Astronology - Time Management Skills & Work

 

Astronology Volume X Issue 12   August 11, 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? The Nintendo iconic character of Mario was named after Nintendo's warehouse landlord.   Fact!! Mario originally appeared in the 1981 arcade version of Donkey Kong under the name of "Jumpman" when the game was being localized for Nintendo's American Audience. The employees of Nintendo decided to rename "Jumpman" after Mario Segale, the landlord of the Nintendo Warehouse. Apparently, Nintendo Founder and First President, Minoru Arakawa and Segale got into a heated debate over past due rent. When Arakawa finally convinced Segale that he would be paid, the employees decided to rename "Jumpman" to "Mario." The Astron Road Show   It may be summertime, but the finally warm weather doesn't slow down the Astron team!   Tomorrow, August 12th, National Director Mike Maciekowich will present at the Capital Associated Industries Compensation and Benefits Forum in Raleigh, NC. Mike will present "When the Money Runs Out...Retaining and Motivating Long Term Employees Without Increasing Pay." Please contact Mike for more information on his presentation. On Wednesday, August 19th, National Director Jennifer Loftus will present the results of the Central New York SHRM (CNYSHRM) 2009 Compensation and Benefits Survey in Syracuse, NY. This presentation is an exclusive benefit for survey participants. Please let us know if you would like more information on participating in 2010's survey!   We'll see you on the road! Time Management Skills & Work  Doesn't it sometimes feel as though there aren't enough hours in a day to complete all the things you would like to accomplish? No doubt, everyone at one time or another, whether at work, home, or school, has felt like this. However, does this problem exist due to procrastination or lack of time management skills?...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

 

No New Jobs in Private Sector This Past Decade

The New York Times had an interesting article today, that says for the first time since the Great Depression, the American economy has added virtually no jobs in the private sector over a 10-year period.

The accompanying charts show the job performance from July 1999, when the economy was booming and companies were complaining about how hard it was to find workers, through July of this year, when the economy was mired in the deepest and longest recession since World War II. For the decade, there was a net gain of 121,000 private sector jobs, according to the survey of employers conducted each month by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In an economy with 109 million such jobs, that indicated an annual growth rate for the 10 years of 0.01 percent.

There were some areas of growth. But overall (especially considering population growth), it was a pretty dismal decade for private jobs in the United States.

How To Spot An Employee Who Is Looking Busy At Work Without Really Working

wikiHow has a pretty funny how-to manual on how to look busy at work without really working (H/T Wendy). I figured I'd summarize their steps with helpful hints to HR on how to prevent employees from utilizing these "techniques":

1. Know what your standards are - make sure to set high standards for your employees and make sure they're meeting them. As long as everything gets done, this should be fine.
2. Create the illusion of furious activity whenever possible - the advice says to never have a clean desk. Insist on a clean desk policy for both compliance and Human Resources reasons. Papers left out on the desk can be bad for many reasons.
3. Ask a lot of questions - this isn't actually a bad thing. They could be questions that others have or that creates provocative thinking.
4. Open several of the applications you normally use for work and have them visible for your computer's desktop - create inactivity logoffs for your applications. That way, employees will be forced to do something or get logged out. They'll be so annoyed by this, that working will be less work that pretending to work.
5. Be alert - switch up your game. If you're on a schedule of "checking up" employees will learn about that. It's like having a cop wait at the same intersection everyday: people will slow down just there. But if you switch around where the cop is, people will slow down everywhere.
6. Watch out for Big Brother - just be one step ahead. My company blocks certain sites but they also block "virtual desktops" or "proxies" so that you can't get around their monitoring/website blockage. You can also drill monitors into the desks to keep them always in view (this will also prevent them from somehow "disappearing").
7. Have lengthy personal conversations away from your work space - this isn't such a bad thing. Camaraderie amongst employees is a good thing. But try to limit the time they spend away from the desk. Walk by break rooms and conference rooms every once in a while to make sure no one is abusing the space
8. Visit friends in different departments, leaving your workspace very "busy" looking - This is easy: if Bob says to you, his manager, he's talking with Joe about something, follow up with Joe once in a blue moon. See how easily they stick to the same story
9. Drink lots of water - again, not a bad thing for employees to do. No way you can prevent them from constantly using the bathroom.
10. Make a decoy screen - this is tough to catch. But stop by and ask them to show you something on an application, and I'm sure that decoy screen will be revealed
11. Make personal phone calls away from your work space - as long as the person doesn't do this often, it's not a problem. But again, drop by conference rooms and break rooms once in a while to at least make it seem like you're paying attention to them.
12. Always, always carry a backup prop - You should have a good idea how long certain projects should take. If they take longer, ask what happened
13. Sending a package to yourself - if your employee wants to spend the money to do this, they're really desperate. I don't know how long it takes most people to open a FedEx...but this shouldn't really waste THAT much time

The only way to catch the slackers is to know the methods their using to slack. Time theft is a big deal, but there are little ways you can work around the "thief" and outsmart them!

Major League Baseball's Privacy Issue

For years, baseball has had a huge problem that no one wanted to deal with.

 

No, I'm not talking about steroids. I'm talking about identity and age falsification by Latin American prospects.

 

Well baseball decided to hit back by using genetic testing of young players and their parents as a way to determine correct ages and identities. As you can imagine, privacy advocates (and Human Resources professionals) had bells go off in their heads when they heard this. Via the New York Times:

Many experts in genetics consider such testing a violation of personal privacy. Federal legislation, signed into law last year and scheduled to take effect Nov. 21, prohibits companies based in the United States from asking an employee, a potential employee or a family member of an employee for a sample of their DNA.

Dozens of Latin American prospects in recent years have been caught purporting to be younger than they actually were as a way to make themselves more enticing to major league teams. Last week the Yankees voided the signing of an amateur from the Dominican Republic after a DNA test conducted by Major League Baseball’s department of investigations showed that the player had misrepresented his identity.

Some players have also had bone scans to be used in determining age range...

While determining age is the primary motivation for baseball’s testing, some experts and at least one scout raised the prospect that the DNA results could be used to try to predict players’ medical future.

Baseball’s use of DNA information alarmed experts in genetics and bioethics, who said this may be the first instance of such an arrangement since the federal bill, known as the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, was passed last year.

“DNA contains a host of information about risks for future diseases that prospective employers might be interested in discovering and considering,” said Kathy Hudson, the director of the Genetics and Public Policy Center and an associate professor at Johns Hopkins University. “The point of GINA was to remove the temptation and prohibit employers from asking or receiving genetic information.”

Baseball has had a history of being legally exempt from certain laws such as antitrust regulation. This is another example of them overstepping their bounds quite a bit. And as Human Resources professionals, this should have set off some alarm bells in your heard, even before Congress passed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act.

Westwood College vs. Monster/CareerBuilder

Yesterday we talked about a college graduate who is suing her alma mater because she hasn't gotten a job after graduation. Well one college who is certainly setting themselves up to join them in the lawsuit is Westwood College. As AdFreak writes : "Westwood College thinks your career sucks". If the idea of the ads seem familiar, it should: Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com have been rolling out stuff like this for years. But this is the first time I've seen it from a provider of higher education.

But in this weak economy and even worse job market, I think this hits home with some people. Many people are going back to school to set themselves apart from the competition and Westwood College is trying to recruit those people. Think about it: if you go to Westwood College, you could be in class with the genius who thought of the arrow-pointed sign or a former road kill detective. Now isn't that worth the cost of education?

(Link: http://adweek.blogs.com/adfreak/2009/08/westwood-college-thinks-your-career-sucks.html)

Can't Find A Job? Sue The School!

One news story certainly caught my eye this morning. A New York City graduate is suing her former school because she wasn't able to find a job after getting her bachelor's degree, according to NBC's New York affiliate.

[Trina] Thompson, a graduate of Monroe College, is suing her school for the $70,000 she spent on tuition because she hasn't found solid employment since receiving her bachelor's degree in April, according to a published report.

 

The business-oriented school in the Bronx didn't do enough to help her find a job, Thompson alleges, so she wants a refund. The college says it does plenty for grads.

 

The 27-year-old information-technology student accuses the school's Office of Career Advancement for not living up to its end of the deal and offering her the leads and employment advice it promised, according to The New York Post.

This is an interesting lawsuit. It reminds me of a lawsuit from 2006 where the person got a job, and then sued because they weren't hired earlier (New York Times recap here). The reason it reminded me of the same case is that, in the end, the case was lost, with the S.E.C. lawyer claiming that Aguirre was not hired in the first place because he was found to be arrogant and "displayed a sense of entitlement to the position".

 

I think that is the same feeling I get here. Just because you graduate with a bachelors degree, it does not entitle you to a position. The unemployment rate in this country (according to Google's Public Data) is 9.7% as of June. In New York, it was 8.6%. If every one of those people who earned a degree sued their higher education providers, there would be no more higher education providers in this country. Just because you have a degree, you are not guaranteed a job, especially in this economy. And hopefully potential candidates to your companies are realizing that more and more as this recession grows deeper.

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...)

 

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

 

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? Many 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. 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

 

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.

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.

 

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

Astronology - 2009 SHRM Annual Conference and Exposition Recap

 

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 It 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 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

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

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!

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.

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...