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Archive
September 2011
Generation Y is taking over the world and the workplace—and employers who want to attract, engage and retain this huge workforce need to understand its preferences and communication styles, especially when it comes to workplace benefits.
The world of Human Resources is a weird place filled with contradictions, confusion, and cognitive dissonance. We tell our CHROs and SVPs to be more strategic and create a department of thought leadership and entrepreneurialism; however, we still ask our HR department to oversee personnel management, payroll, and compliance issues.
Good luck working in Human Resources in 2011. You have your work cut out for you.
OnPoint Consulting’s global study on virtual collaboration found that top performing virtual teams reported higher levels of trust than teams that were less successful, which means that trust is an essential ingredient for virtual team success.
Despite the importance of trust to virtual collaboration it can take much longer to build trust when working from a distance because team members rarely see one another and, quite often, have never met in person.
Men in cohort are 36% more likely than Boomers to be out-earned by their spousesDespite being the smallest U.S. generation (46 million), Generation X might be “the most critical generation of all” for employers, according to a study by the nonprofit Center for Work-Life Policy.
The U.S. is getting older. Americans are living longer, and there are more seniors in the workforce. That means more care-giving responsibilities for everyone.
SHRM’s research shows that members feel two key demographic trends are the growth in the number of workers with eldercare responsibilities, and those with both childcare and eldercare responsibilities.
Ten years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, HR professionals review lessons learned.
Ten years ago, Fred Alger Management Inc. was a highflying Wall Street investment company whose profitability was driven by the people who worked there. But when the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center collapsed in a devastating cloud of debris on Sept. 11, 2001, the core of Alger's staff, working on the 93rd floor in the doomed North Tower, perished.
A few months ago I had the opportunity to coffee shop with an executive who, ironically, had decided to resign from her job the very same morning of our meeting (see my post about her decision: Resignation Day). It was bold decision and beginning of an entirely new chapter in her professional journey. I didn’t know her then. I do now. I am proud to call Teresa my friend.
Earlier this year, a local teacher was suspended after her school learned about nasty comments on her personal blog concerning her students. And that story became national news. Now, word has it that the school is considering a social-media policy. Well, it's about time!
Social-media policy? We don't need no stinkin' policy! Then again...
Generation Y women (born 1978-1994) are concerned about the impact that family and child care decisions will have on their long-term careers, according to a report by the Business and Professional Women's (BPW) Foundation, Gen Y Women in the Workplace.
“In order for businesses to engage successfully with the workforce of tomorrow, it is imperative that they understand Gen Y—what challenges them, what inspires them, what motivates them,” said Deborah L. Frett, BPW Foundation CEO.
Poorly run, ineffective meetings frustrate everyone except the people running them.
Recently, I interviewed Robert Herbold, former chief operating officer of Microsoft and author of “What’s Holding You Back.” Bob’s quiet, gentlemanly tone shifted toward disdain when I brought up wasting time in poorly run meetings.
I loved hearing him explain, “Many meetings are useless religious ceremonies controlled by highly organized, meaningless ritual after meaningless ritual.”
Effective structure:
A new Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) poll released on July 14, 2011, appears to have some good news for college students and graduates who are looking to enter the job market. The poll of nearly 350 HR professionals throughout the United States revealed that the number of employers hiring undergraduates in 2011 jumped 11 percentage points, from 30 percent to 41 percent, when compared to the results of a similar poll conducted in 2010.
Several months ago, one of my favorite bloggers -- Charlie Judy, author of HR Fishbowl -- wrote a post titled "Trust? Screw that." It's a powerful read and one I suggest you take a look at.
When the Obama administration rolled out the much-anticipated American Jobs Act (S. 1549) on Sept. 12, 2011, the $447 billion proposal presented the classic good news/bad news scenario to HR professionals and their organizations.
Most companies keeping their salary budgets relatively tight
Reflecting uncertain economic conditions and a conservative cost management environment, U.S. employers are projecting moderate pay raises for employees in 2012. Employers do expect to fund their annual bonuses fully for workers in 2011, as corporate profits have increased, according to survey data from consultancy Towers Watson.
Noncash incentive rewards programs, through which employees earn gifts and merchandise for meeting performance-based milestones, help bolster performance and morale, according to a survey of U.S. office workers completed in July 2011.
The survey by Staples Advantage, the business-to-business division of Staples, Inc., queried incentive reward program participants and employees whose companies do not currently offer such programs. For employees that already participate in company-driven incentive programs, participants say the programs have made them
Despite the often-cited differences among today’s multigenerational workforce, they agree on one thing: working for a stable company and job security are the two most important aspects of the work environment, according to Workplace Redefined: Shifting Generational Attitudes During Economic Change.
With tens of thousands of military veterans expected to return home from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan during the next two years, the recruitment and retention of veterans for private-sector jobs is a growing concern. These men and women will return seeking work in urban, suburban and rural areas, and recruiters and hiring managers across the U.S. will review their applications.
Employers in the U.S. looking to recruit members of Generation Y for their workforces might want to consider their organizations’ social media strategies and incentives, according to survey findings from 8,088 university students from the Class of 2011.
For one, this generation—also known as Millennials and born from about 1980 through 2000— doesn’t mess around with job boards and employer postings.
Women who are members of Generation Y are more hesitant about mixing their work and social media lives than their male counterparts, according to a new global survey.
While that gap between male and female attitudes is consistent among those surveyed in the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada, women in the U.S. are far more open to mixing work and social media.
Over the past decade, the "best" U.S. companies have adapted their benefits offerings to meet changing employee needs, according to The Principal Financial Group's annual 10 Best Companies for Employee Financial Security competition.
With the cost of employee health care benefits expected to increase in 2012 at more than twice the rate of inflation, large U.S. employers are planning to have workers share more of the cost, according to a survey by the National Business Group on Health, a nonprofit association of 329 mostly large U.S. employers.
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is proud to congratulate the 50 winners of this year’s AARP Best Employers for Workers over 50 Award and the great HR teams behind them.
Workers might daydream about winning the big lottery and spending the rest of their lives on a tropical island or fishing in a mountain stream, but most Americans have a strong work ethic and derive satisfaction from what they do.
This blog is also posted on the Duane Morris Institute blog. Click here to read more from Jonathan.
Recently, your company has completed a large acquisition. Working more than 70 hours per week for almost 4 months, Doug was the acquisition’s point person.
When employees do not trust managers and leaders, various forms of organizational fallout are likely, including low engagement, high turnover and reduced innovation, experts say. And rebuilding trust isn’t easy.
Let’s imagine for a minute: You’re the new CEO of an established company. Its performance has been average, customer loyalty is falling and your best employees are leaving every week. The previous CEO subscribed to a command and control management style allowing for little flexibility and no room for mistakes. The employees lived under an ever-present fear of doing something wrong.
Most HR professionals are stuck in second gear in their use of human capital metrics. They need to rev up their use of numbers to analyze not just what the organization has done but also what it should do to improve.
Ann Rhoades discusses how rewards, recognition and employee engagement were key factors to success at JetBlue Airways and DoubleTree Hotels.
The end of summer, start of the school year, beginning of the football season and the celebration of employees everywhere—it all says September and Labor Day. If you observe its historical origins, this month would be marked by “a picnic, an abundance of cigars, and lager beer kegs.” That’s how the media of the day characterized one of the first Labor Day celebrations about 130 years ago.
When employee volunteers at Walgreens created a career development and training program, they generated inherent enthusiasm and support.
In January, Walgreens unveiled a career development and training site, but it was already a known entity to a significant portion of the employee base. A hundred employee volunteers designed the tool exactly to their liking. Let me tell you how the project came about.
How many things in life really make you happy?
Last Friday I was hosting the 3rd annual TalentNet Live Social Recruiting Conference at Pepsico's Frito-Lay campus. I was not just hosting and moderating, I was presenting in 3 different sessions. So I was busy. But Eugene Chu managed to get my attention.
For the third month in a row, the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) September Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) Report predicts a rise in layoffs and decline in hiring.
While 44 percent of manufacturers plan to hire in September, roughly 16 percent report they are cutting jobs.
SAN DIEGO—The work recruiters do post-recession is going to look much different than the work they did before the recession, and companies’ people strategies will be the key component to defining their success and profitability for the next 10 to 20 years.
More Layoffs, Slow Hiring Expected at Close of Third-Quarter 2011
Although recent survey findings by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) indicated that a majority (56 percent) of employers are tapping Internet social networking sites to search for potential job candidates, results released by SHRM from the second phase of the survey show that a much smaller number of businesses are using web-based resources, such as online search engines and social networking websites, to screen applicants.