8 hours & a lunch

look! an interview with HR wench!

totally consumed has posted an interview with HR wench!  (i didn't know you and laurie were going to blog her together in july!  i'm so totally jealous!)

;-)

all the best!

deb

kris rocks (a fistful of talent!)

after a soft launch of a few weeks, it's time to debut kris dunn's fistful of talent!

what is fistful of talent? kris says it this way:

I learned so much from the experience with the HR Capitalist that I wanted to do it again, but this time with friends. With that in mind we launched Fistful of Talent (FOT) in March, and I've assembled a cool, fun group of pros from Recruiting practices, HR shops and Consulting firms. The center of the conversation is talent - which includes recruiting as well as everything you do with the talent once you've got it in the door. I can’t say enough about the group of pros we have writing for the site – they’re all top notch, but come from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives that makes the commentary varied and diverse. Also, we’ve got a nice mixture of current bloggers, as well as those getting their blog game on for the fist time – a development angle that’s actually one of the goals of the site…

for those of you still in HR out there, both of kris' endeavors are well worth subscribing to.

all the best!
deb

why HR stinks (the latest report)

via kris dunn over at the HR capitalist, i was lead to the latest white paper on the role of HR in the age of talent at vurv.

vurv has a quote featured very prominently on their site. it reads: "leadership in HR does not have the respect of organizational leadership. until that is resolved, we are overhead." here's the thing. they're right. and many people in leadership positions in HR aren't aware of this, or don't really care. but what are some of the causes for this lack of HR-love?

1) too many HR folks spend too much time on things that really don't impact the business, and don't understand what is important to their company's leadership. we're hearing rising concern from the C-levels about talent -- attracting it, retaining it, managing it. but look at SHRM's home page today. what are the top "news items"? "new rule will alter background checks." and this gem: "few companies teach email skills" and an article about a british employee backlist. does that seem like a disconnect to you? (i truly hope you people still in HR out there are hiring people who know how to use email. i mean...really. that's kind of basic, isn't it?)

2) too many HR folks can't speak the CFO's language. there are entirely too many HR people who don't understand the financial side of the business. even among HR people who understand something as basic as the cost of turnover, too many of them are too busy trying to find ways not to count certain turnover in order to make their numbers look better. fudging numbers will not earn the same respect as actually understanding them, and finding solutions to make them better.

3) too many HR folks are all about the party planning. "i got into HR because i love people, and i'm all about employee engagement so i'm going to plan a picnic! yay!" believe it or not, i've seen organizations that had five events a year. everyone went to the christmas party. the rest of the events? it was the same 30 people. and most of those were the same 30 people who were the most vocal about being unhappy with their jobs and management. so what does the HR person who loves people do? starts adding give-aways to the parties, angering (again) the financial guys and showing no increase in 'employee engagement' or decrease in turnover or anything substantial. it's just "feels good."

4) too many HR folks are all about the politics. rather than being the place where people come for fairness, too often employees find that HR is the epicenter of politics in an organization. how can HR be a trusted business partner with a 'seat at the table' when you never know what will be politically best for them and which side they're going to come down on. (except that you do know that it'll be the best side for them personally.)

you may well be the exception to all this. there are, naturally, good HR people out there. but there's a lot of bad too. if you're all fluff and no substance, and the majority of what you do has little impact on your company, you'll never get the respect of the leadership and never really get that 'seat at the table' everyone's been talking about.

maybe these articles surface every so often because there's some truth to them. maybe it's time for some self-reflection and, as kris suggests, rather than get angry about it....get good.

all the best!
deb

HR carnival

the latest installment of the HR carnival is up at compensation force, graciously hosted by ann bares.

as usual, there's lots of good info to be found. (especially as this carnival seems to be getting bigger!)

all the best!
deb

HR carnival 30

the 30th installment of the HR carnival is up! (i remember 30. 30 was a good age. ;-) )

lots of good stuff there!
be sure to check it out!
all the best!
deb

HR carnival

yeah, so i'm a little late on this one (and my apologies to anyone who's commented here the past few days without a reply -- i have read every one and appreciate everyone sharing their viewpoints).....

but wally bock posted the HR carnival a few days ago. he says, "You will be delighted and amazed at the variety of posts and the sagacity of the posters. You will stand in awe of the wisdom and sheer good sense displayed. You will revel in the best HR Carnival on this or any other planet."

and gosh-darn it, he's right!
if you haven't already....go check it out!
all the best!
deb

if stellar people shouldn't have a resume......

seth godin writes brilliantly today asking 'why bother having a resume?' unfortunately, resumes are, for most people, still a necessary evil. but as seth gets us thinking about better ways to be found when we're looking for a job, how about flipping that question around? to all the HR people out there, if the stellar people are getting known in other ways and are too busy doing great work to search for your ad online and forward a standard, boring (and probably bad) resume to you......how are you ever going to find them when you're just running ads and collecting resumes in a fake HR email account?

i'm just sayin'.
all the best!
deb

p.s. yes. i understand that i'm probably preaching to the choir here.

i'm not lazy, i just don't care

laurie is so punk rock and cool. and today, she writes about how "performance reviews are for suckers." and she's dead on. i'll tell you another HR secret. most of the time, performance reviews don't really matter all that much. even in a company where salary increases are tied to merit, there isn't going to be much difference between what the guy who scores a "4" gets over someone who scores a "3". it's an exercise in politics. it's documentation. that's it. a truly good manager is giving you feedback throughout the year, including detailing what you do right and well.

which brings me to another point. my mother always gave me this advice regarding gossip and/or criticism: consider the source.

if your manager is not a good manager throughout the year, your performance review probably looks exactly like the performance reviews of all your peers. why? because he's just trying to fill out the paperwork and turn it into HR before the due date. that's all.

and while laurie is right, and we know that you work hard, do good things both at work and outside of work, and are a good person with a good heart.....we also know that enough meaningless performance reviews and only hearing from management when you do something wrong will probably turn you, a good employee, into the guy from "office space" who finally gave management this feedback:

Peter Gibbons: The thing is, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care.
Bob Porter: Don't... don't care?
Peter Gibbons: It's a problem of motivation, all right? Now if I work my ass off and Initech ships a few extra units, I don't see another dime; so where's the motivation? And here's something else, Bob: I have eight different bosses right now.
Bob Slydell: I beg your pardon?
Peter Gibbons: Eight bosses.
Bob Slydell: Eight?
Peter Gibbons: Eight, Bob. So that means that when I make a mistake, I have eight different people coming by to tell me about it. That's my only real motivation is not to be hassled; that, and the fear of losing my job. But you know, Bob, that will only make someone work just hard enough not to get fired.

all the best!
deb

do i really want 8 hours & a lunch?

there it is. the question. do i really want 8 hours and a lunch? is that what i'm after? the honest answer? no. i love to work. i have had jobs and done work on a volunteer basis that i loved doing (and was happy to do for free). when i'm doing that work, time gets lost. i'm in the zone. it doesn't feel like a drudgery. the clock means nothing to me.

do i really want balance and sanity?
yes, please.

yes. they call it 'work' for a reason. and yes. there are always things that we have to do that we don't want to do. but it is possible to make your living in this world doing something that inspires, uplifts, and invigorates you.

for me, that work is not human resources. there have been components of HR that i loved -- like training. but the reality is that it's not for me. and so, i am leaving HR.

HR carnival

wally bock at three star leadership hosts the 26th HR carnival. wally is a frequent commenter here who often leads me to think about the next level, past whatever i've been pontificating about in my own posts. and, as always, the fabulous cast of HR carnival characters and brilliant posts can be found in this carnival.

the next carnival is the one year anniversary of the carnival as started by the wickedly brilliant evil HR lady, who we all aspire to be in one way or another.