Archive

July 2013

On July 31, @weknownext chatted with special guest Curtis Midkiff (@SHRMSMG) about looking beyond the resume.

In case you missed it, here are all the great tweets from the chat...

 

July 31, 2013

Experts say companies that aren’t using social media marketing techniques to find passive talent are behind the curve.

When it comes to attracting talent through social media, thinking like a marketer can be beneficial - especially when it comes to recruiting those who are the best at what they do, and who are happily doing it in their current jobs.

News Updates
July 31, 2013
My friend Robin Schooling wrote a compelling piece a few days back. She conceptualized a two-headed HR department:
 
Head 1: Transactional -  which handles benefits, employee relations, HRIS, new hires/terminations/transfers and compliance.
 
Head 2: Transformational -  which has responsibility for performance management, talent management, learning and performance, leadership development and business strategy.
July 31, 2013

Yahoo’s controversial move in early 2013 to bar employees from telecommuting and Best Buy’s subsequently announced decision to limit its work-from-home options may have created the impression that telework is losing favor among U.S. employers.

News Updates
July 30, 2013

Whenever I talk with HR pros about social media and technology, there’s one question that regularly comes up.

“How do you find the time to get everything done?”

Technology isn’t supposed to make things more complex and time consuming. It’s supposed to help us do our jobs faster and more efficiently. One of the tools I use every day to help me stay on top of what’s happening in my industry and profession is an  RSS reader.

July 30, 2013

Want to convince managers to report harassment complaints swiftly?

Show them a video illustrating—in painful detail—what it’s like to sit through a deposition for a harassment lawsuit.

That’s among the training suggestions made by employment law experts now that the U.S. Supreme Court has weighed in on the circumstances under which an employee is a “supervisor” for purposes of vicarious employer liability under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

News Updates
July 29, 2013
In a recent Business Insider article, Jeff Haden put the pressure on interviewers, rather than the interviewee, to find the right candidate.  Employers often rely on the interviewee to do all the work – prepare, impress, and seal the deal.  Interviewers can turn the process around and proactively find the candidate that his or her organization needs by looking beyond just a resume.
 
July 26, 2013

A Golden Corral buffet chef’s embarrassing video—showing raw burgers prepped for the grill and stored next to an outside dumpster—went viral last week, raising this question: How do companies convince employees to use internal reporting channels instead of the Internet to expose unethical company practices?

News Updates
July 26, 2013
 
Most of us assumed President Obama’s re-election in November 2012 was the final out in the game of repealing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). After all, achieving universal health care reform was the president’s domestic policy home run, and the Obama Administration was not about to allow major changes to PPACA in its final four years in office.
 
But, (in keeping with the early baseball theme here) as the great American philosopher Yogi Berra said, “It ain’t over ‘till it’s over.”
 
July 25, 2013
PHILADELPHIA—When it comes to hiring top talent to lead organizations through both predictable and unforeseeable challenges in today’s rapidly evolving business world, choosing someone who is a cultural fit and aligned with organizational values is key, CEOs said recently. 
 
News Updates
July 25, 2013

On July 24, @weknownext chatted with special guest Robin Schooling (@RobinSchooling) about HR Philosophy and Finding the Right Fit.

In case you missed it, here are all the great tweets from the chat...

 

July 24, 2013

There are many good reasons for keeping thorough and up-to-date records of accidents and injuries that occur on the job. The primary reason, of course, is compliance with the law. But a thorough reporting and recordkeeping system can also provide you with valuable information concerning accident patterns and prevention.

News Updates
July 24, 2013
Tags:
"As a marketer, nothing is more important than building a strong, relevant brand. As a leader, nothing is more important than creating an energized, talented group of employees.
July 24, 2013
The majority of our days are spent with people in some form or fashion.  In the workplace, you encounter people in many situations and often with different outcomes.  Even though we spend the bulk of our time at work, we don’t really have “deep” relationships.
 
July 24, 2013
An increasing number of states have recently passed laws that prohibit employers from obtaining passwords to a job applicant’s social media accounts. Such legislation highlights companies’ interest in finding out as much as they can about potential and even current employees. 
 
News Updates
July 23, 2013
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Businesses of all shapes and sizes are currently experiencing changes in the makeup of their workforce – from alterations in the economic landscape, technological advances, globalization, and – for the first time in the U.S. - members of five generations working, living, buying, driving, and aging together with one another.  
 
July 23, 2013
Online job listings whether on your company careers page or on an online job board are an effective way to reach active job seekers while also providing insights into job specifics as well as your company’s culture and employment brand. These job announcements can serve as third function as they build links and drive very targeted and qualified job seeker traffic to your job openings online.
July 22, 2013
Since 2003, 25 states have introduced workplace bullying legislation that would allow workers to sue for harassment without requiring a showing of discrimination.
 
Critics contend that these laws would encourage frivolous lawsuits. Could they protect workers from bullying while not opening up employers to scores of meritless claims or imposing a civility code on the workplace?
 
News Updates
July 22, 2013

Just as each organization has its own operational philosophy, culture and strategic goals, so too must its HR team have a well-defined philosophy that outlines how they will carry out their responsibilities in alignment. Sadly, a number of HR departments have taken this to mean that they should develop buzzword -filled pieces of marketing collateral that can be blessed by their PR departments and placed on company websites.

July 19, 2013
Beyond the traditional benefits menu most employers offer—health, life and disability insurance, along with retirement savings vehicles—lies a landscape of alternative benefits that are as unique as the organizations offering them.
 
News Updates
July 19, 2013
North American business travelers who regularly cross the U.S.-Canadian border are seeking ways to expedite the process. Both U.S. and Canadian immigration experts suggest that human resource professionals take a more active role in corporate immigration matters.
 
News Updates
July 18, 2013

The Crowdsourced Performance Review
With The Crowdsourced Performance Review, you'll create a review system that gathers the feedback of many, so you can make better, more informed decisions. (More)

July 17, 2013
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On July 17, @weknownext chatted with special guest Jennie Walker (@luminaryglobal1) about Global Fusion and Workforce Inclusion.

In case you missed it, here are all the great tweets from the chat...

 

July 17, 2013
According to this recent survey from CareerBuilder.com, the number of hiring managers who are reporting that a job candidate's social media indiscretions have cost them a position is up nearly 10%, while the overall use social media to vet candidates continues to grow. 
 
July 17, 2013
The increasing number of international assignments requires professionals who are skilled in global operations; yet a recent survey found that as many as two in five managers fail when they’re sent abroad. 
 
Only 58 percent of overseas assignments are judged successful, according to the 202 CEOs and senior HR professionals surveyed by workforce solutions provider Right Management.
 
News Updates
July 17, 2013
Analytics in the business world serve many purposes, and a recent survey by the American Management Association uncovered the top five reasons analytical skills are necessary today.
 
Which of the following create the greatest need for analytical skills in your organization?
  1. Accountability for results 67.0%
  2. Competitive environment 61.6%
  3. Complexity of business environment 52.6%
July 16, 2013
During the next 15 years the most skilled and senior employees at many companies will begin retiring in large numbers. Meanwhile, those same companies can’t expect their younger workers—especially talented Millennials—to stick around much longer than 36 months, if that.
 
Despite this coming double whammy, many companies have yet to reshape their office environments so they can recruit and retain the type of workers who can perform at the level that company executives have come to expect. 
 
News Updates
July 16, 2013
Countless leadership books, training materials, and even blogs tell managers and executives that in addition to providing actionable feedback to employees, they themselves have to be able to take feedback constructively. 
 
What if the threat of authority makes it too hard for subordinates to actually give feedback up the chain of command, though? 
 
July 15, 2013
While it’s certainly not going to be as hot as the summer temperatures, the hiring rate in July is set to increase significantly in the service sector and will rise slightly in manufacturing compared with a year ago, according to the latest Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey released July 3, 2013, by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
 
News Updates
July 12, 2013
In July, the hiring rate will rise slightly in manufacturing and increase significantly in the service sector compared with a year ago, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) 
News Updates
July 12, 2013

Dr. Marie Harper is the Program Director for Management at American Public University.

News Updates
July 12, 2013
PHILADELPHIA—Is there a secret sauce to being a leader? 
 
While CEOs and others at a recent conference agreed there’s not one perfect leadership style, they also said one of the hallmarks is being adaptive.
 
News Updates
July 12, 2013
The labor market has made gradual progress in the past couple of years. When 2012 came to a close, the nation’s unemployment rate stood at 7.8 percent , nearly a full percentage point lower than a year earlier, according to a recent report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The number of “job losers,” or those who were unemployed because they lost their job through layoffs, decreased in 2012 for the third consecutive year, according to BLS.
 
July 12, 2013

As organizations have become more welcoming and, in many cases, keenly interested in actively recruiting diverse employees there is much discussion about what constitutes an inclusive workplace.  This is a challenge for many organizations at the local and national levels. 

When organizations go global, or have an international mix of diverse employees at a single location, inclusion takes on added complexity through additional layers of cultural considerations such as language, local cultural norms, and sometimes greater divides in socio-economic privileges among employees. 

July 11, 2013
Nobody likes the Whiner, the person at the office who complains about everything and hurts workplace morale. Then there’s the Know-It-All, the annoying co-worker who weighs in on seemingly everything with an expert opinion. Just as maddening is the Super-Agreeable employee, the one who says yes to everything but doesn’t always follow through.
 
News Updates
July 11, 2013
OK, I realize I am a little late to the party on the SHRM 13 recap.  For the weeks leading up to, and the weeks after, I have learned a lot about empathy and understanding what my employees may be going through from time to time in their personal lives. I will save the empathy and stress management for another post and focus on the SHRM national conference. As a rare conference attendee, my experience in Chicago was one of the more rewarding, humbling experiences I’ve had in a while. 
 
July 11, 2013

On July 10, @weknownext chatted with special guest @BryanChaney about how HR can do LinkedIn better.

In case you missed it, here are all the great tweets from the chat...

 

July 10, 2013
There is a notable gender difference in terms of how the stress of personal problems contributes to the rates of reported disciplinary action addressing productivity, absenteeism and work quality, with men more than twice as likely as women to be subject to formal disciplinary action due to these issues (9.8 percent vs. 4.4 percent).
News Updates
July 10, 2013
Sex discrimination allegations have begun to morph from strip clubs to boys' clubs.  Although less explicit than strip clubs, the boys' clubs can be just as exclusionary.
 
What is a boys' club?  It is an invisible affinity group of men, predominantly white, who effectively control their organizations and connections to which may be critical in terms of compensation and advancement.
 
July 10, 2013
The Obama administration caught the U.S. business community by surprise when it announced a one-year delay, until Jan. 1, 2015, in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA or ACA) mandate that employers with 50 or more full-time-equivalent employees provide health care coverage to their full-time employees (those working on average 30 or more hours per week) or pay steep penalties.
 
News Updates
July 9, 2013

There are many professions in which having a LinkedIn profile is advantageous for networking, professional development, personal branding and career management.  HR is one of them.

While many HR professionals currently have LinkedIn profiles, they may not be optimizing their presence or taking advantage of all the opportunities that the platform offers.

July 9, 2013
Tony Tyree jumped from companies in the United States to the Asia Pacific region to get the experience needed to climb the corporate ladder in the global food industry.
 
Tyree, a former vice president at Kraft Foods and now a general manager at Fonterra, an international dairy firmed based in New Zealand, said he wouldn’t hesitate to take an assignment in another part of the world.
 
News Updates
July 9, 2013
Women are running away from science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) jobs in droves. According to STEMconnector, a web site that tracks statistics on STEM field training and jobs in the U.S., male students are much more likely than female students to pursue these jobs, and the gap is expanding at an alarming rate.
 
Female interest in the science category of STEM jobs, which had been rising for years, has apparently peaked. Interest in math-related careers is dropping sharply among young women. 
 
July 9, 2013
America's youngest workers are almost twice as likely as Baby Boomers to buy personal items with a company credit card, almost three times as likely to blog or tweet something negative about their company, and about two and a half times as likely to take company software home for their own use, according to a new study.
 
For Generational Differences in Workplace Ethics, the Arlington, Va.-based Ethics Resource Center interviewed 4,800 working adults, by phone or online, from Sept. 15 to 29, 2011. It released the results June 24, 2013.  
News Updates
July 8, 2013

Last week SHRM hosted more than 15,000 members in Chicago, and The SHRMStore offered more than 900 items to choose from. Here are the top 10 best-sellers.

July 8, 2013
CHICAGO--What keeps people from realizing their full potential?
 
Doubt. Lack of confidence. Lack of preparation and consistently repeating the same mistakes.
 
News Updates
July 5, 2013
Many managers express frustration about not being included in strategic planning activities. They want to do more than participate as ancillary tacticians. These managers don’t realize that the reason they’re not called in to strategize is because they don’t demonstrate their ability to do so on a daily basis. To change this, managers must adjust how they view their roles.
 
News Updates
July 4, 2013
I came across this article about Chicago based Home Run Inn and how this family owned business is working towards making a seamless transition when it is time for the next generation to take over. I applaud the pizza business as so many family owned businesses really do not think this far ahead.
 
July 3, 2013
The recession cost men more jobs than it did women, and more women than men found new jobs during the recovery. Yet, working women remain more economically vulnerable than men and are nearly twice as likely to have high or overwhelming financial stress, concluded two organizations that study the workplace.
News Updates
July 3, 2013
CHICAGO--The numbers are startling: 40 percent of executives fail in new positions in the first 18 months.
 
That adds up to considerable financial costs for a company that must search for and retrain someone else—not to mention what it costs the organization in terms of credibility, consistency and continuity.
News Updates
July 2, 2013
Social Media has had a profound impact on the field of recruiting. Employment branding, talent attraction, and social sourcing have become key tools for talent leaders to deploy to help their organizations compete.
 
At NPR, we’ve put social media at the forefront of our talent strategy. The strategy has paid off. Here are some of the results:
 
  • We’ve saved over $100k/year in job postings and recruitment marketing
  • LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are all in our top 10 sources of applicants and hires
July 2, 2013
Acquisitions mean big changes for numerous stakeholders. The implications for a target company’s total rewards structure can be profound, requiring the buyer to tweak metrics, replace certain awards and often realign the performance management framework to support an integrated post-acquisition rewards structure.
 
News Updates
July 1, 2013
Strategy has to be one of the most misused words in business. The word is tossed around boardrooms and customer meetings with reckless abandon. You’ve likely heard this: “Our strategy is to become the biggest and the best.” Deciding to become a global corporation, to diversify, or to increase sales by x dollars per annum is not strategy. Such aspirations are goals or objectives. Articulating how to become the biggest and the best is the strategy. That strategy can be good or bad.
July 1, 2013