How to Bounce Back from Extreme Downsizing

Posted on 30. August 2010 by Derek Irvine, Globoforce

What’s your biggest concern in the next six months? WorldatWork recently reported the results of ComPsych Corp. survey asking just this question of HR managers. The answer itself is not surprising: “Maintaining employee productivity and morale” (31%). I do have to admit, however, that I was surprised that this outranked “Dealing with health-care costs and new legislation” (26%). Admittedly, I listen to my US colleagues and follow the US healthcare debate through the lens of my own lifetime experience with the Irish healthcare system, but it’s clear to me that these changes are of serious concern to employees, HR Pros and company leaders alike.

And yet, employee morale and productivity remains the greater concern. Why is this? The obvious answer is the fallout from actions taken during the recession. US National Public Radio (NPR) recently commented on research out of the University of Colorado, Denver, which found:

“With extreme downsizes (in workforce) in the long term, companies really do suffer relative to competitors in the same industry facing the same sets of economic conditions. Extreme downsizers are companies that cut their workforce by more than 20 percent. … Most of them lag their industry for as long as nine years after a recession.”

The worst communicated policy: Bereavement Policy

Posted on 30. August 2010 by ReThink HR

Company Policy In 1999 I was working for a financial services company. I had a boss that, at the beginning of my tenure I believed was great. Many of my co-workers had warned me not to get too comfortable and be careful. “When you least expect it, she will show her true colors.”

I just went a long with work. Fast forward to 2000. I was starting to hate my job. I am a pretty positive person and don’t try to let too many things get me down. And while I did not want to fall into the trap of what my co-workers had been saying, the negative atmosphere my boss was creating was not making it any easier. Basically I was in a tough place.

But this is about something else

This is not about my boss. This is more about a policy. So fast forward to December 2000. I had used up much of my vacation by the end of the year but I still had 2 days left in my vacation bank. I had planned on taking more of a long weekend rather then a full week vacation anyway so I wasn’t down about not having more vacation. I would straddle a holiday, taking that Friday off and leaving a little early on a Thursday. No big deal.

It’s a little more serious then it seems

The vacation wasn’t a big deal but me getting home was. See most of my vacation I typically save for the end of the year. But the week before my mom was admitted into the hospital as a result of heart complications resulting from years of problems with arthritus, diabetes and heart problems. So the week before I took a few days to go back home and spent some time with her. I could not stay… mainly because I had to be back to work. But I vowed I would be back the next to spend more time with her until she got better. The weekend I was going back was between Christmas and New Years.

Hooters Weight Discrimination Suits Allowed to Proceed

Posted on 26. August 2010 by HR Lori

A judge in Michigan has allowed the lawsuits filed by two former Hooters employees to move forward. Cassandra Smith, 20, and Leanne Convery, 23, both of Michigan, filed separate lawsuits in response to being fired because of her weight.

And it looks like they have a case for their complaint. The Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA), enacted in 1976, prohibits Michigan employers against discrimination on the basis of weight.

Under Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA), it’s illegal to subject people to differential treatment based on religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familial status or marital status.

The ELCRA prohibits employers from discriminating against any member of the protected classes listed above in hiring, compensation or the terms, conditions or privileges of employment.

The law is Michigan’s version of the federal Civil Rights Act, Age Discrimination in Employment Act and Equal Pay Act all rolled into one. While those federal laws cover employers with 15 or more employees, the state law covers all employers.

To put a finer point on it, Michigan House bill 4529, called the “Respect for Physical Differences Act” is being proposed.

UAH Shooting: Workplace Violence in My Backyard

Posted on 25. August 2010 by UpstartHR

Amy Bishop, the perpetrator in the UAH shootings, being led away by police

There are a few things I enjoy talking about, but workplace violence isn’t one of them. However, after the horrendous shooting at UAH (the University of Alabama in Huntsville) earlier this year, I knew that it would only be a matter of time before I covered the issue.

What I’ll remember

I was sitting in my supervisor’s office with a coworker for a short meeting. It was a Friday afternoon, so the meeting was considerably less serious than usual. We were cracking jokes and talking when we suddenly started hearing sirens outside. Within minutes stories began trickling in: there had been a shooting across the street at UAH. I went back to my office, finished up, and headed home. My brothers were attending UAH at the time, and I received word that they were okay. As I passed the school, I saw dozens of police cars and medical vehicles parked outside. I still get chills when I remember the scene outside as I passed by.

What happened that day

Stalking and Violence: More Common Than You Think

Posted on 24. August 2010 by Trish MacFarlane

When you embark on a career in Human Resources, you will soon find that stalking and violence are closer than you think. No matter what industry you are part of, it’s there. And, contrary to popular belief, it’s not just stalking and violence against women. There are also quite a few reported cases against men. And, many cases are never reported, so it’s challenging to really talk about the commonality of the problem.

I recently read a post by my good friend Sarah White that addressed the very personal side of this issue. You can read her post HERE. It’s not a post to judge. It’s a post that demonstrates that these situations can happen to anyone. And, people often suffer in silence. Like Sarah, I had a situation where I was stalked for about nine months. It happened when I was in my late teens. It’s nothing I want to get into the details of but suffice to say that it involved looking over my shoulder at every turn and fearing this person would make good on his threats to hurt me and to hurt himself. It did not end until he did hurt himself and I finally told my parents. They helped me report the problem so that the person could get help.

My views on Personal Branding in the Outlook Money story on Marketing Yourself

Posted on 23. August 2010 by Gautam Ghosh

I was quoted recently in the Outlook Money story Market Yourself Right on Personal Branding by Anagh Pal:

Constantly evaluate yourself. “Prepare your personal balance sheet; find out what is working and what isn’t,” says Merchant. Figure out what areas of expertise you require to add to your portfolio. “The idea is to build T-shaped expertise, broad expertise of an area and deep expertise of one specific niche,” says Gautam Ghosh, who blogs on HR, social media and personal branding. But there’s no short cut.

Invest time. Learn from every possible opportunity. Attend workshops, seminars and training programmes. There’s lots to learn out there.

Learn from people. Have a wide range of people on your contact list—coaches, mentors, industry leaders, trendsetters and opinion makers. Ask them the right questions. Get their perspective. Follow up.

EQ Exercise

Posted on 23. August 2010 by EQmentor

Last week I spoke at a client event and asked the members of the audience to pair up for a ten minute conversation. I prefaced that quick activity with this comment, “People are never where they are, they are where they came from.” This confused the audience, which was by design. So what does it mean?

When we have a conversation with someone, we make the mistake of talking to the person we see right in front of us, as opposed to the person who came to that specific point in time in front of you from somewhere else. Just minutes prior to your conversation, that person could have had a really bad call/email/message. Or perhaps the negative event occurred the day before, or the week/month/year before.

You’re title is ‘BOSS’ not ‘JERK’

Posted on 23. August 2010 by ReThink HR

Are you the jerk boss in the office?

You may be a boss or even senior to many employees. However this does not mean that you own anyone.

It also doesn’t give you license to be an A#$H@(*. You are a manager for a reason. That reason does not include:

being intimidating
the right to be power hungry
being a micro-manager to everyone
taking credit for other peoples success
making people do more work then is needed
playing favorites
telling inappropriate jokes
creating an atmosphere of fear and intimidation
hiring people you like versus those that are better suited to perform at the job
being a jerk

You set an example

Six Thoughts About Middle Management

Posted on 19. August 2010 by Lisa Haneberg

I will be doing a talk tomorrow about middle management excellence. Here are six of the points I will be expanding upon – tell me what you think:

Overall premise: Managers are our engines that turn intentions (mission, strategies, goals) into performance and into results.It has never been harder to be a middle manager and we need great middle management more than ever (we don’t need to call it that, but we need the work mucking about at the core of where processes, people, and plans intersect and sometimes collide).

1. Let’s reframe middle management. It is the best and most challenging job available! If you want to have maximum impact, be a middle manager. Doing so will require that you see dysfunction as a part of your reason for being (and not become a victim of it).

2. Great managers do what others don’t or won’t. How fast and smoothly the engine runs depends on deliberate and proactive choices you make each day, many times a day. Great managers approach and blast away barriers. They have conversations others are put off and they don’t let busy work get in the way of truly important tasks.

Collective Bargaining and Strikes

Posted on 19. August 2010 by HumanRaceHorses

Nobody wins in a strike – no matter what the spin doctors say

Collective bargaining is a complex and often misunderstood process, equal parts economics and politics, theater and conflict resolution.

In Williamson, New York, nearly 300 hundred workers who produce Mott’s apple sauce products for the Dr. Pepper Snapple group have been on strike. This work stoppage is gaining a lot attention as a battle of the little guy against the greedy corporate CEO. An article that recently ran in The Nation called “Rotten Apples, Core Values“ gives a good overview of many of the issues, although it is has a definite bias towards the labor side of the conflict.

It is easy to romanticize a strike as a David vs. Goliath situation, or as the little people standing up for themselves by standing up to the man. This plays well for sounds bites, and politician, and the media. The reach of a labor stoppage is much more far-reaching, and much less romantic for all those involved, directly and indirectly.

The Fine Line Between Cliques and Teams

Posted on 19. August 2010 by HR Bartender

Franny Oxford over at Do the Work blog wrote a post a while back about SHRM (aka the Society for Human Resource Management). While her post was about something completely different, she made reference to SHRM affiliated chapters being cliquish.

The comment really struck me because, during my involvement with SHRM, I’ve heard the same remark…many times. And I always walk away scratching my head about cliques, the perceptions of cliques and their relationship to teams.

I guess to understand my view, you have to know my definition of a clique. I define it as a group that excludes other people from being a part of it.

That being said, if the group doesn’t exclude you, but you don’t participate, the group isn’t being cliquish. You’re choosing not to participate. Here’s a common example: after our local chapter meetings, some of the current board, past board and anyone else who wants to hang out, will grab a drink at the bar. You decide to go home. The group at the bar isn’t a clique…they just want to hang out together.

How Workplace Design Can Make a Happier Workforce

Posted on 19. August 2010 by Steven Reid

When I was in university, I used to absolutely love studying and writing papers. Wait! Before you throw me into the nerd dumpster, hear me out. Okay, the actual work involved with cramming mind-numbing textbook information into my head, or making sure every sentence I typed was properly referenced, quoted, footnoted and endnoted was extremely tedious indeed. But, as endless as some of those homework nights seemed to be, I was genuinely happy to be there. The reason? I had inadvertently constructed a workplace so comfortable, so conducive to both concentration and creativity, that I thoroughly enjoyed hibernating there for hours on end. I say inadvertently, because back then I was relatively clueless when it came to workplace mood-enhancement techniques, and it was only years later that I discovered the value in the things I did.

5 Infamous Employee Snafus, 5 Lessons in Employer Branding

Posted on 18. August 2010 by The Hiring Site

The recent media overkill coverage of Steven Slater, the now famous Jetblue employee and future reality TV star who was mad as hell and just couldn’t take it anymore, is just the latest in several high-profile incidents of employees behaving badly. We took some time to reflect on this and four other recent stories of employees whose antics caused some very public embarrassment for their (now former) employers – and how those employers were able to maintain their employment brand image in the aftermath. Take a look…

1. Jetblue Flight Attendant Leaves Passengers in Shock

The Incident: If you don’t already know the name Steven Slater – and how the Jetblue flight attendant dramatically told off passengers before grabbing a beer and walking off the job (via the plane’s emergency exit slide) last week….well, you do now.
The Aftermath: While some believe that Slater’s behavior is symbolic of the overall frustration workers feel right now, others went so far as to praise him as a hero…resulting in what could have been a PR nightmare for Jetblue.
Damages incurred? Jetblue has shown before that it can bounce back from bad PR, and the chances that it can do so again seem pretty promising. TheSeamlessWorkforce lauded Jetblue for handling the situation the way it did: By addressing the situation, and acknowledging that while yes, this unfortunate incident did happen, “the company’s culture is bigger than any one employee or event.” Jetblue also pointed out that this was an isolated incident, and reminded us that there are a large number of employees who are currently happily employed. The airliner also wins points for taking the high road in not badmouthing Slater.

Preventing Your Employees from Pulling the Emergency Slide

Posted on 17. August 2010 by Steven Reid

Last week’s dramatic “I Quit” moment with JetBlue Flight Attendant Steven Slater has understandably sparked a lot of debate on a variety of topics. To date I’ve seen the story discussed in the context of workplace anger, dreams of quitting in style, airline rage, what’s wrong with air travel and much more.

It’s human nature that pretty much everyone has the quitting fantasy at some point in their career. While this takes many forms, from winning the lottery to the “take this job and…” format, all of it is totally normal to a point. The problem comes when it moves from the fantasy stage to something one would seriously consider acting on.

Do You Work In The Gray Zone

Posted on 17. August 2010 by HR Bartender

One of the absolutely fabulous readers here at HR Bartender sent me this question. It was a question asked of her during a job interview and she wanted to know how I would have answered it.

Jan and John are working together on a project. HR is planning to suspend Jan. Do you tell John that Jan is going to be suspended knowing that they have a project that they are working on? I then was asked the same question but a bit differently. What if you were investigating the matter and you were not sure if Jan will be suspended? Do you tell John?

This is one of those situations where I end up having more questions than answers.

For example, what roles do Jan and John have in the organization? The positions they hold could answer the question. Let’s say Jan is a director and John is a manager – the answer is probably no, you wouldn’t tell John. On the other hand, if John is a vice president and Jan is a director…then maybe you do.