SHRM is shining a spotlight on some amazing young HR professionals. Meet SHRM Young Professional Mitchell Aasted.
Q. What do you see as being the biggest challenge for HR in the next 10 years?
SHRM is shining a spotlight on some amazing young HR professionals. Meet SHRM Young Professional Mitchell Aasted.
Q. What do you see as being the biggest challenge for HR in the next 10 years?
Employers may require salaried exempt employees to use accrued vacation or paid time off (PTO) for partial day absences in any increment, including increments of less than four hours, without violating the salary basis requirements for exempt status under California wage and hour law, the California Court of Appeal ruled in Rhea v. General Atomics. This puts to rest a lengthy dispute on this issue and is welcome news for many employers in California that previously adopted policies requiring employees to use vacation/PTO time for any partial day absences of any length.
An Aug. 4, 2014, settlement between the U.S. Department of Labor and LinkedIn illustrates that not training employees and managers on Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requirements may prove much costlier than providing the training in the first place.
LinkedIn agreed to pay $3.35 million in overtime back wages and $2.51 million in liquidated damages to 359 employees working at company branches in California, Illinois, Nebraska and New York. The Wage and Hour Division found that the company was in violation of overtime and record-keeping provisions of the FLSA.
Many of my posts recently have focused on the concept of Owners versus Renters in the workplace. It is helpful to understand how to differentiate between one and the other while they are at work, but it would be even more helpful to b
On August 27, @weknownext chatted with Danyette Foulks-Young (@Foulksd), about "What Will Recruiting Look Like in 2024?"
In case you missed it, here are all the great tweets from the chat:
By Lisa Horn (@SHRMLobbystLisa), Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Director of Congressional Affairs and SHRM’s Workplace Flexibility Initiative
Electronic discovery, the collection and production of electronic documents in litigation, is a scary thing to many lawyers. Some are so scared by it, in fact, that they just deny that it exists and continue to produce only hard-copy documents. Of course, that is a terrible idea. And not at all in compliance with the rules of procedure. But, alas, it is what it is.
I am a dad. It has to be the greatest accomplishment I’ve ever had, or will ever have. My kids are on the verge of being adults now so they are doing more and more on their own. What I’m finding is how easy it is to take a small amount of information and blow it out of proportion if you are missing context. I’m seeing this both from them spreading their wings and having to make bigger life decisions as well as my wife and I letting them fly more. We don’t always have context around what their decisions are, and it’s hard not to want to step in and “fix” things.
In July 2014, Littler published its third annual Executive Employer Survey, which examined how the nation’s largest employers are being affected by current economic conditions and regulatory changes.
Not surprisingly, the survey found an increase in the number of employers whose employees are so disenchanted and disengaged that they’re suing their companies more aggressively, primarily for discrimination and harassment.
SHRM is shining a spotlight on some amazing young HR professionals! Meet SHRM Young Professional Mario Martinucci.
Q. What inspires you as an HR professional?
A. What inspires me as an HR professional is the opportunity to work with a lot of different and talented people at all levels of the organization. At the end of the day, if I know I made a difference for someone I can go home happy.
Q. What book are you reading right now?
Don’t feel trusted and empowered by your boss? Expected to work or answer e-mails during a sick day or vacation or after work hours? These are among the top two annoyances most likely to push an employee toward the nearest exit, according to findings from an online survey that Utah-based BambooHR conducted June 2014 with 1,034 full-time U.S.
Someone once said that everything stops during a takeover, as people speculate on the direction of the fall of the axe. The sudden techtonic shift reminds us that companies are put together as human constructs and can quickly be remade. In this blog, I want to focus on what the HR team in particular can do to prepare.
HR Help urgently!
Much like the life of movie character Ryan Bingham, a corporate downsizer played by George Clooney, the future of talent acquisition is up in the air.
Do workers approach career transitions differently based on their age? For instance, do employees in their 30s experience transitions more easily than employees in their 50s?
There’s little doubt that each generation has certain strengths—and faces specific challenges—when it comes to a career transition. For HR professionals, it’s important to note how generational differences affect these transitions, and to coach and guide workers to understand one another so they can work together productively.
Baby Boomers, or ‘The Encore Generation’
A Chicago company recently made national headlines for installing a system that monitors employee bathroom breaks. If you haven’t seen the story, you can check it out here.
A recent survey of the federal government’s chief human capital officers (CHCOs) pointed to an attitude shift among the top-level public-sector HR executives who report that they are now embracing change rather than merely preparing for its impact.
A recent California Supreme Court decision significantly impacts pay practices for commissioned sales employees. On July 14, 2014, the state Supreme Court ruled in Peabody v. Time Warner Cable Inc. that an employer may not attribute commission wages paid in one pay period to other pay periods in order to meet minimum wage requirements. This decision affects California employees who have been classified as exempt from overtime wages because their earnings exceed one and one-half times the minimum wage and whose commissions account for more than one-half of their compensation.
I speak with overwhelmed job seekers every week who can't seem to gain any traction in their job search. They tell me, "I'm applying for just about anything that will pay me". This, my friends, will get you nowhere. My suggestion to the job seeker is to stop the scatter-shooting and laser focus your search.
On August 13, @weknownext chatted with Craig Fisher (@Fishdogs), about "Job Seekers Up Ag
Q: When is an employee who is not pregnant and not trying to become pregnant still covered under the Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA)? A: When she recently gave birth. |
An increasing number of workers are considering the availability of a company stock plan when evaluating a new job opportunity, according to new research by Fidelity Investments.
When asked about the importance of company stock plans as part of their compensation and benefits package:
Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.
But, if you send FMLA paperwork to an employee by first class mail, then you're asking for trouble.
I'll show you why after the jump...
* * *
Did you read the lede and think to yourself, "FMLA notice? You mean there's a notice? You mean, like in our handbook right?"
Forget the idea that Millennials would rather have flexible hours than a good salary. A recent survey by Business Insider and News to Live By found that pay came first when U.S. adults ages 18 to 36 were asked what matters most to them in a job, followed by meaningful work and a positive relationship with co-workers.
Flexibility was important, but it trailed in fourth place.
Job seekers are up against multiple hurdles these days as they look for meaningful work. While poorly written job descriptions and malfunctioning career sites hinder the job search, they now must face an even higher hurdle -- the algorithm.
Most job search websites have increased the use of software that uses complex algorithms to screen and sort resumes by searching for keywords that match specific skill sets and experience. Other programs, like LinkedIn’s “Recruiter,” can help talent managers find passive candidates by searching for a specific location, title or skill.
Recent findings from the Partnership for Public Service are raising cautionary flags when it comes to the government employment picture:
HR professionals encouraged to evolve, anticipate and help grow leadership
How do you tell if your current leadership development and talent management strategies will improve your bottom line over the next three years?
By looking to the past and anticipating what’s next.
So says a new study from consulting firm Development Dimensions International (DDI) and The Conference Board, which includes survey responses from more than 16,000 respondents consisting of business leaders and global human resource executives.
To have any hope of succeeding as a manager, you need to get your people all in.
Whether you manage the smallest of teams or a multi-continent organization, you are the owner of a work culture—congratulations—and few things will have a bigger impact on your performance than getting your people to buy into your ideas and your cause and to believe what they do matters.
How to handle toxic personalities at work.
You won’t find it on a resume, but it’s one of the most important factors a worker brings to the job: personality.
Some personality types are so toxic they can poison everyone around them.
Dress codes in the workplace are written (or more often unwritten) rules that dictate what we should and should not wear to work. With summer coming to a close, many organizations will start to worry less about their dress code policies.
Dress codes may be put in place to maintain professionalism, identify employees, and/or for safety purposes. But do cooler temps ALWAYS mean there should be no enforcement of policy or cause for concern?
Many employers ask job applicants to check a "box" on a job application to disclose criminal history information. As of Aug. 13, 2014, San Francisco will "ban the box" for private and public employers. The city's board of supervisors earlier this year passed the Fair Chance Ordinance (FCO), which prohibits employers from inquiring into an applicant's criminal history in an employment application. Employers are also required to consider specific factors when assessing a candidate's criminal history and before taking action based on an applicant's criminal history.
Should leaders tell employees they have high potential?
There are pros and cons to doing so.
The advantages to telling select employees that they have high potential include:
Much like scientists who classify living and fossil organisms into domain, kingdom, class, family, genus and species, we in HR often do the same:
On August 13, @weknownext chatted with Steve Boese (@SteveBoese), about "Navigating the Next Generation of HR Technology."
In case you missed it, here are all the great tweets from the chat:
Just about everyone agrees that the U.S. job training system has functioned poorly for years, bogged down by red tape and a confusing array of programs. Millions of jobs remain unfilled, while millions of Americans cannot find work. Too often, educators and employers talk past one another when seeking solutions.
But HR and training professionals have a new tool with which to address the skills gap: It’s the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), which became law on July 22, 2014. It replaces the antiquated Workforce Investment Act.
A strong performance by the U.S. economy in the second quarter of 2014 seems to be intensifying employer demand for finding and hiring the best salespeople possible. And this increased competition for hiring the top-level talent is putting pressure on recruiters and human resource managers to re-examine their own sales techniques.
I recently had someone ask me this question: If an employee gets a bad performance review and doesn't agree with it, is there value in going to HR to complain?
First off, let me say that I’m a firm believer than an employee’s performance appraisal should not be a shock to them. I don’t know if, in this case, the employee expected a poor performance review or if this was a surprise. However, in my experience, when an employee came to human resources to complain about their performance review, it was usually because their review was a surprise to them. Enough said.
In August, hiring rates will increase slightly in the manufacturing and service sectors compared with a year ago, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey for August 2014.
For quite some time, contingent staffing was primarily a gap-filler for many employers: Earn a new contract, hire “x” amount of people to do the job and cut the cord when the work was finished.
Median pay for chief executive officers at the largest American companies increased from $9.3 million in 2012 to $10.1 million in 2013, largely due to a vigorous U.S. stock market, according to consultancy Equilar Inc.’s 2014 CEO Pay Strategies Report. However, stock options are making up less of senior leaders’ total compensation, researchers found.
No matter how old I am, I always feel like the fall is “back to school.” As wonderful as the summer may be, the fall is a “fresh start,” a new semester of life.
So I thought this summer about what as leaders we can do to be more effective next semester in terms of our interactions with our employees. It’s not working harder or smarter. It is being more human.
I have reviewed the summer engagement surveys of many clients. Even in companies that have great results, many employees feel that the company does not care about them.
The market for HR Technology solutions has probably never been more dynamic, interesting, and potentially confusing to navigate for the HR leader and practitioner. But HR leaders know that applying the right technology solution to your most pressing organizational and workforce challenges can make the difference in elevating HR from administrative support function to trusted strategic business partner. As technology solutions become more powerful and complex, organizations can sometimes implement technology that doesn't live up to all the promises made during the sales process.
Giving workers freedom with hours inspires productivity, but can lead to burnout.
Adopting a hands-off policy about when and where employees work may be the best way to ensure they’re productive.
That’s the conclusion from new research by University of Pennsylvania professor Alexandra Michel, whose 12-year study of investment bankers found that highly educated employees are more inspired, and work longer hours, when they have autonomy over their schedules.
It seems as if we learn of a new scientific or technological breakthrough every day—something that allows us to do more, faster and with greater ease. But for HR professionals, each innovation warrants tough questions: What does it mean for my company and the people whose jobs depend on the legacy processes? And what does it mean for our profession?
On August 6, @weknownext chatted with Joe Gerstandt (@joegerstandt), about "What's Next for Diversity and Inclusion?"
In case you missed it, here are all the great tweets from the chat:
In my mind, Ocean’s 11 is one of the coolest movies ever, with great lines, and an amazing cast. It also breaks my rule that remakes aren’t as good as the original, because this one blows the Rat Pack’s version out of the water. Here’s what IMDB has to say:
Rejecting a call to place a proposed minimum wage hike on the November ballot as a referendum item, on July 14,2014, the San Diego City Council approved an ordinance raising the city’s minimum wage to $11.50 per hour by 2017.
The wage increase will be phased in over a three-year period. In January 2015, the minimum wage will increase to $9.75; in January 2016 it will increase to $10.50; and in January 2017 it will increase to $11.50. Thereafter, the minimum wage will increase on an annual basis as determined by a Consumer Price Index.
ORLANDO, FLA.--Let’s say you work at “The Happiest Place on Earth.” What’s your two-word employee mission?
Well, predictably, it’s “create happiness.” And while it may sound simple, creating an environment where more than 60,000 workers strive to do that each and every day is nothing short of a Herculean task for Walt Disney World’s HR department. It requires teaching employees to go above and beyond, to prepare for the unexpected, to lead by example, and to always—always—make it look fun.
Analytics in the business world serve many purposes, and a survey by the American Management Association uncovered the top five reasons business leaders say analytical skills are necessary today.
Which of the following create the greatest need for analytical skills in your organization?
NEW YORK—Organizations are increasingly considering using holistic, data-driven predictive analytics and automation to help uncover cybersecurity threats, particularly as criminals evolve hacking techniques and attack more quickly.
In the past year I have encountered thousands of HR professionals. From being a fellow attendee at a conference, to leading and planning a conference with over 500 HR professionals as attendees to speaking to placing HR professionals, I literally talk to fellow HR pro’s every day.
In July, Harvard Business Review featured a blog post by Ram Charan titled, It's Time to Split HR. SHRM CEO, Hank Jackson, responded to the post with the following comment:
Dear Mr. Charan,
I have read several of your books and have been impressed with your analysis of the drivers of board and business success as it relates to human resources.
There is a simple answer to that question, really.
The candidates run the current labor market, at least for large, (and growing) swath of managerial, professional, and technical roles.
Check out this week's Chart of the Day, a look at how recruiters see the labor market - candidate driven or employer driven, courtesy of the MRI Network's latest recruiter sentiment study, (as always, some pithy commentary from me after the chart)
Feelings take precedence in decision-making for senior business leaders, according to a study on emotions and business. Researchers also discovered that executives believe values, company culture and reputation are just as important as big data when it comes to making decisions.
Millennials, those born between 1981 and 2000, face many challenges as young professionals, including negative stereotypes and difficulty finding a job after graduation. They also are considered to be the most financially stressed age group.
Best performers emphasize stock options, targeted performance measures.
High-performing companies design their executive compensation programs differently from many other organizations, according to a new study by consultancy Towers Watson.
We've all grown tired of generational stereotypes in the workplace. Baby Boomers are giving presentations on how to manage Millennials, Millennials are sick of being picked on, and Generation X has all but vanished. I recently read an article sighting the behavioral traits of Generation Z (now the Millennials have someone to pick on). It's all a stupid attempt to simplify human beings into manageable categories to limit our desire to transcend simplicity. People are not simple!
Diversity and Inclusion. We’ve seen it grow and thrive in our organizations to the point that it’s no longer an effort but an involuntary response. Promoting a diverse and inclusive workplace contributes to healthier cultures and increased achievement for organizations. It has evolved from understanding and embracing differences (intentions) to leveraging those differences to promote innovation (outcomes). A diverse workforce drives the success of our organizations.
In a move that could have a dramatic impact on numerous businesses across the country, National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Richard Griffin announced on July 29, 2014, that his office intends to name a parent franchisor as a respondent in cases involving alleged unfair labor practices committed by franchisees, if the parties are unable to reach a settlement. According to the General Counsel, the agency is investigating the various charges
California was a pioneer when it adopted the country’s first and—to date—only state-level heat illness prevention standard in 2005. Now the state’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, known as Cal/OSHA, has proposed significant revisions to the regulations, potentially to be effective by 2015, if finalized.
The proposed revisions are in draft form and have been submitted to the Cal/OSHA Standards Board. If the board approves the proposal, formal rulemaking, including a public comment period, would begin.