aspect of the the question “What do I do with my life now?” His original premise,form six years ago, was that people and companies were better off if people were doing something they really cared about. And if they did “They would…
 
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    Pearson's Critical Thinking Blog

  • Wishful Thinking vs. Cynical Thinking: Which is Better?

    Breanne Harris
    27 Jan 2012 | 2:25 pm
    Let’s first start by defining Wishful vs. Cynical Thinking. Wishful Thinking (according to Wikipedia) is the formation of beliefs and making decisions according to what might be pleasing to imagine instead of by appealing to evidence, rationality or reality. Cynical Thinking (which is NOT the same thing as Critical Thinking) is thinking that is predisposed to doubt and lack of trust.  Cynical Thinkers have a pessimstic view when problem solving and decision making. The idea of Wishful vs. Cynical Thinking came to mind for me this week when a friend told me he thinks he has a coin…

  • New Study Finds Link Between Critical Thinking and Unemployment

    Breanne Harris
    26 Jan 2012 | 10:55 am
    In January of 2011 we told you about the new book “Academically Adrift” which followed 2,322 students during their 4 years in college and found that these students are not improving their critical thinking skills. In fact, in the first 2 years, 45% of students showed no improvement in critical thinking skills, and after 4 years 36% still showed no improvement. This week, a follow-up report was released that showed the long term effects of this critical thinking crisis.  The study (“Documenting Uncertain Times: Post-graduate Transition of the Academically Adrift Cohort”)…

  • Critical Thinking Interview Questions

    Breanne Harris
    25 Jan 2012 | 2:12 pm
    Krishnan Anantharaman from the Wall Street Journal wrote an interesting article about the new trend of asking questions designed to elicit critical thinking abilities in candidates.  Initially, I was pleased to hear that recruiters are trying to measure critical thinking ability given the fact that only 28% of college graduates are rated as having excellent critical thinking skills yet it’s the #1 workplace skill. However, the types of questions being used by interviewers really caught my eye.  Here are a few examples from the article: “What did you play with as a child?” “If you…

  • Top Jobs for Critical Thinking

    chadfife
    24 Jan 2012 | 1:03 pm
    Not every job requires you to be a great critical thinker, but most do! Of course doctors and judges need above-average critical thinking and problem solving skills, but did you know critical thinking is just as important for archeologists and school counselors? Athletic trainers, sales managers, and real estate appraisers also need to know how to evaluate both sides of an issue, draw logical conclusions, and make good decisions. We created this fun critical thinking infographic to illustrate the top jobs requiring critical thinking skills. Students, job seekers, and career changers……

  • Just Teach Me To Think, Please!

    chadfife
    23 Jan 2012 | 10:16 am
    One complaint I have about my MBA program is that it felt like a bunch of disconnected courses and assignments that  didn’t gel together (at times). I wanted more help “seeing the big picture” that drives success. For example, how companies choose an HR strategy to win talent in their specific industry and why. Or which marketing techniques are best at promoting a new product vs an existing product. In essence, I wanted help thinking about my options, not necessarily learning each one. In the book Rethinking the MBA: Business Education at a Crossroads, the authors offer eight unmet…
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    BlogNotions - HR

  • Managing Bosses, Be They Remarkable, Toxic or Perilous

    sbruce
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:01 pm
    Job satisfaction begins and ends with the boss, says executive coach Dr. Karol Wasylyshyn, author of Behind the Executive Door: Unexpected Lessons for Managing Your Boss and Your Career. To make the boss/you relationship work, first determine whether you have a Remarkable, Toxic or Perilous boss. Wasylyshyn. a licensed psychologist and executive advisor, is founder of the Leadership Development Forum, which provides practical guidance for improving your work experience. I Have a Remarkable Boss Remarkable bosses are well-attuned to the concerns and aspirations of others, blend both facts and…

  • Outlook for 2012—The Wage/Hour Hot Spots

    sbruce
    12 Jan 2012 | 9:27 am
    What’s in store as we begin 2012? Robust agencies with more aggressive tactics, says attorney Charles Plumb, but you can prepare yourself to fend off the worst of it. Plumb, a partner with McAfee and Taft in Tulsa, Oklahoma, made his remarks at BLR’s Advanced Employment Issues Symposium in Las Vegas. He was joined by panelists Dinita James, partner with Ford & Harrison in Phoeniz, Arizona and Stacie Caraway, of counsel with Miller & Martin in Chattanooga, Tennessee, in a wide-ranging discussion of the challenges of 2012. Wage and Hour Litigation Look for DOL’s Wage and Hour…

  • Obliterate Your Performance Appraisals in 2012

    tseamon
    8 Jan 2012 | 1:45 pm
    In seeking some synonyms for the words destroy, kill, and annihilate, the one I liked best for this post is obliterate. Obliterate: to destroy utterly; wipe out; to remove from existence, without leaving a trace. For a moment, think about that definition in connection with your annual performance reviews. Go ahead: obliterate them. It just feels so good, doesn’t it? What got me started on this rant? Derek Irvine’s excellent post on Recognize This where he suggests the same thing. But he asks a key question: ~ If you did “do away with” your performance reviews, what…

  • 15 Ideas in 15 Minutes—Attract, Engage, Retain

    sbruce
    14 Dec 2011 | 10:53 am
    A much-appreciated session at BLR’s recent Advanced Employment Issues Symposium was a panel presentation during which panelists offered quick, real-world-tested ideas for attracting, engaging and retaining employees. The original talk was called “30 Ideas in 30 Minutes,” but we’ve culled the best fifteen ideas for our readers. The panelists were: Andrew Botwin, head of Human Resources for accounting firm Rothstein Kass Kathy Brooks, VP of Employee Experience, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Michael Burchell, Vice President, Global Business Development, The Great Place to Work Institute…

  • Ben Franklin’s Two-Bird Economic Theory

    derwin
    9 Dec 2011 | 3:10 pm
    If you’re like me, a lover of roast turkey at Thanksgiving and the holidays, this is a good time to reflect on the turkey’s proud heritage. You might be surprised to know that one of our founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, gave a lot of thought to that bird and its future role in America. He believed that the turkey, not the bald eagle, should be the national bird. He also thought that we should plaster pictures of the turkey on our coin and bills, giving the turkey place of honor. In a recent New Yorker article by Adam Gopnik, the writer reveals some highly fascinating ideas about…
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    PinPoint Performance Solutions

  • Gilbert’s Behavior Engineering Model Series – Environment: Information

    Justin Beller
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:00 am
    Image by heathbrandon via Flickr Continuing with our series investigating the Behavior Engineering Model by Thomas Gilbert, we move now to what I feel is probably one of the greatest barriers to performance in any organization – information. If you were to survey workers in organizations around the world, most will tell you that information (or lack there of) is the reason for many performance problems in the workplace. It’s almost a universal issue. Gilbert categorized information as part of the environment – the workplace – in his model. Here, information consists…

  • Books for Performance Improvement Specialists

    Justin Beller
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:05 am
    Image via Wikipedia My previous post explored some of my favorite books for instructional designers that currently have a place in my library. Now, I turn to books performance improvement specialists should have in their collection. There is a big difference between instructional designers and performance improvement specialists. While some professionals in the workforce development field may play both roles in their organization, instructional designers primarily focus on developing instructional interventions (training) to improve knowledge, skills, or abilities in their target audience.

  • Books for Instructional Designers

    Justin Beller
    23 Jan 2012 | 7:00 am
    Image via Wikipedia Anybody who designs and develops training should have a library of books and reference materials at their disposal. Creating a personal library of reference books allows you to have an instant resource to go back to when you need to re-learn or remind you of a training concept or model. It also is serves as a repository of new ideas that you can develop based on proven techniques published in these books. Over the years I have created my own personal reference library. Here are the books that I think all instructional designers or training developers should include their…

  • Gilbert’s Behavior Engineering Model Series – Environment or Individual

    Justin Beller
    20 Jan 2012 | 11:00 am
    We now take a closer look at the Gilbert Behavior Engineering Model by dividing it into two crucial areas – the environment and the individual. When addressing performance problems in the workplace it is important to determine if the issue is in one of the two categories. This helps you drive toward specific interventions that will address the root cause of the performance problem. Let’s look at the categories… Environment The environment in the Behavior Engineering Model refers to the workplace as a whole – the actual setting where work takes place. In that setting,…

  • On The Job Training Methods in the Workplace

    Justin Beller
    18 Jan 2012 | 11:00 am
    Image via Wikipedia In our last post from a guest author, the topic of training location was discussed. Some businesses are fortunate to have rooms or spaces on site dedicated to training. However, In my career as a performance improvement specialist and trainer, I found one of the greatest challenges to be the actual setting where training is to take place. Depending on the type of job and the subject matter being taught, it was often difficult to have the right environment to train people in. Some businesses simply do not have space dedicated to training. The best example I can give you was…
 
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    The Employment Opportunities List

  • From the Roots of EO – HR Networking in Durham

    Melissa Smith
    26 Jan 2012 | 8:43 pm
    Last winter I found myself deep into a job search and had some specific ideas in mind when I thought about what the perfect opportunity looked like. My list of ideas consisted of important things such as; challenge, opportunity for advancement, as well as finding a job close to home. I live in Durham and had only lived here for a short time when I started my job search and quickly came to the realization that I did not have very many local contacts. I had been a subscriber of the EO list for a few years by now and one day found on there that there would be an HR networking meeting held in…

  • LinkedOut

    Bonni Titgemeyer
    19 Jan 2012 | 7:00 am
    I was in a meeting recently, and a fellow HR Professional who is in a talent management role told me she was “LinkedOut”.  At first, the fact that she used the expression made me laugh.  Then, I have to admit, I started to feel a bit sad.  Thoughts started going through my head like: Is LinkedIn my distraction, sort of like how Angry Birds is for others? Is LinkedIn worth it for me? Is the LinkedIn fad over? I asked her what she meant by being “LinkedOut”.  She indicated that she wanted nothing to do with the burden of helping people she did not know with finding employment at her…

  • Breaking the Cycle

    Bonni Titgemeyer
    12 Jan 2012 | 8:45 pm
    Upfront, I have to admit a bias here.  Like many of the respondents to our EO List survey in November, I am an internationally-educated professional (aka an “IEP”).  For this reason, I am sympathetic to the challenges faced by other IEPs in HR in the Canadian market. The other evening I began teaching at my first evening course of the semester.  Every class has something unique about it, and this year I am struck by the number of IEPs taking my course.  During the “get to know each other” part of the first night, we learned that it was almost 60% of the group. Most of them…

  • Look For A Public Service HR Job

    Sam Peters
    5 Jan 2012 | 5:30 am
    When most people think of human resources jobs, employment in a large corporation is probably the first opportunity that comes to mind. Large businesses often have dedicated HR departments, attractive salaries and benefits, and are usually the ones that you can find represented at a job fair or forum. But this private sector work, while representative of many HR jobs out there, certainly does not cover the full spectrum of possibilities. In the public sector, HR jobs are available through academic institutions, non-government organizations, and federal agencies. Many of these employers are…

  • Twitter, HR and the Land of IRL

    Alyssa Burkus
    21 Dec 2011 | 10:52 pm
    What’s “IRL”?  It’s Twitter lingo for “in real life”, and it matters in Twitter and in HR. I started using Twitter about nine months ago, so I still feel like a Twitter newbie, but I have learned that it can be a powerful communication tool.  Far from a medium for mindless chatter (as some still believe), it is a combination of real-time information, connections and opportunities.  Sure, you can use Twitter to keep up with the Kardashians, but I try to keep my connections mostly work-related, and I focus my tweets on my interests in HR strategy, leadership and coaching, with…
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    Human Resources by

  • PART III-Twelve Lessons I Learned (or Re-Learned) This Year by Sheri Mazurek

    Sheri Mazurek
    22 Jan 2012 | 10:12 am
    HR is full of different roles and responsibilities and there are a ton of buzzwords that we love to throw around in organizations. We also love to use creative titles for people in HR. Companies do this for a variety of reasons, but mostly is a marketing campaign. We need some good marketing in HR, but we also need to realize the best marketing is providing a service that people want and need. Results happen and a key to HR success is tying all that activity we do to business impact. Below are some of lessons I was reminded of this year tied to the importance of HR and what we do. There a few…

  • Part II Twelve Lessons I Learned (or Re-Learned) This Year by Sheri Mazurek

    Sheri Mazurek
    8 Jan 2012 | 5:59 pm
    This is installment two of a blog series about lessons I learned this year. Most of the lessons were just reminders of things that I learned awhile ago, but 2011 served as a as a year to be reminded of them. Below is a list of three more lessons all dealing with change. Lesson Five The secret to weight loss is still the same and so is the secret to organizational change. The secret to weight loss (baring medical conditions) is easy. If you want to lose weight, you need to eat less and exercise more. Feeling healthier can also be a result of eating a nutritious diet filled with lots of…

  • Twelve Lessons I Learned (or Re-Learned) This Year Part I by Sheri Mazurek

    Sheri Mazurek
    22 Dec 2011 | 11:24 am
    As the year comes to a close and I begin to reflect on the previous twelve months, I realize as adults we are always learning and re-learning important lessons. Many of the lessons I learned this year were simply reminders of lessons learned years ago.  Below is the beginning of my list and will serve as part one for the Twelve Lessons I Learned (or Re-Learned) This Year blog series. These lessons are universal in many areas of life. Lesson One It’s not about me. This is an important lesson that crosses many areas of my life.  As a parent,  teacher and HR professional in the trenches…

  • You Have to Know When to FREAK OUT by Sheri Mazurek

    Sheri Mazurek
    11 Dec 2011 | 4:07 pm
    Years ago, I worked in the retail industry as a multi-unit manager. During that time, I worked with a Director of Loss Prevention that would spend  hours educating supervisors and managers on preventing store loss. Some of the most important things I learned during this tenure were things I learned from him.  Some of them were the common Loss Prevention Messages: Only a very small percentage of shrink is external (less than 10%) The majority of shrink is caused by paper or operational fails Everyone is a suspect Complete your audits in an irregular pattern However, the most important…

  • IS HR Selling Santa Claus? by Sheri Mazurek

    Sheri Mazurek
    4 Dec 2011 | 10:35 am
    During this holiday season, one can see images of Santa Claus everywhere. In fact, there is most likely a version of this jolly character in every room of my house. With all the decorating, the kids are starting to connect the dots and ask questions about whether or not there is a Santa Claus. The questions are logical and at this point still innocent and non accusatory. They still believe (I think), but they are starting to really analyze how this is all possible. Many of the answers I have provided at this point have been related to “the magic of Santa”; so now, the kids are…
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    TemboSocial

  • Hey! Engagement Matters.

    David Bator
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:56 am
    We all know that engagement matters. When individual employees are engaged in the workplace, everyone benefits. By encouraging feedback, collecting peer-generated success stories, sharing them across corporate and departmental boundaries, you cultivate your greatest competitive advantage – social capital – to earn discretionary effort, attract talent and win loyalty. Join us today for HR.com’s Virtual Conference on Rewards & Recognition where we’ll share 9 tactics for engaging your employees online this year.

  • What analytics should an enterprise use for a social intranet?

    David Bator
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:36 am
    It’s a question I hear asked a lot and one that has surfaced again in anticipation of our February 8 Real Engagement Event with Intranet guru Toby Ward. According to Toby’s study, The Social Intranet, while 61% of organizations have introduced at least one social tool on their intranet most executives are less than satisfied with their functionality. So what in your opinion are the key metrics to ensure that your tools are performing as they should? I encourage you to join our conversation on February 8 @ 2PM EST. Come prepared with your questions for Toby Ward on transforming…

  • The Year of the Employee

    David Bator
    24 Jan 2012 | 10:19 am
    The numbers are staggering: 60% of employees are actively looking for work and 55% of are not engaged. Their lack of engagement not only costs you money (35%-50% of payroll) but there’s also a 52% gap in operating incomes between companies with highly engaged employees and companies whose employees have low-engagement scores. If you haven’t already made 2012 the Year of The Employee, you better. On Thursday, January 26 TemboSocial president and founder Steven Green will outline strategies for engaging employees online in 2012 as part of HR.com’s virtual conference on Rewards…

  • The Little Things

    Steven Green
    23 Jan 2012 | 7:59 am
    While systems to capture documents and other resources that benefit the company have been in place for years, milestones, events and the people tied to them that make your company a great place for employees and customers have consistently been lost to the corporate knowledge base. Why not leverage the power of social software and turn recognition into a business asset? By aggregating recognition into a browseable and searchable space you transform recognition into a business resource for finding the people within the company who have the required peer-validated skills when they are needed…

  • More Than Recognition

    David Bator
    18 Jan 2012 | 9:59 am
    I’ve talked at some length about the importance of recognition, specifically non-monetary recognition, when it comes to engaging and motivating your workforce. I feel as if we’ve just started to scratch the surface when it comes to using praise and recognition in effective ways. A new book by Mark Royal and Tom Agnew has me thinking about the other side of the recognition story. The Enemy of Engagement: Put an End to Workplace Frustration – and Get the Most from Your Employees looks at the obstacles that organizations put between employees and successful outcomes, often unconsciously.
 
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    The Human Race Horses

  • Another memo on social media from the NLRB

    Michael VanDervort
    25 Jan 2012 | 6:55 am
    National Labor Relations Board Attorney releases 2nd memo on social media issues Lafe Solomon, Acting General Counsel of the NLRB has issued a second Operations Management Memo covering social media issues coming before the National Labor Relations Board.    Here is the summary paragraph on why he released this memo.  Note the highlighted, which is my own – if you are still wondering this stuff matters in the workplace. You can get the full memo here. On August 18, 2011, I issued a report presenting case developments arising in the context of today’s social media. As I noted in…

  • One Definition of Social Media ROI

    Michael VanDervort
    23 Jan 2012 | 8:05 am
    Social Media ROI not always about the dollars I’ve been thinking about social media ROI for a while.  I still haven’t figured it out.  If you asked, I couldn’t give you a great recommendation on the best metrics to use to prove ROI for your business.   Every brand wants to make a buck or two from their social media efforts, but I don’t think that is where the real value resides. Our social media mission When we entered into social media at Publix, our CEO wanted two things: any social media efforts we offered must be an extension of our retail store experience,…

  • What to Expect from the New NLRB

    Michael VanDervort
    21 Jan 2012 | 1:13 pm
    From the guys over at Labor Relations Institute, some thoughts on what kind of activity we’ll see coming out of the National Labor Relations Board this year.  It’s worth a read. Related posts: It’s World War III at the NLRB – Tim Mak Via Scoop.it – Labor and employee Relations Business and labor... Video of ex-NLRB chair: “In all likelihood, these appointments are going to be found to have been invalid” Via Scoop.it – Labor and employee Relations Peter Schaumber, the... NLRB Member Hayes: Board Plans to Ignore its Rules to Push Through…

  • 100 Best Companies to Work For 2012: Full list – from FORTUNE

    Michael VanDervort
    19 Jan 2012 | 4:45 pm
    Via Scoop.it – HR FORTUNE Magazine’s annual ranking of America’s top 100 employers – Full list…Via money.cnn.com Related posts: Will Airline KLM Launch Social Seating In 2012? - Via Scoop.it – social musings Social Seating at Ticketmaster, now... Final call for speakers for Social Business Strategy Summit 2012 Via Scoop.it – social musings Would you like to contribute... How 3 Companies Built Twitter Strategies Via Scoop.it – social musings Southwest Airlines, Whole Foods and... Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

  • Hershey’s three pillars of Facebook engagement | Articles

    Michael VanDervort
    19 Jan 2012 | 4:16 pm
    Via Scoop.it – social musings Awareness, content, and agility are crucial to getting Facebook users to check out your brand or, in Hershey’s case, brands.Via www.ragan.com Related posts: 12 outrageous job losses due to mishandling social media | Articles Via Scoop.it – social musings From the Chrysler F-Bomb to... NLRB “Facebook” free speech case settled American Medical Response of Connecticut, Inc. case ends in settlement... Twitter Joins Facebook, Google, Launches ‘Brand Pages’ for Marketers | Digital – Advertising Age Via Scoop.it –…
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    HR Ringleader

  • SNL and Succession Planning

    Trish
    27 Jan 2012 | 5:30 am
    I recently heard about “succession readiness” vs. “succession planning.”  It’s an interesting twist on words to change it to a more active way of approaching your change management strategy around talent.  Instead of just planning, you are focusing on actually throwing employees into situations that make them ready for the next level. As an almost life-long Saturday Night Live fan, I’ve seen many comedians come and go.   I was watching SNL tonight recently and as the opening credits rolled, it struck me that they open by listing all the…

  • Mentoring: Value At All Ages. Who’s Yours?

    Trish
    25 Jan 2012 | 6:18 am
    I had a little “incident” at home.  I tried to open a jar and couldn’t do it.  Actually, it’s happened a few times recently and each time, my eight year old son comes to my rescue.  I hate to admit that getting older can mean that I lose certain abilities such as strength or dexterity.  I was also reluctant to have someone help me, let alone someone so much younger who was then able to do the task with ease. Then I realized, it’s the way the world works.  The techniques that he was using were different than my approach and ultimately, his way worked better…

  • Will Your Smartphone Help Manage Your Household?

    Trish
    24 Jan 2012 | 5:38 am
    WomenOfHR.com   It’s been a busy week with the start of a new job, but I started out by doing some writing over at Women of HR.  Check out my latest post on how working parents are using technology to help manage household duties. Will Your Smartphone Help Manage Your Household  

  • Emergency Preparedness Is Critical

    Trish
    20 Jan 2012 | 7:06 am
    Yesterday I had quite a scare.  I went to a local restaurant for lunch with a friend.  We were having a wonderful time and had just received the check when suddenly there was a loud explosion and the whole building shook.  My first thought was that a bomb had gone off, but in mere seconds I realized that everyone in the restaurant was alive and well.  I turned my head to the left and just two tables away from me, at the front wall of the restaurant, a car had smashed into the building. Several of us jumped up and ran to the front wall.  I could see a woman fall out of the car to the…

  • Business Books: Which Ones Inspire or Impact You?

    Trish
    18 Jan 2012 | 6:39 am
    When you work in human resources, you become part advisor, part therapist, part enforcer.  You are constantly presented with situations where leaders and employees need advice on how to communicate more effectively or how to relate to people who think differently or approach life differently.  In my role, I keep my eyes open to new techniques that can inspire people to become better communicators.  What I’m realizing is that for each new technique I find, they really all go back to some simple principles of getting along.  I recently had something remind me that good advice and good…
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    HRInsights

  • Employee Files: Basic Training for Small Business Owners

    jim
    25 Jan 2012 | 3:58 pm
    You have your employee’s I-9 Forms over on the cabinet and their W-2′s in a manila envelope marked “Tax Stuff” near your printer and in between the new ink cartridges and paper stock. Yesterday, Sandra, your office administrator stapled her fingers together, and went home “sick”. You’re sure that she has used up all of her medical leave by now, but you cannot find the records. Sound familiar? The value of properly maintained Employee Files can be easily measured by the cost of not doing so which can range from as little as a day’s pay all the…

  • Smokers and Fat People Need Not Apply

    jim
    13 Jan 2012 | 1:12 pm
    Employers are heading down a slippery slope by banning employees from smoking not just on the job but at any time.  More specifically, there is a growing rank of employers won’t even hire applicants whose urine tests positive for nicotine.  While these companies are typically hospitals or other organizations in the healthcare industry, Alaska Airlines is now on the roster of those anti-smoker employers.  Such tobacco-free hiring policies are designed to reduce insurance premiums for all workers.  Makes sense.  But beware!  Selective hiring as such, if it is embraced, could mean that…

  • HRInsights Weekly Lightbulb 01-10

    charlie
    11 Jan 2012 | 12:22 pm
    This Week’s HRI “Lightbulb”  – Fair Job Perks Keep a look out for hidden status systems in the workplace.  These can be as overt as separate dining facilities, reserved parking spaces and different uniforms depending on title and position. Or, they can be subtle (but still noticed) such as slightly bigger cubicles, newer office furniture, better computers, or company cell phones.  In many cases, there are practical and job-responsibility reasons for differences.  But, where there are none, keep it equal.  A feeling of equality engenders a more productive spirit.

  • Effective Interviews Weed Out The Jerks

    charlie
    9 Jan 2012 | 10:26 am
    Barclays Bank Chief Executive, Bob Diamond, said that he has imposed a “no jerks” rule for the U.K. bank. In an interview with The Times newspaper of London, Mr. Diamond said the rule applies to bankers considered to be prima donnas, those that are too greedy and too ostentatious, or failures as team players. Mr. Diamond went on to tell The Times, “If someone can’t behave with their colleagues and can’t be part of the culture, it doesn’t matter how good they are at what they do, they have to be asked to leave”. Does this imply that Barclays was…

  • Social Media Policy

    charlie
    27 Dec 2011 | 4:06 pm
    Even just a few years ago, many company managers rightly assumed that a Social Media Policy was all about limiting employees’ use of the internet. The priority was to prevent workers from spending company time buying on-line, conducting personal business on-line and, truth be told, watching pornography. It was all about e-mail and personal internet use. Now however, with the growing importance of the internet to a company’s marketing efforts and even now as a distribution and sales channel, it is prudent for small businesses to clearly articulate and communicate their Social Media…
 
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    Human Capital Adviser

  • When You Win and Lose

    HumanCapitalAdviser.com
    27 Jan 2012 | 8:31 am
    Most of us invest a considerable portion of ourselves in accomplishing our goals at work.  However, in a competitive work environment, there are times we are winners as well as losers.  It can be that the other team receives the better assignment, another employee receives the promotion desired by others, or one employee is selected to lead while others must follow.  The idea that effort does not always lead to success is hard to accept.  It is only human to assume that effort should yield the desired result regardless of other factors.  How often have you heard the statement “I worked…

  • The Annoying Coworker

    HumanCapitalAdviser.com
    23 Jan 2012 | 8:47 pm
    We have all worked with a coworker that everything that he or she did would get on our nerves, draw our attention away from work, or even make the workplace unbearable.  Although we might have desperately wanted to forget the person every day as we came into work, we still will remember their name years later.  They are the ones that you see a past coworker on the street or in a store and eventually the conversation turns to that person that no one could stand and what happened to them. The annoying behavior could be because the coworker was a sycophant, braggart, whiner, or narcissist. …

  • Learning from a Job Seeker

    HumanCapitalAdviser.com
    20 Jan 2012 | 7:12 am
    I recently attended a luncheon where someone sitting beside me was talking about a young job seeker who came into his office and asked for a job.  The manager described how a college graduate came in one day and asked for a few minutes of his time before starting into a ten minute presentation of how he could improve the operations of the manager’s department.  Basically, the job candidate had created a three month plan of how to improve market visibility, increase sales, and develop the team further.  Although a fair number of the suggestions had been tried before, he was impressed with…

  • Optimism and Results

    HumanCapitalAdviser.com
    16 Jan 2012 | 3:09 pm
    Most offices have an office pessimist or a person that always thinks that things are the worse that they can be.  You know the person: if the boss calls a meeting, then it must be to downsize.  It is same person that assumes that everything has some secret and inherently negative motive.  The pessimist can find the dark side of any event, no matter how routine or mundane. As I work with different organizations, I hear employees refer to the “office Eeyore.”   For those of you that have experienced the Winnie the Pooh stories, Eeyore is a pessimistic, gloomy, and depressed donkey who…

  • Openness to New Experiences

    HumanCapitalAdviser.com
    10 Jan 2012 | 11:52 am
    Psychologists rank openness to new experiences as one of the five major personality traits along with extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism.  Most of us are reluctant to try new things.  We fall into patterns of behavior or habits that become very comfortable.  Habits form a large part of our regular behavior.  As a simple example, when is the last time you ordered something different at your favorite restaurant? I have to admit that I am one of those people that gains comfort from having the same meal each time since I know what to expect from preparation,…
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    The HR Cafe Daily Post

  • Catching disputes before they harden into conflicts

    Stephen J. Meyer
    27 Jan 2012 | 9:27 am
    Do you know the difference between a dispute and a conflict? It’s more than just a matter of dictionary definitions – it’s about avoiding disruptions that can gut the effectiveness of a team or department.Workplace mediation expert Timothy Keator points out that a dispute is typically a short-term difference over issues that can be negotiated. Example: Julie thinks the product team should spend two weeks making site visits to customers before finalizing new packaging. Frank adamantly disagrees, arguing that the team can get all the info it needs, much faster, through a phone and online…

  • Shiny objects, squirrels and time management

    Stephen J. Meyer
    25 Jan 2012 | 8:59 am
    When it comes to improving time management, the advice I hear most often is to avoid “shiny objects.” People tend to lose their focus and get behind on their core projects because they get distracted by stuff that “shines” – that is, seems more interesting than the boring but essential task at hand. Resist that temptation and you’ll be more efficient.Shiny objects is a great metaphor, but I recently heard another one I like even more: squirrels.Squirrels are those small, urgent tasks that fill up your day. They aren’t shiny. In fact, you may hate them as much…

  • Was it about cursing, or his disability?

    Stephen J. Meyer
    23 Jan 2012 | 8:59 am
    Based on the facts presented below, how do you think the court ruled on this employment law case?“You’re firing me because I used the f-word two whole times?” employee Marlin Bergstrom asked incredulously. “Do you have any idea how many times people say that word every day in this plant?”“I have a pretty good idea,” supervisor Ted Yost replied. “But you used it while talking to me, and you told Rich Matthews to f-off. That amounts to gross misconduct, and we don’t have to tolerate it, even from an old hand like you.”“First off, I didn’t…

  • It’s never too late to check an applicant’s qualifications

    Stephen J. Meyer
    20 Jan 2012 | 8:58 am
    If a rejected applicant sues you for discriminatory failure to hire, you may be able to strengthen your case by rechecking his or her qualifications.That surprising point emerged from a case in Alabama. A woman who wasn’t hired for a truck driver’s job sued for sex discrimination. The employer won by showing that she wasn’t qualified because of two recent speeding tickets.She wasn’t qualified The counterintuitive part: The employer didn’t know about the tickets when it decided not to take her on. It found out later, during the lawsuit.The frustrated applicant said the…

  • Hiring: How to ask questions without asking for trouble

    Stephen J. Meyer
    17 Jan 2012 | 8:26 am
    “Let’s see, if you were born in 1953, that makes you, what, 59?”“I guess I should offer you congratulations. It looks like you’re going to be a mother soon, right?”“It must be tough getting around with that bad leg. Tell me, how do you manage?”Any manager worth his or her salt probably knows not to ask these kinds of questions in a hiring interview. They’re obvious invitations for a rejected candidate to scream “discrimination” afterward.But the problem is, hiring managers DO need to ask a lot of probing questions during applicant…
 
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    Recruiter Chicks

  • Avoiding The Black Hole – Advice From A Corporate Recruiter

    Chris Havrilla
    18 Jan 2012 | 9:10 am
      I’ll be honest, I am a little tired of hearing all the complaints and finger pointing I hear from Recruiters and Candidates alike. But today, I am not going to make any apologies for anyone — though trust me, I have my share of Recruiter and Candidate horror stories too. Today I just want to share some simple advice and insights — and I truly believe if you follow this advice, it will make a difference in your job search. Don’t just “post and pray” – this method doesn’t work for Recruiters OR Candidates.  It is no more reasonable that a…

  • Is your company leaving a lasting impression?

    Teela Jackson
    10 Jan 2012 | 7:00 am
    I often wonder with the current process and recruitment methodology in corporations and search firms, are we missing out on sharp candidates? Think about the current process most companies have in place – post and pray.  The typical job candidate in today’s market is being treated like their time is less valuable than the company’s time.  Few companies have yet to realize that the pond is drying up. Candidates are treated the same, for good reason.  It is imperative that we have a consistent hiring process for compliance reasons.  This process, however can sometimes…

  • Your Recruiting Function Needs More Cowbell!

    Chris Havrilla
    29 Dec 2011 | 6:00 am
      You know if Justin Timberlake, Alec Baldwin, or Christopher Walken are going to be on SNL, great skits are sure to follow!  One of my favorite Christopher Walken skits is when he is teamed up with Will Ferrell et al on this infamous ‘More Cowbell” segment – if you haven’t seen it, please fix this ASAP… So, great Recruiters put their pants on the same way as average Recruiters…but what is it they do that makes Gold when they do it??  A little more cowbell…that is what.  What can you do to “explore the space” a little bit more?

  • Think Before You Leap

    Teela Jackson
    19 Dec 2011 | 11:37 am
    It’s that time of year again, some will start reviewing the year that was 2011 and decide to start looking at new job opportunities in January.  Hopefully this post will encourage you to consider all options before making that leap. It is an exciting time of the year for more than one reason.  Many are excited about consideration a job change/upgrade in the upcoming year.  It’s the most wonderful time of the year!  A job change can be the best thing that’s ever happened to you professionally.  Do you have a game plan? 10 Steps for Those Seriously Considering a New Job…

  • When I Grow Up, I Want To Be A…Recruiter?

    Chris Havrilla
    6 Dec 2011 | 11:34 am
    How many Recruiters do you know that set out with the goal of being a Recruiter?  I know exactly one — and it is not me.  This absolutely fascinates me.  It fascinates me because I really love this profession.  While I admittedly stumbled into it, I fell in love with it as a business function — the impact talent can make on an organization as well as the huge impact my efforts could have on the success of a team or organization.  It was the same reason I fell in love with technology — my first career life.  I totally got the impact of information and how it was…
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    SmashFly Recruitment Marketing Technology Blog

  • 5 Recruitment Marketing Articles of the Week 1.21.12 to 1.27.12

    brablc
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:04 am
    Here is our weekly feature in which we share the top articles we enjoyed from the past week about recruitment marketing, social recruiting and anything else in the recruiting space. In this article, we’ll be talking about candidate experience, why passion matters, employer branding and social recruiting. Here are the articles our that interested us this week (in no particular order), enjoy!: What if it mattered how we treated candidates by Marvin Smith (@talentcommunity) Great post by Marvin on candidate experience and what would happen if we treated customers like we do candidates.

  • SmashFly Technologies unveils new Recruitment Marketing Platform!

    brablc
    25 Jan 2012 | 10:49 am
    We have exciting news from SmashFly as we have announced the latest & greatest additions to our Recruitment Marketing Platform. We announced the new Platform last week via press release (which you can view here) but wanted to share a few important points about the new Recruitment Marketing Platform and the release: We’ve introduced our Career Marketing Sites (CMS) offering to help companies in offering Career Listings for their jobs that are Mobile and SEO friendly.  This tool-set is extremely flexible and not only builds great landing pages with the right URL construction, keyword…

  • Employees = Your Best Brand Ambassadors

    brablc
    24 Jan 2012 | 8:33 am
    It’s no secret in recruiting, referrals are a major source of quality hires.  And key to referrals are your employees.  While many organizations understand they need to get their employees better involved in their recruitment marketing process, the question is how to do it. When getting started, you need to understand a few things.  First, understand what your main goal is.  Not only should this initiative help drive referral candidates but it should also be a major part of your employer branding strategy.  Second, understand that you will not have full control over the process. …

  • 5 Recruitment Marketing Articles of the Week 1.21.12 to 1.27.12

    brablc
    20 Jan 2012 | 9:50 am
    Here is our weekly feature in which we share the top articles we enjoyed from the past week about recruitment marketing, social recruiting and anything else in the recruiting space. In this article, we’ll be talking about burning down your HR department, Job Titles for SEO, the best companies to work for, how to build social media talent community and avoiding the Black Hole. Here are the articles our that interested us this week (in no particular order), enjoy!: Burning down your HR department by Tim Sackett (@TimSackett) Really like the idea from Tim on how to re-invent your HR…

  • 3 ways to super-charge your ATS with technology

    brablc
    18 Jan 2012 | 2:09 pm
    For many organizations, the ATS represents the central technology that they use to recruit top talent.  It provides a great way for them to capture applicants and manage the hiring process from apply to hire.  Through these functions, the ATS is an integral technology for your recruiting process. However, when you think about the recruiting process, the ATS by itself leaves a little bit to be desired.  While it does a great job with managing the hiring process, it often lacks in its ability to attract & make sure that the right candidates are becoming applicants in your hiring process.
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    Business Fitness

  • Ready for the Big Stage or Too Freaked Out? | Handling Pressure

    Dawn Lennon
    25 Jan 2012 | 1:43 pm
    [Reminder: Only 6 more days left to take advantage of my buy one, get one free offer on my book: Business Fitness: The Power to Succeed--Your Way. Go to http://consultbigpicture.com, order one and I'll ship two, signed. Thanks.] A some point you’ll likely ask yourself: “Do I have what it takes to be really successful at what I do?” Role models provide clues to the answer. Look hard at what they’ve achieve and you’ll see they were willing to put themselves “out there.” Now ask yourself, “Can I handle it when all eyes are on me?” Your answer…

  • Help Giver or Help Seeker? Let Gratitude Fuel the Ride

    Dawn Lennon
    20 Jan 2012 | 3:22 pm
    I’ve always been at odds with the adage: “Good guys (and gals) always finish last.” It implies that being a team player, going the extra mile, or helping coworkers is a negative career strategy. Often we’re warned that if we’re too generous with our time and talents at work, we’ll get taken advantage of. Well, maybe, but it’s worth the risk. Most of us lend a hand because we: Can’t help ourselves; it’s how we’re wired, raised, or compelled Can put our knowledge and skills to good use Care about the person or group in need Enjoy…

  • When You’ve Had Enough, How Far Should You Go? | Managing Emotions

    Dawn Lennon
    16 Jan 2012 | 3:16 pm
    No one likes criticism or unfair treatment. Most of us just suck it up until one day we’ve had enough. Then watch out! Think twice Knee-jerk reactions never pay. When we’re fed up, we need to keep our wits about us. Most of the time, we’re reacting to situations that have been brewing. I’m a big proponent of not becoming a doormat for anyone at anytime. We’re entitled to respect and fair treatment, both of which we need to stand up for in the right way at the right time. I’m also a big proponent of understanding the consequences of the actions we want to…

  • How “Now-I-Get-It” Discoveries Expand Career Savvy

    Dawn Lennon
    11 Jan 2012 | 1:19 pm
    Careers are mysterious. We skip naively into them, assuming that our generally optimistic assumptions about the company, our boss, and coworkers are true. Then wham, the gilt flies off the lily. That’s okay, actually. Careers teach us to pay attention continuously. A pulse exists below the surface of every business. It may be: Unseen or foreign to us Outside our understanding Separate from the work we perform daily That pulse drives business all decision-making, actions which include both simple and wildly complex variables. Directly or indirectly, that business pulse impacts us in ways we…

  • Winner, Loser, or Also-ran? How Attitude Defines You

    Dawn Lennon
    7 Jan 2012 | 2:25 pm
    Attitudes reveal us—what we value, how we think, and what we’re after. They’re the stuff of statements like: “With an attitude like that he’ll be an obstacle on our project?” “We don’t need a supervisor with an attitude like hers?” “I can’t give him a good rating with that attitude.” People observe our attitudes and then define us through their own attitude-shaded lens. Like it or not, we’re locked in an inexorable cycle of labeling. Attitudes revealed Attitude is defined as either a positive or hostile disposition or state of mind. Our feelings, thoughts, and points…
 
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    Corn on the Job

  • 5 Steps to Make Lasting Connections With Recruiters on Twitter

    Rich DeMatteo
    27 Jan 2012 | 3:46 pm
    When it comes to making connections with recruiters through social media channels, the line between annoying and impressing is very thin.  Today I want to look at Twitter specifically, and provide a few steps for you to not only reach recruiters, but also get on their radar.  Here are the 5 steps: Step 1: Find Recruiters to Follow Half the battle is finding a recruiter that is specific to your interests and location.  While some recruiters need applicants on a global level, many only search for talent in a specific geographic location. Here are some quick tips for finding recruiters to…

  • Strategies for Job Searching In Our Current Economy

    Rich DeMatteo
    24 Jan 2012 | 9:47 am
    Liam Conduit is a HR Professional and has been writing industry related news and comment since 2006. Liam also has an interest in jobs, marketing and politics.   During the current economic doom and gloom, with an estimated 1 million young people unemployed, the age-old problem of finding is even harder.  Here are some tips on how to land a job in hard times, from networking to resume writing; discover how to get the edge over the competition. Know your Trade First and foremost, decide what field you want to work in, the more specific the better. Too many people make the mistake of…

  • Quick Tip: Fill The Gap With a Relevant Part-Time Job While Unemployed

    Rich DeMatteo
    20 Jan 2012 | 10:00 am
    A friend from college sent me an interesting Facebook message the other day.  She wanted to fill me in on a cool strategy she used while unemployed to help fill the gap, but also make herself more valuable to her next employer. Here’s a direct quote from my friend, Jana: I had a temp position is advertising that ended in May. I wanted to switch fields but wasn’t sure where to go and my hubby was looking for jobs out-of-state, so I did not want to over commit to a new profession and then move. What I chose to do was take a retail job in sales, which i had never done until this…

  • Possibly The Worst Cover Letter Ever (Must See)

    Rich DeMatteo
    17 Jan 2012 | 8:52 am
    There’s no other way to title a post like this.  The problem I’m having here is that no matter how close to the edge a possible title comes off, it fails to compete against the unexpected, and somewhat terrifying shock of the actual subject of this blog post — which is the Cover Letter soon to hit your eyes. The following cover letter was received yesterday (1/16/12) by a Houston area creative agency.  Quick warning, if the “C” word bothers you, then I suggest you stop reading now. The more I read this cover letter, the more it resembles a mullet.  The…

  • 5 Things to Consider When Writing Your Resume

    Rich DeMatteo
    11 Jan 2012 | 11:10 pm
    Hank Clark is a master’s level career counselor.  He is internationally certified as a Career Management Practitioner (CMP) by the Institute for Career Certification International and has been recognized as a National Certified Counselor (NCC) through the National Board for Certified Counselors.  Check out resume examples on his site to improve your resume.     Many job seekers may not realize that subtle changes are happening in regard to the way people need to go about writing quality resumes. Today’s resumes are different from resumes that were written just a decade…
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    the hris world

  • STILL Think Social Media is a Fad?

    Garrett O'Brien
    25 Jan 2012 | 3:55 am
    originally posted 12-September-2009 As an example of our earlier posting of mindset and dataset front the TED video with Hans Rosling, let’s take social media… you may still think twitter, LinkedIn, facebook, and others are a fad? watch this 5 minute video and see if your mindset and your dataset are in synch…. Some colleges are already abandoning the email system for their incoming freshman in favor of social media… another fad? Well, let me ask you this… how fast can you stay up with change? how fast can you catchup if you fall behind??… The Joy of Stats…

  • What We Have Been Doing Lately? Want to Help?

    Garrett O'Brien
    24 Jan 2012 | 3:52 am
    There have been several developments for The HRIS World — and ALL of the great! In preparation for my move in March, I have been picking up several online, freelancing jobs to pay the bills. Mostly as blogging, the others as SEO. Have been guest blogging in two blogs… TI Especialistas Brasil TI Especialistas Brasil is an IT blog in Brazil with almost 23,000 subscribers and readers… like this log, they are an extension of a group in LinkedIn called TI Especialistas. Currently this group has a sub-groups for 20 of the 26 states of Brazil. Augusto Vespermann owns and moderates…

  • HR.com Call for Speaker Presentations on HRIS

    Garrett O'Brien
    19 Jan 2012 | 11:00 pm
    Leanne Schmidt is the new Community Facilitator – HRIS for HR.com‘s Institute for Human Resources (IHR) www.instituteforhumanresources.com. Among her many tasks, she will be working closely with Grant Perry in building out content for their HRIS certification. HR.com is currently requires speakers for an upcoming HRIS virtual event on February 27th and 28th, 2012. They are interested in what you have to share that is educational, engaging, a hot topic, or a trend! Deadline for submission is 3-February-2012. Topics of most interest for this virtual conference should include:…

  • Do you have any cubelets for your cubicle?

    Garrett O'Brien
    19 Jan 2012 | 12:13 am
    Sometimes you just have to share something that’s unique — and fun! Here’s a new toy, for kids and adults alike… Several pre-production runs of 100 kits have already sold out and more kits are coming. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EDsLayRKQA Have your seen our channel! They’re pricey at $300 for the basic kit, but you get the following blocks: Action Blocks: 2 Drive, 1 Rotate, 1 Speaker, 1 Flashlight, 1 Bar Graph Sense Blocks: 1 Knob, 1 Brightness, 2 Distance, 1 Temperature Think/Utility Blocks: 2 Inverse, 1 Minimum, 1 Maximum, 1 Battery, 2 Passive, 2 Blocker I…

  • Why the SOPA, PIPA Protest Needs Your Attention…

    Garrett O'Brien
    17 Jan 2012 | 11:44 pm
    With all the concern and alertness to SOPA and PIPA, we are presenting the following information, with full credit to FoxBusiness. We choose to copy the entire article due to the legal ramifications of these two bills. MAny complain about losing their liberties through things like the Patriot Act — these two bills will make mince meat out of those concerns. Example? You won’t be able to us PayPal (or possibly your credit cards) to pay for your purchases is very good possibility. Now that I have your attention, please read on… the following is from the FoxBusiness article,…
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    Improving Employee Engagement & Leadership

  • Is this the most important gift you could give employees?

    jrembach
    31 Dec 2011 | 4:02 pm
    To me gifts are special things for which I am grateful. It has nothing to do with physical items or monetary value. Gifts are things that I feel have enriched my life. Do you think the same way? I don’t think we are strange because we think this way. I have met many people in my life that have expressed the same sentiment. Have you? Think about your workplace for a moment. Do the employees communicate positively with one another? Are they gladly working together? Do they care about each other and your business? Are they finding the greater sense of purpose and meaning they so desire?

  • The Cure for Horrible Employees and Bosses

    jrembach
    31 Oct 2011 | 2:12 am
    In a Harvard Business Review article, The Cure for Horrible Bosses by Rosabeth M. Kanter she talks about the dark comedy film Horrible Bosses and how you can neutralize a bad boss. She states as many as half of American workers feel low levels of employee engagement stem from poor management. To explain how to overcome the affects of a bad boss she talks about a character Pierre that was placed into a low performing subsidiary as a COO. In the organization, the CEO was an imperialistic and antagonistic boss that immediately resented Pierre’s presence. After a bout of depression,…

  • Are your Parents are to Blame for Low Employee Engagement?

    jrembach
    11 Oct 2011 | 11:09 am
    For the longest time the Cleaver’s, in the popular 1950′s television show “Leave it to Beaver” was represented as the ideal American family. June and Ward (Cleaver) were conscience parents that viewed their responsibility for instilling values to their boys (Wally and Beaver) as an duty to the world. They did’t use force or intimidate to teach the boys lessons but used verbal communication and leading by example as the methods. June Cleaver had a very calm demeanor while she protected the boys from bad influences like Eddie Haskell. Ward Cleaver consistently…

  • Do You Recognize the ‘unmet need’ to Engage Employees and Yourself

    jrembach
    20 Sep 2011 | 11:38 pm
    What happens when your needs aren’t met?  Can you recognize this in yourself?  What about in others?  A valuable outcome of the Systematic Leadership process inherent in the Beyond Morale program is the ability to better understand what your needs are and the needs of others.   Why is this important? Let’s look at how a simple ‘unmet need’ follows a process to manifest into all out dysfunctional conflict; conflict that hurts relationships and damages great businesses.  It’s important to note that in every situation the indicators are all there, but all too often we just…

  • Why Would You Wait to Improve Employee Engagement?

    jrembach
    24 Aug 2011 | 11:22 pm
    We all know what is feels like to be a member of a great  team. Even if you only experienced it for a short time, you know how fantastic it feels to have strong relationships at work, be stress free, confident, fulfilled, optimistic, and full of gratitude to be a member of a winner. When you feel like you are part of a great team your employee engagement is high. So when you do not feel you are part of a great team, and employee engagement is low, why would not want to take actions to improve employee engagement? So many say, “we are already doing something” while experiencing…
 
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    Mindflash

  • Has the Recession Permanently Scarred Gen Y?

    Jessica Stillman
    26 Jan 2012 | 8:00 am
    Put more than one economist in a room and chances are slim they’ll find much to agree on. However, lately there seems to be a consensus forming among economists that the economy’s trajectory is heading up. That’s great news for struggling young people. But the question still remains how they will recover from having spent some important formative years mired in one of the worst recessions in decades. Poor and Depressed Online commentators have begun taking up the question of the recession’s lasting impact on young workers in earnest lately. Carol Phillips, a professor of…

  • Four Core Elements of Great Learning — and How to Avoid ‘Teaching by Telling’

    Jay Forte
    25 Jan 2012 | 11:13 am
    I recently covered an MBA class for a Ph.D colleague of mine. Though the class lesson was to cover global HR, the instructor required that at the beginning of each class, one or two teams of students present an overview of critical concepts from that week’s reading. The first team presented slide after slide of tiny text, and, as most novice presenters do, turned and read every word of every PowerPoint slide to the class. Everyone in the class began nodding off. No learning was happening. I had to stop the mental massacre. What was meant to be a program on global HR became a program on…

  • Infographic: The Staggering Cost of a Bad Hire

    Colin Dobrin
    24 Jan 2012 | 6:44 pm
    Your company is growing rapidly, and you’re desperately looking to fill in the gaps as quickly as possible. However, putting the wrong people in those positions could ultimately end up costing even more. Thanks to a survey published by Careerbuilder.com we learn just how much bad hires cost companies, and what you can do to avoid them. (Click image to enlarge)

  • Why eLearning Can Never Be Boring: Q&A with Cathy Moore

    Meghan Bender
    24 Jan 2012 | 8:00 am
    Cathy Moore is a recognized elearning and training expert who has helped dozens of organizations (including the U.S. Army, NATO, USPS, and Chevron) and shares her insights on her blog. In February, Moore will be presenting a two-day e-Learning Instructional Design Certificate at the Training 2012 conference in Atlanta, GA.She spoke with The Daily Mindflash about a crucial requirement for all training programs — to never, ever, be boring. MindFlash: The tagline on your blog is, “Let’s save the world from boring e-learning!” What is it that makes e-learning boring? Cathy Moore: What…

  • Apple’s Taking Over Textbooks — Are Training Manuals Next?

    Ian Stewart
    23 Jan 2012 | 4:28 pm
    With its unveiling last week of the second iteration of its iBookstore and new e-book-creation “Author” application, Apple appears to have set its sights on reshaping the world of educational publishing. In many circles, Apple’s moves — which include inking a deal to sell major textbook imprints as e-books through its iTunes bookstore, and establishing a so-called “iTunes U” portal for all things education — are already being hailed as game-changing (if not more). And while most of the conversation has focused on Apple’s potential to overhaul the…
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    Daily HR Solutions

  • Three Free Websites for Effective Event Promotion

    mgwhite
    23 Jan 2012 | 10:00 pm
    Mary Gormandy White, M.A., SPHR By Mary Gormandy White, M.A. Are you responsible for publicizing a special event? No matter what kind of event that you’re trying to market, if it’s open to the public, you’ll likely find that event promotion websites are a great way to let people know what’s going on without spending any money. Three Easy-to-Use Free Event Promotion Websites Whether you’re trying to let potential customers know about a job fair or other recruiting event, want to let members of the business community know about an upcoming association meeting, or if you want to make…

  • Employee Engagement Library

    mgwhite
    18 Jan 2012 | 2:58 pm
    The Employee Engagement Group Launches “The Employee Engagement Library” On-Demand Resource, Living Library for Building an Engaged Culture Boston, MA  (January 18, 2012)  The recession has impacted training budgets in companies of all sizes and across all industries, leaving executives striving to juggle the cost and time of curriculum design and development with an organization’s need for training and developing.  Especially when an hour of training requires over 40 hours of instructional design effort, costing on average $5,934 per hour of training. To meet this…

  • 5 Tips on Handling Performance Reviews

    mgwhite
    14 Jan 2012 | 5:43 am
    Guest Post by John Thompson, Executive Director of Career Services at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. The words “performance review” can put any employee on edge.  When some employees think about reviews it is usually more about defending one’s job duties and less about the good that has been done for the company.  Preparing for a professional review can be nerve-wracking, even for seasoned professionals. However, there are a few tried and true ways to navigate reviews. Make a list and check it twice It’s helpful to make a list of all your accomplishments for the…

  • Expert Q & A: Wellnes Best Practices

    mgwhite
    13 Jan 2012 | 3:46 pm
    Gina Payne, CBIZ Contributed by Gina Payne, national director of wellness, CBIZ Benefits & Insurance Services, Inc., Leawood, KS What do you consider to be best practices for wellness programs in small to medium size businesses? Gina Payne: Best practices would be to create a culture of health at your workplace.  This could be done by doing the following: Adopting into the mission and vision of the business, a commitment to the wellbeing of its employees Top leaders of the business (President, CEO or business owner) participating themselves in the wellness program Regular and frequent…

  • Tips for Designing an Effective Job Fair Booth

    mgwhite
    12 Jan 2012 | 6:38 pm
    If your HR duties involve recruiting, chances are that you spend quite a bit of time attending job fairs and business expo events as a vendor. If so, you probably know just how important it is to create an attractive booth that helps your company stand out from other exhibitors in a way that will encourage attendees to stop by and find out what it is that your company has to offer. Here are a few tips to help you improve the appeal and effectiveness of your trade show exhibit booth. Tips for Increasing the Appeal of Your Job Fair Booth Top Quality Graphics: Ensure that your booth looks…
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    International HR Forum

  • Birches Group, Aon Hewitt, Announce Partnership

    Warren Heaps
    18 Jan 2012 | 2:11 pm
    Author: Warren Heaps – Birches Group LLC I am delighted to announce today an exciting new partnership between Aon Hewitt and Birches Group.  Under the partnership, Aon Hewitt will make Birches Group surveys in developing country markets available to their clients, expanding their survey coverage to over 170 countries globally. The two firms will also collaborate closely on consulting projects and promotional activities. Here is a link to the full Press Release.

  • International HR Forum Best of 2011

    Warren Heaps
    1 Jan 2012 | 8:57 pm
    Author: Warren Heaps – Birches Group LLC As we reflect back on the 2011 year just completed, we have compiled a list of the most popular posts on the site during the past year.  Each of the posts listed below had more than 1,000 views during 2011.  If you did not have a chance to view these posts when they were first published, here’s a great opportunity to see what you missed. Why Culture is Important in International Business Ten Steps For Building A Salary Structure International Employment Law “Quick Facts”: Brazil How Top Companies Manage Talent Development The…

  • Holiday Gift Giving Around the World

    Warren Heaps
    20 Dec 2011 | 2:00 am
    Guest Author: Dean Foster – DFA Intercultural Global Solutions [Editor's Note:  We are happy to welcome Dean Foster as a Guest Author.  Dean is a well-known expert on culture in business, is a frequent lecturer at various universities and conferences, and  is the author of many books on the topic of culture in business.  He is the Director of his own firm, DFA Intercultural Global Solutions.] Gift giving can be a little tricky when giving gifts to international colleagues. Cultural differences can make a terrific gift at home into a terrible no-no abroad. With the holiday season…

  • Hey HR! Here’s What Employees and Families Really Need When Relocating Internationally

    Warren Heaps
    13 Dec 2011 | 2:00 pm
    Guest Author: Rachel Yates – Definingmoves.com [Editor's Note:  We are very excited to share with you the assignee's spouse perspective on international relocation, from someone who has lived through five such moves.  Rachel Yates edits a website, Defining Moves, devoted to assisting relocating families around the world. ] I read the post from May, 2011 by Warren Heaps about global mobility policies for the 21st century on this site, and found it to be fascinating, mainly because I am part of the changing demographics Warren described. On paper, we are the traditional relocating…

  • Ten Ways to Simplify Administration of Your International Assignment Program

    Warren Heaps
    8 Dec 2011 | 4:24 pm
    Guest Author: Jennifer Stein – Global Tax Network [Editor's Note:  We are happy to welcome Jen Stein as a Guest Author.  Jen is the Managing Director of the Global Tax Network Chicago office.  She has more than 15 years of experience in expat and foreign national tax preparation and consulting, starting her career with Arthur Andersen, and then Ernst & Young, where she served for over 14 years.] International assignment administration is complex. Sometimes it’s useful to take a step back and review basic components.  The list below, while not exhaustive, is a good starting…
 
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    Destination Talent

  • Introducing RHUB Conference

    Phillip Tusing
    12 Jan 2012 | 8:13 am
    Here’s a sneak preview of our next event www.rhub.com.au. We are going to tackle what the road ahead will look like for recruiters in Australia and NZ. 

  • RECTEC VIDEO

    Phillip Tusing
    5 Dec 2011 | 7:33 am
    Some of the speakers at #retec discussing new trends and developments in recruitment technology.   RECTEC (Recruitment Technology Evaluation Convention) 2011 from Phillip Tusing on Vimeo.

  • Steve Jobs on talent management

    Phillip Tusing
    12 Oct 2011 | 6:09 pm
    "If you wanna hire great people and have them stay working for you….. you have to let them make a lot of decisions. You have to be run by ideas, not hierarchy. The best ideas have to win, otherwise good people don’t stay" – Steve Jobs

  • Recruitment Software Report

    Phillip Tusing
    10 Oct 2011 | 9:49 am
    What’s your experience with recruitment technology and vendors? We are conducting a study to better understand the adoption of recruitment technology in Australia & NZ. Spare five minutes of your time to tell us your experience. The results of the study will be made available to everyone. Take the survey and go into the draw [...]

  • Introducing RECTEC

    Phillip Tusing
    27 Sep 2011 | 10:42 pm
    Does the HR/Recruitment industry need another event? I think so. RECTEC, scheduled for 22 Nov, brings a very different flavour. Here’s why: Focus RECTEC stands for Recruitment Technology Evaluation Convention and as the name implies the event will focus exclusively on technology and its application to recruitment. Learning from innovators We’ve assembled an impressive line-up [...]
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    Welcome To The Occupation

  • HR Takes The Bitterest Pill

    Paul Smith
    22 Jan 2012 | 7:55 am
    Occasionally something at work will cause distress. Sometimes it's an avoidable mistake that catches the attention of your boss. Sometimes it's an unintentional visceral reaction that breeds regret. Sometimes it's an erroneous accusation that puts one in a defensive position. Even though all three are annoying situations, only the third one is beyond one's control. Sometimes this can be difficult to swallow. Depending on the gravity and circumstances behind the accusation, one could feel distrust for colleagues, a need for revenge, or an overall lack of faith in human beings. This can happen…

  • Captainess Of Your Own Ship

    Paul Smith
    15 Jan 2012 | 8:28 am
    As a gay man, I am often confused by the notion of striving for equal rights. It's not the equal part that is confusing. It's the striving. On one hand, there is a need to identify with a cultural brand, e.g. gay. On the other hand, there is a quest for rights that everyone else has. With that, is also a quest for opportunities, and the subsequent success and power that others possess. These two forces contradict each other. For example, I noticed when reading about a Mr. Gay America pageant, one of the organizers alluded that if straight females can do it, so can we. My response, is why do…

  • Failing The SPHR Test

    Paul Smith
    8 Jan 2012 | 8:21 am
    Every once in a while, I go off the rails. I stop returning emails. I stop returning phone calls. I stop blogging. I stop connecting. I become overly focused on something I committed to doing and I do not think I can put the energy any where else.  Generally these periods last a few days, mostly because of work commitments. Other times, it is because I'm in a bad mood and just want brain silence.This last round lasted for several weeks as I studied for my SPHR* test. Fortunately for me, I was able to borrow my colleague's two-year old copy of the SHRM Learning System to study.

  • Carnival of HR: The Present Edition

    Paul Smith
    21 Dec 2011 | 7:01 am
    I love a good present. For me, that means receiving something you want or need, without asking for it.For example, when your boss says, "you're doing a good job." Or when a friend says, "you're important to me." These are gifts.Receiving internal insights such as seeing the good in someone who did something bad. Or receiving a deep inhale of breath, exhaling and knowing you are grounded in the moment are also presents. They are where you right now.Since presents, the gifts you receive and having the centered moments of being here now, are fun, I crafted this carnival to reflect these…

  • Coming to WTTO: Carnival Of HR: The Present Edition

    Paul Smith
    15 Dec 2011 | 5:28 pm
    Nick Drake "Hazy Jane I"On December 21st, the Carnival of HR is making its last stop of 2011 at Welcome To The Occupation.For this carnival, I am inspired by Oogway's wise words to Po, "There is a saying: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That's why they call it the 'present'."*Since the new year is upon us and it is typically a time to reflect on the past year's achievements and next year's potentials, I want to do something different.For the carnival, bloggers have two choices. 1) Send me a post about where you are right now. What is your current state…
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    The Proactive Employer

  • Sheltered Workshops: Stepping Stones or Dead End?

    Gabrielle Erway
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:09 am
    A landmark lawsuit filed in Oregon on Wednesday claims that thousands of disabled individuals are stuck in dead-end jobs at sheltered workshops because of failed state programs that should be helping them obtain mainstream employment and alleges violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Sheltered workshops or “work-activity programs” are facilities funded by state and local agencies and nonprofit groups to provide the disabled with jobs. Workers perform basic unskilled labor such as packaging or simple assembly and most often are paid less than minimum wage. Intended to be…

  • Conversations with William Tincup

    Stephanie R. Thomas, Ph.D.
    23 Jan 2012 | 6:01 am
    Have you thought about the way you communicate? When you’re having a conversation with someone, are you focused on that conversation, or are you thinking about the other 80 items on your to-do list? Do you tailor the message to the specific audience you’re communicating with, or do you deliver the same words in the same way to the C-Suite, supervisors and managers and the hourly staff? Modifying the way you communicate can have a big impact. The good news is that our guest thinks HR gets conversations right about 80% of the time – but there’s always room for some…

  • Document Retention Policies

    Stephanie R. Thomas, Ph.D.
    17 Jan 2012 | 6:18 am
    Are you suffocating under piles of personnel and payroll documents? Before you overheat your shredders and overwhelm the recycling guy, take a breath and make sure you’re in compliance with federal and state laws governing records retention. Different federal and state laws dictate how long certain kinds of documentation must be maintained. In this week’s installment of The Proactive Employer Podcast, we’ll be talking about document retention policies. We’ll highlight the importance of having a policy, and provide a run-down on IRS and Department of Labor retention…

  • Volunteering Requirement For Unemployment Benefits

    Gabrielle Erway
    13 Jan 2012 | 6:13 am
    With a state unemployment rate approaching 10 percent and remaining above the national average for many years now, South Carolina may begin requiring workers to volunteer in order to remain eligible for their unemployment benefits. Under a bill up for debate by a Senate panel, South Carolina workers who remain unemployed for six months or longer would have to volunteer 16 hours each week to continue receiving unemployment checks. After six months of unemployment, individuals would be required to take a job they are offered or begin volunteering at community service. Unemployment benefits…

  • HR and Employment Law Spring Webinars

    Stephanie R. Thomas, Ph.D.
    10 Jan 2012 | 8:25 am
    I’ve added three new webinars to my Spring 2012 schedule! The 90-minute webinars are hosted and sponsored by ComplianceOnline. Use the links below to learn more about the webinars and to register. Avoiding Discrimination When Recruiting With Social Media Tools February 14, 2012 1:00- 2:30 PM Eastern Areas covered include: Conventional methods of job search and recruiting The advantages of using social media for recruiting Kinds of candidate information available via social networking Which pieces of information are prohibited by anti-discrimination laws Legal issues raised by recruiting…
 
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    Lance Haun

  • The Most Important Person On The Internet: Happy Tim Sackett Day

    Lance Haun
    23 Jan 2012 | 8:15 am
    Normal business attire for Sackett. Click to enlarge. Ever since Laurie Ruettimann suggested a Tim Sackett day, I’ve been stoked. Not because I think Tim deserves any sort of recognition, especially on any of those influencer or top blogger lists. Because, really? It’s entertaining as hell when he doesn’t get picked. I played kickball when I was a kid in school and there was this little kid named Ricky who was kind of an annoying little wise ass. And while he was good at kickball, he always got picked for our teams way too late. He’d be picked in the fourth round and…

  • What Word Limit? The Constraint Is Your Ability To Write A Compelling Tale

    Lance Haun
    17 Jan 2012 | 1:05 am
    On the last post, I had a commenter ask if I thought my 2000 word post was well received. It’s a good question and one question I often get is about the length of blog posts. Some people say 400 words should be your goal. Some people say no more than 600 to 800 words. Supposedly, nobody reads anything over 800 words online. Generally speaking, I keep my posts on TLNT below 800 words. I’ve dipped into 1,200 word territory on occasion but that’s pretty rare. Now, I would be interested in doing a long form series for TLNT but what has been better for online publications, at…

  • Finding Your Writing Voice: One Tip From A Non-Expert

    Lance Haun
    12 Jan 2012 | 7:44 am
    Last week, I wrote a blog post that was almost 2,000 words long. That’s not that exceptional. What’s surprising is that I sat down and wrote the entire piece in about 90 minutes. The fact of the matter is, I spent a ton of time on that post. Reading (and re-reading) material about the subject, thinking about it, thinking about my approach and then thinking about the key points I wanted to cover. I’m not the quickest thinker in the world. It means I’m not the greatest conversationalist in the world, nor am I prone to amaze you in a casual conversation. And please,…

  • Picking Your Brain Isn’t Highway Robbery (Or Why Charging For Expertise Has A Short Shelf Life)

    Lance Haun
    5 Jan 2012 | 7:52 am
    I’ve read a lot of articles about brain picking (1, 2, 3, 4 to name a few). You know about brain pickers, right? These suckers who think they can just glom a bunch of free information off of you and run into the wind like they’ve stolen something valuable from you? Man, who are these people? Eff them! If you want this information in my brain, you need to pay me some cashola! Otherwise, you’re locked out. Sorry, but I don’t care if you’re my dear old Dad or a former boss who has stuck his neck out for me, either. Except, that attitude is completely and utterly…

  • Using career paths as retention tools

    Ben Eubanks
    20 Dec 2011 | 7:15 am
    What are your tips for creating and communicating a clear career path as a retention tool? I saw this question posted recently on an HR site and thought it was worth exploring. And then recently I read this post by Deidre Honner, the HR Maven. It’s a classic example of how not to do the above. Here’s a snippet. Someone doing it wrong I was contacted by someone who works outside my organization, asking for some career advice… I asked her about her current employer.  They are a large area employer with several locations. Seems there would be lots of opportunity and…
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    CSR for HR

  • CSR and HR in the business of trust

    elaine
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:55 am
    I have been doing a little homework in preparation for the CR for HR professionals Conference that I have now been asked to chair, to take place on 7th February in London. As far as I know, and I may have mentioned this before, this is the first focused conference on CSR for HR, so I am very happy to be a part of this and kudos to the CIPD for organizing it.  Photo credit: BITCPart of my homework has been talking to some of the movers and shakers in this space, who will be speaking at the conference. Cathy Lewis, for example, has been the HR Director of Prudential for UK and Europe…

  • Work Life Balance pays off

    elaine
    12 Jan 2012 | 1:21 am
    One of my favorite pieces of reading is HR Magazine, which plops into my postbox each month. I find this is always choc-a-bloc with relevant and insightful, informative and entertaining articles which I both enjoy and learn from. The website is pretty good too, and HR Magazine is one of the few publications which always includes a CSR-HR perspective. Some of you may recall that I was a guest speaker at an HR Magazine event last year. Since then, I keep a keen eye on what they are publishing.A recent article caught my eye (the same eye!). It's called: Work/life balance ranks higher than…

  • Keeping up with CSR for HR

    elaine
    7 Jan 2012 | 8:50 am
    So much is happening in CSR for HR these days. This post is to help you (and me) keep up.First, two forthcoming events on different sides of the world which I am immensely looking forward to:7th February in London: The CIPD, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Europe's largest HR and development professional body, is hosting a conference on CR for HR Professionals I don't recall seeing a dedicated conference on this subject ever, so this is a very welcome development. The conference opens with the brilliant Jonathon Porritt, Founder Director of Forum for the Future, who…

  • CSR for HR begins at home

    elaine
    18 Nov 2011 | 12:55 am
    The new Do Well Do Good Public Opinion Survey on Sustainability survey has just been published. The survey was conducted through an online panel organized by Qualtrics Labs, Inc. between October 28 and November 2, 2011 with 1,001 respondents consisting of 500 women and 501 men on behalf of Do Well Do Good, LLC. The report contains a wealth of perspectives and insights about the way consumers view the responsibilities of corporations, for example, these top level findings: Support for Sustainability: 83% of consumers think companies should try to accomplish their business goals while…

  • I am not a human resource : 10 tips for handling layoffs

    elaine
    9 Nov 2011 | 1:28 am
    I read an interesting article in India's Business Line about the way Bank of America is handing layoffs of 30,000 people over two years. The author reports:"I called a friend who works at the bank to ask if the company had announced a schedule internally of how and where the lay-offs would take place, and how employees could find more information about it. She said she didn't know much more about it than what was reported in the papers, and employees were calling one another to find out if anyone knows more. "The article goes on  to discuss the logic of decisions to reduce headcount…
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    Employer Training Center

  • Postal Service Hikes Cost of First-Class Postage

    26 Jan 2012 | 10:32 am
    Make sure you have the right postage before you mail your W-2 forms this year, as the price has officially gone up.  As of Jan. 22, 2012, it now costs $0.45 to mail a first-class letter weighing up to 1 ounce. The price for each additional ounce remains at $0.20. The one-cent price hike is the first increase on the first-class stamp since 2009. Forever® stamps that you may already have remain valid, but the price to purchase new Forever® stamps is now $0.45.  If you don't have a postal scale to weigh your letters, the rule of thumb is no more than three sheets of paper…

  • The Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011

    24 Jan 2012 | 1:35 pm
    Although the combined tax rate for Social Security Taxes and Medicare Taxes remained 15.3 percent from 2011 to 2012, the actual rate to be collected and paid remains dynamic due to passage of the Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011, which temporarily extends by two months the 2-percent tax cut previously granted to employees. As the Internal Revenue Service noted in December 23, 2011, press release, “Employers should implement the new payroll tax rate as soon as possible in 2012, but not later than Jan. 31, 2012. For any Social Security tax over-withheld during…

  • Understanding Tax Forms: What is a W-2?

    19 Jan 2012 | 12:00 pm
    A W-2 is a required tax form that employers send to employees and the IRS at after the year ends. Employees then use information on the W-2 form to fill out their income tax forms.  On the W-2 form, the employer inputs information about the employee's earnings and tax payments from the previous year. The employee uses this information about income and taxes paid when filing taxes, and the IRS also gets a copy to ensure the correctness of filed tax forms.  The 2012 form includes the following boxes: a: Employee's Social Security number b: Employer identification number (EIN) c:…

  • Fringe Benefits: What Employers Need to Know

    19 Jan 2012 | 12:00 pm
    Fringe benefits are benefits that employers give employees outside of their stated cash wages. Employers should know which benefits they plan to offer will be most valuable to employees. Providing benefits that employees value will help keep employees content. Benefits also affect the wages employees are willing to work for. For example, some employees may accept lower wages from an employer who provides health and dental coverage than an employer who does not provide any benefits. Employees who travel for work will greatly appreciate transportation benefits. Sometimes, employers can save…

  • Avoid These Common Errors on the W-2 Form

    19 Jan 2012 | 7:54 am
    Mistakes on Form W-2 and W-3 can result in a no-match letter from Social Security or other notifications, as well as fines. Carefully review your W-2s before you present them to your employees, and look out for these common errors. Incorrect Format Using the wrong kind of paper. You can purchase the official W-2/W-3 paper from an office supply store, select an acceptable substitute as listed in IRS Pub. 1141, or choose electronic filing.  Downloading the W-2 or W-3 form and printing directly from the IRS site. The W-2/W-3 form is displayed on the IRS site for information…
 
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    The Recruiters Lounge

  • How To Source Passive Candidates from the News

    Jim Stroud
    24 Jan 2012 | 10:18 am
    How to source passive candidates from the news is the topic of this episode of The Jim Stroud Show. Jim demonstrates how to use the video search engine Blinkx as a way to generate leads for recruiting purposes. Also, Jim Stroud reveals the real name of his video editor and the contest winner who will get the prize! Click here to download the show notes. Related PostsPDF – Top 6 Sourcing Best PracticesCLASS: Headline Recruiting – Part 4 of 5CLASS: Headline Recruiting – Part 2 of 5FREE WEBINAR: Search Passive Candidates on Google using Automated ToolsHow To Source…

  • What Recruiters Do in a Recession – Research!

    Jim Stroud
    22 Jan 2012 | 9:07 pm
    When you have difficult positions to fill, even though you may not be actively hiring now due to the recession, it’s the perfect time to think outside the box and be proactive. Suppose you continually need…let’s say…wireless engineers, and you currently employ ten, then take the time to informally interview them and gather information about their media habits. This can be of immeasurable help in the future when you are called upon to recruit other wireless engineers. Regardless of job category, it can pay to set up a mini focus group among your existing employees to…

  • 8 Ways to Spruce Up the Office

    Jim Stroud
    20 Jan 2012 | 10:08 am
    Many employees can relate to the boredom felt by characters in the “Dilbert” comic strip and “Office Space” movie, but the office doesn’t have to be mind-numbingly dull. Following these simple tips can help you liven up any office atmosphere: Bring the outdoors into the office. Some office workers rarely get to enjoy the great outdoors, so bring the outdoors in with some plants. If taking care of plants is too much hassle, you can even rent plants and leave the maintenance to someone else. Encourage cubicle-dwellers to personalize their space. Provide some tasteful guidelines…

  • 2012 Recruiting Trends: Companies Need To Develop A New Social Media Recruiting Strategy

    Jim Stroud
    19 Jan 2012 | 10:46 am
    In this age of e-recruitment, the focus of talent recruitment is increasingly shifting from online job boards to social media networks. In fact, considering the 2011 global statistics of active users, the adoption of social media as a “talent pool” is an obvious and necessary choice for recruiters. How Do Recruiters Use Social Media Sites As Talent Pools? In the past few years, recruiters’ interest in social media has dramatically increased. In a 2011 global HR Professionals survey by StepStone Solutions, it was noted that over 96% of recruiters believed that social media…

  • How To Effortlessly Track Your Google Resume Searches

    Jim Stroud
    17 Jan 2012 | 9:25 am
    How to effortlessly track your Google searches is the topic of this week’s episode. Its a GREAT method of keeping up with info overload without extra effort. Plus, Jim finds out a secret about his video editor and gives away an iTunes gift card / Amazon gift card to anyone who wants to share in the mystery. Tune in for more information. And last, but not least, find out one of Jim’s most guarded secrets. Just another day on the web for The Jim Stroud Show. Download the show notes here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/78493199 Related PostsCLASS: How to find free resumes on Google and…
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    HR to HR 2.0 and Human Capital (HCM)

  • Integrating Human Capital and Workforce Planning

    21 Jan 2012 | 4:22 am
         If you get IHRIM’s Workforce Solutions Review, do take a look at this article in the new December 2011 / January 2012 edition.  This is the exec summary: “The increasing use of strategic workforce planning is a welcome development in the HR profession. However, to enable effective people management, organizations need to undertake six different forms of planning, focusing respectively on human capital; talent; human resources; workforce; succession and HR processes. It is only by including a focus on human capital and talent that workforce planning can be truly…

  • Battle of the People Functions: Learning vs HR – the gloves come off! (then back on again)

    20 Jan 2012 | 6:14 am
         The other key event that I’ll be presenting at next week will be Learning Technologies (with Learning and Skills, and Learning without Frontiers) at the Olympia in London on Thursday. In the red corner, Paul Jagger at IBM will be arguing that L&D needs to break free of HR in order to take its rightful place at the heart of organisational strategy. In the blue corner, I’ll be arguing the reverse – that HR and L&D need to be brought further together to integrate both activities and outcomes and maximise the impacts of these (key themes from my chapter in the…

  • Unconferencing at the HR Directors Business Summit

    20 Jan 2012 | 1:10 am
         This is an (updated) article I wrote to support the HR Director’s Business Summit next week:   The next HR Directors Business Summit taking place in January 2012 will, for the first time, feature an unconference.  Since this format may be unfamiliar to many delegates, I have written this article to explain a little about the history of unconferencing, and what you can expect if you attend one of the unconference sessions at the Summit.   What is an Unconference? Unconferences, also commonly known as barcamps, are events a bit like a conference, but which…

  • Joining in at the HR Director’s Business Summit

    19 Jan 2012 | 4:37 pm
         Next week I’ll be chairing the second day of the HR Directors Business Summit in Birmingham, UK.  My key role will be running the plenary panel session at the end of the day, facilitating a ‘big conversation’ about some of the key themes from the conference (including the unconference which is forming part of it). However, we’ll also be looking for inputs over social media, so if you want to participate in the conference, and can’t be there in person, do follow the hashtag #hrevent, and join us on twitter from 3.10-4.00pm on Wednesday 25th. I look forward to…

  • Lumesse #Engage2012

    18 Jan 2012 | 9:30 am
         I'm at Lumesse's international customer conference in London today. The most interesting things for me have been: Listening to Josh Bersin - always great value even if I don't agree with everything he says - eg the development of Strategic HR into Integrated Talent Management (agreed) and then a business enablement function vs a separate function managing people (disagree). He's got research on his side, but there are always different ways of reading this! Catherine Berridge at Sara Lee talking about their Lumesse implementation, and the separation of their coffee company,…
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    Consultant Base Camp Blog

  • Figuring Out What to Charge For Your Consulting Services

    Justin Beller
    25 Jan 2012 | 9:00 pm
    One common question I get about consulting is what to charge for your services and how to charge. By that I mean your rate and a decision to charge by the hour or on a project basis. The rate you wish to charge is based on two fundamental things: First, how much money do you want to make? Be realistic about this, especially when starting out. The best way to figure out what you intend to charge for your services is to research what someone equivalent to your consulting services, working in a company as a full-time employee, would make in a yearly salary. For instance, the equivalent of my…

  • Getting Started in Consulting Made Easier with New E-Book

    Justin Beller
    9 Jan 2012 | 7:30 am
    Consultant Base Camp has published a new e-book, Practical Guide to Starting a Consulting Business, written by me, Justin Beller,to show would-be entrepreneurs how to become consultants. The e-book is actually in its 2nd Edition with updated and expanded information. Practical Guide to Starting a Consulting Businessis a step-by-step guide that outlines the process of starting a consulting business. The publication discusses basics such as identifying your start up costs, setting up an office and marketing tips for promoting your consulting services. New to this edition is information for…

  • Social Media Link Roundup – December 2011

    Justin Beller
    8 Jan 2012 | 11:00 am
    Here’s a look back to the most popular items we shared on Facebook and Twitter in the month of December. We talked about: Our LinkedIn (er..) link emerging again as a popular item… Selling without “selling”? Apparently, it can be done… The fear of selling. There’s a way to conquer and overcome it… An oldie, but a goodie, coming up again – when should you subcontract… Probably one of the reasons why these old posts we shared on social media popped up again, is we shared our top links posted to our Facebook and Twitter accounts for 2011 in…

  • Is There Such a Thing as an Original Idea?

    Justin Beller
    6 Jan 2012 | 7:30 am
    In my various conversations with colleagues, the issue of protecting intellectual property sometimes enters the discussion. Not long ago, in a project I was consulting on at PinPoint Performance Solutions, the client and I were trying to think of ways to guard the content that is being published. The client simply didn’t want someone to take the content after viewing it and adopting it as their own. In the world of consulting, I wonder if guarding your thoughts and ideas can really be done? Sure, we could encrypt the data, password protect it and place it on a server where a registered…

  • Most Popular Items Shared on Social Media in 2011

    Justin Beller
    22 Dec 2011 | 7:00 am
    Image by Christopher S. Penn via Flickr Throughout the year, Consultant Base Camp makes some interesting finds on the web that apply to back to the life of a freelancer or consultant. When we make these discoveries we like to share them with our followers on our social media accounts. Here were the top 5 items we shared in 2011: 25 Essential Entrepreneur Resources – Cut through the clutter with this nice list of 25 resources all entrepreneurs can use useful government sites to free web tools you can use to run your business. When Should You Subcontract – There gets to a point in your…
 
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    Bridging The Human Connection in a Virtual World

  • Yael Zofi speaking at ASTD TechKnowledge 2012

    Yael Zofi
    24 Jan 2012 | 8:46 am
    I’d like to share some exciting news.  This Friday, January 27th, I am speaking at ASTD‘s TechKnowledge™ 2012 conference in Las Vegas. Over 1,200 professionals are expected to attend 140 sessions which focus on some aspect of the design, delivery, management and strategy of technology and learning.   My “Implementation Strategy” session, called “A Manager’s Guide to Virtual Teams: Bringing Reality to Your VT” will run from 9:45 am – 11:15 am PST (12:45 pm – 2:15 pm EST).  Here’s what my session will cover: Participants will learn how to apply the four key…

  • 2011 Year-End Review: Our Developing Virtual World

    Yael Zofi
    13 Jan 2012 | 10:37 am
    Researched by Karina Koloch, Posted by AIM Strategies® Before we fully enter 2012, let’s reflect on the previous year’s events and share a few thoughts and resources that demonstrate how the virtual world has evolved. The past year continued to gain momentum on bridging the human connection in the virtual world. Virtual team arrangements continued to rise as more people work on virtual projects, attend virtual classes, learn in virtual settings, meet in virtual rooms and collaborate on a daily basis with their virtual teammates.   Some facts that illustrate how our evolving…

  • 5 Secrets to Engaging ‘Lost Riders’ on Your Virtual Teams

    Yael Zofi
    10 Jan 2012 | 10:29 am
    Join me this week for my second webcast with hr.com this Wednesday, January 11th at 11am EST.  Last October I shared highlights from my recent book, “A Manager’s Guide to Virtual Teams” during the Contract Workforce and Talent Exchange Virtual Conference. Please click here to view that session.   In this week’s session, I will unveil the “5 Secrets to Engaging “Lost Riders” on Your Virtual Teams” and elaborate on ‘Lost Riders’ (someone who may be lost, missing or just avoiding you).   As a Virtual Team member or manager, have you ever asked yourself…

  • Happy Holidays from Yael Zofi and AIM Strategies®!

    Yael Zofi
    20 Dec 2011 | 11:13 am
    The AIM Strategies® NY family wishes our extended business family a happy holiday and a joyous New Year. It has been our honor to collaborate with you and we appreciate your continued interest. We strive to make AIM Strategies® the consulting firm of choice for your human capital development and virtual team management needs.   May the holiday season and coming year bring you much joy and success.     Yael Sara Zofi and the 2011 AIM Team Susan Victor, Alex Bazirganian, Karina Koloch, Monnica Honrade, Yuko Takahashi, Brigitta Valas, Isaac Altmann    

  • The Hindu Article about Bridging The Human Connection in a Virtual World

    Yael Zofi
    12 Dec 2011 | 8:22 am
    My latest book was recently reviewed by Mr. Murali of The Hindu, the leading English language daily in India with circulation well over a million. Having written books, articles and short pieces before, it is always amazing to read how someone else interprets my views, understands underlying themes and appreciates key messages. Mr. Murali does a fantastic job of making the connection about the importance of the human connection in this brave new world. The underlying message of my book, A Manager’s Guide to Virtual Teams, is about the importance of human connection, collaboration and…
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    GT L&E Blog

  • NLRB Shows No Sign of Relenting in Scrutiny of Social Media Policies

    Laura Lawless Robertson
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:15 am
    For several months, we have been following the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) increasing scrutiny of employer social media and communications policies that, the agency feels, impair employees’ rights to complain about wages and working conditions – rights enjoyed by nearly all employees (not just unionized employees) under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).  [See NLRB Judge Issues First Ever Ruling in Social Media Line of Cases and NLRB Judge Rules that Employee’s Comments on Facebook Were Not Protected] Several prominent cases have attracted national attention,…

  • Indiana Set to Become 23rd Right-to-Work State

    Daniel Pasternak
    26 Jan 2012 | 1:07 pm
    On Wednesday, January 25, the Indiana House of Representatives passed legislation that would make Indiana the 23rd state to adopt a law that prohibits employers from forcing employees to become members of a union or to pay union dues. Despite strong opposition from House Democrats, which included numerous proposed amendments and intentionally absenting themselves to limit debate and block voting on the bill, the legislation is anticipated to be signed into law, as the Indiana House and Senate are Republican-controlled; Governor Mitch Daniels also is a Republican. Assuming it passes and is…

  • OSHA Alert – February 1 Deadline for OSHA 300-A

    Michael G. Murphy
    18 Jan 2012 | 10:14 am
    The OSHA Standard for Reporting and Recording Occupational Injuries and Illnesses, 29 C.F.R. § 1904, requires that certain employers track work related illnesses and injuries of their employees throughout the year, and post the summaries of those injuries from the previous year from February 1 to April 30. OSHA’s deadline for employers to post their annual summary of injuries and illnesses is February 1, 2012.  Click here to read the GT Alert.

  • Holiday Pay Revisted

    Ailie Murray
    6 Jan 2012 | 6:17 am
    A recent EAT decision has looked at the tricky area of a workers’ entitlement to holiday pay and the ability to carry over holiday from one year to the next. The case considered whether a worker who neither took, nor tried to take, holiday entitlement during a number of years’ absence was entitled to statutory holiday pay.  The EAT concluded he was not.  The consequences of this EAT decision are as follows:  a)          a worker has to give notice to their employer that they want to take holiday – otherwise they don’t get holiday or, it follows, holiday pay;…

  • President Obama makes three recess appointments to fill NLRB vacancies

    Justin Keith
    4 Jan 2012 | 4:04 pm
    Today, the White House announced the recess appointments of three nominees to fill vacancies at the NLRB. After Member Craig Becker’s recess appointment expired yesterday, the Board lost its quorum and was unable to issue decisions under the Supreme Court’s decision in New Process Steel. The Board has not had five Members since August 2010. We are monitoring developments at the Board and will report on them as they occur. The biographies of the new Board Members from the White House’s announcement are as follows: Sharon Block, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Congressional…
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    HR C-Suite

  • Battlefield HR: ‘You’re Wrong Because I Said So!” Dealing with the Workplace Tasmanian Devil

    Colonel (Ret) Terry Fobbs, PhD
    26 Jan 2012 | 9:39 pm
    For us in the traditional workplace setting, we spend the majority of our waking hours at work. For some, the workplace is a place to get by, punch the clock, earn the paycheck and head for home or someplace other than work. I wrote about this example in my Walking Dead article. For others the workplace is a place of true fulfillment and a joy to come to each day. Whether that day is fraught with challenges or runs smoothly, the organizational climate and culture lends itself to maximizing employee potential, recognition of accomplishments and the demonstration of consideration for all who…

  • California Law Report: Wage Theft

    Elizabeth Ison, J.D. M.S.
    25 Jan 2012 | 9:16 pm
    As the recent front page news about Nike’s one-million dollar settlement for not paying overtime to its Indonesian workers makes clear, there are employers who take regular short cuts in the wage context by not fully paying employees for all hours worked. Examples of these short cuts include situations where employers simply refuse to pay all wages for hours worked, pay below minimum wage, or intentionally misclassify employees as independent contractors.  Some of the worst examples occur against “undocumented workers, with the biggest dollar values being stolen from native born…

  • 4 Reasons to Hate Team-Building Workshops

    Martha Finney
    23 Jan 2012 | 12:10 pm
    As the creator of the CareerLandscapes team-building workshop (which is based on authentic, structured and safe personal storytelling), naturally I have to talk about it to prospective clients.  As much as I believe in the value of my own offering, I don’t love the marketing conversation. First of all, who likes marketing? Secondly, I don’t know a soul who enjoys team-building workshops. In fact, I’ve discovered that when I say “it’s a team-building workshop for people who hate team-building workshops,” I hear a sigh of relief and recognition.  How perverse is it to routinely…

  • The SWOT Analysis is for the Inexperienced

    Tresha Moreland
    20 Jan 2012 | 2:30 pm
    “The SWOT analysis is for the inexperienced” is what a MBA professor exclaimed in a business strategy course I took a couple years ago. I, along with my fellow students, was astonished to hear that statement. I mean, really. We all thought the SWOT analysis was a golden tool to help build strategy. We tried to convince the professor to change his mind on the SWOT tool. But the professor held firm on his statement. A SWOT analysis is a common strategic planning tool that identifies an organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Ultimately the goal of this tool is to…

  • 5 Top Sales Tips for Employee Engagement Success

    Martha Finney
    15 Jan 2012 | 1:30 pm
    Employee engagement is the name of the game as we dive into 2012. Talent retention is your priority. And maybe, if there must be great talent on the move, let them be someone else’s and you can snap them up.  (You know that carnival machine with blowing dollar bills? That’s what I’m picturing right now, only in this case those bills are Grade A resumes. And you’re the one wildly grabbing at them as they flutter by.)  You traditionally tap into your HR team and corporate communications geniuses to develop your employee engagement initiative.  It’s time to bring a new corporate…
 
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    HR Forum

  • Mark your compliance calendar: New NLRA poster to be posted by April 30, 2012

    The G.Neil blog team
    6 Jan 2012 | 3:31 pm
    Good news for all you professional procrastinators. Just when you were all geared up to order the new mandatory NLRA posting, the National Labor Relations Board has pushed back the effective date. Rather than January 31, 2012, the deadline for posting the employee rights notice is now April 30, 2012.The NLRB postponed the date at the request of the federal court in Washington, D.C., which is involved in a legal challenge regarding the rule. The court expects to resolve the legal issue in the months leading to this modified deadline.   

  • EEOC to get more involved with small businesses

    The G.Neil blog team
    20 Dec 2011 | 10:48 am
    Thanks to a new internal task force, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission will focus on expanding and refining outreach and technical assistance to small businesses. As stated in a mid-December announcement, the Small Business Task Force will “work to find ways in which the agency could better collaborate with the small business community to ensure compliance with federal antidiscrimination laws.”On its to-do list: => Determine how to utilize new technology to broaden outreach => Develop technical assistance and training initiatives => Identify specialized approaches to…

  • Making smarter dietary choices while at work

    The G.Neil blog team
    15 Dec 2011 | 3:56 pm
    Today's post comes from G.Neil's HR Library. The workplace can be a dietary disaster. You’re stressed; you’re short on time and your stomach is rumbling like a freight train. So what do you do? You scurry to the nearest breakroom or vending machine and grab a honey bun or salty chips to fill the void. In mere moments, you’ve consumed hundreds of calories, while depriving your body of the nutrients it needs most. Do this enough times and your health and waistline are going to suffer.Time to take control! With a little planning and smarter substitutions, you can satisfy your food cravings…

  • Breathing new life into your employee of the month program

    The G.Neil blog team
    13 Dec 2011 | 4:52 pm
    Does your company have an employee of the month program that is falling short of your expectations? Or worse yet, it appears to be a complete failure? Don’t give up on it! It may just need a few tweaks to get it back on track in 2012. First, think about what’s not working and why you’re struggling with running an employee of the month program.  Here are some suggestions on how to address some of the more common shortfalls:Not enough nominations each month -- Your program may be lacking the awareness, and constant reinforcement, it needs.  Display fun, promotional posters in…

  • Compliance reminder: NLRA posting deadline is January 31, 2012

    The G.Neil blog team
    5 Dec 2011 | 1:39 pm
    In less than two months, nearly all private-sector employers will be required to post a notice informing employees of their rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA).Reduce risk and ensure compliance with Poster Guard® Compliance Protection! Membership includes the updated federal poster and all mandatory state postings that are required for your business's compliance. You will also receive the convenience of automatic replacement shipments every time a mandatory change occurs affecting your business, for one full year!FAQs with the new NRLA posterQ: What if my business is…
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    Compensation Cafe

  • Who Owns HR?

    Ann Bares
    27 Jan 2012 | 11:52 am
    There are problems with communications about employee performance that become most evident when pay is involved.  This seems to be the most common theme in the articles posted on the Compensation Cafe in 2012.  Fingers are pointed in all directions, but the blame seems to be most properly shared widely. People want to be well compensated: being told that they are performing well is both part of their emotional compensation and a sign that their financial remuneration will continue to climb.  It also contributes to unit morale and creates a more pleasant situation for the supervisor, who is…

  • Implementation: Are you the 71%?

    Margaret O'Hanlon
    26 Jan 2012 | 7:58 am
    71% of the "World's Most Admired Companies" report that they are very effective at the implementation of their business strategy.  Only 47% of the less exalted companies can claim the same accomplishment. What does that mean to compensation and rewards? It probably means that more than half of the companies outside of the Fortune 500 often do not meet their business goals. It certainly means that they don't execute very well. Whether there is a correlation with their revenue - and their ability to fund salaries, bonuses and benefits - is another topic. But really? Pay…

  • That Comment Bubble Could Get You In Trouble

    Stephanie R. Thomas
    25 Jan 2012 | 5:47 am
    We all know about the importance of document creation and retention. But there are times when documentation is not a good thing. Consider the following (extreme) example: This comment bubble is age discrimination litigation waiting to happen... While most cases are not as extreme - and outwardly discriminatory - as the example shown here, there are hundreds of examples where a written remark in interview notes, records of conversations, performance evaluations or other documentation has created significant problems for employers. A remark on new hire paperwork that a candidate…

  • Yet Another Reason to Rethink a Bonus Culture

    Derek Irvine
    24 Jan 2012 | 7:19 am
    Already this year I’ve written a few posts (here, here and here) on why bonuses as a primary means of recognition reward fail. Now I’ve read some research featured by Dan Pink, in which he recounts experiments done with two groups. While taking a simple survey, one group was given a visual “cue” of seashells. The other was given a visual cue of money. The result: “Liu, Smeesters, and Vohs say that money cues can operate as threats and “produce contrarian reactions that are the opposite of the source’s intent.” Other research has shown that being reminded of money can make…

  • Don’t Tell Me I’m Great If I’m Not!

    Dan Walter-Performensation
    23 Jan 2012 | 7:53 am
    I have both friends and clients who have been struck by an unfortunate dilemma. I have a couple of friends who have been told one thing for months, and perhaps years, only to find out that the truth they knew wasn’t the “real” truth. I have clients who need to realign pay for people who have been told they were top performers when, in fact, they are less than adequate. In both cases it seems more like senior managers were trying to be nice, rather than sneaky. Why have confrontation when you can have everyone like you? It’s easier to be nice to everyone. Many managers have made this…
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    TriNet HR Blog

  • BI Delivers… Flip Flops?

    Gauthier Vasseur
    27 Jan 2012 | 1:30 pm
    Choosing an avatar for a blog is a complex task. You can show the coolest picture of yourself, or a very sophisticated one. You can opt for a esoteric, funny or trendy symbol. You can go for one that... Visit site for full story...

  • Coaching Non-Performers toward Superstar Status

    Omar Castrezana
    27 Jan 2012 | 7:00 am
    By Omar Castrezana, a member of TriNet’s Human Capital Services team Every CEO has dealt with the difficult decision regarding what to do with a non-productive employee. While we all hope... Visit site for full story...

  • How to start the year off with a bang…a SMART one!

    Jonathan Gold
    25 Jan 2012 | 10:00 am
    By Jonathan Gold and David Edelson, members of TriNet’s Human Capital Services Team As a new year begins, it is customary to reflect on our accomplishments over the past year and look forward to what... Visit site for full story...

  • TriNet’s Extreme Leadership Video Series Takes the Lead on Customer Service

    Michael Clinebell
    25 Jan 2012 | 7:30 am
    Great customer service is every customer’s expectation. Great service has become part and parcel of doing business as our society’s customer service culture has grown and matured. For company leaders... Visit site for full story...

  • When Employees Work Out of State: Sullivan v. Oracle Corporation

    Doug Riegelhuth
    23 Jan 2012 | 7:05 am
    By Doug Riegelhuth, TriNet attorney Remember the case Sullivan v. Oracle Corporation?  We referenced it in the first of this series of wage-and-hour blog posts.  At the time, the big news out of the... Visit site for full story...
 
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    Fresh Tracks» BLOG

  • Can Losers be Part of Winning Teams?

    Fresh Tracks Team Building
    18 Jan 2012 | 9:52 am
    In his superb book Good To Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t, Jim Collins states that a common factor in the highest performing businesses is the make up of their teams. He says the best leaders “get the right people on the bus, in the right seats and the wrong people off the bus.” So, if some of your team have had a run of bad luck or even failed in the past can they succeed as a team in the future? Conventional wisdom would suggest not but history tells a different story. In the midst of America’s Great Depression in the 1930s a bereaved father…

  • Will the Olympics Spoil Conferences?

    Fresh Tracks Team Building
    12 Jan 2012 | 9:19 am
    If your organisation holds a large annual conference, prepare yourself for a very different experience in 2012. A shortage of venues this summer might be just the thing to breathe new life into your next conference A combination of the Olympics, the Farnborough Air Show and other major events between June and September means that many of the larger hotels and conference centres already have bookings confirmed for this period and are unable to accept large bookings during the summer conference season of 2012. Whilst this might send a shiver down your conference organiser’s spine, they…

  • The end of email? 5 tips for reducing email overload

    Fresh Tracks Team Building
    4 Jan 2012 | 3:58 am
    James Murdoch must be wishing News International had stuck with printed memos as the Leveson enquiry threatens to pin the blame on him for the phone hacking scandal. Having a problem with too many emails? Some solutions to this will be part of our next event "How to be more Productive with Less Stress" on Friday 16th March 2012 The rest of us face the daily battle to select the important from the apparently urgent, as we try to spend time on the priorities that will drive our organisations forward and not fall into the trap of our Inbox becoming our To Do List. Some solutions to this will be…

  • Five Top Tips to Take your Team into 2012

    Fresh Tracks Team Building
    4 Jan 2012 | 3:04 am
    It’s not much fun waking up early and joining the crowds to return to work on a cold January morning. It takes more than chocolate to motivate a team – but it’s a start So here are five ideas to welcome and motivate your team at the start of the New Year: Restate the vision: the best teams share the same goals and values, so be sure your team knows where they are headed and why. Shout about the good news: don’t let the January blues get to your team, publicise all the good stuff that’s happening in your organisation, sector and city. Celebrate what’s good about 2012: the Olympics…

  • Resolve not to Regret – 5 Reasons to seize the day

    Fresh Tracks Team Building
    31 Dec 2011 | 5:38 am
    As we consider what resolutions we will make in 2012 it is sobering to reflect on the regrets of those that have gone before us. What will your new year's resolution be? Bronnie Ware was a palliative nurse who cared for many people in the final weeks of their life. Over time, she compiled a list of their most commonly held regrets. Interestingly in each case people don’t regret things they have done but in fact regret things they have not done. 1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. 2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard. 3. I wish…
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    HCX RSS

  • Are You at Risk? What Cybercriminals Do With Your Personal Data

    27 Jan 2012 | 2:15 pm
    When Zappos notified its customersthat their names, email addresses, billing and shipping addresses, phone numbers and the last four digits of their credit card numbers may have been exposed during a data breach earlier this month, the online shoe retailer emphasized that "critical credit card and other payment data was NOT affected or accessed." Read more...

  • Video conferencing mistakes make espionage easy, say researchers

    27 Jan 2012 | 2:00 am
    HD Moore finds thousands of exposed conference and board rooms where secrets aren't so secret Computerworld - Tens of thousands of video conferencing setups, including some in corporate meeting rooms where the most confidential information is discussed, are vulnerable to spying attacks, researchers said this week. Read more...

  • Justices Deny Review of Applebee's Tip Credit Ruling

    27 Jan 2012 | 2:00 am
    In May, my partner Staci reported on a ruling against Applebee's by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals, holding that tipped employees who spent more than 20 percent of their working time on nontipped activities like cleaning restrooms were entitled to the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour. Read more...

  • Good Cop – Bad Cop Method of Fee Collecting

    26 Jan 2012 | 3:45 pm
    Before I even start this brief article I should mention that my client relationships are generally rock solid. They realize the vast amount of effort and work that goes into each search and more than 95% of the time so appreciative that they gladly pay as soon as the invoice is received. Read more...

  • 15 worst Internet privacy scandals of all time

    26 Jan 2012 | 2:37 pm
    Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Sony named in our Online Privacy Hall of ShameIn honor of National Data Privacy Day this Saturday, Jan. 28, we've put together a list of the 15 worst Internet privacy scandals of all time. These high-profile privacy scandals involve many underlying technologies, from search to social media, e-mail to voice mail, mobile phones to Webcams to GPS. Read more...
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    ReThinkHR - (ReThink Human Resources)

  • The case for eliminating the Penny

    ReThinkHR.org | Leadership, Work, HR & Inspiration by @BenjaminMcCall
    27 Jan 2012 | 6:30 am
    Have any of you often found a number of pennies in your pocket and nothing to do or spend it on. I have as well. While a penny had a lot of use back in the 1960′s and previous, they do not have a as strong of a benefical monitary value today. As I wrote in my Thanksgiving rant on Black Friday, Hourly Wage and the Decline of Thanksgiving, I am all for inreasing the margin between opportunity costs and huge waste on our time and productivity in life and work. Now I know you may have seen this already. Dan Pink beat me to the punch when he posted his thoughts in December of 2011. But I…

  • Guess Who’s For Hire… Me

    ReThinkHR.org | Leadership, Work, HR & Inspiration by @BenjaminMcCall
    23 Jan 2012 | 10:44 pm
    Preparing to be Back in the saddle No one wants to find themselves in an odd situation. Again. You never want to be without a job. Again! I have written about lay-offs before and I have subtly referred to it as well as talked about my own experience. Approaching the end of 2009, I started this site as a result of company restructuring. I was notified on a Friday in 2009 so TGIF doesn’t mean quite the same thing to me anymore. Toward the 3rd quarter of 2010 I found a position that worked. Over the last 2 years it has been great. I have learned a lot. I was able to teach just as much.

  • Leadership Creates Momentum (Inspiring Video)

    ReThinkHR.org | Leadership, Work, HR & Inspiration by @BenjaminMcCall
    12 Jan 2012 | 9:48 am
    Whether or not you win this thing, you got to decide how you are going to walk out of here when it is all said and done! We all need momentum. It is in the moments, however brief or long, that we have an opportunity to create that momentum. It is not only others that help us “become”, but we as individuals that discover who we ‘are’ and ‘will be’. The following is a video promo from Versus, essentially a spot for  NBCsports. I love videos such as these because they usually pull out from inside of us that have often been dormant. We were never meant to be…
 
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    Go HR for Startups

  • Creating an Internship Program: Tips and Legal Regulations

    admin
    27 Jan 2012 | 10:19 am
    Interns are a great way to test-drive talent, increase productivity, and build perspective. Offering an internship program is also a wonderful way to give back to the community by offering experience and new skills to the developing workforce. Unfortunately some companies consider interns free or cheap labor, and that’s where we run into some problems. In this article I describe how I built an internship program so you can take some tips. I also outline information on laws concerning internships so you can avoid legal pitfalls. Building an Internship Program I had the opportunity to…

  • Form I-9: Verifying an Employee’s Eligibility to Work in the United States

    admin
    26 Jan 2012 | 1:05 pm
    Form I-9 is a mandatory federal form that you must have for each and every employee. First things first: the Department of Homeland Security distributes Form I-9. You can download and print one here. Completing Form I-9 I have audited many I-9 forms in my day, and let me tell you, nearly half are erroneous. It’s crazy how one simple form can be completed so inaccurately! The Form I-9 is very important, and incorrect or missing I-9 forms can result in fines up to $1,100 per employee. Here’s how you properly complete an I-9: Make sure only a black or blue pen is used. The employee…

  • Interviewing: Methods and Avoiding Liability

    admin
    25 Jan 2012 | 10:08 am
    Interviewing is a primary step in the hiring process and should not be done carelessly. This article describes different methods for interviewing and offers information on avoiding liability. Before the Interview Before you hold an in-person interview, make sure you pre-screen the candidate to maximize hiring efficiency. Interviewing Methods There are a few types of interviewing styles. They include: Stress Interviews; in which the candidate is tested on his or her ability to handle situations through use of sarcastic or argumentative behavior Informational Interviews; in which the…

  • Health Care Reform: The Affordable Care Act and What it Means for Employers

    admin
    24 Jan 2012 | 8:48 am
    The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) federal statute was signed into law in 2010. The Act calls for comprehensive health reforms that enhance the quality and access of health care. Starting in January 2014, PPACA will affect some employers. This article describes which employers will be impacted by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and what those employers will need to do. Which employers are affected? Employers with 50 or more employees will be affected by the Act. If you plan on growing your startup, listen up. Your company may have 50 or more employees in…

  • Navigating Payroll: What’s Involved in Compensation

    admin
    23 Jan 2012 | 4:07 pm
    Payroll is highly complicated. It is not limited to issuing employees their paychecks. Payroll functions also include compliance with federal and state regulations, periodic reporting, record retention, and security of confidential information. This article offers a few suggestions for navigating the process. Payroll Calculations Calculation of employee’s earnings include not just wages but also any additional compensation such as tips, bonuses, and overtime pay. In addition, employers must withhold federal, state, and local taxes as well as Social Security and Medicare taxes (employers…
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