HR Advice

These articles offer tips and advice using HR principle (secrets)

Stop It, You Don’t Know What You’re Doing

May 16, 2013 in HR Advice, hr fundamentals, HR principles by newresource | 1 comment

One of my favorite things to do is counsel young HR pros in the Mid-South area; it also happens to be one of my least favorite things to do. That’s only because as a passionate HR professional, who believes in following the rules and making workers happy, it surprises me how much information is not being taught to these young HR people. Each time I talk to one of them at some point they say “It’s not Rocket Science, it’s common sense.” And I always reply “HR ain’t for suckas either!”

Its seems that “HR is common sense” has become the battle cry for those folks that are in HR but are not equipped the handle the job – its justification for not being formerly educated. I’m convinced that good HR pros are so good because they make it seem easy. Common sense and easy are not the pillars of HR. Real HR is hard, with difficult decisions around every corner. You have to know how to make decisions based on laws as well as what’s right for the company. Sometimes those 2 things are correlated and sometimes they aren’t.

When it comes to SOME employee relations issues – yes, its common sense. Should you fire someone who is abusive at work? Should you fire a manager and subordinate who engage in an inappropriate sexual relationship? But what about an employee with a substance abuse problem? You may think, fire them right? Well you would be wrong. You may have to offer treatment options first. What about an employee that has lost a spouse or child and they are having a hard time adjusting to the loss? Do you fire them? Or let’s say an employee gets injured at home in an accident which was unrelated to work, but now the ability to perform the job is in question? Do you fire them too?

Common Problems  Aren’t Always Common Sense

Look you are in HR or you want to be in HR – that’s cool. It’s a great profession. But if you think it’s easy then look around because the news is covered with difficult work related issues or ask a senior HR pro – you know, a mentor. Employees are our greatest asset and also our greatest liability. You never know what a person is dealing with and how that pressure could manifest itself in the workplace. There are all kinds of crazy going on at work – from violence to manipulation. You have to be smart and know your laws as well as a measure of common sense. So if you just think you can rely on your gut to get you by in HR…You need to stop – just stop, you don’t know what you’re doing.

Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number, YOLO!!

April 25, 2013 in Business, discrimination, HR Advice, hr fundamentals, HR principles, SHRM by newresource | No comments

Recently, I had the pleasure of working with a jobseeker on her resume and some interview tips. She’s about 60 years old – but she’s sharp as a tack. She’s up on her social media networks, loves to use paypal (so do I by the way) and understands technology very well. She has an IPhone, IPad and a Kindle Fire. It was a pleasure to work with her because she is a lot more current and savvy than many who are 20 years her junior.

It’s a shame really, how fast you can get outdated. Everyone talks about 40 being the new 30, and 30 being the new 20. Everyone wants to be young and live life screaming “YOLO” – You Only Live Once. I guess YOLO equals wild and careless behavior but you have to take care of business too.

Age discrimination is real and it’s just as ugly as any other form of discrimination. Just because someone has silver hair doesn’t mean that they can’t contribute. Working with that client got me to thinking, how many employers are missing out on good people because of age discrimination? The older generation could be a robust workforce for the right company. Many are simply trying to work and contribute without all the games and office politics. It’s a fact older workers are more loyal than younger workers.

I love James Bond movies – In 2012’s “Skyfall” there’s a great scene where Bond meets his new Quartermaster or “Q” who is younger. They have an exchange that conceptualizes Reverse Mentoring very well, Bond makes a quip about Q’s age, to which Q says, “Age is no guarantee of efficiency” and Bond retorts “And youth is no guarantee of innovation.” BRILLIANT. Both are right, and both agree to learn from one another.

Maybe  recruiters and hiring authorities should stop discriminating based on age (and other non-essential qualities) and make sure the candidate meets all the qualifications needed to perform the essential job duties. I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again, Nepotism and Favoritism is destroying the workforce. Passing out jobs based on friendships and relationships – without being genuinely qualified is far more costly than hiring someone a little older.

Age doesn’t matter – some of the youngest clients I have had are some of the most entitled – they feel that they are owed an opportunity. And some of the older clients just want a chance to show that they still got it. They want to come to work on time, they have had their children and raised their families,  gone on big vacations, and sown their wild oats, now they just want to work quietly and take care of themselves – they don’t play games they understand YOLO and they just want to finish up with respect.

It’s also a great opportunity to explore reverse mentoring, where the younger folks can teach and educate the older folks on something and the older workers can show the younger generation a thing or two. It can work if there’s no judgment involved.

Uhm, so if you missed the point of this article – older workers are better than the younger workers that you covet.

Tags: , , , ,

The Ultimate Cost of Work: Boston & Texas

April 22, 2013 in HR Advice, hr fundamentals by newresource | No comments

We all pay a price to work. And in Boston and Texas we have seen many pay the ultimately price.

The recent events in Boston and Texas has me thinking about the costs associated with tragedy. In Boston, 2 young men allegedly set off bombs during the 100th running of the Boston Marathon. Subsequently in the days following the bombing, there was a shootout with the suspects; one died, and one got away, the city was placed on lockdown and eventually the 2nd suspect was apprehended. But for 4 days Boston was rocked – public transit was stopped – schools and colleges were closed – offices were empty – sports events were cancelled. Over 1 million people were told to stay at home.

That’s a lot of lost productivity and when the finale numbers are totaled it could reach the billions of dollars. Don’t believe me? Check out this article by Althea Chang on Yahoo!

Here’s something else that you may not have considered, the healthcare cost; 4 dead, 170 injured! The healthcare estimates are at $9 million. Check out John Rieti’s piece on CBC News here.

Let’s not forget the costs for law enforcement, emergency personnel and the future legal fees.

Employers will need to consider that their workers will not be the same for a while – some things you just can’t unsee. There’s going to be a lot of time off work needed to deal with this – grief counselors are a good idea.

Texas

While the Boston situation was being played out over all media, there was an explosion at a fertilizer plant in Texas, killing 14 and injuring 200; destroying over 50 homes. This incident is not terror related, just seems to be a plant accident. Never the less, there will be millions and millions of dollars in damages and healthcare costs.

It’s times like these that employers can be heroes. Time to show compassion and caring. Time to pay less attention to the budget sheets and more attention to the people and the communities. The recovery from both these horrific events will take a lot of time and money.

There is no cute story here – just a reminder that real life events take precedence sometimes and maybe now’s the time; no matter where you are, to show your workers a little appreciation for sacrifices they make every day to come to work for you. Appreciation is a small cost to pay – donuts – coffee – or a simple thank you.

Tags: , , ,

Diversity – It’s All Just Lip Service and Noise

April 2, 2013 in Diversity, HR Advice, Inclusion, SHRM, Talent Management by newresource | No comments

We all know that diversity helps make everything better. Throughout business, as it’s evolved and included different perspectives, cultures, sexes, races, experiences the results have always been improvement. Yet there is still a void of Diversity in this country. People are still wondering, why should I invest in Diversity?

When Men Ruled

Once upon a time in this country MEN designed products for babies, although they didn’t provide care of babies because that was woman’s work. Did you know the disposable diaper was development because a man, probably like the one on MADMEN, came home from work and asked his wife how can they improve the diaper, see they used to be made out of cloth and you had to wash them, anyway this guy’s wife said something like, I wish I could throw them away. Boom!

Well, you might say “that was the old days” and “men don’t think that way now” right? Well excuse me but recently didn’t a man get on the news and say that it was virtually impossible for a woman to get pregnant as a result rape? Hmpf, here’s my point, it’s not been that long ago and unfortunately in this country – in this American work force – in our institutions of education – there are  people making statements and decisions without the benefits of diversity. No consideration to other perspectives – cultures – races – and sexes.

More Flavors

When was the last time you were in a grocery store?  If you haven’t been in a while I suggest you go shopping and notice all the products on display. We have more flavors and varieties to choose from. Just about every product has a new flavor or flavor combination; milk, chips, ice cream, sauces, soda, beers, cereal, rice, pasta, and peanut butter. There’s something for everyone.  Marketers and Advertisers understand that the world is not just plain vanilla any longer. People want foods and beverages that reflect their expanding taste buds and diverse cultures.

One of my dearest friends, Chiem, she’s Asian. She’s taught me a lot about Asian culture, from the clothes, to the food, music and family rituals. Now I am not as ignorant when I’m around others with an Asian background and they seem to appreciate that I have a familiarity with their culture. That’s diversity in action.

Today Diversity is Mostly B.S.

Wait, let me explain, I need to take you back to the early 1990’s; I was born and raised in Memphis, TN a majority black city and sadly majority poor city. The birthplace of Elvis Presley and the death place of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I went to undergrad school in Davenport, IA, a nice mostly majority white populated city.

A lot of my time in Iowa was spent trying to explain and educate the masses on the importance of Diversity and Inclusion. When you are minority is a space of majorities, you are always under a microscope. Anything you say or do is taken as an indication of the group you represent.

While in Iowa, I met and befriended some really great people who I am proud to say I am still friends with to this day- they happen to be white people. There were also many good administrators, faculty members, and teachers, who understood the importance of diversity and tried to help spread the word as much as possible.

Most of the time we had to justify and explain why it was important to invest funds in a Black Student Union, why it was important to try to hire black faculty and staff, and why it was important to invest minority scholarships. And for years this went on and it’s still going on. Unfortunately, you either get it or you don’t – it’s just that simple.

America Still Has Work To Do

Fast forward to today and there is still work to be done. Some feel that there is not an issue with Diversity in America because we have a black man in the Oval Office however, have you seen and read the things that prominent people have said about him and his wife in the news media? He’s been called a “boy” and “dick” and his wife has been respected too. And while the President is a black man, the election process is a prime example of racial tensions that still exist in this country – for instance, some people are convinced he is a Muslim. Make no mistake there are people in the country that have a hard time with the fact that a black man is the Commander in Chief.

There are still companies and institutions with little to no minority representation. Even though we know diversity and variety makes for a more robust life and more exciting workplace – we are still a predominately plain vanilla culture.

Let’s talk about Title VII and Civil Rights Act of 1964

In my line of work (human resources) the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title VII are the cornerstones of compliance. In a nutshell, it prohibits discrimination based on protected class status – race – sex- age. All too often I see instances where a company, manager, director or leader gets themselves and their organization in a bunch of trouble because they try to manipulate and abuse the law, instead of uphold it. Both sexual harassment and racial discrimination claims are up according to the EEOC.

Lately the Civil Rights laws have changed to include sexual orientation and preference, the LGBT community. That’s cool but I wonder if people really understand the origin of Civil Rights – it is about more than sexual freedom.

The American Negro (black) was the first real model for Civil Rights in this country. Civil rights and liberties are what black people hung for, got shot for, got beat for, got imprisoned for, lost their families for, deemed as less than a human for…it was all for civil rights; the right to be treated like a human. All we wanted was to be included, accepted, and appreciated.

Civil Rights laws were created to implement and protect diversity in American.

Today claims of racial discrimination are tagged as “playing the race card.”  Which implies that race is not the issue but is being used as a pawn to evoke feelings of disparate impact or treatment. Blame O.J. Simpson for that.

Diversity in Business

I have a Master’s in Labor and Human Resources from The Ohio State University. I’ve learned a lot about the history of labor in America and I work with a lot of HR professionals and professional associations on workforce data. I do a lot of research on various facts of the job market and sometimes we have to really focus on issues of diversity. Just as in the example about diapers at the beginning of this article, it’s my job to make sure hiring managers and authorities understand the importance of implementing diversity into their work organizations.

I have to remind people that there is still work to be done, but it’s going to take significant investment- if you are serious about it. Things are definitely better now than they were 30 or 40 years ago. But statistically blacks and Hispanics still lag all the categories that matter. For instance:

  • There’s only 1 American black billionaire – Oprah!
  • How many black and Hispanic CEO’s can you name?
  • What’s the unemployment rate for blacks and Hispanics versus all other groups?
  • What’s the average salary of blacks and Hispanics versus whites?
  • Who gets the highest interest rates on loans (on average) blacks, Hispanics or whites?
  • What’s the % of blacks and Hispanics in prison versus whites?

The numbers don’t look encouraging. Let’s hit closer to home – think about your office – how many blacks or Hispanics do you have working there? Now what’s their average salary in comparison to the whites in your organization? How about the titles, how many blacks or Hispanics in your company hold prestigious titles – supervisors don’t count – babysitters supervise!

Affirmative Action and Diversity

Yes, I am challenging you because most of you will fail! You need to look at Diversity seriously. Are you making a genuine investment in diversity in your organization and institutions? Are you recruiting for diversity? Are you spending money to attract the best talent to your company and workplace? Are you identifying minorities internally for succession planning? Are you developing and training those valued assets for future opportunities?

Some people say there is no need for Affirmative Action in America, but as an HR professional, I can tell you, that’s a lie. If left without checks and balances, we all tend to pick and choose the people we can relate to the most. If you were to walk into a room with 5 different groups of people, you would gravitate to the group that MOSTLY looks like you. These are the same groups we offer opportunities to.

In HR, we have the Society of Human Resource Management professional association or SHRM. And every year there is the conference season that usually kicks off in the spring and goes all the way until November. And I see a lot of my colleagues attending these conferences and sharing ideas and thoughts –BUT, there is also a Diversity and Inclusion Conference held annually, and I hear just about NO ONE talking about it. It’s interesting, HR pros who love conferences and suppose to champion the diversity cause but when the Diversity Conference comes up, we’re quiet as church mice – myself included – I have to be a better example…I have to invest more.

It’s time to stop talking about diversity and get serious about it.

When I hear Diversity I think it’s all B.S. – its lip service – it’s rhetoric and political correctness – it sounds good and it makes people feel good but there is no action.

We use the word “fit” as a way to justify how we close ourselves to other cultures and differences; they don’t “fit” our brand or “I don’t think it would be a good fit.”

In HR, we tell our workers to get out of their comfort zones and try new things yet we don’t hire or recruit out of our comfort zones – we hire who we are comfortable with and who “fits”.

Diversity Is Irrelevant Until…

When will Diversity be relevant? When there’s an investment made in it – when you put your money where your mouth is – when you put resources behind Diversity then it’ll be  valued and respected , other than that – it’s just noise –plain vanilla noise at that.

Tags: , , ,

Words of Wisdom and Life Lessons from Jay-Z

March 27, 2013 in Business, discrimination, Diversity, HR Advice, hr fundamentals, HR principles by newresource | No comments

One day, I noticed my oldest niece was crying, so I asked what was the matter? She said “Nothing, I’m just going through a lot of stuff right now.” My first thought was, “So what, join the club kid.” Then I thought, what could she possibly be going through as a teenager that I wouldn’t understand? So I sat her down for a little talk.

I asked her, “What do you plant flowers in?”

She replied, “Dirt.”

“Right, dirt! What else can you use instead of dirt?”

“I don’t know, soil?”

“Good. And what makes good soil?”

“Hmm, manure?”

“Exactly – manure! And what is manure?”

She laughed…

I told her “In life, you’re going go through some shit. And whatever it is, it’s only going to make you stronger and better, if you learn from it.”

Then I told her, “It’s just getting started!” And she will go through a lot more dirt and manure as she continues on but if she just keeps pushing and fighting, she will learn so much about herself – her strengths – her abilities and she will come out smelling just like a rose.

Ironically, I was reminded of this conversation when I heard Jay-Z say during an interview, “There are no lessons learned from success.” I thought to myself, genius! He’s right. You learn the most from failure. When you go through trials and tribulations you are experiencing life’s greatest lessons. Just about any successful person I’ve known or read about had to go through a storm.

Watch out, here comes a sports analogy!

Michael Jordan’s Nike commercial is legendary where he talks about all the shots he’s missed in his career. We all know about the shots he’s hit and titles he’s won but did you watch him and his Bulls teammates lose to the Detroit Pistons for years? Took him 7 years to win a title, 7 failed attempts, but each time he learned a little more about what it took to be a champ.

There’s a million clichés and examples but the bottom line is this, you are going to have some tough times and difficult situations. It’s called adversity – and it can kill you – if you let it.  But that’s only if you let it. You have to learn how to deal with the issues and work through the hard times.  One thing that we all love about the human experience is a comeback. We love to see someone get knocked down and then lifted back up.

Watch out, here comes more sports analogies!

Think Kobe Bryant, Lebron James and most notably and recently Tiger Woods. he’s number 1 in golf again.

Jay-Z went on to say “that excellence is sustainability” which means the ability to maintain success and relevancy. All of these sports figures worked hard through adversity and even harder once they gained a small amount of success. They never stopped. As hard as it is to be successful, that’s the easy part – staying successful is the hard part. You can get a job, but can you keep it? You can get a house, but … well you get it.

Going through the storms of life, learning tough lessons and working just as hard (if not harder) to maintain your success – who knew Jay-Z was so insightful –sounds like he’s learned a lot from life lessons.

Tags: , , , ,

« Older entries