SHRM Blog

LIVE from Las Vegas: Don’t Gamble on Talent

No one likes to gamble on talent.  It’s expensive!  And in today’s super-competitive, skills-starved and ever-changing talent landscape, the odds are stacked against HR.  

In order to place the best bets on talent, it’s critical for HR pros to stay on top of talent management trends.  There are many avenues to find great information, and of course, we at SHRM think that our Talent Management Conference and Exposition is the best.  

Those in the human resources understand that one of the greatest benefits of the profession is the camaraderie that exists among HR pros, and their inclination...

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Grace

When someone wrongs you, how do you react? Are you angry, vindictive, ready to pounce? For most of us, the answer is “it depends.” We’ll take a breath and then decide the best course of action.

However, when it comes to employees, we often forget to breathe first. We jump to the nearest set of policies and then comb through them to see what level of discipline needs to be metered out. It amazes me as an HR person that when employees slip up, the reaction is usually swift, harsh and doesn’t take anything into consideration – really....

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Game On!

There seems to be a reluctance to release the performance review handcuffs in the HR world. Let's be honest: we conduct performance reviews so that we have legally binding documentation in the event we need to fire someone.

That's that!

In reality, effective performance management requirements are directly in-line with Tom Chatfield's 7 Ways that Games Reward The Brain:

1. Multiple Long & Short Term Aims
2. Rapid, Frequent, Clear Feedback
3. Reward for Effort and Achievement
4. Continual Progress Management
5. Elements of Chance and Uncertainty
6. Windows of Enhanced Attention
7. Collective Emotion - Other People

When...

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4 Team Building Ideas That Don't Involve Trust Falls

 

Mention team building, and many employees internally cringe at the thought of trust falls and ropes courses. We don’t think those are bad options per se, but too often companies organize activities without checking the team barometer—that is, gauging what kinds of outings or events would best engage their employees. 
 
The goal of team building exercises should be to find an event that mights both your culture and goals.  Are you looking for something fun and relaxing to reward team members and give your recruiters more to talk about when hiring?  Or are you trying to build better...
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Barriers for International Recruitment

Being from an Indian family where 80 percent of men are working in the Middle East and some others in the U.S., I pretty much know how their international job search process was.

It was a choice that my family members preferred considering the broader experience that they can get and prospects for career development. But more than that the obvious factor is the opportunity to obtain a more lucrative salary and benefits which can be almost four times more than they can get from their home land. Now you know why they sacrificed their time with family...

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#Nextchat: The Ratings Game

A players, B players... green, yellow, and red.   Every organization has a system for rating their employees.  Right or wrong, these systems can affect employee engagement, productivity and retention. 

Most employees instinctually know their category or rating.  For example, B players generally know that they’re B players and are often invisible as management focuses on the care and feeding of the As and the never-ending PIP documentation of the Cs.

Are ratings systems fair?  Do they encourage organizations to operate in a "survival of the fittest" kind of culture? Or are they necessary for...

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Technology, Service, and Dehumanization

My pal the great Paul Hebert had a fantastic piece over on Fistful of Talent titled 'What HR Should be Thinking About in 2013', an examination of some of the most important and interesting business and product/service challenges facing organizations, and how HR departments can or should be responding to these challenges. The entire piece is excellent, and I encourage you to read it all, but I wanted to call out two (related), trends Paul highlighted and compare them to another, different example where business, policy, and pragmatism seems to be at odds with what we 'know' to...

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25 Cool Tools for Recruiting and Networking

This week I was part of a #SocialAgency Cool Tools Hangout with some UK friends, courtesy of Colleague Software and Louis Welcomme. Joining us on the call was Amanda Ashworth.

We had a great discussion of some of our favorite tools to find people, build networks, share content, and be more productive. Most of these tools could be used by anyone doing sales, marketing, business development, and especially recruiting.

One of my favorite things to come from this conversation is the controversial things you can discover about people with Facebook's...

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