10. You enjoy being screamed at by everyone.
9. You liked the idea of dealing with “people issues” (we’re out of toilet paper, you parked in the wrong slot, and supervisors asking you – what do you mean I have to evaluate their performance?)
8. You want to be perceived as a “miracle worker.” Recruit the best, keep [...] [...more]
10. You enjoy being screamed at by everyone.
9. You liked the idea of dealing with “people issues” (we’re out of toilet paper, you parked in the wrong slot, and supervisors asking you – what do you mean I have to evaluate their performance?)
8. You want to be perceived as a “miracle worker.” Recruit the best, keep them forever, and pay them peanuts – works well since all of the applicants are monkeys.
7. You thought that by being responsible for “Compensation and Benefits” that you’d have some input into “Compensation and Benefits.” Especially your own.
6. You love the idea of being able to inform employees that they now have a new source of income – it’s called unemployment.
5. By the time you got to the front of the career selection line – all the good careers were already taken.
4. You felt if you were in the department that did all the “Hiring and Firing” you’d have job security.
3. You absolutely love stress.
2. You wanted to learn how to resolve conflict between supervisors and employees – without getting them involved.
1. Someone told you that in HR you always have a seat at the table and you thought they were talking about food.
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Published By admin on Jan 29 -
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How many stereotypes are there about HR professionals?
They are touchy feely – what does that mean anyway? Are we all supposed to go around touching and feeling everyone? I don’t think so! Or does it refer to our vast understanding of the soft skills? Yeah right! This also brings into play the “I’m a people [...] [...more]
How many stereotypes are there about HR professionals?
- They are touchy feely – what does that mean anyway? Are we all supposed to go around touching and feeling everyone? I don’t think so! Or does it refer to our vast understanding of the soft skills? Yeah right! This also brings into play the “I’m a people person,” but that is the subject for another blog.
- They aren’t very good with numbers. I don’t know about anyone else – but I love numbers. Especially when they are big ones and they are in my paycheck. I got straight A’s in math and would much rather use a spreadsheet than a word processor.
- It’s a women’s profession – this probably stems from another stereotype that women are more touchy feely than men.
- I was recently at a social gathering with some HR practitioners as well as some other folks. (I was about to say normal folk) Then the jokes started. The non HR person looked at one of the HR people and said I probably shouldn’t be telling these in mixed company (sexual jokes). The HR person without asking blurted out – oh no – we are HR people we can take it.
My point is stereotypes may be a way for humans to simplify complex things by grouping similar people into the same mold. However, if there is one thing all HR people should know is that this can be a very dangerous practice.
I believe we need to continue to work on developing the positive image of the Human Resource profession and start eliminating some of these stereotypes. We also need to be cognizant of this bad habit when we refer to other professions or groups of people.
Fill in the blanks – all engineers are____________, all computer people are ___________, all accountants are____________, all lawyers are___________, or all bosses are____________. This may make for funny jokes or laughs in conversations – but are at the expense of a person. It certainly doesn’t take a great leap to go to all Blacks are_________, all Hispanics are__________, and all Blondes are__________. Not!!!!!
We really need to be careful with that thought combination All (fill in the blank)___________ are__________.
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Published By admin on Jan 22 -
There are many issues that employers should be watching out for regarding social media and the Internet – here is the second in the series of Q&A:
How do we define the use of social media for employees and monitor productivity – or loss of productivity – based on its use?
Many of my clients have expressed [...] [...more]
There are many issues that employers should be watching out for regarding social media and the Internet – here is the second in the series of Q&A:
How do we define the use of social media for employees and monitor productivity – or loss of productivity – based on its use?
Many of my clients have expressed concern that employees are spending too much time on their cell phones, on the internet, texting, or emailing for personal (not business related) reasons. Since the employer is paying the wages of the employee they have the right to be concerned about the loss of productivity. Many employers have now established policies that clarify their expectations, including controls such as prohibiting cell phones in the workplace, and randomly checking internet and email activity. My personal preference is to let employees know your expectations, then treat them as adults, and if you find them not complying with your expectations, take immediate and appropriate corrective action.
How will we monitor social media for employees and ex-employees that may be saying negative things about the employer/management/products/services/clients, or revealing confidential company information?
There seem to be several approaches to this question. A recent survey indicates 54% of employers prohibit the use of social media – see the results at http://webmarketingblips.dailyradar.com/article/how-should-employees-use-social-media/. Some employers assign someone to monitor internet activity, or at a minimum, randomly audit social media activity. Then if something negative is discovered, the employer takes aggressive action such as discipline, termination or in some cases a lawsuit, to eliminate the offensive activity. Employers should then make an effort to learn the cause of the employee’s dissatisfaction – there could be a valid issue but the employee just used an inappropriate public venue to air their concern. Again, it makes a lot of sense to have a policy and tell employees your expectations and the consequences.
How do we minimize or prevent the use of social media for harassment?
Employers need to review their policies to ensure they include language against harassment through the use of any social media. A whole new area for concern is “textual harassment” – using texting or other media to threaten physical harm, communicate obscenities, or other inappropriate communication. According to a study by the U.S. Justice Department, 23-percent of harassment victims in 2006 reported being accosted via electronic communications such as text messages or e-mails, and attorneys say that text messaging in the workplace is turning into a growing liability for employers. Once you’ve updated your policies to include information and guidelines on this type of harassment, you need to train your employees and supervisors regarding the new policies.
How do we control time (especially away from work) that employees spend on work related social networking with regard to pay, overtime, and benefit purposes?
I have written a previous blog on this topic “Time spent on facebook, LinkedIn, or twitter are hours worked.” Be sure to read that blog for all the details, but the bottom line is that employers need to know and control the time spent on work related efforts, especially by non-exempt employees and pay for those hours when it’s appropriate.
To sum up, social media is not going away, so I believe employers need to consider these questions and develop solutions and policies that work for their company. There are many sample social media policies already circulating, including this one: “10 Must-Haves for Your Social Media Policy” by Sharlyn Lauby (http://mashable.com/2009/06/02/social-media-policy-musts). As with all policies, it is not advisable to use someone else’s policy and force it to fit your situation. Policies need to be tailored to your specific company and industry and seek professional assistance if needed.
What kind of concerns do you have regarding social media? Please feel free to leave your concerns and thoughts in the comments section. For more info about what we do in the Buffalo area and beyond feel free to contact us.
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Published By admin on Nov 25 -
Since it seems the passage of health care reform is imminent, you can be assured congress will start focusing on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) (AKA Card Check Act) next. President Obama promised the unions during his campaign that he would get EFCA passed. Therefore, if you believe its passage is inevitable, [...] [...more]
Since it seems the passage of health care reform is imminent, you can be assured congress will start focusing on the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) (AKA Card Check Act) next. President Obama promised the unions during his campaign that he would get EFCA passed. Therefore, if you believe its passage is inevitable, what can employers do to prepare?
The basic premise of EFCA dictates that if your employees notify you that 51% of the employees have signed cards; they are deemed a union and must be recognized. There will be no secret ballot, or a time period for you to take action between when you are notified and the actual secret ballot, because there will be no secret vote. The time to take action is now before EFCA is passed.
Review policies now.
Make sure your policies are written in a way that they do not become ammunition for unions to use against you.
Review your compensation and benefit strategy now.
Frequently unions will promise better wages and benefits. As the employer, you cannot promise anything once you’ve been notified that your employees want a union. Therefore, make sure your wages and benefits are competitive, and not a source of dissatisfaction.
Train your supervisors now.
Many employees select a union because their supervisor or management in general won’t listen to them individually, so they get a union to speak on their behalf. Give your employees a vehicle to express their concerns, and an opportunity to have them addressed.
Terminate all employees that should be terminated now.
If you have malcontents or poor performing employees, get rid of them while you still can. Once you’ve been notified it will be much harder, if not impossible, to get rid of them. Often it is these employees who feel they need the protection of a union and are the major force behind an organizing effort. All too frequently employers roll along with the intention of letting certain employees go, and then suddenly it is too late – they have filed a workers comp claim, or a harassment complaint. If they need to be gone, do it now!
Let your representatives know your opinion of EFCA now.
It is not yet a law, which means there is still an opportunity to influence your elected representatives. The longer they wait to take action on this bill the closer it gets to the next election. Unions certainly influence their representatives. Employers need to do likewise.
These next two actions should be considered with caution.
Let employees know where you stand on unions.
This tactic is often used if you are already notified that there has been a card signing and you are waiting for the secret ballot. You can always present facts, and you are entitled to have your opinions about unions, however you cannot make threats or promises. Again, if EFCA is passed as proposed, you will not have the opportunity to give your point of view on the pros and cons of unions – it will already be too late and your company will be unionized. The flip side to this action is if you start talking about unions now, it will bring attention to unions and may cause some employees to think about organizing who may not have done so on their own.
Encourage your employees to become a union now.
This should only be considered as a last resort. The current language in the bill provides that if an employer and a union are unable to reach agreement within 90 days, either party may refer the dispute to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation (FMCS) for mediation. If the FMCS is unable to reach an agreement after 30 days of mediation, the dispute will be referred to arbitration, and the result shall be binding on the parties for two years.Therefore, if you really believe your workforce will try to organize when EFCA is passed, you could avoid EFCA by negotiating now and not be held to the 90-day deadline or the binding arbitration.
Of course there is one more option – you could do nothing. Just wait for the EFCA’s passage and deal with the fallout. I believe that the first four points are things employers should do anyway, whether you are faced with unionization or not. They will ultimately make you a better employer.
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Published By admin on Nov 09 -
There has been a lot written from the HR point of view regarding controls on what employees are doing on the internet (email, LinkedIn, facebook, twitter, et al). However, I have found very little written regarding how it applies to hours worked and the potential ramifications.
There are several parts of the Title 29, Part [...] [...more]
There has been a lot written from the HR point of view regarding controls on what employees are doing on the internet (email, LinkedIn, facebook, twitter, et al). However, I have found very little written regarding how it applies to hours worked and the potential ramifications.
There are several parts of the Title 29, Part 785, subpart C of employment regulations that are pertinent. First § 785.11 “Work not requested but suffered or permitted is work time. For example, an employee may voluntarily continue to work at the end of the shift. He may be a pieceworker, he may desire to finish an assigned task or he may wish to correct errors, paste work tickets, prepare time reports or other records. The reason is immaterial. The employer knows or has reason to believe that he is continuing to work and the time is working time.” In other words, if you allow it to happen and it benefits the company it is considered hours worked.
Second, §785.12 “Work performed away from the premises or job site. The rule is also applicable to work performed away from the premises or the job site, or even at home. If the employer knows or has reason to believe that the work is being performed, he must count the time as hours worked.” Therefore, even if it doesn’t happen on the work premises, it is still hours worked.
Third, §785.13 “Duty of management. In all such cases it is the duty of the management to exercise its control and see that the work is not performed if it does not want it to be performed. It cannot sit back and accept the benefits without compensating for them. The mere promulgation of a rule against such work is not enough. Management has the power to enforce the rule and must make every effort to do so.” So employers are responsible for managing and controlling the hours their employees work.
What does all this mean? What is the impact on the workplace?
The biggest impact is with regard to non-exempt employees (employees who are entitled by law to overtime pay); if they exceed 40 hours in the workweek they must be paid time-and-a-half.
Additionally, for both exempt and non-exempt employees, any benefit for which the employer has a threshold described in hours, any hours spent on twitter, facebook, or LinkedIn for work-related purposes (whether at the office, at home, or while sitting in a restaurant on their iPhone) must be put toward meeting those thresholds. In other words, these extra hours could put an employee into a category for which he was not previously eligible, whether it’s 1250 hours per year to be eligible for FMLA, or 1000 hours per year to participate in the company’s 401K, or 20 hours per week to participate in the company’s group health insurance, etc.
Other examples of when hours must be counted as hours worked include an employee who is out on FMLA, on vacation or home sick but responds to an email or does some business networking on LinkedIn. And what happens when your assistant is on his/her unpaid lunch and you send a text asking where a particular report is? Well, that just became a paid lunch and must be counted as hours worked.
The internet and social media have created a whole new world, and employment laws have not kept pace. The line between working and not working has become very blurred. Further, employment lawsuits have been increasing every year, but they have been increasing at alarming rates during this economic downturn.
Employers need to make it very clear in their policies that employees are not to do work during non-work hours. If it is necessary for your employees to respond to a text message, answer an email, or tweet, they need to report their hours so they can be paid.
Here’s a novel idea – have them tweet their hours.
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Published By admin on Oct 30 -
I am not a professional sales guru, but I came to the realization late in life how important the elements of sales are to success. I now tell all of my students – and anyone else who will listen – how critical sales skills are to personal and professional success.
My first exposure to the sales [...] [...more]
I am not a professional sales guru, but I came to the realization late in life how important the elements of sales are to success. I now tell all of my students – and anyone else who will listen – how critical sales skills are to personal and professional success.
My first exposure to the sales scene was when I was 16. My brother and I took a bus downtown to apply for “management positions.” We were loaded into a car, driven to a strange neighborhood in the suburbs, and told to knock on doors to sell magazine subscriptions. That experience left such a nasty taste in my mouth it took me almost four decades to get over it. I’m sure my story is not uncommon. It also doesn’t help that many people picture someone in the sales profession as a telemarketer or a high-pressure used car salesperson.
Get over it!
Our entire economic system is based on sales. Every day of your life you are on one side or the other of a sales transaction. Additionally, you sell yourself to a potential employer, convince your supervisor of your value to the department, or convince your CEO of the value of your department to the company. You also sell yourself and the value of your relationship to your spouse, significant other or life partner every day!
In 2002, I started my own Human Resource consulting practicein the Buffalo NY area. It became apparent very quickly that if I wanted to put food on the table, I needed to sell my services. (I might also mention that I’m an introvert.) So with a sense of urgency, I worked to get over my four-decade-long distaste for this sales stuff and tried to make sense of it .
Understanding the Sales Process by Components
The elements of sales as I see them are: networking, listening, problem solving, creating value, negotiating, and learning to accept rejection. In my business, I see sales as relationship building. I want my clients to stay with me for a long time, as opposed to a one-time sale. Therefore, it is also important for me to deliver quality with integrity.
Networking is one of the skills that many people think they do very well, but actually do very poorly. It is not enough to go to an event, hand out 50 business cards and talk to everyone in the room. What have you learned from each person? What are they looking for, what do they do, and how can you help them?
It is a hard skill to master, but you need to listen more than you talk. How can you learn what someone is looking for, or what his/her expectations are unless you listen? I learned this valuable lesson from doing thousands of employment interviews. As a business owner, listening carefully allows me to explore opportunities to solve a problem.
A successful salesperson must be able to describe whatever he or she is offering in such a way that it creates value for the customer. This value proposition is critical. If you can’t describe your offering in a manner that creates value in the other person’s eyes, you’re not likely to make the sale. Furthermore, once you create value, the task of negotiating the sale becomes a piece of cake – you’ve already created the proverbial win-win situation with your customer.
One of the hardest skills to learn is accepting rejection and moving on. I’ve seen too many job candidates get rejected for one job and then get into a funk. Who wants to hire someone who is in a funk? Don’t kid yourself –it shows! Almost every successful person I know excels in being able to accept rejection and use it as motivation to try again.
One tool for handling rejection is the concept of getting 99 no’s. Successful salespeople understand that they are going to be told no, so they check them off as they come. The law of averages kick in and by the time you reach the 99th no, you’ll have gotten at least one yes (and hopefully a lot more than one). Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and do it again.
The final lesson I needed to learn was to actually ask for the sale (whether that sale is a promotion, job, date, etc.). If you don’t ask, how will you get a yes?
I’m still not sure if I would enjoy – or be able to – go door to door selling magazines, but I do know I can build relationships and help solve problems by networking, listening, creating value and moving beyond rejection. .
Now it’s your turn – go be successful!
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Published By admin on Oct 22 -
