HR principles

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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.

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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.

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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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