Will the Olympics create the workplace of the future?

Yes, folks, the Olympics are starting in Van City in 9 days!

Those nail-biting worries we had are now becoming reality.  One being the lack of snow on Cypress Mountain for the snowboarding events but contingency planning saved that one.  And considering the city crackdown on the car with those traffic-halting road closures, how will Metro Vancouver’s 2.2 million inhabitants get around?  Today is one of the first days that I got a true taste of it as people are finally starting to understand the message:  “leave your car at home”. 

With potential wait times of up to 1 hour at major transit hubs as people move between events, work and home, the powers at the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) are encouraging commuters to get into the downtown core by 7am and leave by 2pm, otherwise expect to be trapped there until 7pm.  Guess there are worse fates than enjoying some free Olympic events to kill the time…

To accomodate, my workplace has changed its hours from 7am-2:30pm and is offering telecommuting while ensuring service levels are still being met.  It’s a bit of a “lick an index finger and put in the air” situation right now as we really don’t know how long it will take to get to work and how busy work will be.  Organizations and employees alike will need to be flexible during this time and apply a bit of “take it as it comes” attitude.

I’m predicting Vancouver 2010 will do two key things:  1)  bring the world to see my favourite city and hometown 2) give the world a glimpse of a true city of the future, a city that uses public transportation to the max and leaves the car at home… a business community that has invested in policies and technology to enable employees to work from home and work flexible hours.  Vancouver will show the world the way work will be done in future.  Famous local writer Douglas Coupland will have to write a new best seller to replace his outdated Generation X.

Quoting the wise words of some famous person, “Go Canada Go!”.

Famous Factoid Moment:  the term Generation X was created by Vancouverite Douglas Coupland.

The best of the worst business words

Last week, the venerable CBC News posted a funny and cringe worthy story, “The most painfully annoying business jargon”.  It’s a summary of some of the worst words and phrases that we use in business today.  Among my most favourite (or is it least favourite?) are:  “full service”, “circle back” and “learning” used as a noun.  Shudder!

After an unscientific poll with my colleagues of some other choice words that are overexposed and have lost all relevance (aka the Tiger Woods Syndrome):

• touch base
• at the end of the day…
• economic downturn (the phrase formerly known as “recession”)
• leading edge
• “tomorrow’s (insert word such as leaders, talent system, etc.)”

I just remembered that I few years ago I received a magical gift from a coworker called Human Resources Bingo; definitely not recommended reading for the HR pro that takes themselves seriously.  C’mon, when you see words in there that you know you overuse, doesn’t it make you smile, just a little bit?  Hey – hold the phone- ”metrics” is one of the words listed!  Where is the contact information on the website so I can give some constructive feedback?!?!!

I digress… what other jargon would you recommend for this list?

*The Fine Print:  Thanks to my coworker Kyla for making full use of her email fwd function by not only tipping me off with this story but also giving me some of her most favourite hated words.

Want to learn HR? Blogging is where it’s at

A recent online poll by HR Executive Online shows that 90% of HR professionals are reading blogs with 48% saying that ”HR blogs give me new, fresh ideas about the HR profession and where it’s heading”.  I’ve definitely found that reading HR blogs is a great way to keep a pulse on what’s going on out there on a timely basis, have your thoughts and beliefs challenged, and 9 times out of 10, it’s a very entertaining way to learn valuable HR lessons, such as on HR metrics.  Best of all, blogs are a super quick and easy read if you only have 3 seconds to scan information. 

Case in point, Suzanne Boyd’s Peoplestuff.  Suzanne is one of my fellow bloggers featured by the BC Human Resources Management Association and she is getting a round of e-applause by readers for writing about her beef with processed foods and its impact on employee health and wellness, all done with a pop culture twist.  Fistful of Talent named her blog as one of the “Best of the Blogosphere” for 2009.  Congrats to Suz!

If you’re looking for quick sound (read) bites to stay fresh and inspired in your career, check out the list of some of my favourite blogs in my blogroll.  A special shoutout to The DL on HR - writer Agata Zasada is wanting to hear about your perplexing HR conundrums so she can give you her valuable advice in her blog’s Q&A format.

Hey, I think I just gave you an example of how social networking can be used as a learning tool….

The best business school (and cheap, too!)

I heart Dragons’ Den, the best “reality” show around.  It features 5 highly successful entrepreneurs (the “Dragons”) who have experience building companies, have money to burn, and are looking for the next great idea to invest their venture capital.  Entrepreneurs pitch their idea, state the value of the company and make an offer to the Dragons.  The Dragons decide whether or not they love the idea so much that they invest in the company with their own funds.  In the U.S., Dragons’ Den is essentially Shark Tank (but is, alas, a more superior version). 

Looking for money for your latest HR venture? Brush up on the basics of the perfect pitch.

This show is so great, it should be mandated viewing for all HR professionals.  If you’re looking to brush up on your business know-how, then tune in.  Here is a recap of what I’ve learned so far in my free business school: 

To sell an idea, tell a compelling story.  There are no PowerPoint presentations here!  It’s a bedtime story for adults, talking about the inspired way you came up with the idea and describing your vision.  The story seems to get the Dragons more excited than the actual product. 

Show decision-makers the money.  The Dragons react positively when shown sales figures, profit margins, revenue, projections or target market size.  They’re not looking for a novel or again, a PowerPoint presentation.  They are most excited when these numbers are concisely presented to them on a 3 x 5 recipe card.  After the deal is sealed with a handshake, the Dragons have their staff look at the detailed fine print. 

Promote a greater cause, while making money.  If the idea you’re presenting makes money and promotes a greater good (e.g. environment), the Dragons will definitely be interested.  They want to make money but they are also interested in leaving a legacy. 

Prove that you’ve done your grunt work and that your idea is viable.  Your idea may be brilliant but if you haven’t yet invested any of your own time / money / life to bring that idea to life, no one is interested.  Put it all on the line and prove your idea works before presenting it to anyone else. 

Make a realistic claim on the value of your idea.  One of the biggest mistakes that entrepreneurs make in their presentation to the Dragons is an overvaluation of their company.  You may think $1 million is a realistic valuation but it’s more than likely that the Dragons think your idea is worth a lot less.  When you inflate the value of your idea, company - or even yourself – you lose credibility.  Do the long division and make sure that the cost/benefit analysis is real.
One frequently heard quote on the show:  “Don’t be greedy”. 

Understand the trends.  The population is aging… provide services and products to assist them.  The new generation is entering the workforce… figure out how to tap into their energy and offer work/life balance.  Figure out what people need first and then offer it.  

Understand your audience.  Know who you’re pitching to and whose purse strings you’re after.  Each Dragon has a different background and different spending habits.  Figure out who you want to convince and learn everything about them.  Then, target your presentation to what they care about. 

Now go into the world, HR’ers.  Talk the business talk and go make us proud in 2010.

My 2010 wish list

Ten years ago I was determined to bring in the new millenium with gusto, praying that Y2K would blow over and practicing not starting off dates with 19XX.  Well, another year is over and a new decade about to begin.   It’s been an amazing and amazingly productive year.  When I look back, I think “wow!” at all the fabulous people I’ve met and all the great work that I’m hearing about.  It just occurred to me that at the beginning of this year I would have never considered blogging; the world and our minds can change pretty rapidly in the course of just one year!

Other HR bloggers at this time of year are making their predictions for 2010.  I’m not going to even attempt that one!  But I will document for you my hopes and dreams for HR for 2010.  I look forward to revisiting this list next December and seeing how far we’ve come! 

1.  HR understands that social networking has become a must do to survive.  It will no longer lock it down or police it.  It will work within the new world, accept it for what it is and most importantly, take advantage of it.  This doesn’t mean that everyone should sign up for Twitter!  Instead, we should consider the options available and choose what makes sense for the organization. 

2.  More industries and organizations give their shareholders or stakeholders a “say on pay”, giving them information on executive pay.  It’ll open up discussions and build transparency.  On December 11th, the U.S. passed say on pay legislation for the financial industry.  But the financial industry in Canada realized that they didn’t need to wait for the law to step in to do the right thing.  Management guru Peter Drucker would agree:  revamping exec comp is good for the organization and society.  

3.  Companies up their investment in employee learning and development.  Everyone is screaming for the need to increase productivity.  Investing in improving literacy and providing employees with skills to do their jobs better has a better ROI than buying a new computer.  

4.  Derogatory comments about Gen X, Y or Z stops.  This is a form of ageism and should go the way of sexism, racism and other ‘isms.  Let’s talk about how generations differ and how to maximize value through them, much in the same way we talk about any other group in our organization (e.g. women, visible minorities, etc.).  I’m not sure if people who call Gen X “entitled” realize that they have just offended me….  

5.  HR increases its knowledge on metrics and dedicates some resources to it.  I get it – your systems are cranky, your data is garbage, you don’t have the budget… I’ll tell you a secret:  start anyways and you’ll get better at everything else along the way.  Isn’t that how we start anything for the first time anyways? 

6.  As the economy gets better, organizations bring back the Christmas party, merit increases and focus on engagement.  Cut backs shouldn’t be the new status quo to maximize profits but we certainly can get more efficient at how we manage these things.  

7.  Everyone reads What Matters Now.  Shout out to Dalell Amed who shared this ebook with me using another social web took, LinkedIn.  Within 24 hours, I received 3 copies of this book thanks to our profession’s willingness to share knowledge.  If you still don’t quite understand the value of social networking, this is how it works folks.  

8.  HR pros start an email chain on the blog post “18 Breakthrough Ideas for HR Success in 2010″  along with these Holiday Eating Tips. 

Thanks for following my blog this year, for your encouragement, compliments and most importantly for joining in on the conversation.  Happy Holidays! 

Take a break, you hard worker you, and find Waldo! (click on the pic to make it larger!)

The secrets to my success?

I’m always reading up on stories of how people have achieved their career success.  Most recently I was reading up on wise words of advice from top business people in the November 2009 issue of BC Business magazine.  My favourite quote comes from local billionaire Jimmy Pattison mostly because it mimics my motto and I like anything that proves I’m right:

My dad, when I was very young, told me always to be very honest. I never forgot it. I’ve lived by his words ever since, and if anybody asks me for advice, I tell them the same thing.

 

Not long ago I stumbled upon a very authentic blog post which starts off with the blogger Michael G. Brandt telling a very personal story of career lessons he learned the hard way.  He then shares his own secrets to success as a result of his experiences:

1.     I am replaceable; there is always someone who will step up.
2.     I will never get promoted or move up in the world by complaining or blaming. So what if someone did me wrong. It happens to us all.
3.     Anger is a guaranteed way to destroy your career.
4.     I can recover from anything; work harder than anyone else around you.
5.     Be the role model not that person everyone talks about.
6.     Never blame anyone for where I am in my career. Top people don’t expect life to come to them. They seize every opportunity.

2010 is almost here so I’m looking for a fresh start and quite frankly some motivation in this cold weather.  What is your own personal motto or words you live by on your own path to success?

These are a few of my favourite things

What's the connection to this post? Sunflowers are one of my favourite things! And I'll consider bribes. There's no connection between the two. I'm just sayin'.

I missed out, big time, on a blog topic so readily available to me – Canada’s Thanksgiving Day, back in October.  Well call me an opportunist, I’m hopping on the American Thanksgiving bandwagon for today’s theme:  Things I’m thankful for in my job!

1.  I work with a great group of people.  I empathize with my fellow HR’ers who have to work with or for terrors.  Why is this still happening in our workplaces?  “Ethical treatment is a fundamental human right.”

2.  Have a great idea?  Do it.  Don’t know how to do it?  There’s enough expertise + smarts that between us, we’ll figure it out.

3.  The office Christmas party.  Sure, there may not be any crystal chandeliers to swing from, but a great meal with my coworkers is always a fun time to bond.

4.  A fair compensation plan.  Between news of abysmal child poverty rates and stratospheric executive compensation, it puts things into perspective.

5.  I’m measured on my deliverables.  It’s all about whether I got the job done and how well, not at what time I turned on my computer.

6.  The results of my performance review is never a surprise.  I’m kept up to date on my progress on a regular basis and feedback is a two-way street.  Likewise, I do my best to never surprise my boss.  I said I do my best… but I’m not perfect.

7.  My coworkers offer suggestions to make my work better.  I listen to them because they’re experts at what they do and they care about good work.  They listen to me when I apologize for having Monday morning grr’s.

8.  My daily can of diet Root Beer.  Sometimes, happiness is as simple as sugar-free caramel-flavoured fizzy water.

9.  Support for learning.  It helps that my organization offers some great workshops.

10.  I can log on to Facebook and LinkedIn and do the social networking thing without being questioned on whether or not I’m working.  I feel sorry for people who have these websites blocked at work because social networking is not seen as a business tool.

So, there’s a lot to be thankful for.  Sure, everyone has days when they would rather not do what they’re doing and wish they’d win the next Lotto Max jackpot.  Hey, that’s life!  But during those moments, I’ll try my best to remember the above instead of blowing $10 on a quick pick.

Arguing or finally talking?

I looove the movie Jerry Maguire.  It’s one of those movies I watch whenever it’s on TV, along with The Wedding Singer or The Sound of Music.  Everytime I watch it, I unpeel another layer and discover that I love it even more, especially for its classic quotes from Tom Cruise (aka Jerry Maguire):

“Show me the money!”

“Help me help you!”

“You complete me.”

And my personal but perhaps more obscure favourites (and go figure, they’re all from Cuba Gooding Jr. aka Rod Tidwell):

“You are hanging on by a very thin thread.  And I DIG THAT ABOUT YOU!”

“You bet on me like I bet on you.”

“See, some dudes might have the coin, but they will never have the kwan. Truth, love, respect.”

I find that quotes and lessons from Jerry Maguire can be applied to several moments of my life, in the same way that folks claim that episodes of Friends frequently parallel their own lives.  Let’s take last week as an example… I facilitated an HR metrics course and was challenged left right and centre about the standard HR metric formulas and some example calculations.  After all the explaining and defending, I felt exhausted and exposed.  It was a tough morning and I wondered if this is what it felt like being in Scared Straight!.

I snuck out at lunch for a walk around the block to clear my head and just chill out.  The morning was disaster, disaster I say!  I felt like I was arguing with the students and defending my work all morning.  Then it hit me that I’ve seen this pattern in the past.  All the best teams I’ve worked with and all the successful endeavours I’ve been a part of, they all started off with good, old-fashioned have at ‘er debates.

I needed to keep in mind that people are new to this measuring thing and everyone has gotten used to measuring turnover or absenteeism in one way.  Being presented with one standard formula as the end all and be all is a difficult pill to swallow.  At the initial stages of anything, people question everything and that’s a good thing.

It’s only through different perspectives and by questioning everything do you think through everything, make good decisions and are ready to defend/explain them at any time.  By questioning what I was doing, these students were thinking, learning, and absorbing, getting ready to go out in the world and apply their knowledge and defend it to the ones who question them.  This was just one of those times that I needed reminding to keep my ego in check because at the end of the day, it’s not all about me.

And yet sometimes it is.  Here’s where Jerry Maguire and my life intersect once again, with Rod standing in the locker room and screaming at his agent Jerry:

“See, that’s the difference between us.  You think we’re fighting, and I think we’re finally talking.”

Introducing, the Rod Tidwell

 

Finally someone’s showing me some money

In last week’s post, I issued the following challenge:

What I would like is to hear from folks who are using Twitter for work and using it well.  And most importantly, show me the money!  I want to hear whether or not you can prove it’s working for your business.

It’s about time someone responded to this challenge because it’s been a quiet, quiet world out there on measuring the value of social networking.   The response comes from Jessica Lee at Fistful of Talent.  OK, so she didn’t exactly say that her blog post was a direct response to my call for reaction but I like to think that I inspired this piece of work in which she describes finding a quality hire via Web 2.0:

How ’bout them apples? Right? I tweeted something pretty harmlessly. They went to my blog to learn more. They then contacted me via Facebook. And then the wheels started turning. Twitter. Blog. Facebook. Oh, and one other detail about this story? Her friend was following me on Twitter because a recruiter at a competing company recommended that she follow me during an informational interview where she was asking about people in the industry to pay attention to for jobs. Read that again. Community matters. Networks matter. Relationships really matter. And – there was no cost to this hire except for the investment of time and effort I’ve made to be a good, contributing member of the social media community. That’s it.

Good point of view – social networking is ultimately about networking.  In this case there was a straight line between the Tweet to the new hire.  However, as with any type of networking, it can be difficult to draw a straight line from the networking event to a sale or hire.  But I’ll still don’t believe Twitter is all that and a bag of chips.  The time/effort equation to get Twitter working for you doesn’t seem worthwhile.  Wouldn’t you have just as much success not using Twitter but spending more time on other social networking activities?

Most importantly, LinkedIn doesn’t have any Balloon Boy stories

Aaaand I’m back from my holidays.  An e-round of applause to our guest bloggers Suzanne Boyd, Jonathan Lowe, Ian Cook and Kellie Auld who did an excellent job in the last 4 weeks offering their opinion on the world of HR.  Now back to my point of view.  (Hey, I’m not being harsh here, they can go get their own blogs!)

So,  Mylie Cyrus is no longer twittering!  She said “the reasons are simple… I want my private life private – I’m done tryin’ to please.”  Wow, me and Mylie aren’t so different after all.  I don’t want the world to know about my personal life either, unless you really want to know that I’m taking my mom shopping tonight….

But what about using Twitter for business to garner more customers or revenue?  In HR, folks are using this tool for recruiting to generate interest in job openings and garner more applicants.

I previously mentioned my dislike of Twitter.  Perhaps I’m too much on the cusp of Generation Y to understand it.  For Twitter to work, you have to “follow” people in order to get people to follow you and therefore receive your latest posts looking for a “Customer Service Rep extraordinaire”.

I’m not on Twitter because I believe I’ll explode from information overload.  If it was all about business, well, I may be convinced.  But Twitter crosses the line between personal and professional and I unfortunately I’d have to wade through stuff like the Balloon Boy phenomenon.  During the in-flight saga, people went nuts posting on Twitter to the rate of 1000 tweets a minute.  OK, I get the in-the-moment frenzy, afterall I was on CBC reading the latest story.  But if I wanted to use Twitter for business, what did I really get out of this social media investment?

What I would like is to hear from folks who are using Twitter for work and using it well.  And most importantly, show me the money!  I want to hear whether or not you can prove it’s working for your business.

One thing I certainly don’t understand is the HR community’s inability to grasp the concept of LinkedIn.  For those of you who groaned, it’s not Facebook folks, it’s a professional site.  Other professionals are on it busily networking with their customers, suppliers, potential employees and even other recruiters.  The smart folks are using LinkedIn to find out about important events and have discussions with others on topics such as how employers are dealing with the H1N1 flu.

Not taking advantage of the wonderful world of LinkedIn is like telling someone “I know you’re offering me $1 million dollars but really, I can’t be bothered to do anything with it so just give it to someone else”.

I’m showing you the money.  So why are you leaving it on the table?

Top Companies to Work For

Have you ever worked for one of the “Best Places to Work”? 

I have.  And you know what, it really wasn’t… you can’t imagine my excitement when I was hired to work for the company.  Wow!  I’d been waiting a long time to have this opportunity.  I followed the business for some time and when my chance finally came, I jumped at it.  I didn’t think twice! 

So, why was it rated as one of the best employers?  What were the criteria used to measure the designation?  I learned through researching a number of companies that compile the lists of what constitutes the best places to work, that things they look at are:  work atmosphere and social activities, wages, benefits, performance management, vacation and time off.  Depending on who is collecting the data, the criteria may change slightly but most are gathering very similar information.

Unfortunately, in my case, I soon realized that while this company had all the niceties anyone could ask for (a gym, a cafeteria with a great menu at fantastic prices, Blackberries and many other assorted toys), it really wasn’t a great place to work after all.  Don’t get me wrong – all of these things were pretty nice and initially – during the honeymoon phase – these things seemed great!

So, that being said – you might wonder what the problem was then?  Well… I discovered the not so good things or the dark side - as it were.  There were far too many examples of nepotism, favouritism, departments that were completely separate from one another (silos) which created enormous communication issues, unfair work distribution (the social activities?  Only a select few could take part… everyone else had to work), and several other dysfunctional business practices.

Oh, and the performance management?  Well – to be honest – no one understood it and those that worked on developing it didn’t even have any human resources backgrounds.  In fact, almost the entire HR department (I soon learned) was made up of employees that started with the company several years prior and they were just promoted into these roles with no training in their ‘specialized areas’ of HR.  Many in the executive and management team were the same. 

I honestly believe that we need to groom people to take on these roles and when someone has the urge to grow with the company and seems to have the drive, ambition and a good skill set the opportunities should certainly be provided where possible.  However, the key is to give people the tools to work with so that they really can be a “top employer”. 

Have you ever heard the term, people don’t quit their jobs, they quit their managers?  Well, this is why being the top employer has to be more than perks.

So, now I’m wondering – was this just my experience – or are there others that feel their companies have a long way to go even though they are classified as a “Great Place to Work”?

-Guest editor, Kellie Auld

If HR had just been invented…

One of the biggest challenges with change is that you are so often stuck with the old view of things.  How many of you out there had to change organizations because you were still seen as the office junior, who photocopied and made tea, even though you had been there 10 years and were completely in charge of the recruiting function?  First impressions stick and then solidify, making it twice as hard to have people treat you differently.

The whole HR profession has this problem and has been working on it for over 15 years.  Hardly rapid progress.  We have tried a bunch of soul searching – complaining about strategic status – requesting strategic status – getting strategic status etc and yet the HR function remains maligned, mis-understood and under-valued by the majority of our peers in the business community.  A strategy that has not been tried is to disappear and re-appear as something else.  This could work.  I am serious – let’s collectively take a month off (my vote is December) and then come back with a clearer structure, compelling value proposition, strategic drive, and most importantly of all a new name.

If the current impression we are making is not the right one, nor the one we want, why not create the opportunity to create a new first impression. It works – as someone who has changed jobs every 3 years and countries twice – I know it works.

We have most of the answers when it comes to structure, value proposition and strategic drive – so what do we call ourselves….. any ideas?

Guest editor:  Ian Cook

CEO, Human Resources???

Richard Beatty, a professor of HR at Rutgers University probably raised the hackles of many an HR professional when he criticized the HR community for their failure to provide useful analytics in making workforce planning decisions.  His comments parallel what we’ve all heard – that HR needs to speak the language of business and be able to provide hard data and metrics to support their strategies and initiatives.  This is all about HR needing to learn to think and act like CFOs.

Effective HR professionals that are obtaining those bona fide seats at the executive table are the ones that are also thinking and acting like CEOs – how the organization’s strategies are increasing market share, expanding growth, improving efficiencies, reducing costs, and increasing profits.  What I’m hearing from the C-level executives that I work with are that effective HR executives and professionals take into careful consideration the organization’s day to day, in the trenches, real world operational challenges, and more importantly how it impacts the top and bottom lines.  Those who “get it” have learned how to sell, market and influence those who have the approval to say yay or nay.  Many a solid HR initiative has been kiboshed because it didn’t earn the necessary executive buy-in.  And that’s where selling comes in.

Most HR people hate selling and willingly admit it.  Yet you’ve been doing it all your life and probably aren’t always aware that many of the goals that you’ve achieved involved following a sales process – from landing your job to convincing your significant other to shack up or marry you.  You uncovered a need, asked questions about the criteria involved, presented your idea and convinced the decision-maker to support your case.  At work do the same when dealing with the executive suite, making sure you always link your HR activities to the top and bottom lines.   

-Guest editor:  Jonathan Lowe

Time to lift our eyes up?

Built to change is a great book about how to make your organization more flexible and better at changing.  A key concept in the book is strategizing as opposed to strategic planning.  The key difference being that strategizing is something that happens frequently, not once a year in a conference room.  When strategizing, individuals gather to think about the future, play out different scenarios, and choose how to respond to those scenarios in a way that aligns with the identity of the organization.  In short, strategizing adopts the philosophy that 80% of strategy is figuring out where the world is going.  If you can do that, what you need to do usually becomes obvious.

So here is my challenge to you.  After all this hunkering down, cost cutting and focus on efficiency (for good reason), what opportunities are out there?  Are there talented people you could recruit to your business because they have been “recessioned” by their employers?  Are there opportunities in your market that you can attack before your competitors? Could you pick up a piece of real estate with phenomenal lease or mortgage terms?  Think about the future, play out a few scenarios, keep your CFO happy by making sure the numbers work, but start moving forward. You will find opportunities.

-Guest editor:  Suzanne Boyd, Peoplestuff

Yeeesss! My dishwasher is finally fixed

My solution to getting stuff done at home?  My least favourite option but the most necessary – take holiday time.  I’m thrilled to tell you that the dishwasher repair guy showed up on Monday, somewhere between the 10:30am-1pm he promised.  The irony?  There was nothing wrong with it in the first place.  I can’t believe I washed dishes by hand for the last six weeks.  Please, no questions….

Like several great people before me, I’m going to take the next few weeks off from the world of work to decompress.  That means it’s guest editor time!  Every week I’ll be featuring a guest blogger, each with their own twisted twist on the world and HR.  A quick intro to the bloggers you’ll be reading from:

First up to bat is fellow BC HRMA blogger, Suzanne Boyd.  Smartie girl is a Partner with Noverra Consulting & Capital Partners where she leads the HR practice.  She loves working with people and businesses to make a difference from a people perspective.  In her spare time, Suzanne loves reading about politics, social trends and enjoys the occasional glass of wine.  Check out her always insightful blog Peoplestuff.

Next up, Jonathan Lowe.  Currently a consultant for the executive search firm Galt Global Recruiting, J. Lowe has worked in the industry as an HR director and recruiter and in his former life  was an operations manager in the hotel industry.  Most importantly, he’s got a killer sense of humour.

In Week 3, it’s Ian Cook, Director of Research & Learning at BC Human Resources Management Association.  He’s also my boss.  He’s originally from Scotland, so be sure to read his stuff in your best brogue to maximize the impact of his wise words.

And finally, Kellie Auld, soon to be a featured blogger with BC HRMA! 
Kellie has been working in the Human Resources/Training & Development field since 2000 for a number of different organizations from government to a small privately-owned firm.  You can tell by her ideas and voice that Kellie’s an avid reader and has acquired a broad base of interests in HR.  With her new blog HR Scoops, she’s ready to connect with other HR pros about the ever-changing, ever-challenging field of HR. 

Good luck to all bloggers!   And now if you’ll excuse me, condensation is amassing outside my martini glass.  Must deal with rapidly deteriorating drink situation.

Work/Life Balance… I just want my dishwasher fixed

Now with extra cleaning power!

I’ve reached the point in my life where I’m outsourcing things I never thought I would.  Sure, we all typically “outsource” things like our haircuts, hemming or shoemaking.  Some outsource their housecleaning.  I’ve taken it to the next level, folks.  I’m outsourcing the waiting game.

A few weeks ago my home phone stopped working.  After huffing to the customer service rep (on my cell phone), I had to concede to a technician visiting my home in a week, anywhere between 9am-12pm.  On the same day, I was having a new mattress delivered, again anywhere between 9am-12pm but at least I would be forewarned when the truck was close by.

Fast forward to the next week, I had my new dishwasher installed only to be told that the dishwasher is faulty and that I shouldn’t use it until I call in for service.  Following warranty protocol, I called the approved list of service providers.   Turns out every place I called is open from 8:30am – 5pm, Monday through Friday, and requires that I book out at least a week.

Hmmmm… first challenge is trying to get stuff done in my life while earning a living.  Second challenge is that while these places can guarantee which day they will come, they can’t even tell you an approximate time.  Essentially you could be sitting around and wasting away for 8 hours before you see anyone.

You see where I’m going with this!  Basically, if you work full-time with a regular office schedule, the only way you can get anything in your home fixed is to:

• work from home
• take a vacation day
• call in fake sick (something Gary would never do!)
• buy paper plates and swear off any modern technologies, like the telephone

Here is the greatest risk to labour productivity known to mankind.  Forget employee illness - what can we do to keep employees working while they get their home stuff done?

My answer is to outsource the waiting game.  I simply approached a few retirees in my building and in return for them being available to open my apartment door at anytime, I pay them.  They earn extra cash, I get to go to work.

Let’s get more creative with managing the work/life balance thing.  Entertain me for a moment while I offer ideas to get stuff done while maintaining productivity at work:

1. Petition the government to force service companies to guarantee service times or at least offer priority spots for a premium.
2. Create a Craigslist of sorts where you can post your waiting game challenge and pre-screened folks who want to sit on your couch all day bid on your time slot.
3. Companies offer “dishwasher days” for those times when you really do have to sit around and wait for someone to show up.  You get the time off and make it up later or just take it unpaid.  Either way, the company takes less of a hit on productivity and you don’t have to pretend to cough in your phone.
4. Get a spouse or a significant other.  According to Jack Welch, it’s either the career or the life but never both.  He took care of the career part and his wife took care of the kids and home.

The revered JW is shockingly offensive here and I’m not about to take me a husband just to have a clean kitchen or a dial tone.  Time for the service call revolution.

When Gary calls in tired, what do you do?

Love this commercial.  I stop whatever I’m doing (even eating!) when it comes on.  The ad isn’t selling a product so much as it’s selling an idea.

While we’ve all had those “I’m exhausted and totally unproductive” days, who would seriously put their job or reputation in jeopardy by being totally honest to their bosses?  It’s easier to come up with an acceptable but dishonest rationale than being upfront about it and just saying “I was kept up all night with a recurring nightmare that I was being chased by a man in a donkey suit but when I tried to dial 9-1-1, I kept misdialing!”.

Well, this guy believes in having nothing to hide.  And he gets the day off he needs and his boss gets the job done. He likely pulls it off because he’s clearly delivered the goods before.  As cranky as the manager is about the situation, his hands are tied because he both values the employee and goals are being met.

Here’s the disconnect:  we’re ultimately judged on whether or not we deliver on our goals but we’re paid by the clock.  The rationale is that we must be at our desks to be considered productive, whether or not that’s actually happening.  I don’t have any stats on this but my gut says you’re more likely to get fired for being flaky about showing up to work than you would be for not producing on a regular basis.

How do we work our way around this one?  Take a look at Motley Fool’s vacation and sick day policy which boils down to “take the time off you need and get paid for it”.  The fine print?  Do the work.

HR practices that are 2000 & late – Part Deux

Aaaaaannndd we’re back!

We’re playing “Are you ahead, on top, or behind the HR game?” and last week we had questions on recruiting, performance management, and trends in business.  This week focuses on your knowledge on the latest goings on in HR.

Let’s Get Ready to Rumble!

 

 

 

 

 

 Q:

1. During these tough economic times, organizations are trimming headcount, merit increases, salaries and benefits to keep costs down.  Are you offering alternatives to staff to offset these cost cutting measures,  such as flexible schedules, extra vacation time, etc.?
2. Are you making business decisions without data?
3. Are you outsourcing any of your HR functions or processes and gaining efficiencies or cost savings with them?

 & A: 

1. Just like every organization is trying to figure out how to make do, so are employees.  Life is about  compromise and trade-offs.  Why not offer something your employees value at minimal cost?  Keep ‘em happy, keep ‘em loyal and at the end of the day, you’ll get to keep ‘em.
2. When you make decisions without data, you’re upping your chances of making the wrong one.  Without data, who is really taking you seriously?  Imagine your organization’s leader saying to you that  he has this gut feeling that the organization isn’t doing so well.  Sure, he’s right but he doesn’t sound like he’s the right person for the job.
3. Outsourcing is not always the holy grail of efficiency and cost savings.  ExcellerateHRO is getting out the outsourcing business because it discovered that it’s not making any money.  Other companies have had a tough go at implementing their contracts, especially when they are highly customized.  And on occasion, offshoring work can pose challenges and require contingency plans perhaps not previously considered, such as in the case of organizations outsourcing to Mumbai.  Outsourcing can still work, but only if you can keep your processes simple and you’re extra careful to cross your t’s and dot your i’s.

How about adding suggestions on any other HR practices out there that you think should be considered old school?  Submit some comments!

The LinkedIn Bible

If you’re not maximizing LinkedIn yet on the job or for your career, I feel sorry for you.  No, I don’t really feel sorry for you but I do think you’re not focusing enough on the right stuff.  Lucky you, I scored a great online resource to help you get the most of it.  Excelleeeent….

LinkedIn Bible: Everything You Need to Know About the Social Network for Professionals – CIO.com – Business Technology Leadership

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HR practices that are so 2000 & late

Thanks, Black Eyed Peas, for coining this new term.  I’m using it ad nauseam to annoy my friends, family and most importantly, coworkers.

BEP are always ahead of the game but then, they have to be.  As for HR, rest assured that you don’t always have to be ahead of the game.  But, you should at least be on top of your game by applying new ideas that have been tried, tested and produce results.

Trying to decide if you’re ahead, on par, or behind the game?  Here’s the quiz.  Make the most of it by thinking about your response before checking out the answer key.

1. Are you upgrading your talent in the downturn?  In other words, are you letting go of poor performers in hopes of snatching up better employees?
2. Do you care if your employees are at their desk or do you care if they deliver?
3. Are you recruiting solely via your corporate careers site?
4. Is your company making a profit, albeit less of one, and cutting employee pay and benefits to maintain it?
5. Are you a hoarder?

Here’s your answer key:

1. It’s understandable if you’re trading up while the War for Talent is on hiatus.  But let’s be blunt – you’re not giving the impression that you’re regularly dealing with underperformers and you’re missing an opportunity to be a game player.  (and pssst… like in your case, the high performers may still be working….)
2. Of course, you care more that your employees deliver.  However, chances are that you pay by the clock and not the results.  The underlying assumption is that your employees have to be at their desks.  Think about it – how would you react if your employee walked out of your office after doing only 4 hours and yet they’ve met all their targets?  Figure your way around this to be on top of your game.
3. If your answer is “yes” (save for the occasional newspaper ad), you must be watching the hit new show Three’s Company.  Using only your careers website as a sourcing tool is like being a hotdog vendor in the corner of an underground parking lot.  If you’re using LinkedIn, Facebook,  or Twitter, you’re at least on top of things, but you’re a long ways away from being ahead of the crowd.
4. It’s a new world out there, one where people are fed up with exorbitant executive compensation and the sole focus on the shareholder.  Harvard Business Review says that “trust in business is running out”.  These smarties say that the future will include a “broadening [of] the list of key stakeholders to include employees, customers, suppliers, communities, the press, unions, government and civil society.”
   In other words, if your focus is on profit and the shareholder, you are officially 2008 and late.
5. I get it, there’s a recession and we’re all in survival mode.  But history has taught us that society thrives when it works together.  Hoarding ideas, resources, people, money, knowledge, and whatever else is soooo over.  It’s all about collaboration, sharing, adding value, and unity because we’re all in this together, baby.

Thanks for playing!  Get ready for Round #2, where the questions will be tougher and the stakes higher.  Coming at you next week….