Gettin’ Amish With ‘Em

Did you hear about Jake Reilly?  He’s a 24-year old college student who did the impossible.  He cut himself off from all social media and his cell phone for 90 days and chronicled his experience. The “ Amish Project ” went from a hassle to changing how he viewed his life and relationships. I know I’ve said many times I’m not sure what I’d do without my iPhone…the reality is I used to live and work without a smartphone, email, Facebook, etc…because I’m OLD. As I read about Jake’s experience I remembered how much I used to write letters.  When I was in college my boyfriend (and now husband) graduated and went to work in a different city.  We didn’t have the money for daily phone calls, so instead we wrote daily letters to each other.  I’ve kept all those letters, as did he, and someday I’m sure we’ll enjoy looking back at our lives during that period of time.  Posts and tweets perhaps will live on forever as well, but I bet they won’t be as fun to go back and read. Is there a lesson in Jake’s experiment for HR pros?  Would I be writing this if there weren’t? Corporate HR folks have a tough job but sometimes I think we make it tougher because of email, texts and social media overkill.  I’ve sent the emotional response via email and wished I could pull it back after all hell broke loose.  What about the candidate who is overexposed and therefore not employable due to his social media presence?  When’s the last time you got up and went to have a tough conversation vs. sending an email or worse yet, a text? I met with a VP of HR recently and was supposed to spend 30 minutes with him.  After an hour and a half I told him I knew he had work to do as did I.  We were talking about the outside perception of his company, how he almost lost a star employee and the ongoing development of his HR team.  This wasn’t a planned conversation – but it happened because we were face-to-face and really talking.  When I was leaving he said, “You’re not what I expected”, meaning I wasn’t a typical recruiter or HR consultant.  I took the compliment and smiled.  He has since scheduled lunch to talk more in depth about his ideas around developing his HR team. In our current reality of 140 characters, responding to texts quickly and the expectation of being reachable 24/7, are you REALLY connecting with your employees and customers? It’s tough – because if you’re not in the virtual and social space you’re not “with it”…but don’t forget how to write a letter or have a face-to-face conversation.  Having the ability to connect in our virtual world AND keep grounded in the real world may just bring comments like, “Wow – you’re so much more than I expected”.  Isn’t that what every HR pro would love to hear?

Tags: communication, culture, good hr, Industry Chat, kathy rapp

The 10 Biggest Culture Killers in Recruitment Companies

This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared in recruitment extra (March 2005 issue). The culture of a company is created, enhanced and also destroyed primarily by the quality of communication (both verbal and non-verbal) that occurs every day in the office. High quality communication is direct, face-to-face, customer oriented, and present or future

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The 10 Biggest Culture Killers in Recruitment Companies

Tags: behaviour/communication, communication, culture, edited, high performance, Industry Chat, leadership, quality, result

Three Signs Your Company Culture is Going Down the Tubes

If you’re an FOT reader, then we already know you’re an enlightened person and there’s a pretty good chance you already understand the importance of culture in an organization. But even for the enlightened, it’s a squishy concept – you usually know when it’s good and you know when it’s bad. Knowing when it’s going down the tubes, however, isn’t quite as easy. So I thought I’d help out.  Over the past month or so, I’ve made it a point to ask people I have met from a variety of organizations about the early warning signs that the culture of a company is potentially going down the tubes.  I asked people to give me an actual quote they’ve heard in their companies that gave them pause. So, skip the fancy culture assessments by highly paid consultants because it’s simple – if you hear any of these statements in your organization, Houston you’ve got a problem! “ Yes, I know that Sally hasn’t been performing up to expectations, but we’re pretty busy and Sally at 10% is better than nothing.”  Translation:  The performance standards in your company have slipped to the point that it’s ok for a manager to actually say this out loud!  Think about it – what’s the one thing that will kill morale in a company on the spot?  It’s knowing that poor performance is tolerated or more specifically, you expect ME to pick up the slack.  Not cool.  Plus it makes me question any of the positive feedback you’ve given.  Am I really doing a good job or are you just too scared to tell me the truth?   If you don’t squash this type of thinking fast you run the risk of it spreading throughout your entire organization. “ This candidate doesn’t really have all the skills that I was looking for when we started this search. But sometimes you have to just hire who’s available.”  Translation:  At best the hiring manager just doesn’t understand how to screen for the skills he really needs or candidates with a particular skill set could be scarce.  At worst the hiring manager is only looking out for themselves and doesn’t truly appreciate and/or understand the culture of your organization.  This type of thinking leads directly back to point number one.  As an HR Pro, if we come across situations like these, we need to have the COURAGE to say no.  But not just no and move on, because as the first line on the hiring front this one lies with us too. “ That’s not my/our responsibility.”  Translation:  You’re screwed!  Well, maybe it’s not completely over but unless you take drastic action immediately you might as well just close up shop.  Seriously, this is like the DEFCON 5 of culture.  Somehow you ended up with an employee(s) who are more concerned with their own piece of the puzzle instead of caring about the good of the whole or who are no longer connected to the mission and vision of your company.  Unfortunately, there’s no quick fix for this one.  It requires a full stop – re-clarifying the mission of your company and re-connecting your people to it and getting rid of those people who don’t.   These are just the 3 quotes I thought were the best indicators that you’ve got a problem on your hands, and I’m sure there are more.  Would love to hear what quotes YOU think are a signal the culture is going down the tubes!

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Tags: culture, Industry Chat

An 8 Hour New Hire Orientation? When Does HR Go Too Far?

My former intern called me yesterday. Meredith, you will not believe this! I know how you feel about new hire orientations, so I couldn’t wait to tell you that they last EIGHT HOURS at my new job! Everyone is so board. Can you tell me how to jazz it up? My questions back to her were obvious. How long is your employee handbook?  About the same as yours. How sophisticated is your medical insurance? It’s an HSA. Just like you have. No big deal. Well, what the heck are you doing in there for 8 hours? We watch videos. There is a cheesy one about sexual harassment. There’s one about forklifts. There’s one about lifting with your legs and not with your back. Here’s my suggestion… stop doing that. Cover what needs to be covered, and let them go start their jobs. No one wants to spend all day with HR, and you have better things to be doing with your time.  I want to tell you guys something super important. Are you ready? HR policies are boring to people that don’t do HR. Stop boring people death in your new hire orientations. I can’t think of anything you are teaching people in new hire orientation that would require 8 hours, or that they wouldn’t learn better hands-on once they get to their department. A good HR new hire orientation should take about 3 hours, and maybe even 2 hours once you get really good at it. First, I suggest you hit your big policies hard. This should take about an hour. Don’t smoke at your desk, drink from a flask in your company car, or get high in the bathrooms. Try not to date anyone that works here. We don’t like that sort of thing, and you’ll have to sign a Love Contract. You can’t wear flip-flops on the plant floor, and leggings are not pants. You can’t touch people or leer at them for too long. Your mom doesn’t work here, clean up after yourself. Don’t start a Texas Hold ‘Em tournament in the break room. If you have a bad attitude, we’ll fire you. Don’t steal our stuff. We’ll happily allow you to use anything you need while you’re here. Protect the customer’s privacy. Hit your performance goals because we’re evaluating you all the time. Second, have them sign off on all the stuff you just went over, and fill out tax forms and I-9′s. This should take about 45 minutes. Third, go over your benefits package. This takes about 30 minutes. If it takes any longer than that – you have a package that is much too complicated to navigate. Here’s our medical insurance, and this what applies to the deductible. Vision insurance will help you get cooler glasses. You can get $130 frames every year. I am thinking you haven’t been to a dentist in a while, here’s a list of Dentists in our network. Lastly, make sure they’re safe when they hit the floor. We have a safety manual that we go over. It’s about 20 pages with pictures. It takes me 30 minutes to get through it all, and I remind them that safety is common sense. Any job specific safety policies are addressed and taught on the job (e.g. forklift certification). That’s it. Let them start their new position with your company, and you get back to your office so you can start inputting all of their information. Their manager can show them how to use the phone and log into the company network. That’s why you have managers. They manage people. How long is your new hire orientation?

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Tags: bored to death, culture, Meredith, meredith soleau, new hire orientation, onboarding, orientations, result

Wait, I have to go change. I forgot to wear SEQUINS!

I am an honest person.  I’m sure any psychologist reading this would psychoanalyze my statement and say, “Oh yeah, she’s got something to hide”, but really, I am. As I type this, I’m sitting in a jury assembly room in downtown Houston.  I’ve been told, by people who will remain nameless , I could have ignored my jury summons, pretended I never saw it or given my nanny the day off so I was the primary caregiver of my toddler.  All tactics I’m sure work for a number of people, but I couldn’t bring myself to do any of them…so here I sit for hour 4 and counting. As I looked around the very crowded room, I thought about “jury of my peers” and wondered if I’d want to be judged by anyone in this room.  I guess this is another reason I AM here as I’d want ME to show up if I needed a jury. The jury info tells you to come dressed in “business attire”.  If you’ve read any of my past posts you know I don’t believe in dress codes, but I do believe I have a decent understanding of what business attire means.  I’ll use this as a simple example of how my peers in my particular room interpreted this requirement: Jeans are OBVIOUSLY business attire as are tennis/running shoes Sweats are also very business appropriate Tight clothing and Ed Hardy t-shirts Cleavage bearing tops made for the club scene SEQUINS and glittery eye shadow (particularly in blue and purple) Short – I mean short – skirts Un-tucked (don’t even need to say un-ironed do I?) men’s shirts Hats of all shapes and sizes Large “jewels” on women and men So really, if my peers can’t come to agreement on what constitutes “business attire”, how would they come to agreement on innocence or guilt? But alas, I really don’t believe in dress codes.  I am just as productive, smart and capable of making decisions in my jeans as I am in my suit.  So it really shouldn’t matter what people wear to jury selection/service as they can be just as fit to determine someone’s fate dressed in sequined hot pants as they would in a blazer and slacks. Again, as 2012 unfolds and as a HR pro you’re asked about dress code, either just say no, pretend like you never got the email or call out because your nanny is suddenly sick and needs the day off.  OR you can deem your “policy” as one of trust and honesty – as in I trust people to be adults and come to work dressed appropriately or I’ll be really honest with her about the sequins and no one should be surprised. And no, I didn’t snap any pics of my peers as I thought that might get me in trouble, but I did smile as hot pants got selected and I left the courthouse after 3 selection rounds and only 6 hours of having to amuse myself.

Tags: culture, driving productivity, employee relations, honest, Industry Chat, kathy rapp, person, result

Your Board Room Needs You! (Bring Popcorn…)

Editor’s Note  -  Steve Gifford, MBA, SPHR, is the Director of Human Resources for Eurpac Service, Inc., a national grocery and retail brokerage.  His first HR job was in the US Army during his second tour in Iraq, where every employee in his client group carried an automatic weapon.  It helps him keep the problems of retail employees, who show up to work late, in perspective.. I finally got around to reading last month’s Fortune magazine – yes, the dead tree format and everything.  It included a long investigative piece on Robert Kelly, the former CEO of BNY Mellon, and the circumstances that led to him being a “former” CEO.  The article is here  and is similar to pieces that Fortune does every few months on boardroom intrigue. I have three take-aways from the article. Don’t let boardroom drama fool you.  Sure, it takes place behind closed doors, among mostly white, mostly older, mostly male professionals.  It is still every bit as politically fraught and petty as the best episodes of Jersey Shore or Real Housewives . BNY overpaid.  They paid Kelly $18 million per year, and he got a $34 million severance package.  I live within commuting distance of New York, and was available to be their CEO for 20% of that total package.  I’m still available for any Fortune 500 looking for a CEO at the bargain mid-seven-figures range – contact KD for details (and, if you mention this blog post when you call, I’ll even pick up Kinetix’s commission out of my side!) Boards of Directors are in the Talent business in a big way.   None of them have HR in their titles, and I doubt that any of BNY’s Directors spent much time in an HR department, but time after time in this article, their focus on human capital comes through.  Consider: The board had identified two potential successors to Kelly and was very concerned when each of them left (one went to Fidelity, and one just left – retention doesn’t look much worse than that). The board makes a counteroffer to keep Kelly from going to Bank of America, and ultimately regrets that choice. The board sets compensation and bonus targets for the CEO (and presumably other executives). “In December 2010 the compensation committee collected its annual written appraisals from the 12 independent directors. Many of the reviews were extremely critical. So in February of this year the board assigned five directors to meet with Kelly and discuss the poor evaluations. The board believed it was sending him a major warning signal.”  There’s really no way to read this other than as a write-up. So, what does this mean for those of us who work several floors down from the board room, in a windowless office that still says “Personnel” on the door?  We’ve been doing our HR thing, and we’ve noticed that:  Everyone in the succession plan is over 55, but no one has ever really looked at that document;  Five all-star performers from different departments have left for the same competitor in the last two years, and no one read the exit interviews;  Revenues haven’t gone up in a while, but salespeople are consistently at 100% of their bonus plan. Yes, you say, you’ve been talking about these things for years, and they get ignored just as surely as your sexual harassment training!  This article tells me that someone, somewhere at the very top of the company, is paying attention to the things we pay attention to.  How you connect with that person is going to be different in every organization – it may mean that your memo needs to go to someone besides your boss, or it may just mean you make your boss look like a proactive genius.  But there are people who care about the things we care about, and they want to know.

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Tags: culture, current affairs, Industry Chat, steve gifford

Abercrombie & Fitch – Tough “Situation” – Buh-bye Jersey Shore

A&F gots no love for the “Situation” – or pretty much anyone on the show “Jersey Shore.” FTR – I have never watched – and do not ever plan to watch “Jersey Shore” – unless, of course, it is part of some sort of “A Clockwork Orange” behavioral modification program.  But…I do peruse the interwebs and watch “The Soup” on the E! Channel, so I’m somewhat familiar with the “concept.” According to a Reuters’ article : “The preppy retailer has offered to pay cast members from MTV's popular show 'Jersey Shore' to stop wearing its clothes, it said in a news release late Tuesday. The company is 'deeply concerned' that Michael “The Situation” Sorrentino 'could cause significant damage' to the brand's 'aspirational nature.' ” Ya think? Some speculate it’s a publicity stunt since this is coming from a company that previously sold T-shirts emblazoned with the wording “The Fitchuation.” But, A&F wants to move into Europe, and they are concerned their association with the Jersey crowd could cause problems in that market.  (What does it say about us here in the USA – they weren’t concerned about us where they?) I’m not convinced it’s not a stunt but it did start me thinking about HR.  Weirdness I know. Who’s Your “Situation?” Every company has one – or two or three – people who bring home the bacon, make the donuts – whatever – and have a personality or style that is contrary to the business value and brand.  I’ve been at too many companies that ignore the “situation” and just let things go as long as the money tree is bearing fruit.  Just like A&F – it’s fine as long as it’s making dough (can you tell I’m hungry as I write this?) But it will end.  There will be a day when the amount of fruit harvested can’t make up for the amount of toxins being spewed back into the organization.  Like A&F – there will be a time when the benefits of having someone like the “Situation” connected to your brand are outweighed by the costs and the risks.  So… you can pay for it now or pay for it later.  In A&F’s case – they could have distanced themselves from the cast early on (and risked losing some dough from the association in the US market) – or they can pay them now – to NOT wear the clothes to keep their losses to a minimum in Europe.  In either case, they are paying. From an HR perspective – allowing these kinds of bad folks, toxic behaviors, etc., never plays out well.  The costs are too high.  While at the time you may think the baddies are a revenue positive “situation” – the reality is they will always be profit negative – from toxic sales people bringing in problem clients to horrible managers increasing turnover to poor employees creating bad relationships with vendors.  Wherever these people are – they never, read that again, never add long-term value.  Never. They always take more than they leave behind when they’re gone.  This is one of the reasons people come to HR and say “We have a situation we have to deal with.”   Editor's Note -  Paul Hebert is the Managing Director for  i2i  (an influence consultancy), the brain behind  Incentive Intelligence  and a recognized authority on incentives and performance motivation. Want to know what's going to motivate your people to perform at their best and impact the bottom line? Want to know whether your service award program really means anything at all? And are there psychological principles that drive your employees behavior? Paul's your guy… unless you fervently bow down to Maslow.

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Tags: abercrombie & fitch, bad hr, culture, employee relations, employees, Industry Chat, Jersey Shore, michael sorrentino, paul hebert, performance management

The world may not be enough…

Mike Beeley, CEO, ReAgent Employer Marketing Unless you’ve been covered in mud and living up a tree in Nimbin all year, you’ll no doubt be aware of the colossal skills shortage we are facing and the resultant focus on 457 visas and other short-term solutions to import talent being considered by employers. We are increasingly being asked by clients, especially in the resources sector, to advise on sourcing talent from overseas destinations for Australian roles, as they realise we just don’t have enough skilled workers here to meet our country’s pending needs. A report out from Skills Australia this month suggests we will be short of 2.4 million skilled workers by 2015 – that’s less than four years away! Such is the looming talent shortage here that some companies have moved straight past the idea of recruiting locally and are now establishing long-term strategies to pipeline talent in on an ongoing basis from key global locations. Why waste time and money looking locally when it’s obvious what we need to do? But where are these people going to come from? We all know that India and China are going to be the engines of skills generation in the future, and could provide much of our required labour. In fact, China already has performed that function for this country – the gold rush around 1850 was only possible through the provision of cheap and plentiful labour from China (over 50,000 arrived between 1851-1861) and other countries, and left a delightful and indelible legacy in Australian culture, most notably in the form of our Chinatowns. I wonder what the recruitment ads looked like – maybe something like these from WW1: The numbers were staggering – in 1852 alone over 370,000 immigrants arrived in Australia, enabling the economy to boom. The population of the country trebled from 430,000 in 1851 to 1.7 million in 1871, paving the way for the unique and unparalleled cultural diversity we enjoy today. If that were to happen in this current boom, we would have a population of close to 70 million by 2031… But it wasn’t easy for them – there was ignorance of Chinese customs and culture, leading to suspicion and prejudice. It took many years for them to be accepted and be given equal opportunities – a form of racism we still face today. Can we learn anything from history? We are now experiencing our next resources rush, centred on iron ore, coal and LNG. Anyone who studies history will surely agree that, to some degree, we are in for a repeat performance of the 1850s. And while it clearly won’t have such a dramatic effect on our population, it could write the next chapter in Australia’s cultural adolescence. One thing that strikes me as odd is the extreme polarity of the Australian government (and of some of our population) between skilled migrants and refugees. It is possible that the only real difference between a refugee and an indentured Electrician is four years in Tech. The 4,000 refugees we are about to swap with Malaysia could put a big dent in our skills hole by 2015. But before we can do that we need to change – change our perceptions of ‘talent’, stop thinking of eligible talent as ‘candidates’, and not allow the media to direct our perception of the usefulness or otherwise of individuals. Have a think about this — the only difference between a ‘boatperson’ and a 457 migrant is a piece of paper. And the attitude adjustment of a nation. Anyway, I digress. Back to the world. Very quickly companies looking to recruit from overseas realise the enormity of the challenge – the sheer size and complexity, not to mention resource-drain, of the exercise. A long and complex process involving: Identifying the global skills pools through talent mapping; Assessing the available sourcing channels; Analysing and buying the most appropriate and cost-effective media; Deciding on appropriate creative which doesn’t trample over local culture and sensibilities; Building a website to capture attention and response; and Creating an efficient and appropriate CRM process to exploit the response. Not to mention the logistics of actually interviewing and assessing these people. And that’s just to find and assess them against professional criteria. The next challenge centres on diversity – how do we ensure they feel at home here and stay? There’s nothing more frustrating than spending $50,000 to land a Qatari national to run our LNG train in Karratha, only to lose them again when they discover there are no mosques or halal butcheries for 450km. We need to understand that if we are to invite people to our nation, we need to make sure they feel welcome. It’s just common sense. You wouldn’t invite a vegetarian to dinner and serve them haggis. If we want people to come and stay, it’s up to us to ensure the transition is smooth and the environment appropriate – it’s not up to them to tell us what they need. This obviously creates enormous infrastructure development issues in the regions where we need these skills, and the tendency is to leave it to the government. But a few more enlightened employers are taking matters into their own hands, creating environments that welcome diversity and cater to their audience. Next time you’re advising a client on overseas sourcing, have a think about what the employee will need, rather than what your client wants to offer them… More info Gold rush – http://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/austn-gold-rush Examples of the early recruitment posters here – http://www.pictureaustralia.org/trails/history.html Chinese in the goldfields – http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/goldchinese

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The world may not be enough…

Tags: australian, chinatowns, culture, destinations, diversity, issues, overseas, Reagent, resources, result, skilled, skills, strategies, time, workers

HR Owns This One. Bellweathers – Charlie Sheen – HR Capitalist

You are what you eat. You are what you drive. You are where you live. You are who you put up with. Is Charlie Sheen an Employee Bellwether? At first Charlie Sheen was an interesting side note to all the crazy stuff associated with the star-laden left coast. Then he became something more. He became headline news.  He became a social media rock star. And, as Charlie Sheen transformed from a somewhat eccentric Hollywood type to a sad and sick person, we, the general public transformed as well. As we watched his public descent into insanity and drug abuse, followed him on twitter and watched his streaming videos we transformed from simple voyeurs to active participants. We are now standing on the street below the window ledge yelling “Jump.  Jump.” We want more from Charlie.  We can’t get enough of Charlie.  ‘Cuz Chalie is #Winning. And this is America, and damnit, we like winners. But it is only the beginning. About a week ago NPR posted an article, “Charlie Sheen: A Bellwether For What Is Next” . An excerpt: “We are fascinated with Sheen because he is us — or, rather, he is what some of us already are and will be. Celebrities, for all their outlandish behavior, are often the bellwethers for what is next for the rest of us. Even as we tut-tut-tut about it, we are all taking notes.” The article points out many of the social changes that we are accustomed to were at one time, taboo. Yet once our celebrity friends started breaking those taboos, we fell right in line. Some of the topics the article highlights include: Over-the-top, crazy-expensive weddings are now considered almost the birthright of the children of the middle class Designer clothing and cosmetic surgery (routinely now discussed for college and high school kids) The quickie divorce (now de rigueur) Child surrogacy (now even middle class is considering) The article also points out that as managers we will be looking straight down the barrel of this particular gun soon enough, closing with this: “And I know this: He is not the first and will not be the last person to want to tell his boss to stuff it. He will not, in these times when loyalty to employees is nonexistent, be the last to point out inconveniently that however much he is being paid, his bosses are making that much more from the fruits of his labor. He will not be the last to believe, as many people seem to think in many other fields of endeavor, that he can do whatever he wants — sexually, financially, to other people's retirement accounts — as long as he is bringing in the cash. And while I personally don't think his behavior is healthy for his five kids to witness, is it any worse than seeing your parents humiliated by long-term unemployment? But a million people aren't tweeting about that, are they? Years from now, mark my words: We'll have seminars on how to manage people who are, as he put it, “Winning.” As I read that last couple of paragraphs I couldn’t help but replay Kris Dunn’s post on the HR Capitalist blog from earlier this week, “#FACT: Great Talent Runs Freaking Hot – Deal With It…” where he leads with this: “Great talent runs hot. There are going to be some broken eggs. Please put on your helmet, because while they're engaged in saving your #$$, the same passion that drives them to run your business makes them make incredibly poor decisions elsewhere.” While Kris doesn’t necesarrily advocate hiring these folks, I think his post shows that we recognize it as a reality in today’s hypercompetitive business world. You will be tempted to do it. Everyone is.   But… YOU Own This… Here’s the lesson… You have a choice to follow the bellwether* or take a stand.  Your company culture is what you reward and recognize. It is also about what you put up with from a behavior standpoint. Only you – HR and other management in the company – can decide whether you will put up with Adonis DNA and Tiger Blood employees or kick them to the curb. You – and only you – have the power to determine if you become the company that will put up with anything to make a buck – or – make a buck by not putting up with everything.   There is no other person to point to when your company becomes a Roman Orgy of epic proportions. HR and Senior Management own this one.   While you may not be the crowd on the street yelling jump (that’d be the stockholders) you are the person who controls who gets on the elevator to the top floor in the first place. You can either stop these folks from getting on – or you can give them your express card to the Penthouse Suite.   Your call.   But make no mistake – it is YOUR call. (*  Interesting factoid that applies here:  A bellwether is a sheep, usually male, that leads the sheep.  Typically wearing a bell.  A castrated male sheep is called a wether – hence “bellwether.”  I found that very apropos– sheep and followers.) Editor's Note -  Paul Hebert is the Managing Director for  i2i  (an influence consultancy), the brain behind  Incentive Intelligence  and a recognized authority on incentives and performance motivation. Want to know what's going to motivate your people to perform at their best and impact the bottom line? Want to know whether your service award program really means anything at all? And are there psychological principles that drive your employees behavior? Paul's your guy… unless you fervently bow down to Maslow.

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Tags: Bellwether, clothing, culture, divorce, good hr, Hollywood, paul hebert, twitter

Increase Employee Engagement. Give Up Your Office.

Steve Church said it best: “If you help employees fix broken processes, you'll gain employee engagement”. Not only is this quote spot on, but it brings me to my favorite 'HR People Make Me Crazy' rant.  How HR Tries To Increase Engagement: First, they have an ah-ha moment where they realize the key to employee engagement is understanding employees challenges, removing barriers, and fixing broken processes. Second, a survey is created, distributed, and analyzed. New policies are created based on those surveys (which captured 2% of what employees  really wanted to say), and HR sits around wondering why their engagement scores haven't gone up. I/O folks, deep breathing will help clear the anger you're feeling right now. Before you attack my seeming distrust of surveys, just know that I'm actually a huge fan and use engagement surveys often. HOWEVER, that survey can only give me a high level pulse on how my organization is doing. Increasing engagement is more than looking for high level trends throughout the organization and creating policies to fix them. It's about understanding individual teams and divisions. More importantly, it's about finding ways to understand individual employees.   How HR Should Increase Engagement:   Engagement goes up when employees feel they have someone to turn to who can help them fix what is broken in their lives. To increase engagement you need  to be the type of HR person who employees feel comfortable opening up to, the kind of HR person employees want to open up to. If you are serious about increasing employee engagement, there is an easy place to start. Stop thinking that because you're HR, you need to have your own office. Literally, my blood boils when HR people try to defend this need. I'm sure some of you are thinking. “But… “…I have private conversations all the time and need a space where I can close a door”. Does your company have conference rooms? When someone needs to have a private conversation with you, go into one of them. Also, tell me that you never close the door just to block out whatever is going on outside your office. A door (even when it's open) is a barrier that takes a little bit of guts for an employee to walk through. It can even be a little bit scary, like going to the principal's office. Building engagement is about being so easily accessible to employees that you are literally in the path of their frustrations when they need to get it all out. “…if others see us walking into the conference room they'll assume that employee is in trouble.” That means you're the HR person people only see when you're carrying a pink slip in your hand (and I hate that for you). Maybe you need to pull employees into conference rooms more often just to tell them you've heard good things about their work, or simply to ask them what you can do to make their lives easier. If 80% of your private conversations with employees are positive, then when you have to have a negative one, no one on the outside will know the difference. You Don't Really Need That Office I can't stand HR people who think they have to have an office to get their job done, because they are the reason our industry has gotten so far away from the one thing that started our profession in the first place - being a resource for our employees. Some of my most enlightening years in HR happened when I was sitting smack in the middle of a sea of cubicles. I knew when someone hit a milestone, I knew the company gossip, I knew which managers rocked and which ones failed, and most importantly, I knew which processes were broken and I was able to help employees fix them. I will never accept an office again and I will always be the HR person who knows which process to fix. Are you willing to join me? Editor's Note – When it comes to her professional life, Marisa Keegan is passionate about three things; employee engagement, employee advocacy, and corporate culture. Her goal is to help business leaders understand the importance of giving their employees a voice.   Since leaving her position as Culture Maven at Rackspace, she has joined Modea, a digital services agency, and is helping them shape their Talent Management Strategy. Need help understanding what it takes to build a great corporate culture and to truly give your employees a voice? She’s the person you need to talk to.

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Increase Employee Engagement. Give Up Your Office.

Tags: audacious ideas, church, culture, employee relations, employees, frustrations, industry, lives, marisa keegan, organization, people, person, professional, work

SONIC Style Uniqueness – Are YOU Memorable?

Recently, I was up in Dallas on business over my wedding anniversary and stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel & Resort .  Now before you think hrQ is rolling in cash, remember my very first job in HR was with the Four Seasons, so I get a “friends and family” rate.  Divide that by two and hrQ is getting off cheaper than if I'd crashed at Motel 6.  Our stay was as expected. Everything was first-class, clean, great food and consistent service.  Four Seasons knows how to run a hotel. On our way back to Houston, we stopped in a tiny town at a Sonic Drive-in .  This town was so small the Sonic wasn't even a stand-alone, but attached to a gas station.  Before we ordered, a female “carhop” came by the car and asked us if we had any questions about the menu.  She was bubbly, all smiles and had the thickest Texas accent I've heard in a while.  When we hit the button to order, the same girl's voice came over the speaker – and she was so loud the guy 3 cars down heard I wanted a grape slush ! Later, she came out to deliver the food and again, you couldn't help but smile at her personality.  One last time she came out to check on us, took away our tray and invited us to stop back by again. She was the only carhop working and there were probably 5-7 cars while we were there. I tell this story to illustrate a point about uniqueness .  While Four Seasons was fabulous, there wasn't an employee interaction that I really remember – everyone was consistently good.  On the other hand, while the girl at Sonic had a memorable voice, it was her eagerness to help and how she busted-ass to serve all her customers with a smile that made her stand out.  I WILL stop back by that Sonic, and not just because of the grape slush. I talk to and meet a lot of HR professionals each week – all over the country.  I'm not the best with names either, so for me to really remember someone without going back to my notes, they have to stand out. How do you do that?  Especially now when there are still a slew of talented HR folks on the market and many more lifting their heads to see what else is going on.  You have to be unique – do something people remember. For me, sometimes it is as simple as a hand-written thank-you note.  I have a candidate who sent me a wonderful card after our conversation.  She wasn't “perfect” for the role, but I liked her even before I received the card.  The client was going to pass and I talked them into seeing her because she was different, has incredible bandwidth and would fit well with the culture.  Did I push a bit more because I got a card? Absolutely not; however , what she wrote in the card told me she was special and worth extra effort on my part. Another memorable candidate – the one I met this week who asked me to reschedule as his father had unexpectedly passed away.  This guy came in just days later, visibly still in pain but focused, articulate and truly thankful for my flexibility to reschedule. The bottom line – don't rely on the pedigree and experience of a Four Seasons to set you apart. Sometimes, it is the authenticity and down-home personality of a Sonic that makes you memorable.  And if you come bearing a grape slush – that would probably work too! Editors Note – Kathy Rapp is the  Managing Director of  hrQ  in Texas , where she helps progressive companies find groovy HR Talent to drive business results.  Prior to joining hrQ, Kathy booked more than 15 years of human resources leadership experience working for such companies as Morgan Stanley and First Data Corporation.  A connoisseur of the intersection between pop culture and business, Kathy believes many talent issues can be addressed via the succession planning lessons experienced by Van Halen (David Lee/Sammy and sadly,  Gary Cherone ).

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SONIC Style Uniqueness – Are YOU Memorable?

Tags: authenticity, country, culture, food, houston, personality, seasons, sonic, speaker

Who Has Cultural Fit Down? The DMV!

Cultural Fit is hard to describe for most folks. A company can have a culture that most observers say is “good,” but that doesn’t mean that all qualified candidates will be a good fit. And if you’re looking for an organization that gets hiring for cultural fit perfectly? I would suggest looking at… nope, not Netflix, not Google, not Target… look at your local Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Surprised?  Think about it for a second.   I immediately think of Doris at the DMV. The overall culture at the DMV is dreadful and Doris is perfectly aligned with their culture which means their recruiters are apparently dead on perfect at identifying cultural alignment. Doris helped me the last two times I visited the DMV. On the most recent visit, she: Shuffled in at 1:02 pm from her lunch break Checked the clock Sighed deeply Called out the next number for a visitor Sighed deeply Processed his license She said nothing to the customer during the encounter. He said nothing back. She sighed deeply, checked the clock, and repeated the exercise. The other people working with Doris had the same slow motion responses, same lack of eye contact and same lack of any sense of urgency. Check the clock, sigh and make the overall visit a miserable experience for the customers. Next… next. Watching this pitiful scene play out, it hit me: someone at the DMV is doing a great job of hiring for their culture. In fact, they are hitting it out of the ballpark because there is no way that hiring an energetic, customer focused problem-solver would be considered a success there. The person would fail spectacularly or self-select out. So someone has worked the screening process to identify and hire only those individuals who can operate in that environment. Again, not necessarily the “best people,” but folks who are a good cultural fit.    Hopefully, you’re part of a high performing organization where your culture is actually a positive differentiator— and if so, turns out, your role in finding the right “fit” is the same as the DMV recruiter. I think you have to find people who will thrive in your culture.  Hiring someone who is technically sound but who has cultural needs different from what the org can provide is going to backfire. I know; I have done it.  And please understand I am not talking about diversity. Finding different people from different backgrounds is crucial to solving problems in an increasingly global and dynamic world. But those people still need to have values and expectations that match the company’s, or there will be serious tension. Case in point, your stereotypical DMV hires won’t ever hack it at a company with a maniacal focus on the customer experience like the Four Seasons or Southwest. No one’s fault… they just would not align. And a good recruiter is going to find the best people for their company who are aligned with the specific culture.  Skills are good, folks, but you’ve got to look beyond skills. And PS – A good recruiter or HR pro is also going to influence their culture positively. DMV personnel? Because we know you’re still called personnel over there… time to step it up and try to influence a more positive culture. Editor's Note – This guest post is brought to you by R.J. Morris, a staffing/talent acquisition director for McCarthy Building Companies based out of STL. Like many others in the FOT clan, he's a sports nut who can endlessly draw the parallels between athletes, sports and the talent management game. I know, I know, as if we needed more of that. Ha. So will FOT call him up for the big show after this post? I guess we'll have to wait and see… We'll call this one a try-out for now.

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Who Has Cultural Fit Down? The DMV!

Tags: carthy-building, clock, culture, customer, exercise, motor-vehicles, netflix, people, recruiting, rj morris, stereotypical

If They Don’t Fit – Get Rid of Them

Here's what kills me: When a person manages to get a job in an area where they are technically capable but socially inept. Let me explain. For the past several months, a family member of mine has been sick, and we have had almost daily visits to the doctor's office.

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If They Don’t Fit – Get Rid of Them

Tags: culture, customers, employees, interviewing, marisa keegan, person, personalities, position, professional, robert-francis, theory, time, work

Social media as part of background checking (Part 4)

Finally part four! In case you missed the reason we are here have a look at the last few posts. In the  first post we looked at laying a foundation for the discussion and about how social media allows you access to a unique view on a candidate’s character. In  part two I discussed the issue of cultural fit and it’s important and how social media can help assess the cultural fit of a person. In part three I looked at some of the possible legal issues with using the information found online as part of the selection process. In the final part of this series I want to bring it all together. A statement between the time I write this and when it is published others may have joined in on the discussion, I know Recruiter Daily will, I may have missed some critically posts in the story, sorry. The Social Contract Last week I was chatting with Jared Woods and Kelly O’Shaughnessy and it would be fair to say we probably have slightly differing opinions on the subject, or we did last week . One of the out comes during our chat was that more agencies need to disclose what they are doing when it comes to social media content. If you are going to use data you find online, is your Privacy Policy and Collection Statement up to date to cover these activities? Secondly if you are an agency have you spoken with your consultants to ensure that they understand their responsibilities? A really good example comes from SKM’s Graduate Recruitment Blog , which given their target market actually makes sense not sure the same could be said if they were hiring CFO’s. Education A big part of this whole issue is not privacy, disclosure, ethics etc, it is the fact that recruiter, employers and candidates do not fully understand this new world of social media. Recruiters (agency and internal) need to learn how to assess the content for it’s suitability to be used as part of the recruitment process. This includes understanding the culture of each service. A not so suitable photo may appear on Facebook but that is the nature of the beast, the same photo on Flickr or blog or even LinkedIn is not really sensible. The very nature of Twitter makes it easy for a “short off the cuff” comment to be posted, recruiters need to understand these dynamics before using the data. This is one reason as part of the work Inspecht does helping clients understand the service culture is part of the listening phase. Objectivity Another major question that has been drawn from the discussions so far is how can someone objectively assess what is online for truth and accuracy? One way maybe to use the  DIKW model , where once intelligence is overlaid on data it turns into information, knowledge and eventually wisdom. It is through this process we are able to turn these “online clues” into insight about a candidate and objectively assess the online content (thanks to  Ross Clennett ). A key method in demonstrating objectivity is to have a defined process on how you use social media as part of your selection process. If you are going to Google candidates, then every candidate needs to undergo the same treatment, and the result stored so that you can demonstrate fairness in your processes. Further when developing your selection criteria for the role, make sure you include statements around the relevance or not of social media information. Jared Woods provides some  great examples on how hard can be to assess a candidate objectively by using data found online. Unfortunately in each one of these examples if used in selection the recruiter in question has breeched the discrimination laws and should be punished. The anti-discrimination laws are very clear sexual, religious preferences cannot be used as part of the recruitment process. Background Checking Recruiters I wonder how many recruiters have thought about the issues of candidates and clients background checking them using social media before engaging their services? The End Game A lot of the discussion is on ethics, social contracts, discrimination, education and the like actually come down the the fact that when we are online we loose access to many of our traditional social inputs. This is why we have flame wars. In fact this need for social skills was covered just last week by my colleague Kate Carruthers in her post Real world social values and social networking to quote Kate: Social media is now providing us with tangible evidence of how many people lack (or fail to demonstrate) the basic skills required to get along well in the playground. And these are the same skills we need to work successfully with other grown-ups, both online and offline. Recruiters and Hiring Managers who lack the sufficient level of Emotional Intelligence will find it very difficult to objectively assess a candidate regardless of if they research candidates online. However in the end I see this whole issue is actually about the candidates, not agencies or employers. Candidates need to learn that they should be proactively their online reputation. Before you say why should they? I would ask why did you go to school, university or attend training? Why do you network? To proactively manage your career. So the same should be true for your online reputation. In closing this was a fairly long journey however I hope this has given you something to think about and not bored you in the process.

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Social media as part of background checking (Part 4)

Tags: cultural-fit, culture, data, digital identity, education, facebook, flickr, hr management, social media, time

Social media as part of background checking (Part 2)

This is part two in my four part series on social media and background checking. In the first post we looked at laying a foundation for the discussion and about how social media allows you access to a unique view on a candidate’s character. Now another method of assessing character is through a process HR calls cultural fit. Cultural Fit To start let’s look at the  DDI Australia Research Report on  Recruiting for Culture Fit . DDI use the terms motivational fit from two distinct perspectives; job and organisation. Let me quote their report: Job Fit Motivation refers to the degree to which the activities and responsibilities of a particular job are consistent with the activities and responsibilities that an individual finds personally satisfying. In short will somebody want to do the job? Organisation Fit Motivation is defined as an individual’s compatibility with an organisation’s values and mode of operation. While organisational fit covers a range of organisational attributes the most common and frequently cited element centres on the congruence between individual and organisational values. This is often referred to as  Culture Fit . The DDI study found that 90% of respondents rated recruiting as very important to essential, they also reference several other studies that have found the same thing. However only 36% said they always recruiter for cultural and it went down from there. Why is cultural fit so important today? Well a related article from  Human Resources when the report was released had Bruce Watt, Managing Director from DDI, provide us some further information. While an individual’s knowledge and skills may appear to be more important on the surface, the reality is that current knowledge and skill sets quickly become redundant. This is why culture is so important. While cultural change is not uncommon, most organisational cultures are enduring and therefore provide an anchor for individuals and organisations. I would say recruiters who do not help their clients recruit for cultural fit have the risk of not having them as client much longer. (Ok agency recruiters you can have a go at me for saying that in the comments below .) So it is clear people want to do this, but  HOW are HR departments assessing for cultural fit? The DDI report also looked at this. The top four methods for assessing cultural fit were: Behavioural interview questions specifically targeting values (91%) Panel interviews (61%) Reference checking against values (58.3%) Informal meetings with team members and colleagues (48.6%) What might surprise some of my agency readers other methods included social situations. On a final note 90% of HR professionals surveyed said that while assessing cultural fit was difficult it still should be included in the process. Two of the top four methods of assessing cultural fit, reference checking against values and informal meetings with team members and colleagues, benefit from using social media information as part of the process. While we have not yet solved the objectivity side of things what candidates place online provides a unique insight into potential fit of them and the organisational values. Pictures on Flickr from their local cricket team games shows an candidate who has a balanced life, yes they might include some from the end of year party but they are meaningless to the assessment. Video on YouTube from the candidate’s work on the local primary school’s fête shows a commitment to community values. A key point here, as put by Aaron Dodd on Twitter : Crux of the matter is the testing of the info as to its accuracy and relevance. It is this assessment of accuracy and relevance coupled with objectivity is critical to the assessment. In part three I want to look at some of the potential legal issues the final post will try and bring all this together.

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Social media as part of background checking (Part 2)

Tags: assessment, australia, background checking, cultural-fit, culture, digital identity, dodd-on-twitter, enterprise 2.0, human-resources, methods, objectivity, organisational, process, social recruiting

Tips on managing social media in the workplace

Last week I did a short podcast with Nick McCormick, author of Lead Well and Prosper , looking at tips for managing social media in the workplace. We spoke about implementing guidelines/policies within the workplace along with some of the potential issues and how to manage them.  However given the short format of the  podcast , it is only 8 minutes,  it is hard to cover everything but makes the podcast very easy to listen too. I thought it would be good to also cover some of the tips for creating guidelines/policies here to help you out. The resulting document, in whatever format, needs to achieve five major things: Have people stop and think before posting, both professionally and personally. Focus people on thinking about what they are doing and the implications. Highlight that while disclaimers are good, you cannot hide behind them. Remind people to keep their online interactions real and authentic. Ensure people respect the culture of the tools and services you are using. If you want to learn more about social media in the workplace you can watch my presentation from RecruitTECH 2009 over on Inspecht TV or contact me for more information. Given the press coverage we have had in Australia, and overseas , this week I would suggest everyone needs to implement these five tips when online.

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Tips on managing social media in the workplace

Tags: culture, employee engagement, given-the-short, implications, management, podcast, potential, tools, workplace

Blog post: Who should CEOs, managers and HR pros be friends with on Facebook?

Some of you out there will argue that maybe your culture is ripe for it and that you’re not a hierarchical organisation and therefore, it’s actually okay for a CEO or an HR pro to “friend” employees. It shows you’re open, it shows you’re accessible, it shows you’re cool. I don’t buy that though.

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Blog post: Who should CEOs, managers and HR pros be friends with on Facebook?

Tags: actually-okay, ceo, culture