Astronology - Social Media in the Workforce...Enhancement or Interruption?

Astronology Volume XII Issue 15 October 18, 2011 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.   Astron Road Show The calendar year may be coming to a close, but the 2011 Astron Road Show continues on!  On October 28th, National Director Mike Maciekowich will present on trends in executive compensation to the Vision Serve Alliance Conference (New York, NY).  The conference is hosted by Astron Solutions' client Lighthouse International.   Fact or Fiction? The iLoo, a Microsoft powered, wi-fi internet capable portable toilet, was a hoax.   FICTION     The iLoo was a real project for Microsoft's MSN UK division. However, the project was cancelled shortly after the project was leaked to the public and garnered negative reaction.        Social Media in the Workforce...Enhancement or Interruption? Blogging, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. These are various forms of social media that have infiltrated lives across the globe and have also entered many organizations' workspaces. This technology is changing the way workers interact with each other. As great as a gift social media has been for some organizations, there is also criticism over its usage. In light of the pros and cons of social media, organizations worldwide have to decide whether social media will hinder or support their organizational cultures..... 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 2011, 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

 

The Time Off Conundrum

In January I started a new job. There are a lot of challenges with starting a new job including getting acclimated with the new company, the people you work with and making sure you have a handle on the position. One of the other challenges is to figure out when it is okay to start taking your vacation time. Many companies have vesting periods for that time, but once it vests, is it all right to just start taking it? Or is there really a "waiting period" until it's okay to start taking time off?

I'm taking my first vacation in a few days. I have been at the job for 9 months now so I figured that the initial "probation" period has started to lift and that I can freely take off without being seen as a "slacker". I am still a little nervous to go away without access to phone or e-mail on my BlackBerry or my computer. I'm always nervous that something will come in and a question will need to be answered that only I can provide the correct answer to. But in the end, I've come to the realization that I need to be able to take off this time and to unwind from the job with faith in my co-workers that they'll find a satisfactory way to answer those questions until I return.

But my "time off conundrum" isn't a new thing for me with a new job. In my last position, I too felt like taking time off was at times "taboo". In high school I had one teacher who never took one day off for any reason--he was the "Ironman". When I got into the working world, I saw people eating lunch at their desks and then the recession hit with may co-workers losing their jobs. In that climate, how could I possibly take a day off to enjoy myself knowing that not being there could end up costing me in the end?

Then I realized that the time off companies give you are for a reason. Sure, you don't have to take all of it. But those of us who work hard everyday deserve some time to ourselves away from the office. We deserve to turn off that Blackberry for a day or two and just relax. We deserve to unplug, recharge, and relax. In the end, we become healthier, happier, and more productive employees. And, realizing that, I've come to the realization that my time off later this week is not just for my own good, but it's for the good of the company as a whole. So while I still have some trepidation, I know that it's okay for me to take this time off and relax.

Astronology - Salary Budget Projections for 2012

Astronology Volume XII Issue 14 October 4, 2011 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.   Astron Road Show The Astron Road Show continues to roll this fall!  Where will we see you in the next two weeks?   On October 10th, National Director Jennifer Loftus presents at the Nonprofit Human Resources Conference, in Washington, D.C.  Her topic?  Nonprofit Executive Compensation: What is Fair?   Later that week, National Director Mike Maciekowich will be at the Wisconsin State SHRM conference, October 12 - 14 in Madison.  Please be sure to look for him in the exhibit hall in booth 256!   On October 15th, Jennifer will be part of a panel discussion at the New York State SHRM Leadership Conference (Albany, NY) on the topic of growing association / chapter membership in challenging economic times.   We look forward to seeing you on the road!         Fact or Fiction? Over 50% of organizations do not budget for promotional increases.   FACT!   According to the 2011-2012 World at Work Salary Budget Survey, 54.3% of the organizations surveyed DO NOT budget for promotional increases.       Salary Budget Projections for 2012 It's that time of the year when Human Resource professionals are asked by senior management to provide compensation program budget projections for the upcoming fiscal year. Two authoritative sources are now available:  the  WorldatWork 2011-2012 Salary Budget Survey and the  Mercer 2011/2012 Compensation Planning Survey..... 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 2011, 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

 

The End of "The Wall Street Underdog" and a Happy New Year

There are great stories in the business world of people who overcame adversity and worked their way into great positions of power. Bill Gates and his college record, the Google founders starting in a garage, and many other stories fill people's hopes and dreams as they yearn to do great things in the business world. Nowhere was this more true than in the financial world where, despite the appearance of needing a certain pedigree, people have always emerged from various socioeconomic levels and circumstances to become titans of the industry.

That seems like it will soon be changing according to Business Insider (H/T Wendy). A string of incidents in which hard-working back-office employees were promoted to traders, and alter committed fraud have had some financial institutions second-guessing decisions to promote just anyone to positions of power. But Business Insider cautions what I would caution all financial institutions:

This is not to say that all back-office employees have intentions to defraud their employers.  However, employers need to do whatever it takes to reduce this risk.  Many include criminal background checks.  Some employers even require credit checks, as poor credit is sometimes associated with those likely to commit white collar crime.

This certainly will stop certain people in the population from getting positions of power at certain organizations and it may seem intrusive to some, but the truth of the matter is that in lieu of just rejecting anyone who doesn't come from Harvard or Yale, these types of measures will allow banks to feel more secure with handing over the keys to those they may have worried about otherwise.
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I wanted to take this opportunity to wish a very Happy New Year (a Shana Tova) to all our Jewish readers who will be celebrating this weekend. To our readers of all religions, we hope you have a very prosperous and happy new year.

Astronology - The ROI of Employee Engagement

Astronology Volume XII Issue 13 September 20, 2011 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.   Astron Road Show Summer is winding down, but the Astron Road Show is still going non-stop!  Our team will be on the road quite a bit this Fall.  Where will we see you in the next two weeks?   Our first stop this fall finds National Director Jennifer Loftus presenting at the 2011 Cement Employers Association Annual Meeting.  Jennifer will present twice: 2011 CEA Compensation Survey Overview and Compensation and Benefit Trends for 2012.  The meeting will be held September 19 - 22 in Scottsdale, AZ.   Next up on the Road Show is the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies (NAMIC) Human Resources Seminar, October 4 - 6 in St. Petersburg, FL.  Jennifer will be participating in the seminar's new Ask the Expert feature!   We look forward to seeing you on the road!       The ROI of Employee Engagement Over the years there have been recent talks on how to keep employees engaged. The engagement challenge is especially pertinent in this economy, where organizations are feeling pressure to keep their talented employees.  Consumers still expect the best from the organizations they patronize, and the only way to produce such results is with talented employees. An employee's attitude about the organization shows in his / her productivity and quality of work. In order to keep such employees stimulated, organizations have to keep their employees engaged..... 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 2011, 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

 

Astronology - Preserving the Dignity of our Workforce

Astronology Volume XII Issue 12 September 6, 2011 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.   Labor Day Astron Solutions hopes that you had a fun and relaxing Labor Day weekend, and a great end to your summer.     Fact or Fiction? Scholars found the 2009 economic downturn worse than the 1930's Great Depression.   FACT!   According to a PBS segment, "Measurements and Myths of the Great Depression" Ben Wattenberg mentioned that the 2009 economic downturn  was particularly frightful because "debt in 2009 includes not only stocks but also millions of homes, property, local governments, and entire nations. Also, in contrast to the 1930s, the U.S. is now a debtor nation and more households in the U.S. are in far greater debt."      Preserving the Dignity of our Workforce By Richard L. Virgilio, SPHR We Americans celebrate Labor Day each September as a reminder of how those who toil daily are important to their families and to the country.  I might offer to you that the first Monday in September is also Employers' Day, for without employers, there are no employees.  We in the human resource profession find ourselves in a no-man's land as both an advocate for our employees and an instrument of our employers..... 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 2011, 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

 

Missing Work Because of Hurricane Irene

New York City is shutdown. Subways, buses, commuter trains, and many bridges and tunnels are all not open for business. Because of this, many businesses are the same, closing their doors yesterday and today in anticipation of the storm so they can get their employees back to their families. But some businesses will stay open today and tomorrow and according to Employment Matters, their employees are therefore responsible to come in:

If you decide to stay open for business, whether on Sunday when New York and Massachusetts expect Hurricane Irene (or some other significant tropical storm) to hit, and/or on Monday, when most will be surveying the damage, you may lawfully deduct a full-day’s absence from the salary of any exempt employee for each day he or she chooses not to show up to work, even if the conditions make it physically impossible to come in. However, if the employee works for some of the day, then you cannot make any deduction to his or her salary for that day. At the same time, if you have the appropriate leave policy in place, you can require your employees to utilize their paid vacation or other leave to account for the absence from work. 

But if you decide to close?

Astronology - New Approaches for Annual Pay Raises

Astronology Volume XII Issue 11 August 23, 2011 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 word Karaoke is a loanword from Japan. FACT!   The work Karaoke is a Japanese word literally meaning Empty Orchestra.  Grab your mic and sing your heart out without an orchestra!   Has your organization held a Karaoke event as a fun team-building activity or reward for a job well done?  We'd love to hear your story - and about your favorite Karaoke songs!      New Approaches for Annual Pay Raises Although the economy is somewhat better, for some organizations and small businesses the idea of providing a low or no pay raise is a daunting one. Organizations are caught between trying to keep their best employees and the fact that the organization may not be able to give employees exactly what they would like to. What are some low cost solutions to this broad issue?.... 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 2011, 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

 

When Sports and HR Meet

I read a lot of articles about sports and I'm always interested when sports and human resources meet. Well that happened today as I was reading a baseball notebook in the Boston Globe:

"Jim Crane, prospective Astros buyer - Major league owners are wading through a lot of personal stuff on Crane before approving him. And he has some baggage, including complaints filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission because of his position on hiring blacks, Hispanics, and women. He paid $9 million in damages to workers at his Eagle USA Airfreight company in part over remarks he made to an associate to the effect that you should never hire blacks because you can’t fire them. He was also involved in a very messy divorce. So this is not a slam dunk."

The gory details can be found in this 2000 piece from the Houston Chronicle. That's not even it on Crane as Forbes continues, describing breaches of fiduciary agreements and profiteering from the war in Iraq (!?!).

People like Crane are why Major League Baseball and other organizations should vet their executives and other potential employees before hiring them. It actually seems like Crane will be allowed to buy the Astros despite all of this turmoil surrounding his name--but the problem is that once he's in, you can't fire him because he actually is an owner. That may be the biggest issue of all for Major League Baseball should some of the issues re-arise.

Revisiting An Old Story

Back in October of 2009, we linked to a New York Times article about twin girls who were struggling to make it in a tough New York job world. It was an interesting article and I commented at the time that it wasn't unlike stories of people that I knew...

...well--funny story--it ends up I do know the twins. We play in the same softball league together. Last night, while celebrating my softball championship win (woo!) with some members of the other team, one of our team members heard the story about these same twin girls who got written about in the New York Times.

And we got an update on the status of the twins: they now both write for ESPN.com about alternative sports. So while the job market is bad--and really bad for those in that 21-29 range trying to find traction in their post-college years--it sometimes perks up and people who seemed lost in the recession find jobs.

Astronology - 6 Months on Capitol Hill

Astronology Volume XII Issue 10 August 9, 2011 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? Capitol Hill contains a tomb where our first president, George Washington, is buried.   Fiction!   Although there is a tomb area in the US Capitol, our first president was not buried there.  His will expressed his desire to be buried at his home, Mount Vernon.    6 Months on Capitol Hill Every year Astronology examines legislation coming from Capitol Hill, and how these changes influence Human Resource practices. Two major developments in the first half of 2011 affecting Human Resources are the possible adjustments to Healthcare reform, such as the CLASS Act, and the Legal Workforce Act of 2011.  What challenges should we expect as a result of these pieces of legislation?.... 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 2011, 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

An Odd Way to Increase Productivity

It's not often that we find an article for this blog from Gawker, but we were forwarded this article with the title "Your Angry, Sarcastic Boss Is Actually Helping Your Productivity". I had to say I was at least a little bit intrigued.

Well the article wasn't exactly by Gawker, it was quoting an interesting article in the Journal of Applied Psychology. It showed that people who were exposed to anger and sarcasm worked harder and smarter than people in a neutral environment:

"The test was done with engineering students who all listened to an interaction between a customer and a customer service rep. Those who listened to the calls where the customer was angry ended up working harder and faster on a subsequent problem than their peers who listened to a nice call. Those who listened to a sarcastic interaction worked as hard and quickly as those exposed to anger, but also had more accurate and creative results."

It's an interesting conclusion, but there are not many lessons that can be learned here. You don't want your managers being angry or sarcastic--even if it does help productivity. One thing it does prove though, is that just because a group is productive, it doesn't mean their manager isn't a jerk to work for.