Thursday, July 30, 2009

Hating Meetings, Surviving McKinsey, and Going Out With a Bang

The first link of the day is from Paul Graham who tells us all why we hate meetings so much (H/T Freakonomics)
 
Next, from Gawker, we have the "Complete McKinsey Survival Guide" which thankfully had a reference to Office Space
 
One place in financial services that is hiring? TARP according to Monster.com
 
The New York Times has news about unemployment checks being delayed for millions as states have struggled to come up with funds. Sad news for those without a job.
 
MediaPost asks if Twitter is a job qualification #FAIL?
 
Speaking of social networking, this story from SEOptimise of United Airlines using millions because of a YouTube video is fascinating.
 
Securities Industry has a great article on how a Morgan Stanley executive almost committed the perfect crime (and as Human Resources, things to look out for)
 
Lastly, Great Moments In Christory gives you 4 bad reactions to getting fired (hopefully none of your employees have done any of these...)
 

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Astronology - Business Coaching and Mentoring: Are They Worth the Effort?

 
Astron Website Top
Astronology
Volume X
Issue 11
 
July 28, 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.

Fact or Fiction?

Eggplants are botanically classified as a vegetable

Fiction!

The Eggplant belongs in the botanical category of solanaceae. Its botanic family members are actually berries. After all those years of enjoying Italian food, who knew?
Business Coaching and Mentoring: Are They Worth the Effort?
mentorMany people consider Business Coaching and Business Mentoring to be the same thing. Even though they are both organizational development terms, they are not synonymous. This issue of Astronology investigates the practicality of Business Coaching and Business Mentoring.....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.

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Monday, July 27, 2009

Tony Bernazard Fired From Mets

Tony Bernazard, the Mets employee we wrote about on Friday, has been fired today by the New York Mets. The Mets General Manager, Omar Minaya, sent out an e-mail to the Mets e-mail list letting them know of his decision "personally". You wonder when the other shoe is going to drop and Minaya will be blamed for this mess. He is the one who is in charge of hiring employees and making sure that their conduct adheres to the Mets guidelines. He had no choice but to fire Bernazard and I wonder why it took him so long to do it. I don't think it should be long before Minaya follows his friend Bernazard out the door. If he is taking full responsibility for what happened, that would be the next logical step.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Tony Bernazard Creating Huge HR Problems for the New York Mets

The Mets need to fire Tony Bernazard now because his continued employment is turning into a PR and HR disaster. Via ESPN:
Bernazard, the team's vice president for player development, pulled off his shirt and challenged the Double-A Binghamton Mets in the tirade, about 10 days before the All-Star break. He in particular targeted middle infield prospect Jose Coronado, according to the report.
And what did he say to him? According to the New York Daily News:
Bernazard particularly went after middle infield prospect Jose Coronado, using a slang term associated with a woman's anatomy, a source indicated
Also:
The News reported Tuesday that Bernazard, one of GM Omar Minaya's top lieutenants, recently erupted at the organization's manager of baseball operations. During a game at Citi Field, scouts took their customary seats in a row behind home plate. Bernazard showed up during play and wanted a seat occupied by a D-Backs scout. Bernazard's deputy, already seated in the row, suggested to the Mets VP that he wait until the half-inning ended, to minimize the disruption. Bernazard ripped into his deputy with a profanity-laced tirade as scouts and patrons watched in disbelief.
That's not good. The Mets are only now conducting the investigation. This shows a real failure of understanding what is going on in your own organization, especially by Mets General Manager Omar Minaya. The New York Post's Joel Sherman agrees:
Here is the question that Omar Minaya needed to be asked: This incident with Bernazard allegedly challenging the Double-A team to a fight, if you knew about it soon after it occurred a few weeks ago why did you not begin an investigation then? If you didn't know about it, what kind of organization are you running that this information did not flow to the GM and owners, but rather to reporters first? Either way this speaks horribly of the Mets. They either knew and did nothing to address this unprofessional, egregious behavior, or they didn't know, which means their front office is filled with see-no-evil buffoons.

Saying you are doing an investigation now feels like something the Mets were advised to do by their behind-the-scenes p.r. firm as a way to look on top of a situation that they are not really on top of. Again, with the Mets, it is too much about giving off the right perception, rather than doing the right thing.

To me this "investigation" also feels like a stall tactic designed to see what the public/media reaction is to Bernazard. My gut says that Jeff Wilpon does not want to fire someone with whom he has grown close. But he will wait to see if Bernazard has become untenable. Thus, the "investigation" will be more an examination of what public/media sentiment is and if more ugly stuff is dug up against Bernazard, a man who has made quite a few enemies while a Met executive.

Because if what is reported to have occurred has occurred, what do you need an investigation for? At that point, ownership just has to determine do they feel that this behavior is reason for dismissal or not.

And if that wasn't enough to get Bernazard fired, word today from The New York Times says that Bernazard also engaged on Friday in a verbal confrontation (that almost escalated to a physical confrontation) with the Mets All-Star closer, Francisco Rodriguez:

According to people on the bus, Rodriguez made a friendly gesture toward family members of his fellow reliever Pedro Feliciano that Bernazard might have misinterpreted. They argued in Spanish, and the dispute escalated to the point that there seemed to be a danger of a physical altercation, one witness said.

All this is not only a P.R. disaster for the Mets, but also an H.R. disaster. Challenging many members of the organization to fight or getting into an almost-physical altercation with a member of the organization cannot be tolerated or allowed to happen. The Mets are a baseball team in disarray but also seem to be an organization with a lack of, well, organization. It seems like there is too much cronyism, too much allowed to occur.
 
The reason behind the tirade against the minor league team was supposedly because of underage drinking. As the vice president for player development, Bernazard's job was to stop them from underage drinking or maybe suggest some counseling. Instead, he challenged them to a WWE rumble. If he is allowed to remain an employee of the Mets, what message does this send to the rest of the organization about proper behavior? What if a player did this to a fan? This is a situation that needs to be handled right now by the Mets before it escalates any further.
 

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Hitting Up the New York Times

Sorry for the absence, but I have a bunch of New York Times articles for you on this Tuesday night:

-First, the Times talks about the bankers golden parachutes creating a windfall for bankers and resentment from the rest of America

-Next, the Times asks when the economy will turn around and hiring will begin again

-Lastly, the NYT on women breaking through the glass ceiling of the Supreme Court, moving from Anita Hill to Sonia Sotomayor

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Astronology - 2009 SHRM Annual Conference and Exposition Recap

 
Astron Website Top
Astronology
Volume X
Issue 10
 
July 14, 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.

Fact or Fiction?

Almonds belong with the same botanic family as peanuts and other nuts.

Fiction!

Almonds belong in the category of prunus, its botanic family members are actually peaches, plums and nectarines.
2009 SHRM Annual Conference and Exposition Recap
shrmIt was rainy and damp, filled with good times and great learning experiences. The SHRM 2009 Annual Conference and Exposition drew over 6,000 Human Resource professionals from across the country to New Orleans, LA for 4 days of learning and fun....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

World of HR Blog

Bringing you Human Resource news from around the globe...compliments of Astron Solutions.

More

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Monday, July 13, 2009

What I'm Hearing...HR from the Pulpit

Let's start off this Monday with a little humor!

Most Saturday afternoons you can find me at the 4:30 PM mass at St. Cecilia's Church in Rockaway, NJ. The pastor, Monsignor John Hart, always ends mass with a joke. This week's was perfect for HR! No matter your religious beliefs, you should find a chuckle here:

Three men were fishing and complaining about getting old and the various aches and pains that come along with aging. Suddenly, St. Michael appears on their boat and asks the first man what his trouble is. "My back is killing me," he says. St. Michael touches him and the man's back is pain free! The second man says "My eyes are terrible. I can't see very well at all." St. Michael touches the second man and his vision is perfect. St. Michael turns to the third man, who says in a frightened voice, "Don't touch me - I'm on disability!"

How many employees in your organization are following the approach of the third man, rather than seeking a quick recovery and return to work? When was the last time you reached out to individuals on both short and long term disability to see how they're doing?

NYT: Black-White Gap in Jobless Rate

A little morning reading on my train ride today. Interesting statistic out of the New York Times this morning says that the unemployment rate among black people in New York is rising four times as fast as white people.

It would be interesting to see if this may be a discriminatory indicator (whether companies are laying off their black workers more frequently than their white ones) or if it's just a sense of which companies are most hard hit (meaning companies who hire mostly black workers or more than other companies are being hit harder by this economic downturn and therefore are forced to lay off more workers).

Either way, this is something for Human Resources professionals to think about when laying off people in their company.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/nyregion/13unemployment.xml

-Andrew

Friday, July 10, 2009

Now THIS is a Fortune...or is it?

My fortune cookie today: "It's one of those low-key days that you'd rather spend just chilling"
 
That couldn't be any more true...but it isn't really a "fortune"
 
On to some HR articles before your weekend:
  • The numbers of marathon runners as well as their results are up. Why? According to the Wall Street Journal, it's because unemployed people have ramped up their training
  • Career Solvers looks into their crystal ball and says the future of the job search will have to do with Google, multiple instant messaging platforms, information banks, texting, e-mail, social networking, reality TV, computer simulations, video chat and "the wild card". You'll just have to read the post to understand.
  • Lastly, Fistful of Talent has their Top 25 blogs. We're not on there, but hopefully next year. Even though we didn't make it, we did win the Apex award! :)
Have a great weekend!

Wednesday, July 08, 2009

2009 Apex Award Winner - Thank You Again

We here at Astron Solutions want to thank you again for making us an Apex Award Winner. This is our second year in a row winning this award and we couldn't do it without you, our loyal readers.

And please keep on visiting. Sign up for our e-mail updates, subscribe to our RSS feed, or just bookmark our blog. Whatever it takes, keep on coming back as we'll be giving you great articles all year long.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Thursday, July 02, 2009

467,000 Cut In June

The June numbers were not good and worse than forecasted for the United States, according to Bloomberg:
Employers in the U.S. cut 467,000 jobs in June, the unemployment rate rose and hourly earnings stagnated, offering little evidence the Obama administration’s stimulus package is shoring up the labor market.
 
The payroll decline was more than forecast and followed a 322,000 drop in May, according to Labor Department figures released today in Washington. The jobless rate jumped to 9.5 percent, the highest since August 1983, from 9.4 percent.
 
Unemployment is projected to keep rising for the rest of the year
Not good...

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