Open Door HR

Are We Sometimes Crazy For Wanting To Move On??

2009-06-18T08:43:00.000-07:00

Hello readers,

I'm sorry that I have not written in a few weeks, I have been quite caught up in work happenings these days.

We have many changes happening internally, including how my staff and managers are being treated, managed, handled, whatever you wish to call it. In terms of my role, I am still very secure, but I am focusing a lot of my time dealing with the fall-out of the changes, spending most of my days listening to my cohorts attempt to adjust to the new way of running our business.

As a change-agent myself, I believe that all change is ultimately positive. And I have managed some difficult change through my years in HR. However, that does not necessarily mean that the people involved in the change are the right people to manage the “new” way of doing things. When I say “people”, I of course, mean myself.

I have a job..a well-respected, basically stable, high paying job, and for that I feel lucky. On the downside, I’m not keen on what’s happening internally at the moment, and in fact, I’m starting to wonder if I wish to associate myself with this new way of doing things. What is my purpose here? What are the challenges? Is this a battle I wish to support and fight? What is the potential for me here? Does this fall in line with my professional value system?

Most of my answers to the above questions lead me to recognize that I am going to be job-hunting in the near future, as no, this is not a battle that I wish to fight, the potential for my career here is not what I envision for myself, and no, this new way of doing things is not (in my opinion) respectful to the people in our organization.

So, here’s my question readers…in this economy, recession, downturn, crisis…am I crazy for considering leaving a secure, well-paying job?? Usually I preach job satisfaction when I discuss career changes with people, but is job satisfaction over-rated at this moment in time?

Just Another HR Lady

Take Me To Your Leader...

2009-06-02T10:46:00.001-07:00

Hello readers,

Our new Interim Leader entered our workplace this week as a result of the changes that I’ve mentioned in some of my previous postings.

It is a huge shift for any new leader to enter the workplace, even more difficult when it is under circumstances where a company and the people are struggling, and you are only the Interim “fill-in”. Suspicion is high, and morale is low. Good times!

How can we as Human Resources (or Managers) help a new Leader enter the workplace under these types of circumstances, or at any time in an organization?

1.Help them understand the current culture: This does not necessarily mean that the new leader needs to accept the current culture, but if they can gain an understanding of the existing environment, they can then determine how they wish to move forward in many different areas…programs, people, structures, etc.

2.People: No surprise here of course! Org charts, departmental structures, ensuring that they know of the key players, succession planning, politics, key hot-button issues, etc. HR is usually the one department that hears the concerns from EVERYONE: employees, managers, and executives. A leader who wants to truly understand his/her people talks to HR, we are the funnel into what’s happening under the surface.

3.Answer the why’s: Why are things done this way, why is the person in that particular role, why didn’t we fix this issue last year, why didn’t we try such-and-such of a solution to that problem before, why are those two managers always in conflict, why is that particular structure in place, why don’t people trust the management team, why, why, why…the why’s could go on forever. A smart leader asks about the past and takes it into consideration when planning the future.

4.Publicly support and encourage employees to approach the new leader and vice versa: New leadership is stressful for employees and management team alike. If you are lucky enough to have an approachable new leader, give lots of encouragement for the new leader to get out of his/her office and allow people to get to know him/her. On the flip side, and usually more difficult, consistently encourage people to welcome the new leader into the company. This is one of the hardest hurdles, mainly because the new leader has a lot of “proving” to do before he/she truly becomes an accepted member and leader of the company.

5.Remind them that we need to know their Vision: This person will be directing the goals of the company, and the new leader needs to establish and communicate their vision and direction of the organization quickly and effectively. Otherwise, people will flounder. It is also a natural inclination for people to start job-hunting when large change happens in an organization, so establishing a direction quickly will reduce some of the “change” anxiety. The only thing that is worse than being part of a company you don’t believe in? Having no idea where a company is going or what the vision is, so you have nothing to either believe in or disagree with.

6.Any other suggestions?

Just Another HR Lady

Performance Management

2009-05-30T13:37:00.000-07:00

Mid-Life Career Change? Make It A Good One...

2009-05-27T06:57:00.001-07:00

Hello readers,

As I've mentioned a few times, my company is going through a lot of difficult change at the moment. More than usual. Ideally, it's all going to work out and allow our company to be more successful than ever. If not, I'm being realistic and starting to check out the job ads.

Today, I seriously wondered what the heck I've been doing with my life...I came across an ad for a Chocolatier. A local organization is looking for someone with "a passion for chocolate" to work with them in developing and marketing new product, organic chocolate.

I can't figure out why in the world I continue to work with people when I could choose to work with chocolate???

Just Another HR Lady

A Plug For A Proud Canadian...And His Vodka

2009-05-26T05:38:00.001-07:00

Hello readers,

One of my employees was on a business trip in Arizona a few weeks back, and just happened upon an advertisement that Dan Aykroyd was in town promoting his Vodka Company, Crystal Head Vodka, made locally in Newfoundland.

As a fan, of course, my employee went to the promotion and met Mr. Aykroyd, and has been talking about it ever since. A Blues Brother...in person!

In 2005, Dan Aykroyd acquired the Canadian rights for the ultra-premium tequila, Patrón, as well as Diamond Estates, a company that controls 4 wineries in the Niagara Region (Ontario).

He said at that time that over the next decade he planned to double the number of House of Blues (his clubs) in North America and Europe and to expand his product line in his company Alloy Brands to a rum, a coffee-based tequila liqueur "and possibly a beer and vodka which will have my twist in terms of its creativity ... maybe a Conehead bottle, I don't know."

I guess he ended up with a Crystal Head instead...check out Crystal Head Vodka!

Just Another HR Lady

Don’t Get Angry At Your Payroll Person…Nine Times Out of Ten-You Are The One Who Is The Payroll Nummy-Head!

2009-05-25T12:20:00.000-07:00

Hello readers,

Is there a psychological condition called “payroll rage”? Throughout my entire career, I have consistently had a payroll person(s) in my office upset about the tone of an employee comment, query, or e-mail that is just so angry, furious, and clearly antagonistic, that the fury simply leaps off the page.

Today, yet again, an employee sent an e-mail to my payroll person that was rude, angry, and extremely inappropriate. And guess what…of course once we looked into it, it was the employee that had made the error. Did my payroll person get an apology? No, of course not. And in fact, she is so good, she even told the employee to call her next time before they submitted their time so they could go over it together first!

I’ve always found that an employee’s first instinct is to leap to anger when they are dealing with payroll issues. There is something about someone having control over your money that makes a person lose all sense of propriety and common sense. Instead of asking the question “why”, they choose to “accuse” the payroll person of making a mistake.

Luckily, the payroll people that I have had in my departments are calm and patient, and simply explain the situation to the employee in easy to understand terms.

Here’s the truth….most payroll people are extremely detail-oriented, conscientious, numbers people, and they rarely make a mistake. The majority of issues are created by an employee not understanding a policy or submitting something incorrectly. Payroll can’t read your mind, they can only read the numbers you submit. So your payroll person is sorting out something that YOU DID WRONG, even though you yelled at them. Nice of them, isn’t it.

The next time that you have a question about your pay, try asking “why” first instead of being accusatory…your payroll person will react with patience to your anger, but they won’t forget that you're not a very nice person….

Just Another HR Lady

I'm Hooking Off For the Weekend...

2009-05-22T08:57:00.000-07:00

Heading out of town for the weekend...sunny days!

JAHRL

LinkedIn...Valuable or a Waste of Time?

2009-05-16T09:42:00.001-07:00

Hello readers,

My company is in a bit of a state of flux at the moment, and truly it could go either way, positively or negatively. Positively means that our company restructures and reaps the rewards. Negatively means that I will be managing people (and myself) out the door, and then shutting the doors behind me.

Like the good little planner that I am, "just in case" it goes sideways, I'm updating my resume and getting my name out there again with my usual contacts.

I do have a profile on LinkedIn, and spent some time updating it this weekend. I'm just starting to build my contact list, and it occurred to me...do people really use LinkedIn for recruitment purposes? Is this valuable time updating my LinkedIn profile, or wasted?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on usefulness (or non-usefulness) of LinkedIn...have you ever recruited someone through LinkedIn? I personally have never recruited anyone through LinkedIn, yet here I am updating my profile...

Just Another HR Lady

Is There A Good Way to Manage Swift, Sudden, and Turbulent Change? Why Yes Virginia, There Is....

2009-05-13T03:24:00.000-07:00

Hello readers,

Last week, we had a very swift, sudden, and turbulent change in the workplace. I won't go into the specifics (come on, you're dying to know), but the next few months will be very interesting, and hopefully rejuvenating and positive for our company.

This change was not brought about by our internal leadership team, so we had relatively little input or insight into exactly why these decisions were made, and how they were executed.

I have been a catalyst of change for many years, but it's been a long time since I've been on the receiving end of someone else's change, and so it reminded me of just how important change-management is. It's not just a catch-phrase, it eases us through big adjustments, positive and negative. I try not to evaluate other people's change plans, but hey, judgemental can be fun.

What do I think that an organization can do to foster positive adjustment to change that happens in a nanosecond and is a shock to the system for all? It's not rocket-science, and I doubt that you even have to be in HR to come up with the obvious:

1) Communicate the changes with your management team and your employees as SOON as the change takes place. Leaving people hanging for any length of time wondering what the heck happened, why, and what are we going to do now...is not good.

2) Have a plan in place before you implement the change, detailing what steps the company is going to take to manage through the change, even if those steps are only an interim plan. Once the change takes place, communicate the plan in as many ways, and to as many different people as possible. No plan? Not even an interim plan? That's one big gaping hole of questions and concerns that you're leaving in your company. That would be good times, wouldn't it...swoop in, turn everything upside down, and then leave without dealing with the aftermath. Ah, fantasyland...

3) Meet personally with your change-management leaders (your managers, supervisors, etc.) to discuss the situation, explain the "why", concerns, plans, and how to communicate the change effectively to their employees. This is the team that is going to be fielding all of the personal worries, issues, questions, and concerns of their employees, and they need to be on board and supportive of the change. Make sure that these leaders all know what their role in the "new world" is and why their role is so important. Tell them your vision of the company post-change. Ask for their suggestions and input. Ask them to ask their employees for suggestions and input.

4) Be as honest and transparent as you can at all times. Hedging, selling, spinning, or avoiding, all make a difficult situation worse. People may not always like hearing the truth, especially when it's difficult truth, but a reputation of being up-front and honest will create respect and trust. (although they still may not like you). If you decide to "spin" the situation, you may as well just pass out headphones to everyone in the room, they will turn off. Not to mention that the minute you leave the room, the resistance and revolts will begin.

5) Be visible. Hiding away in an office during times of change is the absolute worst move anyone can make. Fraidy cat much? At some point in your life you made the career decision to be a leader, so go be one. Get out there and talk to people.

I personally think that I'm really going to enjoy this new change taking place in our company. But sometimes I wish it could be my turn to revolt...I think I would enjoy being a rebel!

Just Another HR Lady

Article: People Get Sicker After a Job Loss...Wow, That is Brand-New Information!

2009-05-12T06:14:00.000-07:00

Hello readers,

It's a good thing that we have people getting paid to conduct valuable research like this, how ever would we have known that people get sicker after a job loss?

People Sicker After Job Loss, Study

Just Another HR Lady

HR Bloggers...Are They Tired Of It...Or Just Too Busy?

2009-05-10T14:57:00.000-07:00

Hello readers,

I have been an avid reader of various HR and management blogs for a couple of years, and just recently started up this blog.

Part of starting up my own blog (in my opinion anyway) is getting more involved and knowledgeable about the HR and management blogs that are out there, outside of the usual sites I visit. Typically I visit Evil HR Lady, Ask a Manager, HR Thoughts, and Punk Rock HR. Also on my lurking list is HR Minion, HR Wench, and Gruntled Employees.

Why am I listing my favorite blog reads? Mainly because I have been visiting a lot of other HR and management blogs in the past month outside of my usual list to "learn something about blogging", and more often than not, I find that their last blog was posted months ago, or even a year ago or longer. My favorite sites are all updated frequently, and sometimes daily. Most likely that's why I keep returning to them.

Last week, I found an article called "Top 100 HR Bloggers" from September 2007, and I figured that it would a motherlode of "HR blogging" information. Instead, at least half of the blogs listed were no longer maintained.

Why do people stop blogging at a site that is seemingly very successful? (I'm assuming they were successful since they were noted in the "top 100 list")

From a new blogger, here some uneducated guesses:

1. It's too difficult to come up with new ideas every day or every week

2. Commenters are too critical/harsh OR conversely, you feel like no one is reading your blog

3. The person got everything that they wanted to out of their blog, so no longer felt it was valuable to them (why DO people blog anyway??)

4. Blogging is time-consuming, and the person found that they were just too busy in their daily lives to maintain a regular blog.

5. ??

Since I'm a "newbie", any thoughts from those in the HR/Management blogging world would be appreciated...why do you continue to blog, have you ever thought about quitting, or if you have already quit your blog, why?

Just Another HR Lady

Why We Hate HR...The Fast Company Article...One of "Not The Sharpest Tacks In the Box" Gives Her Thoughts...

2009-05-10T09:05:00.001-07:00

Hello readers,

If you are in HR and you are reading my blog, no doubt you have read the "Fast Company's" article Why We Hate HR before, and probably long before I read it.

Today, I came across another reference to this article, and decided to finally sit down and read it. Not because I really needed to read another article or rant about why people hate HR, but to find out if this article offered me anything new that I needed to be thinking about in my role as an HR Director.

In a nutshell, here are the Fast Company’s assertions about HR:

1.HR People aren’t the sharpest tacks in the box: This is a helpful suggestion about how to improve the perceptions about our profession, thanks. Lol. The meat behind this point suggests that HR people do not have enough business experience or education in order to show any value to the organization. I strongly agree with the idea that HR folks need to understand the business in order to function, but I’m not sure that I agree that most HR folks don’t. For years, HR has been told that we don’t understand the business, and as a result, I think that most serious HR professionals work very hard in order to negate this perception, whether it’s through continuing education, on-the-job mentoring, self-learning, etc. And honestly, I don’t know how I could function in my job without understanding the business? But yet, it is true, this perception continues. So... is it rare? Or is it just a common misperception that it’s rare? Perhaps the Fast Company people have only come in contact with those old-fashioned “personnel” type HR people who believe their job is just to construct new policies and process forms?

2.HR pursues efficiency in lieu of value: This is a convoluted point as far as I can tell, but the suggestion is that while HR does measure the effects it has on the business, there is no real way to measure the effects it has on the business. (?) True story, a few years ago, I was hired into a company that did not have Human Resources. Or at least I was told that it did not have Human Resources. When I arrived, I found that there was someone “called” Human Resources, who was actually an administrative person assigned to process forms and salary increases. She believed she was HR, the employees believed she was HR, management knew that she was not HR. My job was to implement the function as a strategic partner in the company. There is a much bigger story here, but the Fast Company point is asking about measuring HR’s value to the business.

One of the first things I did in this company was to turf all of our recruiting agencies, implement a formal recruiting process, start tracking length of service and job satisfaction in new hires, and regularly touch base on skills development and project development. What did I find? In a matter of two years, I had saved the company over a quarter of a million dollars in recruiting fees, the new hire length of service and job satisfaction had increased from 3-6 months (seriously, the recruiting agencies were sending crap) to over 2 years +. Managers were identifying key performers in those new hires, and the new hires themselves were engaged and passionate about what they were doing. Project milestones were being met more easily and consistently, and the longer-service employees were learning skills from the newer employees. A measure of HR’s effect on the business? I think so. Are HR Departments all over the world adding similar value? I’m positive they are. Are they at Fast Company? Apparently not.

3.HR isn’t working for you: This point seems to be more a rant against traditional HR programs that don’t identify or reward key performers, such as setting up salary banding and the like. Methinks someone is ticked about their salary? And I quote: “Instead, human resources departments benchmark salaries, function by function and job by job, against industry standards, keeping pay -- even that of the stars -- within a narrow band determined by competitors. They bounce performance appraisals back to managers who rate their employees too highly, unwilling to acknowledge accomplishments that would merit much more than the 4% companywide increase. “ I think that’s a generalization written by someone who has never been considered or rewarded as a key performer. Like any program, a framework has to be developed based on a number of reasonable factors to form the basis of the program which covers the majority. However, key performers (in the companies I have worked for anyway) can and will always be the outliers to this framework. We know who our key performers are, and they are rewarded as such. If other companies are not doing this, I would be very surprised.

4.The corner office doesn’t get HR, and vice versa: This is again, highly dependant on the person leading HR. I have always had the ear of management, because I make sure I do. If I don’t have the ear of management, how the heck am I supposed to do my job? No point in me being there if I’m not implementing programs that support the corporate strategy. You can hire a clerk to shuffle paper. Nuff said.

I don’t think that this article had any concrete suggestions for me since it seems to be referring to an old dinosaur, dying out, version of Human Resources, but it did remind me of something: People's perceptions of any job (not just HR) are formed through contact with the people in those jobs. Some people are competent and add value, some are not. Are there incompetent HR people? Sure. Are there incompetent IT people? Sure. Are there incompetent doctors, lawyers, engineers, journalists, receptionists and custodial staff? Sure. But I wouldn't base my perceptions of an entire profession solely based on one person's performance in it.

Nor would I base my perceptions on an outdated, old-fashioned, uneducated idea of what a profession is, or is not. I might even go talk to some HR professionals who are known to be adding strategic value to find out how they are pushing the profession forward. But that’s just me. Others probably find it easier just to continue on with the quick judgement...it is true, it is more work to challenge a stereotype, Fast Company clearly decided to go with the easier article.

I prefer Michael Scott's version of Why We Hate HR, at least it's funny.

Just Another HR Lady

Consulting Work...It Seems Like A Terrifying Leap..No Paid Vacation!??!

2009-05-08T10:38:00.000-07:00

Hello readers,

Is anyone out there currently involved in HR Consulting? I would love to get in touch with you to hear your thoughts, the good and the bad.

Over the years, I have had a few offers to get involved in HR Consulting (which I have always turned down), mainly because in my career I have managed through so many different stages and variations of companies, start-ups, closing down, high-growth, downsizing, restructuring, mergers, and acquisitions. As you can imagine, some of those situations were extremely difficult to go through, but now that I'm on the other side of them, it seems that those skills are somewhat valuable to organizations, especially during this economic climate. I guess going through s**t makes you valuable at some point, huh?

Yesterday, I had another HR Consulting offer come to me through a friend who owns a consulting company. He typically only contracts out technology folks, but he has worked with me before, so when he came across this opportunity he gave me a call.

I haven't heard much about the job yet...but here is my issue: It's a 1-year contract with possibility to go longer term. Meaning that I would have to quit my job. With only a few scant details, I already know that the contract would go longer than 1-year...they want to implement Human Resources as a key function in their company, along with best practices programs, strategies, processes, structures, etc. Not a 1-year job.

You might ask why the heck I would think that a 1-year + Consulting job to implement HR strategy would be an issue? I know it would be exciting and interesting work, and right up my alley.

But...the idea of not having a permanent, full-time job quite honestly terrifies me. Especially during a recession. My friend who owns the consultancy company asked me to sit down and come up a rate that he can put forward to this organization. He told me to consider a salary that would be acceptable to me, the cost of not having any benefits, paying my own taxes, paying for my own government programs, etc. AND to add on a cushion in case the economy is still soft when the contract is over BECAUSE I will not qualify for unemployment as a self-employed person.

Terrifying!!! No more paid vacations, no more getting my teeth cleaned for $10, no more paid sick days, no more contributions to my pension. If I get hurt or seriously ill, no disability program to cover me. And most frightening of all, if I don't have any work, I won't have any unemployment benefits, meaning no income.

Help! Can someone please give me some of the positive points of doing Consultant work? I know that it's probably very rewarding, but I simply can't get past the financial instability issues!

Just Another HR Lady

We Still Love Our Coffee..In Fact We Like It Even Better During A Recession!

2009-05-07T16:01:00.000-07:00

Hello readers,

Surprise, surprise, everyone else is shuttering their doors, and the profits at Tim Horton's are up. For those of you who don't know this chain, it's "the" coffee place in most of Canada. Timmies is also working on expansion into the US.

Profits at Tim Horton's are up 7.5% over last-year's first quarter. Apparently, we like our coffee and donuts even better during a recession. I guess my plan of making my coffee in the morning at home to take to work, instead of buying a Timmies, isn't affecting their bottom line too significantly.

Good on them, that's a lot of stable jobs for Canadians. They are even planning on building a new $30M coffee-bean production and roasting facility in Hamilton, Ont. creating even more jobs.

Wonder if they're hiring? And what kind of discount on my coffee I would get...I am getting really tired of getting up early and making my own...

Just Another HR Lady

Tim Horton's Website (because I'm all for promoting Canadian business)

Complaining At Work..Is It Just Another Way For People To Avoid Taking Responsibility?

2009-05-04T11:36:00.000-07:00

Dear readers,

As HR Professionals and Managers, we spend a lot of time listening to complaints from our employees. Complaints range from issues as small as not liking the smell of building cleaning supplies to huge issues such as policies and business strategies. Some complaints are valid, some not so much.

Years ago, I had an epiphany about complaints. It came shortly after I had an employee stand in my office doorway for a good 10 minutes while I was on the phone, so she could tell me that the microwave was broken. Very important stuff.

I asked her why she was telling ME that the microwave was broken, and she said that it was because I was Human Resources. (?) I was feeling somewhat cranky that day, and so I asked her what the usual process was when a building repair or a facilities issue came up (I already knew). She said that they contact the building maintenance manager when there are issues. I told her that contacting the building maintenance manager to look into the microwave issue would probably be the best solution then, as HR doesn’t manage building repairs. Her face fell, and she said “ok”, and then she left.

Why did we go through this seemingly useless conversation? Because of course, she wanted me to take care of the issue, rather than doing it herself. She already knew the solution to her problem, but tried to have someone else resolve it, also known as “complaining to Human Resources”.

At the time, I have to admit, I was somewhat ticked off that this person brought a microwave repair complaint to me, it seemed out-of-this-world ridiculous. But eventually I realized that I was in part promoting this behavior by not forcing others to take responsibility for resolving problems. If I hadn’t been feeling cranky that day, my usual response probably would have been “ok, I’ll take care of it for you”.

Since then, I have learned to respond to complaints by asking the person “what do you suggest that we do to resolve this situation/issue/problem”. This usually results in a few different scenarios:

• No Resolution Required: We discover that they really didn’t want anything resolved, they just wanted to vent in the “cone of silence”.

• They Solve It On Their Own: If they provide a solution that is reasonable and it’s something that they can handle within their own authority level, we discuss approaches, and I encourage them to set off to resolve the issue themselves. (my favorite solution!) Often, employees will initially be surprised that you are asking them for suggestions, but in my experience, after you’ve offered this opportunity once, the next time they come to you, they will have the complaint + their solution ready for you.

• HR or Manager Provides Assistance in Solving It: If it’s a reasonable complaint or suggestion, and it’s above the employee’s authority level to resolve it, we will work together on coming up with a resolution.

• You Hit the Brick Wall Of A Chronic Complainer: When faced with the possibility of having to be part of the solution to a problem, this person will simply continue to complain, rather than giving you a solution. Also known as chronic complainers…these are the people who would rather complain to every other person in the building instead of to their supervisor, who is the most likely person to help them with the issue. Sometimes I think that the chronic complainers are annoyed when something is resolved, it gives them one less thing to complain about.

I will usually approach these folks by saying “Hey, Joe, I understand that this is an issue for you, but if you don’t give me any suggestions on how you would like this resolved, I’m not sure how I can help you”. Then they’ll grumble something about how “this place sucks”, and leave. Then they move onto the next issue to complain about.

Truthfully though, you are not going to get very far with the chronic complainers regardless of what you say or do, I try to focus my time and attention on those employees who have reasonable issues to resolve.

So…thank-you to my microwave lady, wherever you are, you helped me understand how to deal with the legions of complainers that came after you.

Just Another HR Lady

Jann Arden...Or Why Do Some People Hit Super-Stardom And Others Don't...Is It Just A Bad Marketing Team?

2009-05-03T07:54:00.000-07:00

Hello readers,

Last night I was flipping the channels and I came across a televised version of a Jann Arden-live show.

For those of you who do not know who Jann Arden is, Jann Arden is an individualistic, quirky, hilarious, and extremely talented singer/songwriter/producer.

Jann has been a Canadian music icon for years, and is also very well-known outside of North America, but for some reason, her work has never really taken off in the United States. If you are in the US, you might recognize her work in a few songs that did make it over the border, Insensitive and I Would Die For You.

Her shows regularly sell out in Canada and outside of North America. Her pitch and tone are perfect live, and she tops it off with her incredible sense of humour which sometimes leans towards potty mouth. She has co-hosted or appeared in a number of Canadian shows adding her spicy flavour of humour, and during a magazine poll in 1998, she was voted the Canadian celebrity most deserving of her own talk show.

Check out Jann during this off-the-cuff interview at a Vancouver Mall, she's a hoot. Or in this duet with Michael Buble in Seattle. Or check her out in Dave Foley's Christmas Special as the Ghost of Christmas Specials Present, along with a cast of other celebs.

This all sounds great for fame on a smaller scale, but really begs the question, why do some talented people (and some non-talented people) become Super-stars, while others do not? Can we blame it on the marketing team? Or does the public really just need to be entertained with flashy laser shows where the singer lip syncs, and then leaves afterwards to make news by shaving her head or flashing her love of not wearing undies?

Jann Arden is most definitely talented, she has charisma, she is funny, and her songs are inspired and personal. She has an extremely loyal fan-base. All elements of a super-star in the making. But...it is true that her shows do not have lasers, dancers, or naked bodies, and while her songs do indicate that she has gone through angst in her life, I doubt she is shaving her head anytime soon. She stands up in front of her audience and delivers powerhouse music, along with an extremely entertaining personal point of view.

How do marketing teams build a music super-star? Music is a business after all. I honestly have no idea how music marketing teams function. But perhaps this is just an artist who is not conforming to the usual teeny-bopper pop formula to becoming a star, and has not reached a level of success on a grand-scale because she didn't want to play the game.

It's just too bad that the rest of the world has not embraced this talented musician, we are proud that she is Canadian. I'll blame it on the marketing team, that's an easy answer.

Just Another HR Lady

Clue #1 As To Why People Hate HR...

2009-05-03T06:11:00.000-07:00

"The Office" - Michael and Toby on Casino Charity

Just Another HR Lady

A Manager's Essential Step-by-Step Guide to Mediating Employee Conflicts

2009-05-02T17:42:00.000-07:00

Just Another HR Lady

Is President Obama Approaching the United States As a Business?

2009-05-02T07:31:00.001-07:00

Hello readers,

I am Canadian, yet, I still find myself very interested in the new President of the United States, particularly in the initial steps he is taking in approaching the job of President. Yes, it's a job...he just gets voted into the job by the public, rather than going through a 3-person interview board.

It struck me this week that the President's team is approaching the job much in the same manner as a CEO might approach his/her team members. Regular updates and communication keeps everyone in the loop, give an opportunity to provide your point of view, reduces rumours, and above all, personalizes the job.

One of the hot button topics in any workplace is always communication. How do we provide more information to our employees, what are the best methods to reach them, what do we say, how do we become more transparent. One of the options of course, is regular meetings and leadership stand-ups with the group to give updates and answer questions. It works.

A common complaint I often hear from employees about CEO's giving speeches or updates to employees, is that they say "nothing", even after speaking for an hour or more. It's fluff, designed to try and appease the group without really giving anything away. In fact, more than once, I've heard an employee call a CEO a "good salesperson" or comment that "they should be in politics, they're so good at talking but saying nothing".

I'm not sure who is behind President Obama as a Public Relations or Communications team, but they seem very cognizant of the principles of communication with your employees, or in this case, with your citizens. I always tune in when the President holds his (almost monthly) press conferences and Q&A sessions. He's a great case study for communication.

Perhaps I missed this in past Presidents because I wasn't watching them as closely, but I personally have never seen a President of the United States working so hard to become visible to his country. Not only that, but (even though the questions are obviously submitted beforehand) he appears to be extremely knowledgeable about his many different areas of responsibilities, and he allows his human side to show through the questioning sessions. He, at least on the face of it, appears to be doing his best to be transparent and not to simply gloss over the issues.

I'm neither Republican nor Democrat, in fact, I'm not even American, but I would find it hard to believe that President GW Bush would have been able to handle these monthly round-up sessions. It is possible that he may have been able to get through the speech portion, but the Q&A's put forward to President Obama test very thoroughly how involved and knowledgeable he is about the issues of the day. Even the push-back from reporters rarely throw him, answering in a manner that reminds me very much of my CEO. Clear, concise, and very quickly shuts the person down. :-)

via videosift.com

I will be continuing to watch, perhaps we can learn something from the Obama communications team that we can apply to our own workplaces.

Just Another HR Lady

What Have We Done To Tick You Off Lately?

2009-05-01T06:02:00.001-07:00

Hello readers,

Things have gone absolutely crazy in my little part of the world over the last couple of weeks.

Firstly, a locally-based airline was hijacked in Jamaica. All ended well with no injuries, but I knew two of the crew members on the flight, and most of the people who were involved peripherally. It was a frightening situation which made world-wide news, hugely out-of-the-ordinary for our quiet little province.

Next on the list….4 cases of Swine flu diagnosed in the area, 4 students who had been on a trip to Mexico had come down with the H1N1 Virus. They were quarantined, but the virus is still spreading regardless. We don’t know how far this will go, but we are all taking preventative measures, and making our contingency plans. Again, we are on the world-wide stage, as one of only two areas in Canada with diagnosed cases.

Thirdly, late yesterday afternoon a forest fire started raging out of control through the outskirts of our urban location. 10 houses have been destroyed, and 1200 people have now been evacuated from the area. The fire is still out of control, and we are praying for rain. This is big local and Canadian news, but I’m not sure how far the news has gone beyond our borders.

Thankfully, none of these situations have thus far resulted in serious injury or fatalities.

Taken separately, these are all situations that are managed and handled very well by various authorities and the public, but throw them all together, and it starts to feel like a trend, and I’m beginning to dread what’s coming next.

I’m not sure what we did to tick off fate, God, or Mother Nature lately, but we sincerely apologize.

Just Another HR Lady

Swine Flu Update From a "Hot Spot"

2009-04-30T17:10:00.000-07:00

Hello readers,

Earlier this week, it hit the news that 4 students who had been on a trip to Mexico and who lived in the same town as one of our company facilities, had been diagnosed with Swine Flu.

The 4 students were quarantined, and the small town put several measures into effect including:

*clinics set up for those who felt ill to come in and test for Swine Flu
*constant news blasts about staying home if you feel ill
*lots of public bulletins about washing your hands, general preventative measures for flu
*encouraging schools and businesses to start talking about preventative measures with their students/employees, and to start preparing contingency plans

In our workplace, we encouraged managers to talk to their teams about all of the above, and to be on the lookout for anyone who appeared to be ill. We made sure that everyone knew that if they are feeling unwell, feverish, or have a cough, that they were to go home and seek medical attention. We reviewed our paid time off policies to see if they made sense in a pandemic situation.

We changed our hand cleansers and general cleaning supplies to heavy duty, and brought in hand sanitisers to keep around the facility. We also started working on contingency plans for key functions in case we found ourselves in a situation where we had to be working with a skeleton crew.

Earlier this week, I honestly thought that doing all of these things might be a bit of an anxiety attack, but it seemed to be the right thing to do with a Pandemic Level 5 being called.

Today, more news...4 more diagnosed cases of Swine Flu in the town, all related in some way to the original four cases. Quarantine and preventative measures working? Nope. I'm starting to wonder if it's only a matter of time before it spreads on a massive scale through the town and beyond.

Thankfully, the virus is only mild in our country at this point, but apparently the real worry is if the virus mutates into something that we are not able to fight off. I think that our workplace will be the last thing anyone is worried about if that happens.

Just Another HR Lady

GM Canada to Shed 38,000 Jobs

2009-04-29T12:46:00.000-07:00

Reprinted from Star.Com (just because I still find the magnitude of job loss so shocking...I'm not suggesting that this isn't required to keep GM viable, just that it's huge job loss)

GM Canada kills 38,000 jobs

The decision by General Motors Corp. to shed its Pontiac brand and close hundreds of dealerships is a heavy blow to retailers already struggling with shrinking demand and tightening credit.Auto graveyard: Blueprint cuts 6,000 more workers, plus 14,000 at dealerships and 18,000 at parts plants

Apr 28, 2009 04:30 AM
Tony Van Alphen
BUSINESS REPORTER

General Motors of Canada, once the mightiest industrial enterprise in the country, will become a tiny shadow of itself within a few years by slashing jobs, shuttering dealerships and eliminating the iconic Pontiac brand.

In an aggressive update of a "viability plan," GM disclosed yesterday that the company will chop an already-diminished workforce by 6,000 jobs, or almost 60 per cent within five years; slash its dealer network by about 300 retailers, or 42 per cent; and eliminate the 83-year-old Pontiac.

Industry officials said in addition to the 6,000 direct job losses, another 14,000 eventually will disappear at dealerships and a further 18,000 will be out of work in the parts sector.

The shrinking auto giant said it is moving "faster and deeper" on restructuring plans so it can qualify for short-term government bridge loans here. The federal and Ontario governments rejected an earlier survival plan from GM, which is seeking between $6 billion and $7 billion in aid.

In Ottawa, Industry Minister Tony Clement described the job cuts as "terrible and unfortunate but necessary to secure public aid and keep the company viable.

GM said in a statement the latest plan "will speed the reinvention of the company's operations into a more customer-focused, leaner and more cost-competitive auto maker."

It also confirmed the phase-out of the Pontiac brand – which created models like the Bonneville and the GTO, the first performance car – to concentrate on four core names: Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac. Pontiac holds about 4 per cent of the market.

The company said in the update that it will employ only about 4,400 production workers in 2014, down from 10,300 last year.

That's far below the go-go years of the late 1980s when GM had a production workforce of almost 40,000 at three assembly plants in Oshawa, two more in suburban Scarborough and Ste.-Thérèse, Que., and sprawling parts operations in St. Catharines and Windsor.

The Scarborough and Ste.-Thérèse operations closed long ago; a truck plant in Oshawa shuts down permanently next month and the transmission factory will end output next year.

With files from Les Whittington

Swine Flu Hysteria?

2009-04-29T06:40:00.001-07:00

Hello readers,

Swine Flu has hit many countries, including right here in Canada. As fate would have it, one of the small towns where there is a little cluster of actual Swine Flu cases, is the location of one of our company facilities. It’s a rural area, and the Swine Flu was transferred to the town via a group of students who had been on a school trip to Mexico.

I was driving into that facility location this morning and listening to the news on the radio. The announcer was advising that the emergency rooms in this little town were clogged with people worrying about having Swine Flu. 100% of the cases were not Swine Flu (as the students had been immediately quarantined), but if anyone was feeling a cold or the sniffles coming on, they had decided that it was better safe than sorry, and headed to the hospital to make sure they didn’t have Swine Flu.

I have to be honest, when I heard that news, I almost turned around and headed home. I seriously debated whether or not I should be heading into the town, and almost expected to see a quarantine perimeter set up before I hit it. Ridiculous, right? Was it Swine Flu Hysteria?

Or…was I being naïve for even heading into that town? I’ve (we’ve?) never been involved in a Pandemic before, although Ontario did have a serious and fatal SARS outbreak in 2003.

Perhaps we are all just going on with our lives as if we are invincible, and as a result we are actually creating a Pandemic with our lackadaisical attitude? Simply staying away from those infected would seem to be an obvious solution to slowing or ending a Pandemic that is spread by person to person contact….

Wash your hands!!!

Just Another HR Lady

Employment Equity vs. Affirmative Action....Does It Work In Your Country?

2009-04-28T11:58:00.000-07:00

Hello readers,

Yesterday, I was working on a workforce analysis which is one of the key activities of our Employment Equity Program. For those of you who are involved in the Equity field in the United States, I believe that the American equivalent to Canadian Employment Equity is Affirmative Action.

I will be the first to admit that I don’t know anything about the requirements of an Affirmative Action program. If someone wants to enlighten me, I’d love to hear your viewpoint. On our side of the border, I am very familiar with Employment Equity, having worked within the Canadian legislation for the past 10 years, both as a Federally Regulated employer and under the Federal Contractor's Program (FCP).

A few weeks ago, I attended several sessions which were intended to educate employers about their requirements under the Employment Equity Act, as well as discuss the implementation of a new web-based reporting tool. Disappointment and discouragement were the only two words that I could use to describe how I felt after the sessions.

Why, you might ask? Well, it’s not because I am a fanatical pusher of legislation, policies or programs….or even that I am a fanatical pusher of Employment Equity, although I do strongly believe in the principles and practices of Employment Equity, and that ultimately a diverse workforce is an advantage for many reasons.

I was so disappointed because I realized (again) how far down the list of importance that the principles of Employment Equity are to so many employers, even in a country as culturally diverse as Canada. As diverse a country as we are, it’s a dangerous assumption to make if employers believe that there are no groups of people in Canada who face barriers to employment.

So why aren’t Canadian employers adopting the principles and values of Employment Equity? Our system is a non-quota based system, centering on the evaluation of our employment systems and practices, and removing barriers for designated groups. All very positive and forward-thinking activities to me.

Some of my thoughts as to why Employment Equity has not taken a permanent hold in the Canadian environment:

1. Federal Contractors and Federally Regulated employers are the only two groups that are required to adhere to the Employment Equity Act in Canada. That makes up only a very small percentage of all employers in the country. Meaning that the majority of employers in Canada don’t even have to think about Employment Equity Programs unless they choose to do so. If you’re not required to do it, most employers won’t.

2. Federally Regulated employers are the only group that are subject to submitting a formal report on an annual basis, and are audited on a regular basis. FCP employers do not have to submit any documentation, and are told when they are designated as “FCP”, that they will receive a “random periodic audit”. As a result, likely half of the groups that are subject to the Employment Equity Act are not doing anything about it until they receive their random audit. The last estimate that I heard was that "random audits" take place every 5 years.

3. The Canadian system is a non-quota based system, and as a result, the few employers that are actually subject to the Employment Equity Act know that there are no real ramifications around not ensuring that you have a representative workforce. As long as we are showing that we are attempting to increase the representation of designated groups in our workforce, then we are meeting the basic requirements. I’m not an advocate of a quota-based system, but I’m not so sure that a non-quota based system is the answer either.

4. As so few employers are subject to the Employment Equity Act, very few HR professionals or managers have worked within the legislation. When an HR professional becomes employed by an employer subject to the Act, they quickly become overwhelmed by the requirements, and there are very few avenues of education available, other than to seek out the few other employers who have already implemented an Employment Equity Program.

5. There is a lot of mis-information and negative perceptions out there about what Employment Equity means. Take an HR professional who is trying to learn about EE, throw in a management team that feels negatively due to misperceptions, and top it all off with a government auditor, and you have a great combination for creating an effective program. Not.

Don’t get me wrong, there are employers in Canada that are implementing Employment Equity Programs that are pro-active, cutting-edge, and are having a positive effective on their workforce and the bottom-line. But there are so many more organizations that have Employment Equity on the bottom of their agenda, or not at all.

If you want to comment on Employment Equity or the differences between EE and Affirmative Action, comment away, I’d love to be educated.

Just another HR Lady

Human Resources as a Personal Services Matchmaker?

2009-04-28T10:28:00.001-07:00

Hello readers,

I am not a spring chicken these days, so I tend to have finally gotten to the point in my life where I am loyal to all of my personal services providers who (in my opinion) offer great services …mortgage broker, financial advisor, dentist, doctor, massage therapist, hairstylist, and various other personal services.

I find that I often have new and existing employees coming to me to ask for a recommendation for a particular service provider. Today, I even had a former employee e-mail me to ask me for a recommend on a massage therapist, and of course, I gave her the information on my great therapist.

This is interesting to me mainly because people seem to be looking to Human Resources for direction in their personal lives, but what they are really receiving is a recommendation from me personally, based on my years of evaluating and suffering through past sub-par services providers. An employee can come to me and find a gem of a service provider without going through any of the angst that I went through, including a 2-month period where I truly wanted to cry every time I looked at my hair.

It’s a valuable matchmaking service that I’m providing, both to someone looking for a service provider, and to the service providers themselves.

And since my job description does not technically include recommending a great massage therapist to an employee, I’m starting to wonder if I should start charging a fee? :-)

Just Another HR Lady

Dilbert...The Knack!

2009-04-26T13:07:00.001-07:00

Hello readers,

An Engineer friend of mine sent this to me ages ago, and I thought that it would be a good clip to use for learning how to post a video clip to my blog. I always laugh when I watch it...I think that the fact that an Engineer sent it to me (and loves it!) makes it even funnier!

Just Another HR Lady

An Oldie but Goodie...Who Moved My Cheese?

2009-04-26T07:40:00.000-07:00

Hello readers,

One of my best HR girlfriends was here to visit me for the weekend before she goes back to work from Maternity Leave.

We had a great weekend, shopping, dinner, gab-fest. On Sunday morning, she mentioned that the night before she had grabbed one of the books off of my bookshelf to skim through, Who Moved My Cheese?. Who Moved My Cheese? is written by Dr. Spencer Johnson, who co-wrote the popular The One-Minute Manager.

It's an older book, and when she left, I picked it up and re-read it again myself. It's a quick read, still relevant, and I would highly recommend it.

On another unrelated note, I have learned how to post links now, love it!

Just Another HR Lady

Who Motivates the Motivators?

2009-04-24T07:57:00.000-07:00

Hello readers,

Happy FRIDAY!!!!!! These days I hit the weekends with a real, deep-down, sigh of relief…that’s probably not a good sign, is it?

Yesterday, I had a manager in my office “unloading”. They weren’t really looking for any advice or assistance, they just needed to talk, as so many of my discussions with employees or managers have become these days. It’s the new norm…people are stressed, worried, financially strapped, demotivated, and disengaged. Human Resources in our company is many different things, but an outlet to talk is definitely high on the list at the moment. I spend most of my days and weeks listening to people talk about how worried they are about their jobs, their families, the economy, the world. I usually have a pretty strong back for listening to other people’s issues, but I am only human too. It’s hard sometimes.

This discussion was no different than any others, except that for some reason, my “HR face” was somewhat less than 100%, and I added some of my own worries and fears about our company and the economy. Towards the end of the conversation, he asked me “if I was ok”. I told him that I was fine and asked him why he would ask me that question. He said that he’s never heard me talk about my own personal worries and fears, and that while I am always up-front and honest about what’s happening in our company, that I always seem to be able to re-direct his energies back to a positive place.

While there was a great compliment in there somewhere, something about that conversation disturbed me. What made me reveal some of my own personal concerns in that conversation? I know that the purpose of someone coming to me is to allow them to talk and vent, and regroup their own motivation and positive energy. Basic counselor tip….the person is there to talk it out and try to understand themselves….not to hear about your issues. Clearly, it was time for me to do a personal examination of what I was feeling and going through during this time. Ignoring it (as I know from past experience) leads to major HR Burnout.

After that discussion, I sat down and thought about who in the company I might be able to talk to, so “I’ could talk out my own thoughts and feelings, and refocus back to a positive place. I pondered, and wondered, and thought, and finally I realized that I don’t have anyone internally to go to so I can “just talk”. The confidential and sensitive nature of my job means that there is really only one position in the company that I can reveal most (although not all) of what I deal with in my job, and that’s the company President. Do you want to go the President of your company and talk about your personal fears and issues, when he’s struggling to try and keep the company afloat? No, I don’t either.

The other option that I considered was our Employee Assistance Program. EAP is a great service and I promote it to my employees as much as I can, but I’m not sure if that’s the place for me either. A counsellor seeing a counsellor to talk about the issues around being a counsellor? That’s weird.

So, here’s where I seem to be left in the workplace counseling chain, hopefully The Wall is a very good listener:

Luckily for me, that’s not truly the end of my workplace counseling chain, it’s really only the end of my internal workplace counseling chain.

I have a long-term mentor who is always available for me to unburden without judgment, usually over some lovely alcoholic beverages. He was once my boss, but is now my friend, and we tend to lean on each other during times of turmoil. I have a great friend who is in a similar Human Resources role, so we also take turns playing “counselor” for each other. I have a great family and friends support system, who have learned to recognize when I need to forget about my job and just have some fun. And lastly, my dog will always somehow make her way onto my lap when I need some extra-special support and comfort.

For all of my HR colleagues and to those other professionals who manage/counsel/support people, I hope that you have your own support system in place, especially during this difficult time in our economic history. If you don’t have a support system, please make today the day that you start working on that outlet for everything that you are pushing down deep and pretending it doesn’t affect you…it does affect you, and it will come back on you if you don’t let it out once in a while.

Just Another HR Lady

Meetings and Committee Work...Are Employees Better at It Than Managers?

2009-04-23T06:44:00.000-07:00

Hello readers,

I'm in Human Resources, so it's probably no big surprise that I'm a fan of strong communication in a company, and of providing funnels of communication in as many different forms and methods as possible. One of the off-shoots of my love of communication is that I always tend to start up a lot of different Employee-Management Committees in whichever company I am working for. If I can put some decision-making into the hands of the employees, I am all for it.

I fully believe in two-way communication, but my secret agenda is that getting employees involved and invested in the decisions of the company creates buy-in, reduces resistance, and also allows employees to gain an understanding of the constraints and issues that managers have to deal with on a daily basis. And if they can get to know their managers on a more personal basis through working together on a Committee, that's always a bonus.

I know what you're thinking...Committee work...meetings...getting nothing done...ugh…please don’t make me do it. And I agree with you, I hate meetings. Sometimes I feel like we have meetings simply to plan the next meeting. Or I wonder how we could have sat in a room for 2 or more hours and accomplished nothing more than a re-hash of the issues. Or I find that I spend my time thinking about all the things that I could be doing that are much more valuable than sitting in the meeting of the moment, listening to managers squabble. Hello...could you two managers please talk about that issue that has no relevance to anyone else here but you off-line, and allow our meeting to continue on about the issue at hand?

This week I held the first meeting for another Employee-run Committee that we have just established, and after that meeting, I have truly been wondering if employees are better at running meetings than managers?

This particular Committee was established to manage a set budget for employee sports-related requests, teams (baseball teams, bowling teams, etc.), and sports equipment. We realized that these were all employee-related requests, so it seemed natural to put together an Employee Committee to determine how to spend those dollars.

My typical agenda for an initial meeting of an employee-run Committee is to talk about the purpose of the Committee, how I would suggest (although I only suggest, I don't "tell") that they run the Committee, elements of an effective Committee, how to go about setting up guidelines for making decisions, and the budget. I also make sure that they are aware that I am on the Committee as an "advisor" only, and that I am not there to direct how they are to make their decisions or spend their budget.

This particular Committee had 10 volunteers, quite a good response. Our company has two facilities that are a 1-hour drive apart, and the Committee had representatives from each facility. Our meeting was via teleconference, which is never ideal but is the usual for us, and I set the agenda for our first meeting.

Guess what…by the end of the 1-hour meeting, this Committee had:

• Elected a Chairperson, a Record-Keeper for Minutes, a person to manage the Budget, and a Communications Person
• Determined how to ensure that all employees had a say in how the budget was spent, what the first communications from the Committee was going to say, as well as a method and deadlines for submitting requests, and who was going to be the contact person to receive requests
• Set guidelines around decision-making on how to spend the money, and what the focus of the money spend should be
• Figured out how to promote usage of some of our existing company benefits (we have a fitness benefit) to try and stretch their budget as far as it could go (Honestly, this was not my idea)
• Set a tentative schedule for upcoming meetings and confirmed everyone’s “take away” actions to be completed by the end of the following week

Less than an hour after the meeting, there was an e-mail to all with tentative wording for the first official communications from the Committee, as well as a reminder on everyone’s “take-away” actions to be completed by next week.

This much accomplished…all in a short meeting via teleconference. I have to admit, I did not have much to do with this feat, other than guiding the conversation towards items that I thought should be discussed. The group took my basic framework and really ran with it. I was very proud, and somewhat astonished at how much they accomplished during their first meeting.

How in the world did they do this…when I can sit in my Manager meetings and sometimes feel like not a thing got accomplished? My quick, two-cent analysis: There was no distracted “manager chatter”, they focused on the tasks at hand and accomplished them. There was no political wrangling for power during any of the conversations. There were no off-topic discussions taking over the meeting. There was no one running out of the room to answer calls, e-mails, or anyone knocking on the door with “an emergency” question. There were no arguments, passive aggressive remarks, or attempts to push tasks onto others. And…most importantly…they all wanted to be there and felt strongly about the responsibilities and mandates that they were given as part of the Committee.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Managers, in fact, I am one. But I think that we can learn a lot from watching how our employees accomplish tasks, and try to remember back to a time when we just felt strongly about accomplishing a task and worked as a team to achieve it, rather than letting all the “nonsense” get in the way.

Just Another HR Lady

My Career and Yours...How the Heck Did We Get Here?

2009-04-22T13:55:00.000-07:00

Hello Readers,

Two more days until the weekend! I am particularly psyched about this weekend, because a dear friend of mine is making the 3-hour drive to the "big city" to stay with me, do some visiting, shopping, and all-around general "girl" relaxing before she has to go back to work next month from Maternity Leave. She and I met 15 years ago in our (surprise!) HR Program and we became fast friends. We've supported and leaned on each other throughout our HR careers, and our career paths have been very similar.

When we run into other people that we took the HR program with, we discover that some are working as HR Assistants, Generalists, Managers, Directors, and VP's, some are HR Specialists, some are Trainers, some are Recruiters, and some never went anywhere in HR at all.

A few months ago, I had a call from a potential HR student who wanted to interview me about how I achieved the successes that I have in my career, and how I moved into my current leadership role. She asked me for the specific steps that I took in my career so she could start making her own plans to obtain a similar type of position. It was an interesting and useful question, but I found that I didn't want to admit to her that I really had had no career plan at all, it just seems to have happened that way. Maybe it was dumb luck? So I jabbered something cliched about working hard, finding job experience where you could develop and explore many different skills, and finding a mentor.

My HR friend making plans to come stay with me this weekend starting me thinking about this question again. How exactly did I get to this point in my career? I certainly did not have a formal career plan when I finished school, and in fact, I didn't even know exactly what it was that I wanted to achieve. The one thing that I was sure of when I graduated was that I did not want to be in a leadership position. See how good I am at making plans?

So...how do you make a career plan when you have no idea what you want to achieve? I think that the key for me was a genuine desire to figure out exactly what I wanted to do, and I recognized that in order to do that, I was going to have to experience as many different types of industries, roles, responsibilities, and environments as I could. Along the way, I figured out what I did, and did not want in my career, as well as what I was good at, and what I wasn't. I never felt at any point in my career that I wanted to "be" some specific title or level of position, I only wanted to learn what I was good at, what I enjoyed, and where I could contribute the most. On top of that, yes, my cliched response to the potential HR newbie was true, I did work very hard, and I did come across two amazing mentors to guide me along the way.

I know that's not a formal template for someone to build a career plan upon if they are trying to create a step-by-step guide on how to end up in a leadership role, but that's how it happened for me. I believe that if you take the time to figure out what you enjoy, what you are good at, and how you can contribute, then you will be successful. Period. That doesn't necessarily mean that you are going to be a CEO or President of the United States. (or maybe you will!) But it does mean that you will be successful in the career that you feel best suits you, and that's a great achievement.

If you have any stories or comments on your career path, I'd love to hear them. Hopefully I'm not the only one who didn't start out with a formal career plan?

Just Another HR Lady

Happy Administrative Professionals Day!

2009-04-22T09:09:00.001-07:00

Did you say thank-you to your support staff today? That's great, but don't forget that you should be showing appreciation towards them every other day of the year as well!

Miss USA and Same-Sex Marriage...Are Our Countries Really That Different?

2009-04-20T16:06:00.001-07:00

Hello readers,

I am new to the blogging world, so please try and believe me when I say that I am not trying to cause controversy by talking about Miss California's response to the same-sex marriage question during the Miss USA pageant last night. Her answer was simply something that is a little out of place in my HR world, and indeed in my "real" world, so I felt it was a worthwhile topic for a post.

I was watching the Miss USA pageant last night as I do every year, and when I heard Miss California's answer in response to the same-sex marriage question posed by the notorious Perez Hilton, I almost squirted my drink out of my nose.

For those of you who might have missed it, here's the video on YouTube Miss California on Same-Sex Marriage.

To explain my nose-squirting reaction a bit further, I may not have mentioned it in previous posts, but I am Canadian. In Canada, we legalized same-sex marriage federally in 2005 through the Civil Marriage Act, and prior to 2005, many provinces had already gone ahead and legalized same-sex marriage through Provincial Legislation. In fact, most legal benefits in Canada had already been extended to same-sex unions as far back as 1999. So as you can probably imagine, my country has been at least legally open to same-sex marriage for almost 10 years now, and I believe that a good chunk of our society has come leaps and bounds from the idea that "I was raised that way" is a good enough response as to why you are being discriminatory towards a group of individuals. Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is expressly prohibited under federal and provincial Human Rights legislation.

In my HR world, after 10 years in a changing legal landscape about same-sex marriage, it's simply a fact of life, no different than heterosexual marriage. When I have a new employee start with us, it's no big deal to talk about a same-sex spouse, arrange benefits (which incidentally are the exact same as a heterosexual spouse), deal with the usual employee issues like children and work-life balance, and meet and spend time with the spouse/kids at the company picnic.

I'm not suggesting that there are not political parties, individuals, or religious leaders in Canada that don't still talk about same-sex marriage as if it's going to be the catalyst that brings down all of society. There are, and always will be until a new generation takes over with more open ideas and beliefs. But regardless of whatever their personal or political feelings may be, all of these people still recognize that same-sex marriage is a legal right in Canada, and that anything contrary to that would be discrimination under our Laws.

The United States seems to be following in our Canadian path here, although a little more slowly, with certain States starting to legalize same-sex marriage much as our provinces did throughout the earlier part of this decade. I would suspect that if we give it enough time, it will eventually be recognized federally in the United States as well, along with all of the other countries that have already legalized same-sex marriage including Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, South Africa, Spain, and Sweden. Numerous other countries have legalized same-sex unions or partnerships as far back as 1989 (Denmark).

I agree that moving towards a more inclusive world is a huge societal shift in thinking, but legalized same-sex marriage is something that is going to happen in our generation, and for someone who is already living in that world, I sometimes find it hard to understand what all the fuss is about!

Just Another HR Lady

Building Company Loyalty (or) Why Do We Feel Personally Invested in Some Organizations But Not Others

2009-04-20T08:04:00.001-07:00

Hello readers,

This morning I woke up at my usual time to the sound of the news on my radio. I only caught the last snippet of news as I woke up, but I could have sworn that I heard a company name that I recognized…the company that I had left two years ago and where I still have a lot of ties. The company is in the transportation business, and safety is always paramount.

I jumped up and turned on the television, and unbelievably, yes, a traumatic event that we had prepared and planned for (but hoped would never happen) had occurred. My former employees were in trouble, and it was not their jobs in jeopardy, it was their lives.

I messaged my former boss and told him that anything that I could do to help, I would be there, just ask. I called, e-mailed, and facebooked with my former employees, and supported them as much as I could. I sat transfixed in front of the television, desperate for news. And by mid-day, the good news came through…everyone was safe. Thank god.

After that kind of morning, you’d think I would have just gone back to bed, but I left the house and went into work. Where I had a very large realization…I still feel like I work for that former company, and I believed that I should have been there to support the company and people through that particular event. In fact, I felt like I was letting someone down by not being there.

So why do I still feel so tied to the company that I left 2 years ago? What builds company loyalty? And indeed, what builds not just company loyalty, but a deep-down, rooted feeling that you are part of something important, and it is part of you?

This is not a Human Resources edict on building company loyalty, but here are some of the reasons why I believe I still feel so personally connected to that former company:

1. Constant affirmation and clear connection provided between my job and the success of the company. My boss sat me down on day one, and explained how important my role was to the organization and how I was going to help the company become a success. He, along with everyone else on the management team, continued to give me the same message on a regular basis throughout my time with the company. And each and every employee within that company received the same message on a daily basis about their own role in the company. When the company had a “win”, we all felt like we had won. When the company was struggling, we all felt personally invested on pulling the company through.

2. Present, effective, inclusive, and honest leadership. The person in the top role in the company was always a large presence in the daily operations, effective in decision-making, a huge proponent of running the company by team, and up-front and honest in communications. There are many elements to that statement that I could go on about forever, but I think most importantly, we had a leader that we believed in and who made it clear that she believed in us, and that translated into a company that we believed in. That kind of leadership trickles down through the entire organization and builds strong and effective managers.

3. Team Decision-Making. Many companies solicit the opinions of their employees, and that is always positive. However, in this organization, you were regularly expected to provide your thoughts, suggestions, and solutions, and you knew that final decisions were going to have a contribution from everyone in the room. This encouraged some very high-performance behaviors, made everyone feel heavily invested in decisions, and gave people a chance to broaden their experience and knowledge to other areas of the business.

4. Culture and “fit”. When recruiting, we all like to talk about company culture, “fit”, etc. when we are assessing candidates. Some candidates rail against companies recruiting based on “fit”. To be honest, I don’t understand the argument. We are trying to determine if the environment suits who you are, how you like to work, and if it allows you to be effective in performing your role in the organization. I have worked for companies that are a great fit for me, somewhat of a fit, and not a fit at all. The only company that I have had any lasting investment in was the culture that was a great fit for me. I could discuss the culture of this particular organization, but I don’t think it’s relevant as it may not necessarily be a fit for others. The key point is that this particular environment fit me like a glove and I knew that as soon as I walked in the door.

5. The People. I think that this one goes along with fit, but loyalty to a company could never happen without working with some amazing people who are a fit with your working style. This particular company had a group of folks who made me feel as if I had always been a part of the team from the very beginning. “Cliques” were strongly discouraged as they were seen as impediments to building a strong and effective team, everyone was welcome and no one was excluded. Again, a great fit for me.

If you have any stories or comments about building company loyalty, I’d love to hear them. An interesting note when I read back through my points, none of them include any reference to compensation and benefits…shocking, isn’t it. :-)

Just Another HR Lady

Elder-Care and What Happens When The Kids Need to Start Taking Care of the Parents

2009-04-19T11:13:00.001-07:00

Hello Readers,

It's a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and the sunshine is enough to lift anyone's spirit. I got up early today and headed over to my parent's house to rake and bag all of the leaves in their yard and help my mother with her online banking, and on the way there, I stopped and picked up my father's wallet that he left on the counter at his local coffee shop...yet again.

These two people raised me, supported and encouraged me, and generally are the reason why I am who am I today, so it seems fitting that I be there to support them now that they are starting to be unable to manage some of the daily chores of life. My mother has quite a few physical issues, back problems, osteoporosis, arthritis, etc., and my father, while physically very healthy, has started to exhibit serious mental health deterioration. He will most likely be unable to function on his own within the next five years. I'm positive that in the very near future I will be suggesting that they consider selling their home, and moving to a condominium or a smaller home that requires less work and attention.

As I was driving home, I started to think about elder-care and the pressures on people today who are working full-time, managing their own home with spouse/children, and now are also responsible for the care-taking of their parents.

In Human Resources circles, we tend to talk about elder-care as a current issue, but is it really? Haven't people been doing this since the dawn of time? It's not an unknown concept to have different generations of families living under one roof and no division between who was taking care of whom.

We provide Employee Assistance Programs, Flex Time, Personal Time, Telecommuting Options, and various other "work-life" balance benefits in the workplace to help people manage home responsibilities around their job.

Should we also be looking Elder-Care benefits as part of our Group Benefits program? I have heard whispers of this, but have never actually come across a plan that offers Elder-Care options. Have you? I'd love to hear the details.

Just Another HR Lady

Carnival of HR April 15-09

2009-04-19T06:05:00.000-07:00

For those of you new to the HR Blogging world, the Carnival of HR is a regular feature where the best of recent HR blogs are featured.

HR Bloggers take turns featuring the Carnival...this month the Carnival is taking place at Maximizing Possibility.

Enjoy!

Morale and Voluntary Turnover in Tough Economic Times

2009-04-18T15:54:00.000-07:00

Hello readers,

Post #2, and I'm going to jump right in with a topic that I'm certain a lot of employers (including mine) are dealing with today-low morale in times of uncertainty, and yes, even higher than normal voluntary turnover.

It's a sign of the times...layoffs, downsizing, wage freezes (or shockingly) rollbacks, benefits elimination, shorter work weeks, frozen professional development budgets, and many other "cost cutting" programs and measures.

The employees that survive a layoff or downsizing in today's economic climate are facing an almost insurmountable task of attempting to remain positive and passionate about the job/career they once loved, and a company that used to support career development and provide high financial incentives. Not to mention that the employee is often also dealing with their own personal investment losses, possibly a spouse losing their job, and the myriad of media coverage about the looming recession.

For employers, the employees that remain after a downsizing are typically the top/key performers that we need on board to pull the company out of the financial tailspin. And what do top performers do when they are unhappy with a job? They start job-hunting...and even in today's climate, those top performers are going to find jobs.

So what do we end up with? A company that is struggling, low morale, high turnover, and no key performers or extra finances to try and turn it all around.

I have been spending my time researching over the past few months on how to improve morale and reduce turnover in my own company, and I'm honestly finding the material sadly lacking. Most of the articles, websites, and research that I can find focuses on solutions like giving out movie passes and having company BBQ's. Is this a long-term strategic solution? I can just see the glazed look in my employees eyes when I tell them "sorry we have no money, you're doing the job of three people, we've taken away your bonus this year, but hey, here's a pass...go see a movie and that will make everything all better"! Or, "I'm sorry, I know you have worked harder than you ever have this year but are getting no bonus, but we're taking that money and spending it on a BBQ this week, oh and please, only one hamburger each"!

So, I decided that I would sit down and come up with my own plan, taking the innovative idea that actually talking to people will allow you to find out what's wrong and improve the situation...rocket science, right? A strategic communications plan focusing on re-building investment of all employees in the success of the company, and a targeted approach in spending dollars on key employees, that's where it's at in my opinion.

More details to follow in upcoming posts, but I would love to hear what kind of innovative morale boosting ideas other managers are cooking up. Necessity is the mother of invention, right?

Just Another HR Lady

Putting Myself Out There

2009-04-18T12:34:00.000-07:00

Hello fellow HR professionals and lovely HR fans,

This is my first entry on my blog Open Door HR. It's an interesting feeling, putting yourself out there into the online world, although somewhat anonymously. What do new bloggers usually talk about in their first post? I'm guessing that they all talk about being new, just as I'm going to do.

Some of you may know me as Just Another HR Lady from various HR and management blogs where I regularly lurk and post comments. I was lurking on Evil HR Lady's blog a few years ago, and decided to post a comment on a Blog for the very first time. Over the past few years, I've realized that there are some topics and musings that I would like to write about in a bigger forum than just commenting, so I finally decided to start this blog. In retrospect, I guess you could consider this blog a tribute to Evil HR Lady, so thanks EHRL!

I'm sure that the obvious question in your mind (and mine!) is who am I and what qualifies me to write an HR Blog. Well, I can tell you about my HR background and experience to answer the business side of that question, but I think that only time will tell about whether I'm not I'm actually qualified to write articles that are interesting, informative, and somewhat helpful to people.

I have been in Human Resources for 15 years, and have held roles as a Compensation and Benefits Specialist, HR Generalist/Consultant, HR Manager, and HR Director, and have moved through three very different industries. I've managed HR during high-growth, mergers, relocations, restructuring, downsizing, closing-down, and starting up companies, and am amazingly still (somewhat) sane. Why I always end up in companies in or about to go through huge transitions I'm not sure, but it has pushed my HR experience and career into fast-forward. I have honestly wondered at the worst of times if I'm simply a glutton for punishment. And sometimes I feel like it must certainly be time for retirement, but nope, I've still got 25 more years to go before I can put my weary little HR head to rest.

I'm still not quite sure as of yet how I'm going to decide on topics to write about, I'll have to figure that out as I go along. I probably will not be writing anything revealing or current about my employer, in part because I want to remain somewhat anonymous, but mainly because it's just against my nature (side effect of HR) to reveal any identifying specifics about people, issues, and business problems.

My preference is to share my experience and suggestions with anyone who thinks I might be able to help them with business or work-related issues or challenges. Hey, that sounds very similar to what I do everyday, that's convenient!

I'm still trying to figure out where and how to post some general rules about sending me questions or posting comments, but in the meantime, please keep it clean. No profanity, personal attacks, or similar. Ranting is fine, just don't swear while you're doing it. After all, anyone who works in HR is pretty used to someone ranting at them. lol.

Thanks for reading my Blog, I hope that you find it relatively interesting, and again, I'm new, so please be patient with me!

Just Another HR Lady