On November 30, @shrmnextchat chatted with employment attorney Jonathan Segal @jonathan_hr_law about The Holidays: Maximizing the Joy and Minimizing the Risk.
In case you missed this fun and informative chat filled with great ideas for how HR to handle the Holidays, you can read all the tweets here:
Two weeks ago I wrote that we need to separate what we know about potential changes to the US immigration system from what we don’t know and what is speculation. Over the past week, a couple of important indicators are telling us that employers need to prepare for more enforcement and scrutiny of their employment of foreign nationals.
Loyal employees make the lives of HR managers a lot easier. The following questions will help you evaluate how loyal a job candidate is likely to be in the organization.
How have you responded at a previous job when a better opportunity with another employer came along?
After Thanksgiving, it’s Black Friday. Then comes, Cyber Monday.
And then it’s #GivingTuesday!
#GivingTuesday is the global day of giving that brings ordinary people together to make extraordinary things possible.
December is a time to breathe a sigh of relief as we finish a year of accomplishments. The beautiful lights, music, decorations and parties create a fun and festive atmosphere as workplaces around the world celebrate multiple holidays. To quote a familiar holiday song, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year” – perhaps, unless you’re in HR. 
You are an exhausted HR professional charged with making the holidays lively without inviting lawsuits. On the day of your company’s holiday party, you walk into the lobby of your building and see the elegant Christmas pine that you had helped decorate. As you behold it in its twinkling glory, a co-worker says, “That tree is inappropriate in the workplace.”
On some of the world’s most visible stages, women appear to be making huge professional strides. In the U.S., we had our first female presidential candidate from a major party and the U.K. chose its second female prime minister. Women are outnumbering men by a 3-to-2 ratio on college campuses, and they have earned more doctoral degrees than men for seven straight years. Even at this year’s Summer Olympics, the U.S. fielded a team of athletes made up of a female majority for the first time.
How ironic is it that the campaign slogan which helped propel Bill Clinton to the presidency in 1992 is now being cited as the reason his wife, Hillary Clinton, lost the election 24 years later? As they say, history often repeats itself, but we don’t always learn the lesson.
On November 23, @SHRMnextchat conducted HR's 2016 Performance Review and asked HR professionals to chime in on the good, the bad and the ugly of 2016 -- and what they plan to change in 2017.
In case you missed this great chat, you can read all the tweets here:
As I navigate my 10th year in the Human Capital Management space, I honestly don't believe there has ever been a more exciting time in our industry! Technology is vibrant and scale-able, workforce engagement has become of paramount strategic importance and new leadership minds are empowering HR Professionals to lead the charge in improving business process.
Kojo Amissah SHRM-SCP serves as the Lead Volunteer for SHRM Forum Ghana. He is the founder and Lead Executive of CITAM, a management training, consulting and recruitment firm in Ghana.
Kojo attended the 2016 SHRM Volunteer Leader Summit in Washington, D.C. last week and we asked him to share more with our audience about the importance of supporting the HR profession, the rewards of being a SHRM Volunteer Leader and the challenges facing HR in Ghana and worldwide.
Barak Gafni is the SHRM Partner and SHRM Forum Volunteer leader at SHRM Forum Israel and founder and CEO of Human Resources Solutions.
Each year the SHRM Foundation anxiously awaits the arrival of almost 1,000 SHRM volunteer leaders for SHRM’s Volunteer Leaders’ Summit. For us, it is a chance to connect, share our gratitude for their continued support, and share about all of the SHRM Foundation opportunities available for their members.
Each year we leave SHRM VLS feeling inspired, empowered and transformed by the conversations we have and the incredible people we’ve met.
2016 might be remembered as the year we heard the death rattle of the traditional annual performance review. As those of us in the HR space know, there’s been a revolution brewing for a while, with companies like Deloitte, Microsoft, Adobe, and Accenture doing away with their review systems well before 2016 in some cases.
In an era when the need for downtime is something many workers are loath to admit, let alone embrace, Silicon Valley author, lecturer and consultant Alex Soojung-Kim Pang has a compelling counterargument: Rest not only is essential to people's health and happiness, it also makes them more productive in the workplace.
Since the U.S. Department of Labor finalized changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) overtime rules in May, I’ve been travelling across the country providing educational seminars to business owners, and HR and finance leaders on the looming changes.
In 2016, the HR profession continued to employ the hottest trends and keep up with changes in the areas such as employment law, technology and talent management.
Humility is one of the ten crucial qualities of employees of high character, and smart businesses seek out people with humility to work for them. These employees inspire their coworkers, instill confidence in their supervisors, and move up quickly in their organizations.
One of the next major steps in the evolvement of the SHRM Certification process has been completed. As of Tuesday, November 15, SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP exams have been accredited by The Buros Center for Testing, a pronouncement that the HR credentials meet the highest standards in testing.
My apologies to Michael Schrage and the Harvard Business Review for my stealing my lack of creativity with today’s title. But it really spoke to me. And not really because of the HBR article. (Sorry Michael).
On November 16, @shrmnextchat chatted with SHRM Young Professional Council members Courtney Hendricks and Dan Cross, and SHRM Manager of Trends and Forecasting Jennifer Schramm about how Employers are Hard-Pressed for Soft Skills.
Several large-scale corporate expansions in the St. Louis region are adding thousands of jobs to local payrolls, headlined by one of the world’s biggest aircraft manufacturers.
Boeing is expanding operations at its existing plant in St. Louis to manufacture components of the new 777X commercial airliner. The project will eventually bring 700 jobs to the area, and production began at the site in the fall of 2016.
SHRM is proud to announce that the SHRM-CP and SHRM-SCP exams have been accredited by The Buros Center for Testing, a pronouncement that the HR credentials meet the highest standards in testing.
For the last sixteen years, I have had the honor and privilege to work with and serve SHRM volunteers from 20 different states (not all at once!). I know that our 6,000 volunteer leaders have made SHRM a more successful, more impactful, and larger association than we could have been without them. We owe our volunteers a great deal. The Volunteer Leaders’ Summit is one way we say thank you.
If you are an HR professional, there is an excellent chance you have been told to warm up to "big data" as a means of performing your job. These large collections of information are increasingly used to reveal behaviors and societal trends, and they are heavily relied upon for recruiting tactics, measuring employee engagement and countless other business operations.
The SHRM Foundation will award more than 225 scholarships in 2016—Andrew is one of thousands of HR professionals and students that have been impacted by these awards each year. Andrew found his way to HR in high school and his commitment to the profession has not wavered. His dedication to the profession, to helping others and bettering himself is what makes him a great representation of HR professionals and so many of the SHRM Foundation scholarship recipients.
Show up on time. Stay all day. Work while you're on the clock. Dress appropriately.
As shocking as it may seem, these are some of the basic abilities that many of today’s entry-level applicants lack.
Like priests and therapists, employment attorneys will hear just about everything over the course of their careers. They are privy to all manner of human tragedy, triumph—and stupidity. The best of them will turn their knowledge and experience into something deeper: wisdom.
In the Masters of Human Resources program at Rollins College, students are challenged to define and implement leadership in their personal and professional lives. In pursuit of that goal, the current MHR cohort created this video; a compilation of answers to two questions from Rollins College students and faculty, as well as business leaders from large, well known organizations.
Two questions were asked of these individuals:
What is Human Resources Leadership?
Time and again I’m reminded of how invaluable the more than 6,000 SHRM Volunteer Leaders are to both our organization, and our HR profession! But, perhaps no time is this commitment and passion more evident than during our annual Volunteer Leaders’ Summit held each November here in Washington, DC.
For more than 80 years, Social Security has helped secure today and tomorrow with financial benefits that support millions of Americans throughout life’s journey.
Leadership dynamics in Corporate America are undergoing major changes, and if todays’ leaders want to impact organizations tomorrow, they must adapt strategies, recognize and accept change, and boldly move forward with a new leadership style.
Among the forces influencing leadership changes:
Leaving school and entering the wide unknown of the workforce is a big change for any college or high school graduate. For job-search newbies, knowing what employers want and how to navigate the hiring process can be about as confusing as a Yogi Berra quote. And sifting through conflicting advice from well-meaning friends and family just adds to that confusion.
The former- POW’s equally inspiring journey after combat
In March 2003 our nation’s conscious was fixated on the start of military operations in Iraq. Tens of thousands of our troops marched to Baghdad and beyond, and one of those Soldiers was Army Private First Class Jessica Lynch. While many may recall the former POW’s harrowing and inspirational story of courage and commitment, her journey and dedication to service after the military is equally heroic.
Veteran’s Day- A great opportunity to watch some seriously inspirational films. From John Wayne’s “The Longest Day” to Tom Hanks’ “Saving Private Ryan” these movies inspire generations, and while I certainly have enjoyed those and many others through the years, there’s one particular movie and very specific scene that hits me harder than all the rest- and it takes place in a cereal aisle.
“There’s a tremendous upside for hiring a vet. From a business case, it’s there. It’s there because of the discipline they have, the life experiences, the cultural exposure, the team mentality, the mission before self, their loyalty to an organization, their adaptability. They care about each other and care about people!” says Admiral Michael G. Mullen, USN (Ret.) Former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff.
On November 9, @shrmnextchat chatted with the Founder, President and CEO of the Devon Group, Jeanne Achille (@jeanneachille) about Communicating with Employees During a Crisis.
In case you missed this informative chat, you can read all the tweets here:
In mid-October, 15,000 people gathered in Houston for the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (GHC).
Crises come in many shapes and sizes—and always at the worst time—but regardless of how or when the calamity occurred, it’s imperative that all organizations have a crisis plan in place.
In honor of the upcoming Veterans Day holiday, we would like to introduce you to Jessica Collins, the first winner of the SHRM Foundation Annual Conference & Exposition Veteran Scholarship. Jessica’s story is one of unbelievable timing and a challenging transition.
From Sept. 11 to Hurricane Katrina to the SARS epidemic, all of these crises had an impact on businesses—and their employees. Author Bill Tibbo knows this firsthand because he has advised companies on four continents on how to repair and rebuild after a devastating event.
It finally happened Wednesday night. The lovable losers, The Chicago Cubs, raised the World Series trophy as champions. In doing so, they erased 108 years of frustration. As the world watched (and celebrated) with them, I couldn’t stop thinking how much of their story mirrors situations often faced by today’s talent leaders.
A new leader rarely walks into a good situation.
Q: Some of my employees have requested that we allow them to bring their dogs to work, citing Google and Ben & Jerry’s as examples of companies with a pet-friendly policy. 
Although I’m a dog lover myself and I like the idea, I’ve resisted because I worry about the liability. What else should I consider?
On November 2, @shrmnextchat chatted with special guest Jason Averbook (@JasonAverbook) about How HR Must Prepare for the Future of Work.
In case you missed this great chat, you can read all the tweets here and below:
Kimberley Miller, Director of Human Resources
Zodiac Water and Waste Aero Systems
When I saw the email about the SHRM / Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute (CHCI) Intern program, I was instantly transported to a time when I was looking for that real world experience that only an internship can provide. I was a full-time student working part-time as a hostess in a restaurant when I saw a posting for an HR Intern.
It’s that time of year when leaves are changing and families gather together to share their thanks. At the SHRM Foundation, it’s a busy time of year as we are awarding scholarships and publishing new resources.
This is also the perfect time to share with you Burgandy’s story. She is one of many ambitious, thoughtful and passionate HR students who receive scholarships from the SHRM Foundation each year.
