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HR News & Trends, Recruiting and Staffing

Internet Authority Says .Jobs Manager Violates Rules, Orders Changes

by on Feb 28, 2011, 1:56 PM  |  1 comment
dot-jobs-logo1

See update below.

The Internet’s addressing authority has ordered the manager of the .Jobs domains to fix problems with how it issues addresses within 30 days or face the cancellation of its contract.

The Notice of Breach from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers includes a sharp rebuke of both registrar Employ Media and its partner SHRM (the Society for Human Resource Management), both of whom ICANN accused of establishing restrictions on the use of .Jobs address so “loose” they “appear to exclusively serve the financial interests of Employ Media and SHRM.”

ICANN also suggests that the .jobs Universe of job boards is contrary to both the rules and intent behind the creation of the .jobs domain in the first place.

“It appears that Employ Media and SHRM, through the Direct Employers Association, intend to use the .JOBS TLD primarily to compete with other Internet job boards. Such use is inconsistent with the purpose stated in the .JOBS Charter and represented to the ICANN community,” the letter says. Read more…

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HR Insights

HR and HR Vendors: The Lonely Goalkeepers of the Business

by on Feb 28, 2011, 12:37 PM  |  1 comment
Goalie

I only played one year in junior high.

That would be soccer (or football for the rest of the world). I loved it, but loved American football and baseball more, and was better at them.

I played fullback — I wasn’t fast enough to play a forward or midfielder, but still of the collaborative mindset to work with them all to get the ball back down the field to score, while of course helping the goalkeeper defend our goal.

Mercy, the goalkeepers’ goal is a very lonely one. Read more…

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Benefits, HR News & Trends

Beyond Tobacco: How do You Feel About a Junk Food-Free Workplace?

by on Feb 28, 2011, 11:07 AM  |  1 comment
Fresh Donuts

Yesterday I was talking with my South by Southwest (SXSW) co-presenter, Michael Samuelson. We were taking turns spouting off about what inspires and bothers us about today’s employee wellness efforts, and there was a lot, from companies overlooking the ways their culture negatively affects individual health to companies ceding their right to create a physical environment that promotes health.

Right in the midst of this exchange, Michael dropped a bombshell.

“When I was the CEO of a Blue Cross and Blue Shield subsidiary, candy, cookies, and junk food weren’t allowed.”

And he didn’t mean the company didn’t provide them in the vending machine. He meant they weren’t allowed. You couldn’t buy them at work. You couldn’t bring them from home. Read more…

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Talent Management, Training & Development

Should You Tell A Star They’re A Part of Your Succession Plan?

by on Feb 28, 2011, 10:07 AM  |  No comments yet
iStock_000000484081XSmall

This is a loaded question — Yes or no, depending on the person.

Succession planning, despite the recent emergence of contrarian views, is still a good exercise to go through. Once you’ve done the analysis, completed the profiles and have your charts ready to go, the critical question remains whether you:

  1. Tell a person he/she is part of a succession plan;
  2. What their status is (ready now, ready within two years, capable of ascending two levels, etc.); and,
  3. What positions you potentially have them slotted towards. Read more…
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HR Management, Leadership

What to Do When Trust With Your Employees Breaks Down

by on Feb 28, 2011, 7:57 AM  |  1 comment
Trust in Business

By Vanessa Hall

In a perfect world, your employees will always trust you and your organization.

In spite of your best efforts, though, trust can and will erode. That’s the bad news. The good news is you can recover. How do you rebuild trust?

  1. Communicate openly. Talk about the situation. Describe any mistakes you’ve made, what you’ve learned from those mistakes, and what you’ll do in the future. Don’t be afraid to share bad news and to admit mistakes. Explain the rationale behind decisions you’ve made, and encourage employees to give input and feedback on decisions you make. Most importantly, accept feedback with grace and act professionally at all times. Rebuilding trust takes time. The old cliché “It takes ten pats on the back to overcome one kick in the rear” is especially true when you’ve lost the trust of your employees. Read more…
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HR News & Trends

International Group Accepts Plan to Develop Global HR Standards

by on Feb 25, 2011, 4:07 PM  |  1 comment
logo_iso

Imagine an international standard for determining cost of hire. Or one for valuing the human capital of a company.

A pipe dream just a few years ago, now both are possible following yesterday’s decision by the International Organization for Standardization.

“A major milestone was passed,” says Lee Webster, SHRM’s director of HR standards. “There’s a lot of work, but we’re on the way.”

What the ISO approved was an application by the American National Standards Institute to develop globally applicable HR standards. It’s a companion effort to the one underway now to create HR standards for the U.S. Read more…

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HR News & Trends

Weekly Wrap: Lessons in Bridge Burning, Courtesy of Charlie Sheen

by on Feb 25, 2011, 12:20 PM  |  2 Comments
Charlie Sheen

Got a bridge to burn? Charlie Sheen may be just the guy to help you out.

In case you missed it, Hollywood bad boy Sheen went ballistic yesterday and as the Los Angeles Times put it, attacked “his employers in vitriolic public rants.”

His employers – CBS and Warner Bros. – responded by announcing “that they would cancel the rest of the season of the hit sitcom “Two and a Half Men,” casting a pall over the fate of TV’s most-watched comedy.”

There’s no need to recap all that Sheen has been doing that got him to this point (you probably have heard a lot about it already), and of course, you’re probably wondering what Charlie Sheen’s latest rant has to do with talent management and HR?

Just this, as I put it in another blog last year: Read more…

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Benefits

Are Your Workers in the 17% (Yes, Only 17%) on Track for Retirement?

by on Feb 25, 2011, 11:30 AM  |  No comments yet
Retirement planning

Employees are grossly unprepared for retirement, and employers are growing increasingly concerned about the cost of delayed retirement, which is estimated to be $10,000-$50,000 per year for every year an employee postpones doing it.

The implications of this problem are huge, making it the second most pressing issue HR departments are facing, after health care.

Instead of being able to save more towards their retirement nest eggs, many employees have had to shoulder the weight of higher health care costs, while at the same time, watching their retirement account balances drop over the last several years. Our latest research found that only about 17 percent of employees reported that they were on track to retire.

When the research is broken out by gender, the results are even more dire – with only 13 percent of women reporting that they know they are on target to replace at least 80 percent of their income in retirement, which is the generally accepted rule of thumb to hit as a goal. So how can we increase the number of employees who ARE on track? Read more…

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HR and the Movies

Your Sanity is Not For Sale: Some Lessons From Office Space

by on Feb 25, 2011, 10:20 AM  |  1 comment
OFFICE SPACE

Editor’s Note: With the Academy Awards nearly here, TLNT asked a number of thought leaders to reflect on their favorite movie with a management or HR theme. This is the final one in our series.

By Lance Haun

One of my first exposures to corporate life was the movie Office Space. When the movie was released, I was about 18 and I thought it was probably a good example of what corporate life would be like. Now call me a cynic for thinking this would be life in the corporate grind but tell me if parts of the movie don’t sound familiar:

  • Multiple bosses with redundant responsibilities.
  • Workplace efficiency consultants who help weed out employees and outsource functions.
  • Management disconnect from the employees and fear of confrontation.
  • Lame office parties and strict dress codes for customer-facing employees.

I know. It doesn’t sound like anything from Corporate America, right? But what did I learn then that I could apply to HR and my career now?

Read more…

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HR Insights, HR Management

Who’s Better – Big HR or Small HR?

by on Feb 25, 2011, 9:40 AM  |  2 Comments
Studio shot of a fish in bowl

This isn’t really a fair question, but someone asked me this recently.

What they were trying to get at was this: are HR Pros in very large, Fortune 500 companies better than the HR Pros you find in small to medium sized companies?

It’s not a question with a simple answer, because you find great HR Pros in both areas, and, you find horrible HR Pros in both areas. But here’s what I think you find more of in each: Read more…

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