Articles tagged 'Communications'

How You Communicate Performance Is as Important as When and Why

by Derek Irvine on Mar 13, 2012, 7:45 AM | 2 Comments

It’s annual performance review time for a lot of organizations right now.

This is a frequent topic of conversation within Globoforce as we strongly believe the annual review presents only a fragment of the picture of employee performance told from the point of view of one person. The rest of the story must be told by the people who interact every day with the person being reviewed – their colleagues and peers.

And no, I’m not advocating the traditional 360 degree performance review process, either, which is fraught with its own set of problems (ably described in this post by Dr. Wendell Williams). Read more…

Benefits

What You Need to Start Disclosing to Employees About 401(k) Fees

by Liz Rowell on Mar 7, 2012, 9:37 AM | No comments yet

Hello new 401(k) notices!

As if the new disclosures required under health care reform weren’t enough to juggle this summer, you need to wrap your head around sharing new data to your 401(k) participants. Yes, data about the fees they pay.

You may remember our article last summer suggesting you gear up for a January 1, 2012, implementation. Well, the principles still apply, and in February the final regulations were released. This is complicated stuff. Luckily, Business Legal Resources has done a lot of the legwork for you

Before you start strategizing how you’re going to take your summer vacation in the midst of all this change, let’s start with the basics: Read more…

HR News & Trends, Recruiting and Staffing

Survey: Employee Referrals Are Really More Effective Than We Think

by John Zappe on Feb 1, 2012, 10:45 AM | No comments yet

Employee referral programs may produce more hires — perhaps many more — than surveys would suggest.

Over the years it has come to be accepted that the average number of new hires coming from employee referral programs is somewhere between SHRM’s 24 percent (for non-exempt positions) to about a third. Some programs do much better.

From CareerXroads now comes evidence that the hires from employee referrals are undercounted.

“Referrals permeate the recruiting process more than we think,” says recruiting consultant Gerry Crispin, a CareerXroads principal. Read more…

Talent Management

Managing Millennials: 3 Keys to Engagement – and 3 Common Mistakes

by Eric Chester on Feb 1, 2012, 7:37 AM | 1 comment

A colleague of mine who routinely speaks to college students accepts an offer to present a webinar to a company who employs a lot of young talent. Even though he understands college kids, this particular request is a bit out of his wheelhouse, but he decides to stretch himself and cover the topic to the best of his ability.

He sends me an email and asks if I will help him prepare by providing quick and simple answers to two questions:

“What are 3 ways managers can engage Millennial/Gen Y workers?” and ,
“What are three common mistakes companies/managers make with young talent?” Read more…

HR News & Trends

No, Despite What Others Are Doing, We’re Not Blacking Out TLNT Today

by John Hollon on Jan 18, 2012, 1:44 PM | No comments yet

Lots of websites, from Wired to Wikipedia to The Cynical Girl, are going dark today as part of the Internet protest over proposed online anti-piracy legislation that many feel would actually cripple free speech.

That’s not because TLNT feels special or immune, because it’s my firm belief that this legislation, if it becomes law, could censor websites such as TLNT that frequently link to (and feature under the principle of “fair use”) copyrighted content from other places.

No, TLNT is not participating in the “blackout” because I believe it actually makes more sense to educate you about the issues and the potential chilling effect this legislation would not only have on TLNT, but on the bloggers we feature, the websites all of us link to, and the free flow of information as it now takes place under established Internet principles such as “fair use.”

And, I couldn’t find any better way to educate you about all of this than this great Q&A from Silicon Valley’s own San Jose Mercury News. Here’s a little of what it had to say: Read more…

HR Insights

Raise the bar? Think Out of the Box? Biz Clichés and the Credibility Crisis

by David Sneed on Jan 4, 2012, 11:55 AM | 10 Comments

Whenever I hear someone say “We need to raise the bar,” my first thought is: “Won’t that make it easier?” I guess not everyone is a limbo dancer.

Another expression that gives me pause is: “Thinking outside the box.” Last week a surly, neon-tressed barista clubbed me with this one when I asked her why the smallest drink they have is a medium.

“I can tell you aren’t creative,” she said. “You aren’t thinking outside the box.” Hoping to avoid further abuse, I ha-ha’d softly and slid over to the register to pay for my medium coffee.

I was fatigued by all the banter so I didn’t have the strength to tell her that using a cliché to describe creativity makes less sense than telling someone to “shut up when you’re talking to me.” Read more…

HR Insights

New Year’s Resolutions: 3 Things You Can Learn to Make Change Successful

by Lance Haun on Jan 4, 2012, 7:45 AM | 2 Comments

I’m not a gym rat but I do have a membership that I use a couple of times a week. And if you’ve ever been to the gym in January, you know the scene. It gets busy. Really busy.

Of course, when I go to the gym, I typically have headphones on, trying my best to focus on what I’m doing and not embarrass myself. So while I may not recognize a lot of faces there, I do notice that the equipment I use becomes easier and easier to access as January becomes February and February becomes March, April and beyond.

For those considering big changes this year that will impact their employees, that example has some wisdom for all of us to remember: change don’t come easy.

Growing Your Business This Year: All It Takes is a Work Ethic Revival

by Eric Chester on Jan 3, 2012, 9:00 AM | 2 Comments

You want more business and higher profits in 2012. Your mind is racing with clever promotional schemes and innovative marketing ideas to attract new customers in the coming year.

Stop. Reboot your thinking. That’s right. Hit your mental “Control – Alt – Delete” keys.

The surest way to grow your business in 2012 is to get your employees to work as hard as you do. If they are content to perform the minimum daily requirement, fly beneath your radar, and avoid getting fired until they get a better job, no amount you spend on marketing and branding will move you forward.

What you may actually need is a revival; a work ethic revival, that is. Read more…

Best of TLNT

Getting Down to Management Basics: My 5 Postulates of Employment Law

by Mark J. Neuberger on Dec 28, 2011, 12:25 PM | No comments yet

Attorney Mark Neuberger of the law firm Foley & Lardner.

To Our Readers: This week, TLNT is continuing our annual tradition by counting down the 30 most popular and well-read posts of this past year. This is No. 13. Our regular content will return on Monday January 2, 2012.

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By Mark J. Neuberger

Having worked in corporate human resources for 10 years and practiced management-side labor and employment law for over 20 years, I am convinced that effective management of human talent is in large part, dependent upon the ability to accurately predict future human behavior.

Certainly this is true when recruiting and hiring talent, but is also true if employers want to successfully negotiate recurring management problem areas. While each employee situation poses its own legal risks and challenges, over the years I have developed some guiding principles to deal with recurring situations.

I call these “Neuberger’s Postulates of Employment Law” and here are the first five: Read more…

HR Basics, HR Management

HR Roundtable: Just What is Effective HR Communication?

by Steve Browne on Dec 19, 2011, 9:00 AM | 1 comment

Everyone on the planet thinks they are amazing communicators.

In fact, most people put how incredible they are as communicators on their resumes. Ironically, when you ask people what the number one problem is at companies today, the answer would be poor communication.

So, the HR Roundtable in Cincinnati gathered in December to discuss, “Just what is “Effective Communication?” To get the troops started in their small group discussions, Steve posed the following questions: Read more…