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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 

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.

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:

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.

"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

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. 

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:

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:

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

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. 

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.

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

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:

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:

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.  

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.

1. 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.
    
2. 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?
    

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.”

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.

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.

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!)

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.

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.  

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:

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.

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?