Archive

Organizational silos are fueled by a cocktail of culture, attitude and burdensome process design, and can plague businesses ranging from Fortune 500 leaders to 10-man start-ups. They also create an environment in which sharing and collaborating for anything other than the interest of the silo is nearly impossible.

Online applications, screening assessments, difficult commutes and even employer bias are among the challenges that prevent disabled people from landing or keeping jobs, said participants in a recent online dialogue hosted by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL).

Sixty people weighed in during the Sept. 9-10, 2013, dialogue, which the department hosted to help the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) shape future policies on assisting the disabled in finding work.

While conducting leadership training not too long ago, an individual went on for several minutes about how he would never be a micromanager. In separate training with his staff, I found out that he, in fact was, a micromanager.
 
I often find this to be the case. Micromanager is such a negative word that no one wants to be defined that way. Yet it is the number one complaint from employees about their supervisors.

There’s a regular conversation in the human resources community about the profession being a strategic business partner. In thinking about becoming more strategic, it occurred to me there’s a difference between creating a strategy and being strategic.  Just because we can create a strategy doesn’t mean we can think strategically.

Facebook has always been a tough nut to crack for corporate recruiters. Although the world’s largest social media platform has approximately 1 billion accounts, most Facebook users aren’t actively searching for a new job on the site, and extracting accurate, reliable and even usable candidate-sourcing data has been difficult at best.

However, a new software application from Work4 Labs in San Francisco could be the Facebook nutcracker and candidate-sourcing tool that recruiters have been waiting for, according to the company's CEO, Stephane Le Viet.

Every day millions of employees drive to and from work or spend their workday driving. Sadly, about 2,000 workers die each year on the road while commuting or working. According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of work-related fatalities among people ages 16 to 24 in the United States.

On September 18, @weknownext chatted with special guest Kyle Lagunas (@KyleLagunas) about Too Many Hoops, Not Enough Hires.

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

My occupation allows me to swim in many waters. I work with Marketing, Sales and HR Leaders across the Globe. While we want to believe we live in a time of organizational alignment, we simply do not!! Marketing wants Big Data, Sales wants to see the ROI and HR wants to be accepted for their Leadership contributions. We say our mission, vision and values align us; but far too often they are swept under the rug in difference to our more immediate goals.

This week is truly a week I eagerly anticipate every year! That is because I know when September rolls around, so does the annual Ohio State HR Conference ! I get excited because it’s a chance to break away from the day-to-day and be with my peers. I know this sounds HR Nerdish but I’m unapologetic about it.

Recent studies show the time required to fill open jobs is on the rise—from 15 days in 2009 to 23 days today. Some attribute this trend to a widening skills gap, and others say economic uncertainty has instilled a fear of wasting company resources on a bad hire. While those are certainly contributing factors, there are more basic issues.

Though they are much less frequently used than H-1B visas, and in spite of calls by employers to make visas more readily available, the Department of Homeland Security recommended curtailing availability of L-1 visas in an August 2013 report.

The head of a Toronto-based nonprofit is encouraging Canadian companies to consider anonymous job applications to pave the way toward bias-free hiring.

The rules on employers prepopulating or filling out any part of Section 1 of Form I-9 before employees have completed it have generated a fair amount of confusion recently because Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials have, at times, made contradictory statements.

Adding to the muddle, the regulations and published agency guidance itself are not 100 percent clear on the issue of prepopulating Section 1.

Technology tools are helpful, but they aren’t a substitute for human creativity. I read this from the HR Bartender blog authored by Sharlyn Lauby, one of my favorite HR thought leaders. She was talking about the best way to innovate today! Read it here!
 
As she mentioned, the best way to innovate is to leverage the people and corporate culture that you already have in place.
 

My Work Sabbatical & Digital Detox
 
I recently did something that only the bravest men and women dare to do in our day and age. It was wild and unprecedented and took a great deal of self-control to see it through. I put down my smart phone, shut my laptop when I was finished working and passed along my iPad to my daughter to play Angry Birds for a little while. I, the sometimes queen of social media, took a social media sabbatical. What’s even crazier than the fact that I underwent a digital detox is the fact that I actually enjoyed it.
 

The cost of providing employee health care benefits at the largest U.S. employers is projected to increase 7 percent in 2014, according to survey results released Aug. 28, 2013, by the National Business Group on Health (NBGH), a nonprofit association of more than 265 large U.S. companies.

In response, the biggest corporations are continuing their shift to high-deductible consumer-directed plans and making other benefit design changes.

The most common misconception among employers about the reinstatement requirement of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) is that it is an absolute requirement, Joseph Lynett, an attorney at Jackson Lewis in White Plains, N.Y., told SHRM Online.

“Many employers believe that there are no limitations on the employee’s reinstatement right under the FMLA when, in fact, there are several,” he said.

Where have all the mentors gone? Long time passing.

Where have all the mentors gone?

Long time passing

Where have all the mentors gone?

Long time ago

Where have all the mentors gone?

Favored few have picked everyone

When will we every learn?

When will we ever learn?

Bob Filner. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Herman Cain. Samuel Kent. Suzanne Barr.

What do these five people have in common? All are (or were) powerful professionals or politicians whose reputations and careers were blemished by allegations that they sexually harassed others.

At a time when companies and government entities are pouring money and manpower into preventing sexual harassment, how can some leaders—despite being smart, educated and worldly—still not get it?

It is no secret that strategic leadership is critically important for today’s executives, and even more so for HR professionals charged with delivering HR services effectively and developing adaptive leaders who drive the business forward.

Much like how the Baby Boomers are reshaping retirement, the even bigger Millennial generation is causing organizations to rethink how work is accomplished. Employers can benefit by listening to Millennials, said Joe Weinlick, vice president of marketing at Beyond.com, a job board and career-advice website.