Sharlyn Lauby is an author, writer, speaker and consultant. She is president of ITM Group Inc., a consulting firm which focuses on developing training solutions that engage and retain talent in the workplace. She's previously served as a member of SHRM’s Membership Advisory Committee (MAC) and Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility special expertise panel.
She is equally well-known for her work on HR Bartender, a friendly place to talk about workplace issues. The site has been recognized as one of the “Top 5 Blogs HR Pros Love to Read” by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Sharlyn is the author of two best-selling books published by SHRM: “Manager Onboarding: 5 Steps for Setting New Leaders Up for Success” and “The Recruiter’s Handbook: A Complete Guide for Sourcing, Selecting, and Engaging the Best Talent”, which are available on Amazon.
Her personal goal in life is to find the best cheeseburger on the planet.
Sharlyn's social accounts:
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LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharlynlauby
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/sharlyn_lauby
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/HRBartender
One of the most interesting HR roles I’ve had was being the vice president of human resources for a global HR consulting firm. On one hand, it’s great to work with people who truly “get” your job – because they’ve been there themselves. On the other hand, everyone has an opinion about your job for the same reason – they’ve been there.
Dr. Jeff Pon is in the exact same situation.
There are a lot of people who cringe at the thought of terminating someone. And when I say terminating – I mean firing. Not a layoff because in most cases, employees don’t have control over a layoff decision. My philosophy is employees play an active role in the decision to get themselves fired.
Sharing.
That’s right - Sharing. Not sharing staplers or a filing cabinet drawer. I’m talking about sharing information.
In his book The Collaborative Organization, author Jacob Morgan says collaboration efforts have a direct impact on business performance. The results show as high as 36 percent. Morgan explains the result is linked to the role collaboration plays in helping employees solve company problems.
We’re about a month into 2013…hard to believe, eh? I wanted to see how those resolutions are coming along.
Don’t worry if you didn’t set any resolutions – there’s still time. Or if you’ve already forgotten about them, you can start again. The important part of resolutions is having something you want work toward that’s important to you.
Last year, I took a break from my traditional predictions post. And to be honest, I missed it. Not that I was really good at predicting the future or anything . . . but I enjoyed spending time thinking about what the future of work might look like.
My very first job in HR was based on what I knew. Every other job offer after that was because of who I knew.
The rules about getting ahead at work haven’t changed. According to a survey from Right Management, 44% of employees believe the key to their success lies in “who you know”. Not far behind was job performance (39%).
It’s no surprise that, as a nation, we’re getting older. What is surprising is how quickly. The U.S. National Institute on Aging, says the population of people between ages 75-85 is 17 million. They predict that number will be 30 million by 2050.
Contrast those numbers with the UN estimates that the percentage of children will drop. Today, half of Latin America is under fifteen years old. By 2050, half will be over 40 years old.
So the trend is fewer kids and more old people.
Back in 1964, Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart coined the expression “I know it when I see it” to describe his threshold test for pornography. I was reminded of the phrase recently (not in a conversation about porn) but in a discussion about work ethic. When asked to define work ethic, the person said, “I don’t know if I can describe it but I know it when I see it.”
One of my new go-to resources is the IBM’s Global CEO Study. It surveys over 1,500 global business leaders about the business and work on topics of concern and trends for the future. You can download this year’s survey here.
Last year, I was very impressed that IBM’s research included for the first time a companion study from students about their views on inheriting this complex world we’re living in. Very cool!
According to mobiThinking, cellular subscriptions worldwide are at 6 billion. Yes, that’s billion. Companies are making significant revenue from mobile devices: Google $2.5 billion last year. eBay expects customers to buy/sell $8 billion this year and PayPal expects to see $7 billion in mobile payments.
Being a person who loves my iPhone and iPad, articles about mobile trends usually catch my eye. This one from Portfolio discusses how important mobile and wireless services are to businesses. Check out these stats (they’re from last year and still pretty amazing):
59% of small businesses say wireless technology is essential to their business
33% of small business owners check their mobile device before brushing their teeth
Last month, the Supreme Court ruled on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. Employers are now faced with putting plans in place to implement this sweeping new piece of legislation. Regardless of what individuals personally think about the act, it is important to recognize how important health care insurance can be for our employees. I learned this lesson very early in life.
Sharlyn Lauby, author of HR Bartender, offers some great resources for veterans and any company that wants to develop a plan to hire them.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about talent management in terms of the new workforce. We’re starting to see the signs that the economy is going to rebound. When that happens, the speculation centers around whether companies will go back to their old ways and just start hiring people or will the new workforce be a blend of freelancers and consultants along with employees.
Culture eats strategy for breakfast. It’s a popular cliché I’ve seen tossed around a lot. And I get the premise – strong cultures can make or break your organizational strategy. It’s true. But where does culture start? Well, Steve Boese recently wrote a post titled, “If culture eats strategy, then what eats culture?” answering that exact question.
One of the most challenging questions I receive is about changing an organization. Individuals who want to change the company for the better and just don’t know how to do it. It’s not easy – both creating change or answering questions about creating change. I do know one thing, change gets easier when you create buy-in.
The growth of mobile technology is simply staggering. According to mobiThinking, there are 5.3 billion mobile subscribers (that translates to 77% of the world's population.) By 2014, it's expected that mobile will overtake the PC as the most popular way to access the web. People are using mobile technologies for commerce, entertainment, and productivity.
