SHRM Blog

4 Team Building Ideas That Don't Involve Trust Falls

by Nathan ParcellsOn April 9, 2013 0 comments

 

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...
nathan.parcells's picture
COMMENTS 0

Barriers for International Recruitment

by Nisha RaghavanOn April 8, 2013 0 comments

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...

Nisha.Raghavan's picture
COMMENTS 0

#Nextchat: The Ratings Game

by Mary Kaylor, SHRM-CPOn April 5, 2013 0 comments

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...

Mary.Kaylor's picture
COMMENTS 0

Technology, Service, and Dehumanization

by Steve BoeseOn April 4, 2013 0 comments

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...

Steve.Boese's picture
COMMENTS 0

25 Cool Tools for Recruiting and Networking

by Craig FisherOn April 3, 2013 0 comments

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...

Craig.Fisher's picture
COMMENTS 0

Are We Too Dependent on Technology?

by John HudsonOn April 2, 2013 0 comments

Recently, I was without a computer for a better part of two days. I had anticipated only being off-line for 30 minutes, as our IT department applied a few “enhancements” to my machine. Those minutes turned into days and my anxiety level rose. I experienced some depression-like feelings and I even tweeted about it. A friend texted me and ask if I was ok, and if I would please step back from the ledge. 

Looking back, my actions seemed silly, but it got me thinking about our dependency on technology at work and in our personal lives. Are we addicted...

John.Hudson's picture
COMMENTS 0

Friends Don't Let Friends Use HR-ese

by Jonathan SegalOn April 1, 2013 0 comments

I am happy to be with our employees today in bricks and mortar rather than in the clouds. You truly are our most valuable resource.

I am sorry that we had some systems issues when we reached out to you.  But we are agile, so we created a work around to connect with all of you today, so that we can call out to you a new initiative that will result in a knowledge share.

I want to share with you, our key stakeholders, a new value added initiative that will help build bridges. It is a proactive response to...

Jonathan.Segal's picture
COMMENTS 0

#Nextchat: HR, What’s the ROI on Your RBI?

by Mary Kaylor, SHRM-CPOn March 29, 2013 0 comments

I’ve Gotta Measure It, Too?

Baseball season has arrived and it’s interesting to note the correlation between metrics-based decision making in baseball and HR.  Metrics based decision making actually helps baseball – and other sports teams -- assess the value of their selections and determine the costs and benefits of trading up or down for draft picks.  It’s a lot like managing the top talent for your organization.  Trading up and down?  Well …

Effective metrics are the key to achieving tangible...

Mary.Kaylor's picture
COMMENTS 0

9 Leadership Lessons from the Best Boss I Ever Had

by Ryan EstisOn March 28, 2013 0 comments

I walked into the restaurant five minutes early for our 6:30PM reservation.  He was waiting to greet me by the bar. I couldn’t help but smile.  I’ve never forgotten the sales lesson “showing up on time means you’re five minutes late.”  He was always five minutes early.
 
As we slid into the corner booth it certainly felt like old times.  After working together for more than a decade, we had enjoyed some great dinner conversations and it was good to reconnect. He had been a mentor, friend and hands down the best boss I ever had. Dinner with him...

Ryan.Estis's picture
COMMENTS 0