Dilbert Of The Day

Ten for Tuesday

10 links for your Tuesday (much better than previously used "two for Tuesday"):

 

1. Workforce Management's "The Business of Management" has a post about the ultimate recruiting faux pas: hiring while the business is shutting down. Really quite ridiculous stuff from Conde Nast which is shutting down Portfolio.

 

2. Workforce Management's "Compensation Force" gives a salute to equal pay day.

 

3. Workforce Management's "The HR Capitalist" gives you three clowns to run your HR department (your sort of have to read it to understand)

 

3. Lastly from Workforce Management: Fistful of Talent sees purple squirrels everywhere (you definitely have to read it to understand)

 

4. HR World asks if it's OK to have babies at work?

 

5. WorldAtWork's "Public Policy Perceptions" talks about a diverse panel of experts and their multiple solutions on healthcare reform.

 

6. WorldAtWork's "The Business of Benefits" asks "[it's 10 PM do] you know where your employees are?" (10 PM part added for effect)

 

7. Human Resources Magazine gets into the rhyming game saying "let's regress the stress mess"

 

8. The Recruiters Lounge explains why you should invest in training during an economic downturn

 

9. The New Learning Playbook asks if laptops will be replaced in the workplace by smartphones?

 

10. And, lastly, the HR Web Cafe has some other great links for you to check out (including a twitterable Twitter policy)

 

Jobless Claims Bounce Higher

According to CNNMoney: 640,000 initial claims last week, a record 6.14 million of initial claims for unemployment insurance, and 5.94 million continuing claims. Unemployment rate is at a 25-year high of 8.5% and the nation has lost 5.1 million jobs since the beginning of 2008. Scary stuff.

Promotions On Hold And Other News From Around the US

-The Akron Beacon Journal reports that while we have pay freezes, benefits freezes and 401(k) freezes, not we're having promotion freezes as well. The report referenced comes from the Hay Group which says that 10% have frozen promotions and another 12% are considering it. My company is in the former category.

 

-Compensation Force takes a global look at rewards in the downturn (using a Hay study as well)

 

-The Star Press has a column that tells you how the resume has evolved greatly.

 

-The Journal of New England Technology has advice on how to retain employees

 

-And from the baseball world, sometimes the key is not just rewarding your employees or your customers, but those who support you the most. This is a sad story from the New York Post about what happens when you don't. Hopefully they fix this because the sound of Freddy's pan is one of the things I love about Yankee Stadium and he deserves to be there.

Astronology - Telecommuting: Is it feasible for your company?

 

 

Astronology Volume X Issue 4   April 21, 2009 Dear Andrew, Astron Solutions provides high-quality, low-cost, innovative human resources consulting services to organizations like yours. Call us for advice, innovative program design, and user-friendly Web/PC based software. The Astron Road Show On April 28th - 30th, National Director Jennifer Loftus and Technology Supervisor Brendan Williams will be exhibiting at the SHRM Staffing Management Conference in Las Vegas, NV. They'll be meeting and greeting with attendees and demonstrating our BlackBerry compatible Flare™! Jennifer will also present A + B + C = Wow! Using Total Rewards to Your Strategic Advantage Wednesday at 3:30 PM. If you'll be at the conference, stop by for excellent discussion, fun times, and valuable prizes! Fact or Fiction? There is a job for milking a snake. Fact or Fiction? Fact! Yes, this is actually true, believe it or not. There are over 2,900 species of snakes in the world, but only 600 of them are known to have any type of venom. If you were ever to get bitten by one of these snakes you would need to receive antivenins (anti-venom) to be OK. That is where the snake milker job comes into play. The snake milker gets the venom from the snake by making it bite a membrane that is stretched over a glass receptacle. The anti-venom is then created from the collected venom. Announcing the Launch of MyHrWebsite.com! Did you know that National Director Jennifer Loftus is launching a new web community called myhrwebsite.com? How many times have you asked a handful of people that you know for: ·    Who's a good vendor for a specific HR service? ·    How to do something in Microsoft Office? ·    Word of mouth referrals for a job opening? ·    HR trends in others' organizations? ·    Sources for a story you're working on? The network that you reach out to is probably small, relatively speaking.  And you may have a few people on LinkedIn, a few in an e-mail group, and another few people on Facebook - groups that don't necessary interact with one another.  As you know, the more people you reach out to with a question, the more valuable information you'll receive. Myhrwebsite.com gives you the power to reach out to thousands of individuals with the click of a button, without the hassle of having to remember to visit message boards or access listservs with targeted members. How myhrwebsite.com works is when you have a question, you visit the website and complete a quick form to submit your question.  Up to once a day, everyone in the community receives an e-mail with all the questions submitted by myhrwebsite.com members.  You can answer the questions you have expertise in, and ignore those on topics that you're not familiar with.  The Astron team will pre-screen the questions before the e-mail goes out to prevent spam from getting to you.  If there's no questions on a day, we won't send an e-mail. Today we're asking you for a minute of your time to please do two things: ·    Sign up to join myhrwebsite.com's community at www.myhrwebsite.com - we can't do it for you because we're not spammers - and ·    Forward this invitation to individuals in your network whom you think would enjoy and benefit from this free service. Please let us know your questions after reviewing myhrwebsite.com.  We look forward to having you and your network join us, so that the next time you have a question, you can say "let me visit myhrwebsite for the answer!" Telecommuting: Is it feasible for your company? In researching fiscally sensitive lifestyle adjustments, this Astronology reporter discovered the growing trend of telecommuting. While it may not seem like a common HR subject, telecommuting is becoming a highly important topic in organizations. Right now, many organizations are asking HR departments to creatively find solutions to cut cost yet retain talent. Introducing a telecommuting program within your organization may be the beacon of light needed to balance an organization during this time of recession....more Have a Question? If you have a topic you would like addressed in Astronology, or some feedback on a past article, don't hesitate to tell us!  Simply reply to this e-mail.  See your question answered, or comments addressed, in an upcoming issue of Astronology. Looking for a top-notch presenter for your human resource organization's meeting?  Both Jennifer Loftus and Michael Maciekowich present highly-rated sessions on a variety of compensation and employee retention issues.  For more information, send an e-mail to info@astronsolutions.com. The Fine Print We hold your e-mail address in trust.  Astron Solutions promises never to share or rent your personal information.  We also promise never to send you frivolous e-mails and will allow you to leave our list, at your option, at any time. To remove yourself from this list, please follow your personalized subscriber link at the bottom of your Astronology alert e-mail. Copyright 2009, Astron Solutions, LLC ISSN Number 1549-0467 Quick Links Client List Meet the Astron Team Contact Us World of HR Blog Bringing you Human Resource news from around the globe...compliments of Astron Solutions. More

Patriot Day Links

In was Patriot Day up in Boston today and here are some links to celebrate:

-The Laconic Law Blog tells us how making a profane comment about your employer can result in your loss of labor protections

-Don't have time for social media? Collegerecruiter.com say to hire an intern!

-HR World says less structure, more profit and to do this they recommend hiring recent graduates and having them work in a virtual office.

-RoundPegg has some thoughts on brown-nosing, sycophantism and sucking up including urging us all to not give in

-Want to know how a company can blow its trade secret protection? George's Employment Blawg has some details

-Goals vs. Commitments. Fistful of Talent has the battle

-Lastly, Benefits Buzz urges it to be done pro bono to get the most from time off spent to volunteer

Some Great Links For Your Weekend

From Cassandra...

 

Doing research for the next Astronology article (as always) I got a little sidetracked and found some interesting snippets of information.

 

Laid off via E-mail

 

Fired via text message

 

Google Search Dilemma

 

Hired and Fired via Facebook

 

I'm all for the advancement of technology in business...but I think the 1st situations are going a little too far.

The Google Search situation is understandable.

The Facebook situation just makes me scratch my head (ha ha.)

 

Some really nice finds! Thanks Cassandra! Enjoy and have a great weekend!

Speed, Executives, Education and Older Workers

A few topics for today...

 

-Naviga's Sales Journal gives five situations where excessive speed reduces productivity, effectiveness and success

 

-Executive jobs should expect slow job Growth in the first half of 2009 but can look forward to a more robust second half of the year, according to ExecuNet's 2009 Executive Job Market Intelligence Report (via Cheezhead)

 

-World at Work gives us a few odds and ends including some talk about President Obama's higher education agenda and some criticism of the plan and the lack of a pipeline that is created for employers

 

-News Flash: it's tough for older workers out there according to The Business of Management

 

-Fistful of Talent evoked Office Space for yesterday's post and now Jerry Maguire for today's post: those are two of my favorite movies! This post is about how NOT to play the salary negotiation game

 

-Lastly, The HR Capitalist wants to reach out to all of those Switzerland-like neutral HR professionals to ask them how they really like unions.

 

Fat Camp, Flair, and Career #2

Some good links for your Monday on those topics and many more. Hope everyone had a Happy Easter and is having a Happy Passover.

 

-Benefits Buzz starts us out by suggesting sending employees to fat camp and says why that and other weight loss competitions among employees is a really bad idea

 

-How many pieces of flair are you wearing? That Office Space reference was the first that came to mind when Fistful of Talent asked where does all the corporate logo wear go to die?

 

-Business Week Online (via Yahoo! News/Yahoo! Finance) has an article about saving up for career number 2 (H/T Wendy)

 

-Bully boss or victim? This is an interesting Australian research study on HR Web Cafe from the other side of the spectrum: the accused

 

-Lastly, the Recuiters Lounge has 10 no-cost ways to recognize employees. And a big H/T goes to Jim Stroud who does great work on his blog and on Twitter (where he shows he's big 24 fan like me!)

 

HR Going Twitter Crazy

-We'll start us off with an article from Workforce Management that says that the HR World is not immune from the Twitter Craze. Some examples they list are:

• The Internet buzz that was created when a person landed a job at Cisco, said on Twitter that she’d hate the work and was called out on her remarks by another Twitterer.

• The fact that the Society for Human Resource Management used Twitter to announce that Jack Welch would speak at its annual conference in New Orleans in late June.

• The way discussions have broken out about using Twitter as a tool for both training and benefits communication.

There are a few more uses, including benefits communications, marketing, customer service and employee training. But Workforce Management warns that many business people are flocking to Twitter without much thought about its true benefits and risks. That is an important factor to think about before you send your first Tweet.

Other HR/Twitterish/social-networkish news from around the blogosphere:

-Fistful of Talent says in their Field-of-Dream-y way "build it and they will come" in response to Twitterjobsearch

-Cheezhead looks at another social network which claims to help job seekers rise above the crowd

-And the New Learning Playbook says that not only could learning be done through iTunes U, but YouTube as well (which, hopefully, will lead to them unblocking sites like that at my office)

 

Obama to Make Immigration Bill a Priority Despite Risks

This New York Times report has been all over the news this morning. Could greatly effect Human Resources. Stay tuned...

 

SHRM Survey: 70 Percent of HR Professionals Pessimistic About U.S. Job Market in Second Quarter

SHRM Survey: 70 Percent of HR Professionals Pessimistic About U.S. Job Market in Second Quarter ALEXANDRIA, Va., April 8 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- More than two-thirds of HR professionals (70 percent) are pessimistic about job growth and anticipate job losses during the second quarter of 2009, a slight decrease from the first quarter, according to the Labor Market Outlook (LMO) survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). Nearly 70 percent also plan to eliminate jobs or keep payrolls flat. Specifically, 52 percent of HR professionals will maintain staffing levels while 17 percent will cut jobs. The good news is that the job cuts will be balanced by the 18 percent who plan to hire. Another 13 percent, however, are unsure how their company will respond to second-quarter hiring given the economic crisis. "The numbers for hiring remain low but do mark a quarter-to-quarter improvement," said Steve Williams, director of research at SHRM. "HR professionals anticipate fewer job cuts in the second quarter and more report a recruiting holding pattern as the recession plays out on their bottom line." In the first quarter of 2009, 84 percent of HR respondents either cut jobs or kept payrolls flat (39 percent conducted layoffs and 45 percent held steady). Managers, professionals, hourly service workers, laborers, and skilled manual workers remain the groups most affected by layoffs, while senior executives are the least affected. Additional survey highlights include: -- Managers and professionals (54 percent) will be most affected by second quarter layoffs, followed by hourly service workers (46 percent), skilled manual workers (38 percent), and laborers/ unskilled manual workers (29 percent). Senior executives (10 percent) and contract/ temporary employees (15 percent) will be the least affected by layoffs. -- Nonprofit organizations (24 percent) and privately owned for-profit organizations (22 percent) are more likely to increase staff in the second quarter of 2009. -- In the first quarter of 2009, more publicly owned for-profit (51 percent) and privately owned for-profit organizations (44 percent) decreased staffing levels than government agencies (26 percent) and nonprofits (25 percent). -- Nearly twice as many large organizations (30 percent) plan to decrease staff in the second quarter than medium (16 percent) or small organizations (15 percent). The survey defines large organizations as those with more than 500 employees. Medium-size companies are those with 100 to 499 employees while small employers include fewer than 100 workers. -- More small organizations (24 percent) plan to increase staff in the second quarter than medium (23 percent) and large (15 percent) organizations. The Labor Market Outlook examines hiring and recruiting trends based on a quarterly survey of more than 465 HR professionals managing company staffing issues from a broad range of public and private entities. The LMO is part of a series of economy-related surveys conducted by SHRM Research. Also released today from SHRM is the poll, "Financial Challenges to the U.S. & Global Economy and its Impact on Organizations." Reporters may view the complete SHRM LMO at: http://www.shrm.org/Research/MonthlyEmploymentIndices/Pages/default.aspx Reporters may read additional SHRM surveys at: http://www.shrm.org/surveys. About the Society for Human Resource Management The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the world's largest association devoted to human resource management. Representing more than 250,000 members in over 140 countries, the Society serves the needs of HR professionals and advances the interests of the HR profession. Founded in 1948, SHRM has more than 575 affiliated chapters within the United States and subsidiary offices in China and India. Visit SHRM Online at www.shrm.org. Source: Society for Human Resource Management CONTACT: Julie Malveaux, +1-703-535-6273, julie.malveaux@shrm.org, or Jennifer Hughes, +1-703-535-6072, jennifer.hughes@shrm.org, both of the Society for Human Resource Management Web Site: http://www.shrm.org/

 (H/T to Sarah)

Astronology - April Fools Day: Employee Morale and How to Kill it in 5 Easy Steps

 

 

Astronology Volume X Issue 3   April 7, 2009 Dear Andrew, Astron Solutions provides high-quality, low-cost, innovative human resources consulting services to organizations like yours. Call us for advice, innovative program design, and user-friendly Web/PC based software. The Astron Road Show Astron Solutions will be sponsoring the premier Human Resource legislative event in New York. The Business Council's 2009 Human Resource Legislative Conference will bring you up to date on state labor standards enforcement issues, disability rights under the state's human rights law, and the national workforce readiness credential. This year's luncheon speaker will be Galen Kirkland, Commissioner, and New York State Division of Human Rights. Commissioner Kirkland will discuss the Division's priorities and accomplishments and share his vision for the Division's future.   Please click here and join us in this wonderful event! Then, April 28th - 30th, National Director Jennifer Loftus and Technology Supervisor Brendan Williams will be exhibiting at the SHRM Staffing Management Conference in Las Vegas, NV. They'll be meeting and greeting with attendees and demonstrating our BlackBerry compatible Flare™! Jennifer will also present A + B + C = Wow! Using Total Rewards to Your Strategic Advantage Wednesday at 3:30 PM. If you'll be at the conference, stop by for excellent discussion, fun times, and valuable prizes! Fact or Fiction? We can thank the French for April Fool's Day. Fact! How did April Fool's day start? Well there isn't a specific answer to that question, but the Museum of Hoaxes has a couple theories. "The most popular theory about the origin of April Fool's Day involves the French calendar reform of the sixteenth century. The theory goes like this: In 1564 France reformed its calendar, moving the start of the year from the end of March to January 1. Those who failed to keep up with the change, who stubbornly clung to the old calendar system and continued to celebrate the New Year during the week that fell between March 25th and April 1st, had jokes played on them. Pranksters would surreptitiously stick paper fish to their backs. The victims of this prank were thus called Poisson d'Avril, or April Fish-which, to this day, remains the French term for April Fools-and so the tradition was born." (Citation courtesy of the Museum of Hoaxes.) Dear Committee Members: Save the date! October 4-6, 2009 Join Astron Solutions along with HR expects, practitioners, and researchers as we discuss how to maintain organizational effectiveness during the tough economic times. Hear from these experts in over 25 workshops, seminars, and network sessions. They will be discussing: · Strategy Development/ Strategic Planning · Talent Management · HR Professional Development · Total Rewards (Benefits and Compensation) · Diversity · Employee Relations/Ethics · Workplace Culture · HR Metrics/Research If you register before May 1st you save $100! On this great deal! For more information click here or call (202) 785-2060. Getting to the Heart of the Matter By Charlie Allenson, Chief Improv Officer (CIO), Improving with Improv These days, just about everyone is not just being asked, but being told to do more with less. So the one thing you cannot afford, to quote Led Zeppelin, is a "Communications Breakdown." Yet it's precisely in times like these that rapid and clear communications are more critical than ever. Communication, along with mental agility and adaptive thinking, can help get you more easily to do the "more" that's being asked of you....more   April Fools Day: Employee Morale and How to Kill it in 5 Easy Steps For our first article in April, in recognition of April Fool's Day, we've decided to make light of a serious topic. As an August 2008 Training Trends e-newsletter pointed out, there are "countless articles and books that promise to tell employers how to boost employee morale." Why not take a shortcut from buying and reading all of those books and take a look at the top 5 ways to kill employee morale? ....more Have a Question? If you have a topic you would like addressed in Astronology, or some feedback on a past article, don't hesitate to tell us!  Simply reply to this e-mail.  See your question answered, or comments addressed, in an upcoming issue of Astronology. Looking for a top-notch presenter for your human resource organization's meeting?  Both Jennifer Loftus and Michael Maciekowich present highly-rated sessions on a variety of compensation and employee retention issues.  For more information, send an e-mail to info@astronsolutions.com. The Fine Print We hold your e-mail address in trust.  Astron Solutions promises never to share or rent your personal information.  We also promise never to send you frivolous e-mails and will allow you to leave our list, at your option, at any time. To remove yourself from this list, please follow your personalized subscriber link at the bottom of your Astronology alert e-mail. Copyright 2009, Astron Solutions, LLC ISSN Number 1549-0467 Quick Links Client List Meet the Astron Team Contact Us World of HR Blog Bringing you Human Resource news from around the globe...compliments of Astron Solutions. More

One More Link

Update on the last post...(forgot one link I wanted to add to this group): Advice on using Facebook and LinkedIn to find jobs during the recession.

Facebook, Twitter and Your Job

It's Opening Day for Major League Baseball! Spring is officially here! No case of the Mondays today!

 

-Starting us off on this rainy Monday morning is a study that says surfing the internet to sites like Twitter and Facebook during work actually increases productivity. Beat that, internet filter!

 

-Next HR Web Cafe warns employees to watch what they Tweet after a job applicant got a little too honest about their feelings on the position they had just been offered...oops

 

-College Recruiter says that recessions can be great times to start your own business

 

-The Recruiters Lounge gives you a list of the first seven things to do when you get laid off

 

-HR World says to get walking for National Workplace Wellness Week (I did a race yesterday, so I feel like I'm doing my part)

 

-Lastly, Fistful of Talent brings up those resumes with pictures--not the greatest idea out there.

 

U.S. Unemployment Rate Reaches 25-Year High of 8.5%

This news from Bloomberg. 663,000 jobs lost last month to bring the unemployment rate to the highest in my lifetime. Scary stuff...

U.S. private sector axes 742,000 jobs in March

News this morning according to Reuters...which was a record, and almost 100,000 beyond expectations.

 

Getting Fired While Having A Baby

-The New York Times gives a pop quiz which reveals that neither laying off a pregnant woman nor laying off a woman on maternity leave actually violates federal employment law (H/T Wendy). Something seems really wrong there.

 

-Florida's unemployment rate reached 9.4% in February which is higher than the national rate, according to the South Florida Business Journal. This seems to be mostly due to the loss in construction jobs.

 

-From the Freakonomics blog of the New York Times, a question if your company's health insurance plan will cover internet addiction? And, on that note, a questions should arise whether an employee who spends too much time surfing the internet can claim that as an addiction as well?

 

-This is sort of sad, but while most banks have banned executive travel to save on cost, the Financial Times is reporting that Swiss banks have banned executive travel because they are worried the executives will be detained.

 

-Lastly, Google's latest development and the Guardian is switching to Twitter! (and Happy April 1st!)

 

Sorry about the lack of updates. Just finished moving apartments and it's like managing a group of people: you have to coordinate everyone and get them to work on the same schedule. Not easy. You need to coordinate with the old building's super, the new buildings super, the doormen, the moving company, construction companies, electrical, cable, mail forwarding, management companies, etc. When it all finally comes together and you're finally moved, it's a huge sigh of relief.