Staples isn't the only one - age discrimination lives!

See yourself or your managers in any of the language here? http://www.hrmorning.com/age-bias-cost-staples-how-much/ I am confident that Staples is not the only organization where this kind of thing occurs. $26M is a huge award to one person - think about what it will cost your company?

Performance Appraisals - Yeah or Nay?

From Holly Jones at the Legal Review: Skepticism about appraisals is not unusual. A Google search on performance appraisals will return numerous articles calling for the death of the performance review, a defunct management ritual that is merely a sign of stale leadership and a lack of innovation in HR practices. Various surveys report that 98 percent of employees dread them, 14 percent of employers don’t even have them (and even among those employers that do, 12 percent of employees still don’t receive feedback), and more than half of employees who do receive evaluations believe that the results are not fair or accurate. Yahoo's use of ranking, the so-called "Rank and Yank" is an even less accurate performance system for most companies. Especially in Silicon Valley, the manager has the answer at the start - somebody has to be on the bottom, and each manager is using (for the most part) his/her individual standards for performance. My take is that most organizations do a miserable job of performance appraisals. They often miss the key component of success : The CONVERSATION between employee and manager! That's what the system hinges on - the accuracy and openness of the conversation. That's my 2 cents. Send me a comment if you like.

What kind of HR Department are you?

Tip o' the hat to Tim Sackett for a great article: http://fistfuloftalent.com/2013/09/hr-5c-5s.html What kind of landscape do you play in, and how good are you at providing value that improves your organization?

Best blog by an attorney

Great points here in Diana Maier's latest blog: http://dianamaierlaw.com/lost-art-of-praise-workplace/ It's so easy to forget the basics of human interaction - and it's so necessary that we not do that, especially in the workplace. The best performance management systems provide ongoing feedback, rather than being a once a year event. Getting managers to provide ongoing, crisp, clear feedback on performance is the BEST way to avoid performance problems. And it's also the best way to avoid having to use an employment attorney.

Fire over the phone?

In one sense, firing someone over the phone is a great way to set up a lawsuit . https://www.openforum.com/articles/firing-an-employee-over-the-phone/?extlink=of-syndication-sb-p But in other ways, if done privately and professionally, it can work. And it can be more personal than doing it on email. Terminations are never easy, but if you need help with them, email me at info@broadbandhr.com for a professional point of view on rightful terminations.

Hired a Psychopath lately?

It's very difficult in the HR world today to walk the fine line between employment discrimination of a candidate truly protected by a psychiatric disability, and making a healthy selection decision for your organization. Tip o' the hat to Kazim Ladimeji for this data-filled article: http://www.recruiter.com/i/how-to-avoid-hiring-a-psychopath/ If you suspect you may be close to hiring a psychopath, consider: How closely does his/her background actually match the requirements? Does the role require managing others? Does the role require some behavior that could be considered outside of the norm? Does your organization have the resources to manage this individual? I am sure that there are many other factors to consider in your circumstances, but do give thought to some of the basics. If I can help you with particulars pre- or post-employment, send me an email at info@broadbandhr.com

Intern vs. Apprentice - a good argument for today

A Tip o' the fedora to Suzanne Lucas for this interesting article: http://www.inc.com/suzanne-lucas/forget-the-interns-hire-an-apprentice.html I agree that none of us ever learned our profession in 3 months of an internship - what we learned in that time was basically if we liked the nature of the work, and not necessarily how to perform any of the work itself. Many of us did "apprentice" with someone more senior to learn a craft. Even when there is more science than art to a profession, much of the professional skill is acquired by doing the work under the direction of a senior and highly skilled worker. This is as true in software development as it is in product management or human resources or recruiting.

In vs Out part 3

Tip o' the hat to Steve Boese for a little more intelligence on another aspect of the telecommuting debate around Yahoo's policy change: http://fistfuloftalent.com/2013/04/would-say-500month-be-enough-to-get-you-to-move-closer-to-the-office.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FistfulOfTalent+%28Fistful+of+Talent%29 I like the incentivize aspect of this idea - rather than the "thou must" approach. Work-life balance is a key idea in why people choose to work from home. And removing barriers to employee productivity are as important as providing collaboration tools that enhance productivity. All of the moving parts need to be in place to have a productive team.

In or Out - part 3

Great article by Sara Sutton Fell, detailing all of the things I wanted to say about Yahoo's recent edict to end telecommuting in June. Many of the folks who have been remote knowledge workers at Yahoo are highly productive and could work anywhere. Some of Yahoo's offsite workers are not productive. That could be for many of the reasons in this article: http://www.recruitingtrends.com/yahoos-problem-management-not-telecommuting/ If you're a company owner, CEO, or strategic workforce planner who wants to dialogue about these issues, drop me a note to Telework@BroadBandHR.com

Workplace Strategy : In or Out part 2

Lots of discussion going on in Silicon Valley, and all over California about Yahoo's Marissa Mayer and the decree for no more telecommuting. While the spirit may have been toward a positive, the trend here is definitely to more telework rather than less. Most of the telecommuting is negotiated by the employee and the company because it makes sense. There are some jobs that lend themselves brilliantly to virtual work and still being plugged into a team in meaningful ways. Human Resources is not typically one of those, although recruiters have often been offsite for ages. Smart girl sourcer/recruiter Kelly Dingee has an opinion on a successful baseline for telecommuting: http://fistfuloftalent.com/2013/03/six-tips-to-making-a-tele-work-job-work.html If I can engineer smart practices for your company on this and other issues, drop me an email to info@broadbandhr.com

Workplace strategy : In or Out?

Elevating the discussion on telecommuting versus in the office demands that have been in the news recently. This idea of "quality of life per square foot" appeals to me from a variety of perspectives: http://www.recruitingtrends.com/work-from-home-debate-elevates-importance-of-overall-workplace-strategy/ If your organization needs the help of a strategic partner that is NOT trying to sell you space, let me know how I can help by emailing info@broadbandhr.com

Wrongful termination

One of my favorite subjects. No, I'm not an attorney, and I don't play one on TV... But I do love to help companies lose employees in the best way - rightful termination. I've traditionally said that when one door closes, a window opens. I really believe that in terms of employment. When it is time to leave your employer, many people need a push. http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2013/02/22/wrongful-termination-employment/ And I like to ensure that people walking out of my clients are doing it with a bounce in their step, and not on the way to an attorney's office, which will cost a lost of money, time, and effort, and yield little in most cases. If you are an attorney with a wrongful termination case that you think is a winner, I'm happy to act as your HR Expert if it makes sense. If you are a company looking to lose some employees in the best way, I'm happy to work with you to build and execute the program that will be firm, fair, and avoid litigation. Email Info@Broadbandhr.com with your contact info and we'll talk.

More good points on Employer Branding

Loved this article from the folks at Fistful of Talent on cursed job ads: http://fistfuloftalent.com/2013/02/are-your-job-ads-cursed-like-nikes.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FistfulOfTalent+%28Fistful+of+Talent%29 If you think you've had this experience, contact me to put together a "get well" plan for your Employer Branding campaign, and your sick (and not in a good way) employment ads. We can help today! Info@BroadBandHR.com

A new spin on Best Practices

As consultants and business owners, many of us subscribe to the idea that Best Practices are just that - the time-honored success methods of various companies to solve common problems and construct new business methods to ensure ongoing success.

Tim Berry, a very smart guy and serial entrepreneur, has another spin on the whole
Jim Collins "Good to Great" idea. Really thought-provoking for me as a systems and process-oriented person. Think about using Best Practices as just the idea generator.

http://timberry.bplans.com/2010/07/the-sad-truth-about-best-practices.html

Thanks, Tim for bringing these ideas into focus so well. This article has implications great and small for all of us in the recruiting business. We so often look at best practices in both HR and recruiting that maybe we need to re-think our allegiance to the concept.