HR is continuing to make inroads in the leadership arena, but work is still needed. There is a renewed awareness that HR is a critical function of organizations. Boards are focusing on HR skills and holding CEOs accountable to be more aligned with their HR functions. CFOs have long been connected to HR, and that connection remains in 2016.
Archive
April 2016
In about two months, individuals will be heading to Washington, D.C. to attend the 2016 SHRM Annual Conference. This will be my 16th SHRM Annual Conference, and, based on my years of experience, here are the things vendors should NOT be doing as they prepare for the big event and the thousands attending:
1. Do NOT treat students with disrespect
In the recent "Live with Kelly and Michael" controversy, organizational psychologist and #SHRM16 Blogger Dr. Michael "Woody" Woodard says the old adage "Nothing personal, it's just business" does not ring true. He joins Lunch Break with Wall Street Journal's Tanya Rivero and discusses how any solid relationship is founded in respect, which must begin with open communication.
As part of our coverage of the 2016 SHRM Annual Conference, each of the official bloggers is conducting a Q&A with one of the session speakers. The speaker I chose was Catherine Mattice of Civility Partners. Her session, “The Real World: Case Studies of Real Organizations Who Solved Their Workplace Bullying Problems” caught my eye for several reasons. First, I’m an HR practitioner, so any session that focuses on solutions to real world problems interests me. Second, workplace bullying is a topic that I believe is gaining more traction and attention.
Today, over 37 million workers in over 3.5 million offices across the country are taking part in Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day. Founded by Gloria Steinem, the program was originally created in response to research that found many girls lacked confidence and were dropping out of school by the eighth grade.
In 2004, there were significant changes to the parts of the FLSA that addressed overtime exemptions and 12 years later, we’re going to see some more changes…probably as soon as May 2016!
What will these changes look like?
The rule is not final, so we don’t know for sure yet; but it is likely that the changes will:
On April 27, @shrmnextchat chatted with Michael Jacobson @HRTerminator of XpertHR about HR's Role in Mergers and Acquisitions.
In case you missed this informative chat, you can read all the tweets here:
There have been many great articles written about feedback. They cover how to give it, when to give it, what to call it. I’ve seen feedback referred to as guidance, reflection, coaching, or yelling. We talk about the consequences of not giving it. There’s giving it upward, downward, backward and sideways. One area where I don’t see a ton of coverage, though, is about the importance of asking for and receiving feedback.
Blogging is interesting because sometimes you research and report, other times you give pure opinion. Today is an opinion day, and it’s a fine line between doing that and becoming “preachy”. The truth is that there have been times when I’ve been nearing job burnout during my career. Face it, we all have those times. It’s important to think about ways to head that off instead of waiting for things to get to that point.
"I don't think I've ever heard of any colleague of mine who's gone through a combination who said it's easier than they thought. Most people say it's more difficult than they thought." ~ Mike Sprouse, chief marketing officer for Epic Media Group
This past week I attended the SHRM Talent Conference and it was spectacular !! The keynote speakers were all solid and the concurrent sessions had depth and relevant content.
I love that people come to conferences to learn, gain skills and get professional development to do their jobs better. I also dig hearing speakers that motivate me, make me laugh and allow me to have a release from what I do on a daily basis. All of those facets of attending a conference are needed. Chances are you’ll even be asked to give a report back to your boss about the takeaways you had.
Just this week I heard of companies with 80%, 65%, and 45% turnover. There are some industries that in order to be competitive as a business, the employer has to pay low wages and the nature of the work is not exactly appealing. Turnover will be high in those industries, but not THAT HIGH!
Why is turnover so high? Employees are resigning AND being terminated.
Then comes the part where you actually work in the field you studied in college, receiving a degree in human resource management and then becoming a strategist, problem-solver and proactive human resource business partner for large healthcare and real estate management companies. Where you eventually find yourself an inspired HR professional running the membership for the largest global human resource organization in the world.
Hear Joey V. Price’s interviews with Tim Sackett, Steven Rothberg, Jim Knight, Elissa O’Brien, Max Dubroff and Dee Ann Turner from SHRM Talent Management Conference & Exposition over on the Business, Life, and Coffee Podcast:
The Society for Human Resource Management – or SHRM – recently released some very interesting surveys around employee engagement and talent acquisition. Both reports have some very interesting information, so I highly suggest you download and give them a read.
On April 20, @shrmnextchat chatted with Cliff Stevenson (@clifforddarrel) of Brandon Hall Group and Lynne Levy (@KronosInc) of Kronos Inc about "More Than Just Compliance."
If you missed this informative chat, you can read all the tweets here:
I’ve been pretty outspoken throughout the years about the lack of great Talent Acquisition conferences on the national stage. There are some great local and regional recruiting conferences, like Recruit DC, Talent 42, Minnesota Recruiters and, of course, the Michigan Recruiters Conference.
More than 50 concurrent sessions at the Society for Human Resource Management’s 2016 Talent Management Conference & Exposition in Orlando covered timely issues on attracting and retaining employees. Here’s a sampling of thought leadership from speakers.
“Great vision without great people is irrelevant.” — Rona Borre, CEO of Instant Alliance, whose presentation was Aligning Recruiting Strategy with Business and HR
Then comes the part where you train to be a professional musician, receive a degree in Vocal Performance & Education, and then find out you have to actually be good at it to make a living. Where after a few years of substitute teaching, you land a part-time job at the Hard Rock Cafe, where you get to look and act however you want — to embody a rock and roller — and then you find out how good you are at training, and run with it.
On June 30, 2015, the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) Wage and Hour Division proposed sweeping changes to the regulations that govern the white-collar overtime exemptions, to include raising the minimum salary level for exemption to $50,440 annually. The DOL is expected to announce the final rule by July 2016.
Parental Leave and Other Benefits Should be Seen as a Recruiting Tool, Especially for Hard to Fill Jobs
You’ve heard the saying “fighting the last war.” It refers to competing using familiar techniques, against competitors you’ve faced before, in the same markets or industries, only to discover that the rules have changed.
Modern business competition is changing rapidly, and to compete effectively, you need to understand the skills that are required to win.
My role with the SHRM Foundation is to support SHRM chapters and state councils in their efforts to share about the SHRM Foundation. I can often be found with a phone next to my ear, chatting with volunteers in our office on calls with chapter and state council leadership. And I can say that I am one of the lucky few that get to spend my days chatting with some of the best volunteers in the country.
Food production and the automotive industry continue to strengthen the Cleveland region’s economy, and health care is expected to be a major driver for job growth in the near future.
From 2015 to 2025, the Cleveland area will generate 85,000 job openings in the health care industry, either through new positions or replacements.
This is the fifth in our series of National Volunteer Week blogs- each profile written by SHRM’s Field Services Directors. Today’s piece profiles Dan Higham and is authored by Susan Post. Follow @SHRM all this week for recognition of our amazing volunteers with the #NVW16 and #SHRMLead hashtags.
Volunteer’s name: Dan Higham, SHRM-CP
Volunteer Role: New York State Membership Director
So, what exactly is Gamification and why has it gained a lot of attention in the digital world? In simple words, Gamification is an art of using the essence of games and applying it in real life scenarios to increase user participation, engagement, retention & motivation etc.
M*A*S*H* was one of my favorite television shows from many years ago. How could someone not love the antics of Hawkeye, Hot Lips and Trapper John, among the many other interesting characters in this show?
One of the key actions that always took place in the hospital was to use triage to establish which patients needed immediate care versus those who could hold on a little longer. Triage is defined as follows:
This is the fourth in our series of National Volunteer Week blogs- each profile written by SHRM’s Field Services Directors. Today’s piece profiles Debra Williams and is authored by Shelly Trent. Follow @SHRM all this week for recognition of our amazing volunteers with the #NVW16 and #SHRMLead hashtags.
On April 13, @shrmnextchat chatted with Jason Lauritsen (@JasonLauritsen) about HR as Social Architect.
In case you missed this excellent chat, you can read all the informative tweets here:
National Volunteer Week is underway and the SHRM Foundation wants to take a few moments to say THANK YOU to all of our many valuable volunteers!
Our amazing volunteer have shared that their desire to “give back” is second nature and the act of volunteering is just part of who they are. When we reached out to our volunteers to better understand what made them inclined to volunteer the responses were varied but similar,
This is the third in our series of National Volunteer Week blogs- each profile written by SHRM’s Field Services Directors. Today’s piece profiles Carol McDaniel and is authored by Dorothy Knapp. Follow @SHRM all this week for recognition of our amazing volunteers with the #NVW16 and #SHRMLead hashtags.
Q: I started a small company and I’m ready to hire great people to help me grow it, but I don’t have a lot of money or benefits to offer. How can I compete for talent with companies that are able to pay so much more?
Having a passion for one's work is the secret ingredient to employee engagement. If you've ever worked with someone with a clear passion like that, you most likely felt envy, rooted in a desire to hold the same kind of passion for your work. Even if you enjoyed what you did, it wasn't to the same degree. Only passion can push you far enough to make a difference.
But when passion for one's work goes too far, it's not so positive. Too much engagement can lead to over-commitment.
This is the second in our series of National Volunteer Week blogs- each profile written by SHRM’s Field Services Directors. Today’s piece profiles Roshelle Pavlin and is authored by Diana Gould. Follow @SHRM all this week for recognition of our amazing volunteers with the #NVW16 and #SHRMLead hashtags.
Keep me in the loop! – What loop? Just say, “Keep me informed.” Or say, “Keep me abreast…” On second thought, don’t say that either.
- It is what it is! – What is what what is? And why don’t you tell me what it is instead of saying the redundant and obvious uninformative thing?
Human resources professionals have a new role in their workplaces—they are now the social architects of their organizations.
In the spirit of National Volunteer Week, Elizabeth Andrew of the women’s suffrage movement once said, “Volunteers do not necessarily have the time, they have the heart.”
Women now hold nearly 52 percent of professional-level jobs in the U.S. across all fields and outnumber men in earning college degrees, both undergraduate and advanced. In the top circles of leadership, however, women are rarely seen or heard. Among Fortune 500 companies, women claim about 25 percent of senior management positions and make up less than 5 percent of CEOs. What can women do to close the persistent power gap?
This is the first in our series of National Volunteer Week blogs- each profile written by SHRM’s Field Services Directors. Today’s piece profiles Renee Irby and is authored by Sherry Johnson. Follow @SHRM all this week for recognition of our amazing volunteers with the #NVW16 and #SHRMLead hashtags.
Renee Irby –PHR, SHRM-CP
DeBoles Nutritional Foods, Inc. DBA Shreveport Macaroni Mfg Co.
I was reading an article on crowdsourcing, and it prompted a thought about crowdsourcing and its use by HR professionals. Many HR professionals are single or small departments that may struggle with handling innovation or even thinking through new ideas.
Passionate, hardworking, and dedicated—just a few of the adjectives used to describe the more than 6,000 SHRM volunteers whose commitment to SHRM, their profession, and their communities epitomizes the spirit of National Volunteer Week (#NVW16). As SHRM’s VP of membership, I want to take this moment to thank every last one of our volunteers for all that they do—for their service to SHRM, our members, and our profession every day, 365 days of the year.
To most of us, the phrase Work that Matters infers job satisfaction. The outcome is lower stress, lower turnover, and higher productivity – in business, a ‘win-win’ for employees, customers and shareholders. The logic is infallible. So, I ask you, why is there such a gap between the theory and the practice? Why are so many organizations and so many workers struggling to find workplace nirvana?
Employers, it is YOUR restroom. You may have whatever you want in your own restroom, but have a reason that makes sense, and have some class about it. This is your facility. You can do with it as you please. This is true at home and at work...for the most part.
In our bathrooms at home, we have all kinds of things: Notes, signs, towels, robes, shower caps, stockings, calendars, toothpaste, wallpaper, and so on. (Yes, toothpaste!)
Transgenderism can be a difficult, sensitive subject for employers. They don’t know how to deal with it. I like to simplify things, so I boiled down how to deal with this issue in less than 300 words.
First, an interaction I once had went like this…
[Smitty] – Rue, what am I supposed to do about a person getting a ‘sex change’? Is that a boy or a girl? And do I call him her or her him?
These days (like many of my peers here in Washington!) I am working overtime on the Department of Labor’s (DOL) proposal to change the #overtime regulations, which is now under final review. This regulation from Washington is a classic example of the law of unintended consequences.
Let me explain.
Every day, we contemplate the best way in which to engage our employees and the metrics to determine the effective nature of the aforementioned.
Should we do a survey, pay for a study or ask an expert for their insight on Best Practices?
Breakthroughs can happen in an instant, or they can be the result of a long, difficult process. They show up in many different forms – a connection, an opportunity, a new idea – and then allow us to move forward with greater ease or clarity. Breakthroughs are those distinct moments when the answer becomes clear, the picture comes into sharper focus, and we get it.
A round up of workplace developments and legal trends to help keep HR ahead of the curve
On April 6, @shrmnextchat chatted with Brooke Liu and Dan Cross about Working on Workforce Readiness.
In case you missed this informative chat, you can read all the tweets here:
Many years ago when I was the Director of HR for a global company, I inherited a Human Resource Manager who was, to put it mildly, the oddest person I had ever met. I’m not sure I can even describe her. She would say strange things, write even stranger emails and literally made every person she ever encountered scratch their heads as they walked away.
More workers in 2016 have faith that they’re set up for a comfortable retirement, but many of them may not realize what it really takes to achieve the retirement lifestyle they’ve imagined, according to a recent survey.
What do football coach Bill Walsh, restaurateur Alice Waters, television executive Lorne Michaels, technology CEO Larry Ellison and fashion pioneer Ralph Lauren have in common? On the surface, not much, other than consistent success in their fields. But below the surface, they share a common approach to finding, nurturing, leading and even letting go of great people.
Don’t try this at work. Please. I’m begging you.
Ah, April Fools’ Day. A day when harmless, innocent pranks actually do harm people and are far, far from innocent. But hey, we all get some good laughs out of them, right?
In a stunning legal development, the NLRB issued on this morning, April 1, 2016, a public apology for gutting employer rules designed to increase civility and respect. Before reading the apology, please listen to Brenda Lee sing "I'm Sorry." It will help get you in the mood.
The statement of the General Counsel to the NLRB stated, in pertinent part: