hr fundamentals

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Take Your Frickin’ HR Hat Off!

March 20, 2013 in Business, Diversity, HR Advice, hr fundamentals, HR principles, SHRM by newresource | No comments

Tell me this hasn’t happened to you before, you’re out with friends and new acquaintances and everything is going great, then of course the conversation veers into work or the office dealings. Someone tells a great story about an inappropriate relationship, a rigged promotion and all of a sudden your HR brain kicks in. Here’s an unofficial stat (F.M.A. (from my a**)) – there are over 1.2 million HR blog posts that are inspired by a social experience or interaction.

So you ask probing questions; try to explain why the company took action or educate them on what actions should have been taken. Then you realize you’re doing it again. That HR hat has popped on and now you are in full on geek HR mode.

I have this one friend, I love her dearly, she tells me “Chris, I love talking to you but I hate when you put that effing HR hat on!!

Oh I’m the only one right!? No we are a bunch of geeks – a motley crew if there ever was one.

My friends are reluctant to talk to me about work related things (they only want HR when they need HR) because they say that human resources are focused on all the wrong things and they take the fun out of everything. They are right you know. We do focus on the wrong things. We are so focused ourselves and our workload that we rarely take time to focus on those that need us the most – the people.

That’s not totally our fault though – see we are trained and educated to protect the company against liability at all costs. We are tasked with forecasting problems, developing strategies to fix problems often times before they happen. We’re forced to cleanup messes, and fix things as if we’re Olivia Pope – you know the character on ABC’s “Scandal”, she’s a professional fixer. She can spin anything!  We do all this under the umbrellas of compliance and corporate policy.

Don’t get me wrong people need structure. Have you heard of some of the foolishness that some people try to get away with? It’s incredible. You name it, its happening; sex, drugs, and videotape – sure! And that’s not all.

The news is the worst! I mean you can’t turn on the tube or the net without seeing something crazy at work; a CEO accused of misconduct, employee theft, violence in the workplace, or my current favorite revoking ROWE (work from home…okay technically it means Results Oriented Work Environment) benefits.

We’re so used to fixing stuff and applying HR principles that we can’t always control it. Sometimes we even miss it. So when we’re sittin’ around shootin’ the breeze it just happens – work creeps in and that HR hat slide on. Just sitting there – hanging out and checking the scene.

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“Mini” Carnival of HR

March 6, 2013 in Business, HR Advice, hr fundamentals, HR principles, SHRM, Social Media, TNSHRM by newresource | No comments

Rio Carnival of HR

I’m happy to welcome the month of  March each year! Not because of Spring, although I am rather tired of Winter, but because March marks the anniversary of my blog “CostofWork.” It’s not been around very long, since 2011, but in blog years that’s like 10 years in the game! This blog has afforded me some wonderful opportunities –so much that I thought it was time to give back to the same HR community that’s been so great to me.

The Carnival of HR is an awesome way for human resource and business minded professionals to get involved and connected with each other. I appreciate Shauna Moerke for allowing me to host this special “mini” Carnival of HR. I am also impressed at the response from the community – some people I know and some I am getting to know. I encourage you to connect to these people and their blogs as well.

So without further delay, It’s my honor and privilege to be the Ring Master and host, for the 1st time on CostofWork – the Carnival of HR!

Blogging Anniversaries and Personal Reflections

These authors, bloggers and business professionals are sharing their stories and experiences of social media and networking.

Jesse Lyn Stoner – “Celebrating the 2nd Anniversary of My Blog” on the Jesse Lyn Stoner Blog

Linda Fisher Thorton –“150th Blog: Learning Out Loud” on Leading in Context

Karin Hurt – “One Month and Growing: Refections and Call for Feedback” on LetsGrowLeaders

Naomi Bloom – “InFullBloom’s 3rd Birthday – Here’s Where It All Started” on In Full Bloom

Ben Eubanks – “Human Resources Blogs (Why We Do It)” on UpstartHR

Prasad Kurian –“Of Ghosts, Blogs and Undigested Karma” on Simplicity @ the other side of Complexity

Christopher Demers - “Thank You” on ChristopherinHR

 

These HR and business pros  are offering advice, tips and nuggets of wisdom as it relates to personal branding, social media, office management and engagement.

Awesome article with infographic from Kyle Owens of Jobscience – “The Rise of Social Decision-Making in Global Human Resources”

Jay Kuhns – “I’m in HR and I’m too busy for Social Media” on PerformanceICreate

Steve Browne – “Is Your HR is Like Gas Prices??” on EverydayPeople

Lexie Forman-Ortiz – “10 Dr. Seuss Quotes That’ll Help Your Job Search” on SmartRecruiters

John Hunter – “Your Online Presence: Web Anonymity Can Sink Your Job Search” on Curious Cat – Management Improvement Blog

Justin Harris – “The Purpose of Purpose” on ruHRelevant

Julie Winkle Giulioni – “Evaluating Social Media: Metrics that Matter” on the Julie Winkle Giulioni blogsite

Sarah “Buzz” Williams – “Social Media Blasters” on TheBuzzOnHR

Sharon Sperry - “Four Ways to Turn Your Employees into Brand Ambassadors”  on Kapta Systems: Employee Performance Management Blog, Research and Analysis

I want to highlight these 2 blog post because they were created especially for this “Mini” Carnival of HR

My friend Mr. Dave Ryan –  “Social Media, Blogging and Me”  on The HR Official

And Mrs. Janine Truitt – “My Signal In The Noise” on The Aristocracy of HR”

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It’s My Job But a “Thank You” Would Be Nice!

March 4, 2013 in hr fundamentals, HR principles, Humor, SHRM by newresource | No comments

Gratitude! It’s been on my mind a lot lately. I help a lot of people. Sometimes I don’t hear from people unless they need some help. It’s draining at times. Then I have to remember to stop whining and accept the fact that it comes along with the gig.

When your employees need their replacement pay checks, where do they go? Replacement checks, you say, what happened to direct deposit – well there are still millions of HR folks that have to process paper checks.  When the boss wants to know why people are quitting left and right, where do they go? When customers are complaining about service levels and lack satisfaction, were they properly trained is the first question asked.

“Who hired that a—hole?”

“How did they get injured in the first place?”

“When will that survey be completed?”

“Can you handle that investigation?”

“Hey, Can my boss legally … (fill in the blank)?”

I can go on. But we don’t do it for the “thanks” do we? We do it for the love of the job. If you’ve read Victorio Milian’s article “A Recruiter’s Plea: Stop Calling My Phone” or Robin Schooling’s article “With a Sturdy HR Foundation, You Can Raise The Roof” or Doug Shaw’s “Before and After, Big and Small” or Tiffany Kuehl’s “In Recruiting You Must Turn Complainers Into Champions” none of them mentioned being thanked.

They already know, in our line of business you help people – selflessly – putting their issues and concerns over your own with nothing in return but self-fulfillment. HR is a thankless job.

Now that being said I must be fair and tell you that recently I’ve had some clients show me great appreciation.  I’ve received emails and even packages in the mail. The great thing about mail is, they took the time to go purchase items – get a postage stamp and send them through the U.S. Postal Service…when was the last time you mailed something YOURSELF? (bills don’t count) Alright then!

I enjoy hearing from my clients, especially when the stuff works out well for them and although I’m paid to turn out good HR content (resumes included) – it’s what I’m commissioned to do (which is an awesome show of appreciation), I still like hearing “thank you.” So I want to pay it forward and say thank you for reading and supporting this blog. I want to thank Robin, Victorio, Tiffany and Doug for coming through with awesome guest contributions.

Stay tuned for the Carnival of HR, March 6th!

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In Recruiting You Must Turn Complainers Into Champions

February 27, 2013 in HR Advice, hr fundamentals, HR principles by newresource | No comments

Wrapping up this Love/Hate relationship with work series; she’s a Recruiting Specialist and Staffing Leader with over 15 years experience, working in the Minnesota area – She’s the President of the Twin Cities Human Resources Association, she’s kinduva big deal. Without further ado, Tiffany Kuehl.

 

Having a gig in recruiting is awesome! In this facet of human resources, I have the pleasure of supporting the organization by identifying great people to join the company. The work my team and I do has a positive impact on others, we get to tell people, “Congratulations, you’ve got the job!” Despite folks believing recruiting is an easy task, there is a lot of hard work that goes into staying on top of business needs and sifting through resumes and candidates until we have the perfect match for those needs. I enjoy my work, but as with any job, there is a downside.

I hate complaints about recruitment, but love turning the complainers into champions for my team!

COMPLAINTS

Rants, feedback, noise, rhetoric – call it what you want, when hiring managers voice dissatisfaction with the recruitment process, it gets under my skin. I don’t like it when managers have a less than positive recruiting experience. I hate when the experience is so bad that the manager complains and retells their story to others.

What are hiring managers saying?

In any process there are opportunities for failure. Recruiting is no different. When hiring managers vent, they are identifying failure modes in the process and often say things like; “the recruiter didn’t understand my needs”,” I didn’t get enough candidates”, “I didn’t get qualified candidates”, “the recruitment process wasn’t clear”, “the process took too long”, or “the recruiter didn’t do anything, I found the candidate”. These perceptions become the reality and can influence other managers’ view of recruiting and the support we provide to the organization. Not good for the business of recruiting.

Address The Complaint

When a hiring manager is angry …uh, I mean “kind” enough to take time to share thoughts on the recruitment experience, the best thing for me to do is to show my appreciation for the feedback! Yes. You read right – show my appreciation! I thank them for providing insight into their time spent in the recruiting process, ask them for details and examples. But I don’t stop there. Once the root cause of the pain is determined, we agree on a solution, often involving expectation clarification and clearly defining roles and responsibilities. The most important piece of the remedy is following up, taking steps to correct the failures that occurred during the recruitment experience.

CHAMPIONS

While I do hate the complaints from hiring managers, I love what they allow me and my team to do – improve! These grievances are my chance to turn the proverbial lemons into lemonade. Showing my customers, hiring managers, that their input is valuable helps me turn rants into raves – naysayers into cheerleaders! I love that!

Through a conversation with said complainant, I can get details behind the concerns raised. I am able to truly hear what they have to say about my process and their experience, I can take the necessary steps to improve the service my team and I provide and build a partnership with customers.

Think about it, how often do you get a call from a service provider after you’ve completed a survey or filed a grievance? Probably not too frequently, if ever. Taking this step is not only a differentiator for me and my recruiting team, but it allows us to earn fans. Those vocal hiring managers that were complaining are now advocating for us.

Use customer feedback to your advantage. Take the time to use your customers’ experience to continuously improve your partnership with them. Getting complaints from customers sucks. It usually means something is broken. 

How you respond to the criticism is essential!

 

Connect with Tiffany on LinkedIN (here) or on the Twitters @TiffanyKuehl.

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Before and After, Big and Small

February 20, 2013 in Business, HR Advice, hr fundamentals, HR principles, SHRM by newresource | No comments

Doug Shaw is my next guest, he’s from the U.K. and he’s fabulous. He’s an International Speaker, Presenter and HR Professional (hire him for your conference).

He blogs at “StopDoingDumbThingsToCustomers“ He’s passionate and creative and that’s why he’s here to talk about the love/hate relationship he has with certain aspects of HR.

I’m grateful to Chris for reaching out and asking me to write a guest post for him. I’m going to take a quick look at the love/hate aspect of work from my time in big corporate land and in micro business world too. Neither are perfect, both have their wonderful highs and frustrating lows, so here goes:

Big

I hated the way there were targets for everything.

The trouble with targets is that people game them all the time. Set people a target, hook it up to the reward system and sit back and watch everyone screw the business and the customer and each other. So I loved trying to find pockets of enlightenment where we could experiment with doing the right thing because we believed it mattered, not because we were driven to it.

The handy, overlooked thing about big business is that you can often play around and get things done differently. Everyone is watching the targets, so go play in the spaces in between. It helps if you are quite quiet about it, just go ahead and lay a few small bets around service improvement and watch some of them grow. Proceed until apprehended.

I hated the games people played, but I love to play games.

I hated the way performance reviews were a.) historic b.) forced c.) tied to reward and d.) even existed. Good managers communicate with their people often enough that this old fashioned lack of trust has surely run its course, and yet it goes on. Big business learns very slowly sometimes.

What I loved about performance reviews was trying to make them as flowing and continuous as possible, because that meant it was all about the conversation. Getting to know people, to understand what they are good at and then to get out of the way long enough to allow them to be good at it is an on-going process. I love that dialogue.

Small

I hate the way everything takes so long.

I feel like I’m always waiting for decisions to get made. When I started my own business this used to rile me badly. I wasted ages wondering why people weren’t getting back to me, particularly when the discussion was started by them. And then I got to realising – for the time we are together, our discussion, the idea, the proposal, whatever – it has some immediacy. Then I depart and the often badly organised whirl of work just picks people up again and deposits them who knows where (how often do you hear a colleague exclaim – ‘I don’t know what day it is!’ I don’t know where I’m supposed to be next’).

I manage this better now by having more things on the go, and looking for other reasons to be in touch – not about the proposal or the idea, but about work and life in a wider context. I believe these interactions add value to a relationship and that in time, they will come back around. I love the faith I have that this approach will work.

Big or small, it matters not. Target less, Game less, Worry less. Talk more, Believe more, Love more.

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