Between the SHRM Foundation Annual Luncheon, the #ALLinSTEP Challenge, and general conference happenings, it’s hard to sum up my entire #SHRM17 experience.
Between the SHRM Foundation Annual Luncheon, the #ALLinSTEP Challenge, and general conference happenings, it’s hard to sum up my entire #SHRM17 experience.
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what it means to be a strategic HR partner, leader and influencer. I’m a department of one, and I strongly believe that the key to success is investing in relationships. The combination of being trustworthy and invested, along with really knowing your stuff, makes you both a subject matter expert and also a partner that folks in your organization will want in their corner.
Day three of the conference started off with a keynote address by Patrick Lencioni, the author of the book The Ideal Team Player and founder of The Table Group. His presentation was very interesting and I have tried to capture the high points below.
The old model
After the #SHRM17 conference, I had a lot of time to think about how I could create change in the workplace. However, I haven’t been in my role for a very long time with my company and I’m not exactly sure how to create change in an environment that is already built.
A big topic of discussion that ran through the week of #ASHRM17 was how the New Orleans SHRM 2009 event was in many ways the birth of the social media sphere that exists in SHRM today. I was part of a terrific informal dinner that took place one night while I was at that conference that built relationships that still flourish today.
On June 28, @shrmnextchat chatted with special guest Executive Director of HR for LaRosa's Pizza and author of HR on Purpose !! Steve Browne about HR on Purpose !!
If you missed this informative chat, you can read all the tweets here:
There’s a popular saying in some HR circles today: “The ‘war for talent’ is over—and talent won.”
We have seen this so-called war wax and wane with economic cycles, evolve with new technology, and intensify under globalization. It should now be clear to everyone that, whether we’re in good economic times or bad, in a period of stability or disruption, the skills shortage is an ever-present challenge.
What motivates workers to seek a new job and what makes them want to stay? The answer is deceptively simple. Workers want companies to provide them with fair compensation and benefits, workplace perks and development opportunities that help advance their careers. In other words, invest in your employees and they will be invested in your firm.
I’m writing a series of three short blogs that touch on the key points that I encountered in New Orleans while attending the SHRM 2017 Conference and Exposition.
I’m going to start with the Sunday keynote, Kat Cole. I’m a fan boy of this amazing business leader who I’ve known for a few years and have seen her speak nine previous times.
It never feels like enough time at national conference.
The following article is a summary of the CFGI 2017 Symposium session titled “Emerging Challenges and Strategies for Recruitment, Hiring, and Retention of Foreign Nationals in 2017.” Scott Fitzgerald of Fragomen Worldwide, Justin Storch of CFGI, and Allyson Gonzalez of AT&T addressed the challenges of hiring qualified applicants in today’s turbulent political environment.
Iris Firstenberg told us a story during her master series session at the SHRM Conference 2017 “Forging the Extraordinary Team: From Many to One”, which I am about to share with you all, on how a team came together in two ways: by heart and mind.
Iris Firstenberg explaining the importance of setting standards for a team at the SHRM Conference Master Series: “Forging the Extraordinary Team: From Many to One”.
For HR professionals, “friending” employees on Facebook or connecting on other social media sites is far from a simple decision.
That’s what Chelsea Wheeler discovered after she posed the question “Do any of you accept friend requests on social media from employees?” to the HR Department of One group on SHRM Connect, the Society for Human Resource Management’s online community.
The Society for Human Resource Management have concluded our 69th Annual Conference. Ideas were shared, people spoke and exhibitors exhibited while HR Pros braved the rain and well-functioning air conditioning.
This having been my 10th SHRM Annual Conference, finding new and intriguing information was a bit of a challenge.
Everyone benefits when great organizations work together to maximize the services and information they provide. This has been the case since we partnered with the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM) to ensure all employees are well informed about the Social Security benefits and information available to them.
Ever have a Thursday feel oddly like a Monday?
For me, and probably some other #SHRM17 attendees getting their feet back under them post-conference, getting settled back in definitely makes for a Monday mood. Before leaving for my first SHRM Annual Conference, my department’s manager requested that I simply come back with something that I could share with the team.
I’m not an HR professional, I’m a business owner. But I’ve worked with HR solution providers for 20-plus years on the marketing side, so I’ve attended the SHRM Annual Conference many times. And from my viewpoint, SHRM17 was perhaps my favorite yet, for a variety of reasons. Here are some things I loved about this year’s event in New Orleans.
On June 21, @shrmnextchat conducted a #SHRM17 Wrap-Up #Nextchat with #SHRM17 attendees and those #NotAtSHRM17 about what they learned, who they met, and how the overall experience contributed to their personal and professional growth.
If you missed this super-fun and informative chat, you can see all the tweets here:
Okay, I’ve found my most favourite theme of any conference I’ve ever been to. I’ve heard it before but it’s never resonated as strong as it has in the sessions I’ve been to the last two days.
HR are not responsible for an individual’s happiness and engagement. A manager or leader is not responsible for an individual’s happiness.
It is up to the individual to make a choice.
The rain has come to New Orleans and it may be possible to hold #SHRM18 before the end of the week with the amount of HR rock stars who may be stranded in the airport... :(
Day 3 had a very direct theme: Performance Management (and the need to improve upon the process)
Day two of the annual conference is intense. You’ve got people rushing to make it to their favorite session, the popular sessions have overflows and to a newbie, that’s overwhelming. Or you could think about it in these terms: since we’re in Louisiana, the gumbo pot has been mixed and slowly starting to boil.
I’ve had the opportunity to go to a lot of different conferences, and I see a lot of keynote speakers who are considered experts in their fields. They are successful because enough people think enough of what they’re saying makes sense and support it. They’re also successful because they are engaging speakers who connect with their audience and make everything sound brilliant.
On June 18, Kat Cole (Group President, FOCUS Brands – the company behind the Cinnabon brand) spoke to a crowd of over 18,000 HR Business Leaders at the 2017 Annual SHRM Conference in New Orleans, La. There were many takeaways – “never forget where you came from but don’t let it solely define you” was a crowd pleaser – but her big takeaway was the difference between Business Partners and Business Leaders.
The SHRM 2017 Annual Conference & Exposition will wrap up around noon on June 21, and thousands of HR professionals will head home with new ideas and solutions to improve their workforce and workplace.
This year’s theme was “All In,” and there was no better place than #SHRM17 for HR professionals to learn about all the latest trends and innovations.
At the SHRM Annual Conference there is a lot going on. You can see most of it right in front of you. The sessions, the exhibit hall, the SHRM Store and the like. But what you may not know, because you don’t see it is this. Pretty much every day the SHRM Government Affair’s team is working to represent our collective business interest in Washington D.C.
It’s the time of year that some of my colleagues affectionately call HR Christmas.
This year, over 16,000 HR professionals are descending on New Orleans for the SHRM Annual Conference. This event brings folks from around the world together to learn, network, and yes, party, each year.
How often do we hear that HR doesn’t get a seat at the table, or that they aren’t seen as adding value at an executive level?
I know – heresy, right? Digital is supposed to be the new black – or is it the new orange – or maybe purple (check the SHRM conference logo.) Either way, all the cool kids in HR are telling us that the future of HR is all about technology and big, big, data.
The 2017 Society for Human Resource Management Annual Conference and Expo is well underway. This year’s edition in New Orleans, LA boasts the second largest in history from an attendance perspective with well over 17,000 attendees from across the country and world.
The Monday of any SHRM conference is usually jammed packed and high energy. It’s the first full day of sessions. People are excited to check out the sessions they mapped out for the day, and they aren’t yet exhausted from talking to the 18,000 attendees at #SHRM17.
Sitting in the largest global HR conference in the world and it was silent.
Well over 15,000 people in a huge auditorium and the room was silent.
No music, no Emcee, no entertainment or photo’s on the screen, but total silence.
What was holding the full attention of every person?
Then there were a few giggles.
Some chuckling and even some belly laughs out of the darkness
What was going on?
When you think of Sunday in New Orleans many things come to mind. The heat rising off the worn streets of the French Quarter, an interesting mix of pagan and penitent moving about slowly round the Jackson Square, or the line for café and beignets crowded with tourists struggling to find shelter from the mid-morning sun. Oh and then there’s that conference of over 17,000 HR Professionals over by the convention center.
It’s Day 2 here at #SHRM17 and I just attended the General Session. While I enjoyed Laszlo Block’s presentation and believe he has tremendous talent, he offered something that I just can’t stand behind.
He offered that we shouldn’t let Hiring Managers make hiring decisions.
Think about this message. It got a good laugh and I respect that, but please think about the meaning of those words. And then contemplate this…
Today saw the beginning of #SHRM17 in New Orleans, where 18,000 HR pros have descended upon the city for learning, fun, and reconnecting with old friends.
The shenanigans kicked off early in the morning with pre-conference workshops, but the sessions began in earnest after lunch, with concurrent sessions and SmartStage speakers. But the main event REALLY kicks off late in the afternoon, with the appearance of Juana Hart and our first keynote of the conference.
This is the first time that I’m attending a SHRM conference and that too as a #SHRM17 blogger!
There are a thousand stories in The Big Easy. This is just one…
…of the thousand.
To say it is “humid” in New Orleans is an understatement. It’s ridiculous.
Despite a century of speculation by managers and scholars, we know very little about whether certain cues or signs exhibited by employees can predict whether they're about to quit.
If large groups of people, lots of activity, sound, noise, and light feel overwhelming, you may be an introvert. Let’s just say that SHRM National is an extrovert’s delight.
Yet, the conference is full of interesting people, opportunity, valuable information, and things that promise to make your life easier, people happier, and decisions easier. There is so much to learn and explore.
SHRM CEO Hank Jackson and SHRM Board Chair Coretha Rushing visit the “Commitment Wall” at #SHRM17, where participants are confirming what they are “All In” for.
This blog is going to give you the low-down on sessions you need to attend to be a #Boss. Whether this is your first time attending a national conference for work or you’ve been around the block a few times, there is quite a bit to learn if you pick the right sessions at SHRM17. With hundreds of sessions and thousands of people, the conference can seem intimidating but fear not!
#SHRM17 Bound: Get the most out of your NOLA experience!
Whether you’re a first time attendee or a SHRM Annual Conference veteran, it can be a little overwhelming stepping into a big city full of jazz, Cajun culinary adventures, and now – HR professionals! If you want to make the most of your #SHRM17 and #NOLA experience while also keeping your stress to a functioning minimum, read on, intrepid #HR pro!
Don’t let FOMO take over
#FirstTimeSHRMer
Well, I leave for New Orleans tomorrow. I am packed and ready to learn at my very first SHRM annual conference!!! The packing seemed like the hardest part and now I get to be on “vacation”, as my friends called it, in New Orleans for the next 4 days.
On Sunday I will awake at 5:00 a.m. to make my way across country to the city of New Orleans. Many will already be filling the conference center halls at SHRM17 in celebration of our great profession.
The majority of HR professionals give their employees a financial health rating of “fair” and nearly 20 percent report that their employees are “not at all” financially literate according to a national SHRM survey.
So you fell into HR by accident and now want to establish yourself in a career? Join the club.
The Affordable Care Act has sweeping components with a varied array of requirements. It has many provisions that will impact employers in the near future and additional components that will continue to evolve.
Everyone is talking uncertainty these days, and it's not just a U.S. phenomenon! While attending the EY World Entrepreneur of the Year Forum in Monte Carlo, Monaco, I had the chance to speak with EY Global Vice Chair for Talent Nancy Altobello along with neuroscientist Vivienne Ming and social entrepreneur Auddette Exel about dealing with rising uncertainty in today's workforce.
i don’t believe there is a more-progressive suite in the tech space than that of Human Resource related technology. Call it HCM or HRIS or HRIT, so much has happened so fast and there is a technical solution for every employee support function.
The questions can be daunting for an HR Professional seemingly forced to turn IT expert:
Nearly four years ago, I blogged here about a complaint that the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had filed against a West Virginia coal company. The lawsuit alleged that the employer failed to accommodate an employee who requested not to use a biometric hand scanner to track time and attendance.
On June 14, @shrmnextchat chatted with labor and employment attorney Louis Lessig and played a #Nextchat game of FLSA Jeopardy.
If you missed this fun and informative chat, you can see all the tweets here:
If you suggest to Marissa Afton that she has beautiful red curly hair, she’s likely to give you a quizzical look. There is no denying she’s got some curls but she doesn’t consider herself a redhead.
Perhaps being a redhead is a state of mind.
Mindfulness - that’s also a state of mind.
The SHRM Annual Conference is one of the best networking events in the world if you are in the Human Resources space. I do not say this tongue in cheek, as I have literally met several folks from around the world at different annual conferences over the last few years. The SHRM Social Media Team has been adding an international flavor for several years now, and will do so again this year.
It’s been a decade since I first attended The Society for Human Resource Management Annual Conference. While there are always new buzz words and evolving trends, many of the HR related topics from 2007 are still on the #SHRM17 agenda.
If I may voice my concern:
1. Why haven’t we mastered social performance management?
2. Why is external recruiting more important than Leadership development?
#SHRM17 would be my fourth time at a SHRM National conference and my third time as part of the socialmedia squad - a chance to be amongst some really exciting action oriented human capital management folks with whom I had first met up in Orlando (2012). Those times still remain as a 'Deer-in-headlights' moments for me.
I like to think that I’m basically a good person; but then I think about what I’d do in a zombie apocalypse, and I realize I’m actually horrible and selfish. How do I know this? The first thing I’d do if I was scratched by a zombie is scratch my friends and a select few family members. I’m not going through that alone!
“I’ll take the overtime rule for $1,000, Alex.”
Wouldn’t it be great if Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) issues were only topics on a game show? If you were wrong, the value of the question would merely get deducted from your winnings.
This is version v9.0 of this post. As best as I can come up with this will be my ninth SHRM annual conference. In front of many of these events, I have written a post about what I have learned along the way and tried to share some of the things I have learned and share how to get the most of the event. I am sure others have covered this, so all I can tell you is if you read something repeatedly it’s probably pretty close to the truth.
Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook and author of Lean In, lost her husband Dave unexpectedly in 2015. This year, she teamed up with her friend and Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Adam Grant, to write Option B.
Option A is the employee's life with the loved one. Option B is surviving without him or her.
With the annual SHRM conference just around the corner, the time has come to start planning what sessions you’d like to attend. As part of the blogging teams continuing coverage of the annual conference, I had an opportunity to interview Ms.
“I’m a people person” and “I like helping others” are two common reasons HR professionals give for choosing their career path. While they’re good enough reasons to get started, they aren’t nearly good enough to be great.
YOU GUYS, #SHRM17 IS ALMOST HERE!!! I’m so excited! I love having the opportunity to see some of my HR Friends from across the globe, learn new things, and meet new people. I spend a lot of time going through the sessions listed and deciding which sessions are relevant to where I am in my career or current problems I’m trying to solve as well as which sessions might stretch my capabilities or prepare me for a future problem I’ll face as I work to progress in my career.
As sometimes does, life has happened to me over the last few weeks and I had to back out of attending SHRM17. Personal and work commitments combined with a pretty brutal travel schedule over the last few months have made it clear that I need to slow down a bit. Unfortunately, SHRM was one of those things that had to take a back seat this year. It was a tough decision, but the right one for me in the is moment.
The company was in trouble: The value of its stock had dropped to just $1 a share. So the CEO decided to level with the workers about just how bad it was—and he laid out a plan to turn things around. The employees responded with renewed dedication and effort that helped the business rebound, and the stock price has since jumped to $20 a share.
A wealth of opportunities awaits SHRM-certified professionals at the SHRM 2017 Annual Conference & Exposition in New Orleans, to be held June 18-21. Special events and resources will enable certificants to earn recertification credits, learn, network—and even take a moment to relax amid the hubbub.
On June 7, @shrmnextchat chatted with special guest Heather Bussing about “Should You Trash Your Policy Manual?”
If you missed this informative chat, you can read all the tweets here:
As a longtime believer in the benefits of massage to overall health, I was intrigued to read about SHRM Exhibitor, Massage at Work. Particularly interesting to me was the correlation drawn between massage and the reduction of absenteeism and stress levels at work.
While I’m lucky enough to be able to fit massage within my budget, the concept of bringing massage into the workplace as an employee benefit resonated with me.
We are less than 12 days away from the start of the HR event of the year which is the SHRM Annual Conference held in the Big Easy. I find it appropriate that the conference’s slogan is ‘All in’ which implies that you are truly committed and devoted to the HR profession . ‘All in’ is a slang term often used in poker meaning to be totally committed to something which in our case is the profession of human resources.
Low-Cost Employee Engagement Inspiration For Millennials, By Millennials!
It's time to make final plans for #SHRM17 in New Orleans. SHRM has an amazing experience ready for us this year! If you have attended before, then you know that just a little bit of planning on the front end will ensure you capture all of the many benefits of the conference. Follow these ten tips to help you get the most out of your #SHRM17 experience.
Policies in the workplace: You can’t live with ’em and you can’t live without ’em.
Or can you?
Some say employment policies are essential for establishing expectations and avoiding litigation. Others think that policies are rules created by people who don’t know how to manage performance.
Employment attorney Heather Bussing falls into the latter camp.
Author Christine V. Walters, SHRM-SCP, has it backwards when it comes to HR. That's not a criticism, though. That's the way her book is written—starting with the termination of the employment relationship and working back through the employee life cycle to the onboarding process.
New workplace laws on minimum wage, paid sick leave, criminal background investigations and more are popping up all the time—and they don't always take effect at the beginning of a new year. HR professionals need to communicate these changes with their workforce as the laws become effective, but how often should you revise your employee handbook? Employment attorneys told SHRM Online that the answer depends on a few factors.
Federal and state legal developments over the last year brought a lot of changes that impact workplace policies and procedures, making it critical for companies to review their handbooks for compliance.
"2016 was the busiest year I can recall in this regard," said Elaine Diedrich, an attorney with Littler in Pittsburgh.
The Beatles lyric is also the opening line from a recent state court opinion about hiring (or not hiring as the case may be) someone who uses medical marijuana. More on that in a bit.
Hiring and Medical Marijuana