Beware of Compliance Leaving Your Company

This is a very interesting video from the Wall Street Journal warning you to beware of compliance professionals leaving your company because it could be a large red flag (H/T Wendy)

Unemployment Rate, Small Businesses and New Mobile Site

We'll actually lead-off with the last one in the subject line. Today more and more people are accessing the web via a smartphone and here at Astron Solutions, we understand the need to do so. So we've developed a new mobile site for you to use that should work very easily on your Blackberry, iPhone, Droid or other smartphone. Go to http://astronsolutionsworldofhr.blogspot.com/?m=1 and you should have a nice, clean mobile site to use. Eventually, you should be able to just go to our regular blog address and access the mobile site but for right now, that address is the best one to use.

If you work for or own a small business, the Wall Street Journal is reporting that things will start to look brighter in 2011...but old problems will still remain: "Companies, helped by a loosening in the credit markets as well as improvements in consumer spending, are showing some interest in raising prices and hiring new employees. But most improvements are expected to be marginal, likely benefiting only the healthiest small businesses while the rest continue to struggle, relying on survival tactics adopted during the recession, such as deep discounts to lure customers and operating with fewer hands."

Also before you start cheering the "great" unemployment data from today (the largest drop in unemployment since 1998), read this Forbes article and realize that unemployment rate is always a flawed figure: "The big drop in the unemployment rate did not come from all of the new jobs created (which were largely in hospitality and health care, with 25,000 new bartenders and waitresses minted in December and 36,000 health professionals finding work) but simply from the erasure of unemployed people from the rolls."

Stay dry on this snowy Friday and have a great weekend!

You're Fired...Wait...You're Hired...Again

Way back in November of 2007 I wrote a post on the Astron Solutions blog titled "You're Fired...Wait...You're Hired" after Circuit City decided to rehire some of the employees they had fired. It continues to be one of our most-visited posts and even though Circuit City is no longer around, the themes in that post (and Michael Scott's words) continue to resonate, especially with the recent "resignation" of Shirley Sherrod.

I posted a little while back from HR hero's The Oswald Letter about terminating in haste can lead to regret at leisure. Last Thursday, Fistful of Talent (H/T Jennifer) looked at the process of welcoming back rehires (AKA "The Sacred Boomerang Ceremony"). The author describes the ceremony:

At Kahler Slater, not only do they accept employees back (the good ones of course) but they believe that having a strong employee come back is reason to celebrate. John Horky, the HR Guy, creates for each one of these employees a boomerang and presents it to them during a staff meeting with their very own “Sacred Boomerang Ceremony”.

Imagine, a celebration where the entire company is gathered to welcome an employee back into the fold. They present the boomerang, tell everyone what the employee has been doing since he/she left, and celebrate them coming back to the company. 

This isn't a process without problems, however.

Getting Rid of the Performance Review

I wrote earlier this week about changing the performance review scale, but the Wall Street Journal via Yahoo! Finance has an even better idea: eliminate performance reviews completely (H/T Sarah). The article's opening is a great call to arms:

It's time to finally put the performance review out of its misery.

This corporate sham is one of the most insidious, most damaging, and yet most ubiquitous of corporate activities. Everybody does it, and almost everyone who's evaluated hates it. It's a pretentious, bogus practice that produces absolutely nothing that any thinking executive should call a corporate plus.

And yet few people do anything to kill it. Well, it's time they did.

Just because everyone hates it, though, doesn't mean it should go. The ability to evaluate employees keeps everyone honest--including the reviewer, the reviewed, Human Resources, and upper management. Everyone hates it because it isn't fun to judge other people but like Valentine's Day reminds us once a year to say "I love you" when we should be doing it every day, performance reviews reminds us once a year that we should be giving constructive criticism, even though we should be doing that all the time as well. The key is to do it in a way that achieves a maximum comfort level for everyone involved and gets to a positive result.

Hiring Freeze Thawing and Wall Street Bonuses

It's a mega link week here at Astron's World of HR blog.

First, from The Journal of Commerce, an interesting article about the hiring freeze starting thaw (H/T Wendy). The article does point, out, however that the road to recovery is just beginning and overall the U.S. job market is pretty flat (with unemployment hovering at 9%-10%). (Picture also from this article).

Next, The Wall Street Journal came out with the numbers yesterday that Wall Street bonuses were up 17% to $20.3 billion in 2009. Now, while it's not surprising that bonuses are up after last year's bonus-busting recession and the tight regulation on Wall Street bonuses, it is still disconcerting to much of Main Street that their tax dollars went to Wall Street for this. The interactive graph that accompanies the article is a good view to show how crazy the bonuses have gotten on Wall Street. You have to figure that many of these bonuses were "making up" for last year. But while most of America is dealing with unemployment, hearing that the average bonus was $124,850 and the average compensation was $340,000 has to be upsetting to many.

Tomorrow we'll get more into the job losses that we talked about as well as looking at which states tax you the most.

The Job Market As It Stands

We all know the job market isn't good. Despite any numbers to the contrary, we are pretty sure we'll see 10% unemployment very soon and all of us know at least one person who is currently out of a job. I know of almost 20 people who have been laid off. It's not pretty out there.

The Wall Street Journal says that it will be years before lost jobs return. And some may never return. 7.2 million jobs have just disappeared since December 2007 and there will be many Americans left standing on the sidelines once their unemployment runs out. Sad times.

The New York Times tells the story of a pair of identical twins who are living in New York City, 17 months out of college and are looking for a job--any job at all. There story isn't unlike others that I've heard from peers who are only a few years out of college; the jobs just aren't there.

Lastly, also from The Wall Street Journal, an article about law-firm hires whose first task is finding an interim job. I know some people who have been fortunate enough to receive an offer from a law firm only to have that offer deferred. Banks have also been doing this, much to the chagrin of recent college (and graduate school) graduates. With the tough hiring environment, a deferred job is better for some than no job at all.

Great Articles on a Great Day

Those who've gone outside in New York today know it was a beautiful day. Where here are some links to enjoy once you're done enjoying the weather...

Got some good stuff from the Boston Globe's Job Docs, the first article is about a couple of bad apples spoiling things for everyone at work: click here

Also from Job Docs, advice on whether it is appropriate to get calls for jobs--while at work: click here

Lastly from Job Docs, it's not just in the school yard anymore--job interview do overs: click here

From the Wall Street Journal, word that recruiting at business schools has dropped: click here

Also from the Journal, despite cutbacks in firms, they are still investing in developing future leaders: click here

Lastly from the Journal, an article making the case for executive education: click here

And our last article for the day, from Dice, 8 ways to keep your career moving while out of work (H/T Wendy): click here

Making Staff Decisions in a Recession from the Wall Street Journal

Job losses and pay cuts are mounting as the U.S. economy struggles. Ravin Jesuthasan of Towers Perrin says that health care and energy look like the safest industries in these tough times.

Laid Off and Looking

Laid Off and Looking from the Wall Street Journal

In this video blog entry, Dawn Jordan talks about her job search and the importance of networking.

Oxford's Business History Program

Oxford Offers a Business History Lesson from the Wall Street Journal.

Oxford University's Chris McKenna says during times of economic crisis, look to the past for a broader perspective. He speaks with WSJ's Alina Dizik about a new history course at the university.

The Financial World and the Job Market

It'll be interesting to see the fallout in the job market from the current financial crisis, but some effects are already seen...

The first article is from the New Jersey Law Journal and probably won't work for most of you...but the important part is just to read the title and then find a way to get your hands on the article: Pru Appeals in Suit Charging it Paid Off Plaintiffs' Lawyers: click here

Next, an interesting lesson from Yahoo! News via the AP on what can happen with mergers/takeovers and job layoffs as HP surprises Wall Street in this article: click here

(H/T to Wendy for those)

The Wall Street Journal (with a nice, new look) continues with an article sure to cause a little head scratching to most of America...the Executive job market is still healthy: click here and a video here

Next from the Journal is a very interesting article about trying to get Fannie Mae's and Freddie Mac's employees to stay as the mortgage giants go through some difficult times: click here

Going quickly to the Boston Globe's, Boston.com Monster.com HiringHub HR Center HR Blog, word that this isn't your father's job fairs--something new is in the air: click here

Lastly, in an article form the Journal, we learn that GMAT scores are being canceled...a lesson to employers that sometimes test scores aren't really all that reliable: click here

We've also added a great new feed from the WSJ on our right: click here

Millenials and Word from the Journal

We start off on this Tuesday (an Astronology Tuesday) with a blog entry from the Boston Globe Monster.com HR Center HR Blog about Millenials: click here

Next, from the Wall Street Journal's Career Journal, advice on how to get better pay after years of a lower salary: click here

Also from the Journal, word that the same old technologies that worked in the past are proving successful today for productivity (see chart on right): click here

Lastly, as a special to the Journal a Q&A that addresses the ways to get out of negative thinking at work: click here

15,000 and counting

Thanks for continuing to make our blog popular! 15,000 visitors and counting...

We start off with the Wall Street Journal's Career Journal with an article about finding a position as a mature job hunter (and conversely, HR professionals should think about how to seek out these candidates): click here

Also from the Journal we have an article on a consultant beefing up his resume (click here ) and a CEO's recipe for fresh ideas: click here

Lastly, GM is offering employees early retirement to cut salaried jobs by 15% as told by the Baltimore Sun: click here

(another post coming up a bit later...)

Banning Social Networking?

If you're thinking of banning social networking from your company, you may be making a very costly mistake according to employee evolution: click here

If you're thinking of skipping those MBA recruiting sessions, you should read this Wall Street Journal article about more and more people who are doing just that: click here

If you're getting ready to retire, you should read this Journal article about planning your exit strategy: click here

If you're worried about whether you need to have a required lunch break, read this Q&A from the Human Resource blog: click here

If you're wondering the best way to leveraging talent into your company's competitive advantage, read this book review from the HR Practitioner: click here

If you're trying to figure out what the role of Human Resources should be in employer branding, read this PUREcommunications article: click here

And if you're looking for an HR job, who are we to ignore social networking after we talked about it's importance, so here's a LiveJournal entry on a website for HR jobs: click here

When Employers Just Can't Keep Up

You know when an interviewee calls up and asks why they haven't gotten a call back? Well maybe it's tell them that your Human Resource staff just can't keep up...and you wouldn't be alone according to the Kansas City Star: click here

The Ventura County Star talks about a bias bill that is being opposed by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM): click here

Red Orbit says that wired staffs are a good thing...despite some other opinions: click here

The Wall Street Journal follows up with this article about companies' efforts to extend researchers' productivity: click here

Lastly, the Start4all Human Resources weblog has six "A-HA's" in building a successful Human Resources career: click here

Facebook, Google, and the People

Greetings from Richmond, VA...

Livemint.com (from the Wall Street Journal) tells us what Facebook has to do with Human Resources: click here

HR Marketer Blog has some information on how Google rocks and the rolling of HR professionals and suppliers into one community: click here

Lastly, this Human Resources blog says that no matter what media is out there, Human Resources is about the people: click here

Senior Job/Junior Pay and the Relocation Blue

We got some great articles today from the Wall Street Journal as we again go from Wall Street to Main Street

First, an article about a new type of downsizing occurring, further obscuring the precarious job hunt--either by the combination of junior and senior positions in a job description and giving it a junior pay or by hiring new senior level employees but also giving them the work that was once done by their subordinates: click here

This is a tricky tightrope for Human Resources to walk...you don't want to be seen as "tricking" someone (as the article seems to suggest).

Next, the Relocation Blues from the Journal's "90 Days" column tells you how to cope with forced relocation (or, as HR, a nice way you can provide suggestions and work along your employees when this occurs for them): click here

Also from the Journal's Career Journal column "Pay Grade", tackling sustainability-related projects: click here

Lastly, from the Johns Hopkins University Gazette, rethinking the future of HR: click here

Wall Street to Main Street

Riding the train this morning I happened to peek at a fellow passenger's Wall Street Journal and spied upon some great articles...

First, a front page article on layoffs...if you hear rumors they may be coming, here's some advice on what to do: click here

And with this advice, some thoughts should emerge for HR professionals on how to handle those types of situations. One of my friends worked for a large fashion company that had been rumored to be on the brink of bankruptcy. One of the actions taken by the company's management--that shocked him and others--was to fire one employee whose only misstep was talking about the rumors going around about the company. They said he was a poison to the company and got rid of him. A few days later, the company filed for bankruptcy and a lot more employees went. But if the company had not filed, that sole decision would have been viewed as a warning (whether right or wrong) to other employees who would think about discussing the rumors among themselves at work...

The Career Journal then gives some advice for those pushed to part-time work--make the most of it: click here

Next, a topic we've talked about in the past on this blog, workplace bullying takes center stage again as they reference a recent United States court case: click here

Lastly, an interesting article about summer jobs--selling knives--positioned with a great title: click here


Enjoy!

The Complaint Department

Somebody's got a case of the Mondays!

Here's a list of seven employee complaints for this Monday:

1) Your employer is watching over you...even as you work at home (an article about telecommuting surveillance from the Wall Street Journal's Career Journal): click here

2) Your former employer is delighting in your layoff (well this Workforce Management article says that if they do, they're going to hell -- Management hell): click here

3) Your former employer is suing you (this may turn out really, really poorly according to the Laconic Law Blog): click here

4) My employer is making me copy on both sides of the paper among other money-saving operations (Fistful of Talent talks about Budweiser's integration into InBev...a good article also about combining cultures in company's and HR's responsibility in that): click here

5) The superstar employee on my team is getting $20-$25 million in severance (while this is probably not your company, this article is an interesting view on the Brett Favre situation in Green Bay from the HR Capitalist and how they blow the term "Golden Parachute" totally out of the water): click here

6) My young co-workers are hopping from job to job and making more money than me (Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 has an article confirming job hopping among Gen Y/The Millenials): click here

7) I just have lots of complaints (well About.com's Human Resources blog compiled a list of the top ten employee complaints): click here

How Much Is It Worth?

So the Washington Post gave us the idea that the value of a college degree was declining: click here

But the Wall Street Journal says that if that college degree is covered with Ivy, then the value goes up, especially for the starting salaries: click here

In other news...from the Baltimore Sun word about state funds that are being used to boost the YouthWorks program: click here

And the Wall Street Journal has an article today on record jobless claims data that came out: click here