SHRM

You are currently browsing articles tagged SHRM.

And So It Has Begun – #SHRM Conference Season

April 12, 2013 in Business, hr fundamentals, SHRM, Social Media by newresource | No comments

Okshrm

Well it’s on, folks. April 7th in Baton Rouge, LA, the 2013 SHRM Conference season officially kicked off. I couldn’t make it but it looked swell.  Watching the pictures and tweets from the conference got me excited for my 2013 conference debut which is May 8th – 10TH in Norman, OK. It’s the Oklahoma State HR Conference and I am honored to be invited. I won’t belabor and bore you with a bunch of chatter about this and that, I’ll cut to the chase.  I am not excited to go just to be going – I’ve gotten a few invites to conferences and they are all flattering and special, however I like to have a purpose.

That’s right, I party with a purpose. Here’s why I’m excited to go and participate in OKHR #okhr in May.

  1. I want to meet Bryan Wempen – Bryan is the co-founder and co-host of Drive Thru HR, the #1 HR blog talk radio program.  Bryan and William have had me as a guest several times and even a co-host, so I want to meet Bryan – I’ve already met William. Bryan is also part of Social Media team and the OKHR conference.
  2. I want to meet Cat Carlos – Cat put this social media team together and I want to hit a home run for her because I understand how important it is to have a social presence during the State Conferences…TN, I’m looking at you.
  3. I’ve never been to Oklahoma before and I’d like to meet and interact with some of the attendees and talk HR with them.
  4. I am going to enjoying hanging out with the rest of the Social Media team, connecting with them, and getting to know them better.

I intend to check out some sessions being presented by people that I may not know too well, because it’s all about learning new things. I will also make time to meet Jessica Miller Merrell, she’s kinduva big deal.

Will there be pictures? Will there be socializing? Will there be networking? And will there be other shenanigans, who knows – could be or could be not. I’m not coming to party, I’m coming to learn, contribute, and I’m coming to help change any incorrect perceptions of SHRM conferences. It’s a lot of work, it’s a sacrifice but it’s rewarding.

I hope to see you there. (May 8th-10 th Norman, OK – Oklahoma State Conference -#okhr)

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: , , ,

With a Sturdy HR Foundation, You Can Raise the Roof

February 13, 2013 in HR Advice, hr fundamentals, HR principles, SHRM by newresource | No comments

I’m proud to present to you Mrs. Robin Schooling, she is a southern gal, who blogs regularly at “HR Schoolhouse“. She was gracious enough to let me guest post for her a while ago, you can read it here “Practice v. Procedure”. She also is extremely active in SHRM, holding many positions within LASHRM. She’s also going to teach me the difference between gumbo and jambalaya, sweet! Here’s Robin, telling us about her love/hate relationship with some HR tasks.

 

Sometimes those of us who work in human resources bemoan the fact that we need to tackle administrative tasks.  We tend to use this catch-all phrase to lump together duties as disparate as compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act, benefit open enrollment and mailing out employee birthday cards.  Whether it be hanging up labor posters, sending out FMLA Notices of Rights & Responsibilities or updating our HR policies we envision ourselves as the Cinderella of our organization – wearing tattered rags and shivering as we wash down the kitchen fireplace and clean out the cold ashes. We’ll be lucky if we get a crust of bread for dinner, we think.

Martyrdom.  We wear it well.

And I get it.  Wrangling a spreadsheet is not my idea of a good time.  I’m not overcome with warm and cuddly cheer when I artfully arrange a filing cabinet.  I most certainly am in no way, shape or form a “fan” of administrative busy work. But I’ve worked in enough organizations – and enough HR departments – to know ‘self-preservation job-saving’ busy work when I see it.   And as a collective whole, HR ladies seem to have mastered that particular competency.

So we’ve maintained legacy processes in place that are tortuous to our job candidates and our employees.  Recently, an HR colleague let me know that her huge, global organization requires all job candidates to apply online (ATS perfectly adept at capturing their information) yet – one day one of employment – that NEW employee who had already been signed, sealed and delivered is also required to (get this!) complete a paper application form.  Why?  She’sunable to get to the bottom of it – it’s still a mystery.  All she knows is that around the world, throughout her organization, lots of HR Cinderellas have jobs that entail filing those paper applications.

Sheesh.  We really kind of suck don’t we?

I hate this aspect of HR.  I fight against it and blast it whenever I can.  When HR practitioners hear about new final rules being issued by the USDOL or get information about how to prepare for the Affordable Care Act all that most hear is “administrative work.”  Because we’ve made it so.  So we go about creating new forms and steps, writing more policies, and coming up with additional busy work to keep us occupied.

But you know what?  This stuff is foundational HR.  And it’s interesting and informative and important – we need to understand why we do what we do.  The foundation of our profession includes all the unsexy, non-glamorous, definitely-not-Beyonce-at-the-SuperBowl stuff.  It’s EEOC and OSHA and Taft-Hartley and the NLRB.  But when we get it right – and cut out the useless layers of crap with which we clutter up what we do – well, we CAN raise the roof.

Or at least get the glass slipper.

 

Go ahead connect with Robin on Twitter @robinschooling or LinkedIN here.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Brands and Labels

January 23, 2013 in Business, HR Advice, hr fundamentals, HR principles, Social Media by newresource | No comments

One thing that I like about HR folks – not really though – is that we love to label and categorize people. “Oh that’s Jack, he’s a process guy!” or “Yeah that’s Barackisha, she’s great with benefits.” Yeah we love our labels. We put people and things in categories before we even understand what it is they can do, for instance social media; HR was quick to toss social media in the marketing department but as we have seen, it’s so much more than that. And everyone loves to brand stuff now. You hear it all the time; companies talk about their brand, and celebrities talk about their brands, and now even everyday job seekers say they have a personal brand. It’s all so topical – everyone and everything has a brand now-a-days.

So I got to thinking about some of the  labels and brands that I’ve been given. Check ‘em out!

FOOLISH – GENIUS – PERFECT – STUPID – THE BEST – NAÏVE –FAILURE – THE WORST –  LEADER –TRADITIONAL – INEXPERIENCED – BRILLIANT – RESUME GURU –CAREER EXPERT – MEH

The thing about the labels, is they are not important. No! they aren’t important at all; what is important is how you conduct yourself.  I used to be uncomfortable when people would say, “Here’s Chris, he’s a blogger!” or “Chris Fields is a resume guy.”

I didn’t want to be categorized or limited to one thing, but then I started to worry less about the label and more about the work.  So If you want some awesome blog content from an HR perspective, then I’m game. If you need your resume updated, I can do that too. Or if you need help with crafting compliance manuals or social media engagement strategies, I’m your guy.

So here’s how I look at the my labels; I’m not a fool, but I’ve been foolish. I’m not brilliant or a genius but I’ve been known to have a good idea or two. I’m not the best, but I’m in the conversation. I’m no leader, but I’ve led.  You get my point. Whereas I’ve been all of those things listed above at some point in my life, those terms do not define me. For the record, I BRAND myself A HUMAN RESOURCE PROFESSIONAL.

In conclusion, don’t get too carried away with labels and names and categories, just do your best job at whatever it is that you do for a living. And to my HR folks, let us focus on being the best Human Resource professional possible. Let’s not embrace the sterotypical “Evil HR” label; companies need us to be our best, employees need us to be our best.  Defy your label and get down to business. #justdifferent

Tags: , , , , , ,

Recovery

December 3, 2012 in Uncategorized by newresource | No comments

Recovery: A return to a normal condition. Something gained or restored in recovering… 

At the end of 2011, I wrote and published the most personal article ever. I called it Redemption, it has 4 parts. It was therapeutic to spill my guts on the page and eventually the blog – blogging is like therapy. Here we are 12 months later and my next confessional blog post is titled “Recovery”  - personally, professionally and physically.

Year’s end is a time for assessments-are you hanging around the right people, providing the best environment for your kids, happy with your career, pushing yourself to be the best you can be or are you dogging it?

Working is a privilege.

I’ve been taking full advantage of the privilege too, doing any and all work that comes my way. I’ve also been working hard on myself. I’ve hit many of my New Year’s resolutions. Unlike most, I did not abandon my promises after 2 weeks. I resolved to eat better and I have. I resolved to lose weight, and I have. I resolved to get more active and I have. I resolved to make CostofWork.com better, and I have.  So you see I’ve been working on my reputation, my business, my professional development and physical health – all important and correlated.

What amazes me is the number of people that were watching -and caring. Social media has quickly shown me that people do pay attention and they can hold you accountable, motivate you and help you, if you allow them.

Attended a SHRM Conference this year.  Yeah, I’ve talked about it enough but it was a great experience and taught me that no matter how long you chat with someone online, they want to meet you face to face.

2012 had some setbacks too, I lost the entire month of September with a severe sciatic nerve attack. I’ve suffered from the condition for years but this time was really bad. It cost me a trip to OHSHRM which really disappointed me. I was all set to do more F2F greetings at the Ohio SHRM State Conference. I wanted so badly to meet Steve Browne. Maybe I’ll get a mulligan.

My friends know, I was depressed…sad…upset…restless…dejected. I won’t bore you with the details but literally bed rest for 3 and a half weeks. Try lying on your back for 3 weeks straight – it ain’t fun. Especially if you are like me, an independent person – driven and highly motivated…hated it.

Eventually I started to get better. Slowly. Painstakingly – but still better. Anytime you recover from something – a cold, childbirth, surgery or a jobless; it takes time and a plan. I resumed my workouts, I went to the doctor regularly. You know most men don’t like going to the doctor and I fall into that category. However, I promised myself not to let sciatic define my year.

It was important for me to erase the images of September – the missed opportunities and networking.

From October 25 – November 25 I made it a point to get off the computer and go meet people. I went to Nashville, TN to meet Lyn Hoyt, who is working on the Social Media Team for the Middle TN SHRM. We will be working together in 2013. I’ve committed to that. I went to Atlanta, GA to meet two of the most influential recruiters in the Southeast – Teela Jackson and Chris Harvilla. While in Atlanta, Mike Haberman, HR Consultant and Compliance GURU took time to have a face to face chat with me. And finally, I met up with Melissa Fairman (HRremix) in Jackson, TN right before Thanksgiving. I just wanted to show up… my great aunt used to tell me, “Sometimes life is about showing up.”

I started going to the chiropractor – love those guys.

The chiropractor knew exactly what I have been dealing with because he had suffered from sciatic pain himself, in fact it’s the reason he became a chiropractor. When he educated and showed me X-rays and MRI’s I was so relieved. No structural damage, no herniated discs, no bulges…just compression and tightness. I had finally had real answers, real solutions to problems.

TMI?  Just like an alcoholic or substance abuser, I have nothing to be ashamed of – I’m better!  We all have something we are dealing with – we are a workforce of sick people, that’s why healthcare is such a hot topic. Everyone wants it – everyone needs it – but nobody wants to pay for it.

Recently the chiropractor told me that my body is responding very well – he said he believes the sciatic attacks are over…elated!

That’s awesome because I have some more “showing up” to do – no time to chillax. I don’t care what you have achieved so far in life there will always be new challenges and next chapters. For me there are more accomplishments to achieve – opportunities to explore – organizations and people to help – conferences to attend – people to meet and things to do.

So cheers to 2013! If I met you in 2012 – I can’t wait to see you again next year. If we haven’t met yet, I look forward to it. Thanks for reading the CostofWork.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

« Older entries