Tomorrow Achievant will be exhibiting in the HR Marketplace of the 2008 Indiana SHRM Conference (http://www.indianashrm.org/INSHRMconference.htm) and announcing a very exciting partnership with HR Dimensions (www.hrdimensions.com).  Together we are giving away the grand prize - a Dell laptop.  

What a wonderful opportunity to speak with over 1000 HR executives about the issues they face on a daily basis.  On the flip side - what a great opportunity for them to listen to a number of excellent speakers, network with their peers and peruse the latest in HRIS software. Which brings up an interesting question - do you always give your best effort when away at conferences like this or do you take a mental break? 

With how fast everyone is moving it's easy to attend events with no real plans to network or stroll the exhibit hall.  Don't be tempted.  Take full advantage of your peers - introduce yourself to 10 new contacts.  Take full advantage of the exhibit hall - find out what's new in marketplace even if you're not in the buying mode. 

Finally, regardless of whether or not you have a need for help with performance management, applicant tracking, time and attendance or HRIS please stop by and say hello.  Don't worry, we won't bite.

Yesterday, one of our smartest employees did one of the dumbest things ever.  She opened an e-greeting card from someone she didn't know.  Within seconds she knew she had a problem.  It could have been the anti-virus warning that popped up or the freaky image that suddenly became her desktop background.  Either way, the first thing she did was raise the alarm.

You may be asking yourself what a virus outbreak and HRIS Software have in common.  To me, the commonality is in the quality of the response.  Anyone can sell you a talent management system.  In fact, any two pieces of HRIS Software are likely to be very similar.

What's not going to be similar are the people behind the product.  When the virus hit that one user the first thing we did was isolate her from the network (well, isolate her computer, we didn't really do anything to her). 

Then, to make sure there would be no further spread of the virus we took all of our computers off the network.  We did this by simply unplugging the switch that handles all computer traffic.  We left the switch that handles all VOIP up and running.  In short, we had a good plan and were well prepared.  Within minutes we new the extent of the problem, had it isolated and were on our way to better times.

The same can be said of how we provide service.  Maybe you use our employee time and attendance module or our performance assessment module.From the day you kick off your implementation and everyday thereafter the achievant team is ready to answer questions, address issue and help you make the most of the tool you purchased.

Any two pieces of software Human Resources Software are going to be more or less the same.  But the people who support them, who make you successful are not.

August 25 – 27th will be the 2008 Indiana State Human Resources Conference.  This year’s conference is being held at the Westin Hotel in Indianapolis.  Achievant is excited to be an exhibitor at the event as well as partnering with HR Dimensions to provide the prize for the Grand Prize Drawing.

I can’t wait to meet and mingle with over 1,000 HR professionals from all over the state as well as visit the booths of the other hundred exhibitors.  If you are attending I hope you will stop by our tradeshow booth in order to see a demo of our products for the first time, meet with a sales rep, ask questions, or just to say hello to me in one of the sessions.

If you’d like to attend the conference but haven’t registered yet or you’d like to learn more about the conference, here is a link - http://www.indianashrm.org/INSHRMconferencegrid.htm.  Personally I am looking forward to hearing several of the speakers including the session on Updating Your Compensation Programs by Debi Mueller, Vice President-Consulting at HR Dimensions. This session addresses best practices in compensation and explores the links to business strategies that will be needed to ensure alignment to productivity and pay for performance. I plan to pick up a couple more recertification credits to complete my SPHR renewal.

Simon Bailey will be the keynote speaker on Tuesday.  His topic will be Releasing Brilliance and will inspire us to take charge of and transform our lives from the inside out.  Clint Swindall will be doing the closing keynote on Engaged Leadership and will focus on leadership enhancement.

It should be a great conference with rich content and ample time to visit the trade show floor.

See you there!

In recent weeks, much focus has been placed on the classification (or misclassification) of workers as “independent contractors" versus “employees”.   The federal government is working to ensure that you are not trying to avoid overtime pay, unemployment compensation, payroll taxes and employment-related rights and benefits by claiming they are independent contractors.

Even individual states are taking action.  California (gee… who out there is surprised that CA would be one of the first states to jump on the band-wagon) has recently sent "employment relationship" questionnaires to "independent contractors" to ensure that those individuals should not be classified as employees.

In May 2008, the U.S. House of Representatives introduced the Employee Misclassification Prevention Act (H.R. 6111). As its name suggests, this legislation targets employers who misclassify their employees as "independent contractors."  If passed, this legislation would make the misclassification of employees a prohibited act under the Fair Labor Standards Act and increase penalties under the FLSA. The legislation would also require employers to keep records regarding their classification of workers, notify workers of their classification, and allow them to challenge that classification. In addition, the proposed legislation would require state unemployment insurance agencies to conduct audits to determine which employers are misclassifying their employees.  It would also authorize the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Internal Revenue Service to share information on instances of misclassification, and mandate that the DOL perform audits focusing on industries that frequently misclassify employees.

In light of the increased scrutiny on independent contractor relationships, employers should conduct internal audits to ensure they have properly classified their independent contractors and to effectively address any misclassifications.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released an opinion letter on July 29, 2008 clarifying that an employer is required to compensate an employee for all the hours worked, even if that includes time worked in violation of company policy such as through a required meal break.  The company at the heart of this issue had a Break and Meal Policy which stated that “All employees working six or more hours in a shift must receive a 30-minute, uninterrupted, and unpaid meal period. The meal period requirements cannot be waived by the employee nor substituted for any other time.”

The policy also provided that “there may be instances when, because of staffing or workloads, a meal period may not be available to all staff members. If any nonexempt employee does not take a meal period as required by the New York State Department of Labor, that employee should notify his or her manager and note this on the time card so he or she will be compensated for the time.”

The employer asked the DOL for its opinion on whether additional straight time (i.e., not overtime) would be due when an employee violates company policy by skipping a meal break and failing to notify the manager that the break was missed. The employer also asked the DOL to assume that the worker had worked less than 40 hours in the workweek and that the minimum wage still would be received, even if the employer did not pay additional straight time.

The DOL stated that the employer “must compensate the employee for all hours worked, including the time worked during the missed meal period,” though it went on to note that if an employee receives at least the minimum wage for all hours worked, including the time worked because of a missed meal period, no additional compensation is due under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). But the DOL reminded that FLSA regulations require accurate recordkeeping of hours worked each workday, as well as total hours worked each workweek for covered and nonexempt employees.

And, the DOL added, the time worked through the missed meal period would be hours worked for purposes of determining any overtime compensation. “Before an employee can be said to be paid statutory overtime compensation due, the employee must first be paid all straight time wages due for all hours worked under any express or implied contract or under an applicable statute,” the DOL stated.

The employer also asked the DOL to suppose an employee instead violates a policy prohibiting all forms of off-the-clock work. Even though the employee is scheduled to work 35 hours per week, the worker begins work early or works after the regular finishing time. Would additional straight time be due then?

The employee must be paid for all hours worked at the agreed rate in addition to any overtime for all hours over 40, the DOL answered.

What if the employer advised the employee in writing not to ever work any unrecorded work hours and the employee who violated this policy was subject to disciplinary action, the employer inquired. Would the DOL’s answer be different then?

The DOL said it did not have enough information to answer this question, but referred to FLSA regulations to remind the employer that “it is the duty of the management to exercise its control and see that the work is not performed if it does not want it to be performed. It cannot sit back and accept the benefits without compensating for them. The mere promulgation of a rule against such work is not enough”.

As the use of web based programs grows, becomes more common and is more widely accepted we've begun to have clients ask to add 3rd aprty widgets (like their own stock ticker) to our online human resource software.

I get why clients want this... it's a perk for their users and can enhance employee self-service.  Widgets, when embedded together in a single page, can offer a kind of one stop shop for employee self-service.  if your learning management softwware offers this widget and your performance management solution overs that widget and you embed them all in your core HRIS software then everything has coalesced into one easy to use piece of software.

As a general web surfer I think widgets are great.  I use several of them and like to look at sites like google to see what new gadgets are available.  Almost all of my favorite sites offer some sort of plugin or another.

As the head of IT for a company I hate widgets.  Everyone wants to install them on their desktop, include them in their home page so they're there every time they open their borwser.  My problem with them is that they are frequently authored by random people and aren't subject to oversite so they are potneitally riddled with spyware, malware, virus and whatever other icky stuff someone can dream up.

Two news articles this week point this out.  One, a blog post from TechCrunch, talks about a worm spreadhing on Facebook.  Another points out theat google gadgets are now the focus of hackers.

Employee training and development is the number one way to prevent these kinds of tools from becoming a danger to your information security.  You can't alway control where people go, or even sometimes, what they install while at work.

So, it is clearly obvious that we have all been yelled at here at Achievant for not blogging enough if at all.  Like so many times in life we are being punished for the actions of a few.  Well!  I am that few, or at least a member of a very small group (like no more than 2).  Big picture, I sort of get the blog idea but I am one of those individuals that if I can't see some pretty immediate and measurable gain I am less likely to move it up on my priority list.  Being brutally honest, everythng seems to be a priority!  This is not a new phenomena but one that always intrigues me. I think we would all agree that not everything is a priority and if it is then we better settle for a heavy dose of status quo and mediocre results.

Same holds true for the many organizations we talk to on a daily basis.  We/They get so stuck in the tactical day to day that you can never get out in front of things that are the "supposed" priorities.  Examples would include but not be limited to conversations that should sound very familiar and and usually start out something like; "My top priority is...", "The top project we need to deliver on is...", "The results of our 4 column process (strategy session) reveals we need...",  now insert the priority:

....to improve and automate Applicant Tracking
....to streamline our HRIS System
....to create a consistent Learning Management approach
....to train leadership on the essence of Performance Management
....to automate Time and Attendance 
 

I think you get the picture!  If we continue through the conversation and go out several weeks if not months I would submit that very few of these priorities would actually still qualify or would not be that much farther down the path of completion.  The biggest obstacle is nothing went on the back burner or yielded to the priority.  Sound familiar?  

Speaking of looking out several weeks or months, I am expected (priority) to deliver several more blogs, as in one a week.  Let's see if I can break the cycle.  Wish me luck! 
  

I had the best of intentions.  We purchased the coolest blog service from Compendium Blogware (www.compendiumblogware.com) and I was going to blog once a week and let the world know what my thoughts were on life, business, HR and brag a little about Achievant's success.  Well....it's 8 months later and I've written 5 blog entries.  I've fallen 27 entries short of my goal of once per week. Pathetic.

I feel like some of the organizations we're talking to about applicant tracking, HRIS and performance management. They bought some software with great hopes and expectations.  They were going to load their employee data, track time & attendance, do on-line benefits enrollment and automate their performance management review process all at the same time. Somewhere along the way their "day job" got in the way. We both needed more than just software - we both needed a partner invested in our success.

That's what makes Achievant so different from the rest.  We invest in our clients by ensuring they utilize our platform.  We invest in our clients by taking responsibility for getting the application up and running - loading employee data, configuring workflows, defining reports, training the organization and ensuring after the 90-120 day implementation period they can be proud of the decision they made.

I will have to say the Compendium has held us accountable to our initial promise and have been on-site recently to ensure a good kick in the pants.  They know how to partner and so does Achievant.....our clients will testify!

  

Learning management software is a beast unto itself.  It can be a very simple piece of human resource software or it can be a giant, full-blown module.

In my career I have worked on Online Employee Training software that has covered the entirety of the possible range of robustness and complexity.

Because learning management modules can spider their way into so many other aspects of HRIS they can be an integral and important part of any talent management system. Learning management naturally flows into performance management, succession management and even applicant tracking depending on what your on-boarding process is like.


This week Achievant rolled out some new enhancements to its LMS.  Our module for learning management started off life as a lightweight module that though flexible and fairly robust had room for growth.

We've added over 17 new features some of which included:

·         proctoring features for trainers who need more detailed class planning and tracking

·         more robust class rosters and session results

·         the ability to track education credits for both internal and external classes

·         automated notifications for minimum class size not being met

Our goal, as is almost always our goal (and philosophy), as we build out our web HRIS software is to grow it incrementally.  Each time we work within the app we look for areas where we can add new features.  We listen to our current clients, our future clients and our industry to see what needs and wants are out there and we take the opportunity to add them whenever we can.

For us, such a successive refinement approach to all of our modules is not unlike learning management itself: with continuous work and grooming people (or applications) can get better at their jobs.

I just got back from my first prospective college visit to Florida with my oldest son, Michael (because of course why would he want to attend a college with in-state tuition!).  I’ve also been traveling a lot lately for new and perspective clients so I’m becoming quite the airline connoisseur.  Frankly as airfare has sky-rocketed I tend to book whoever is cheapest or works with my schedule, but I do have my favorites.

This most recent trip had me on Southwest Airlines.  Now I’ll admit that as an HR leader I have followed this company for several years.  Southwest is one of the few profitable airlines and has been in the black for 33 consecutive years and has paid a small dividend for 127 consecutive quarters. While its competitors are reducing the number of flights offered and grounding hundreds of aircraft, Southwest will add a few flights daily, will take delivery of another dozen aircraft next year and still plans to grow by 2 percent to 3 percent.  Southwest now carries more passengers annually than any other U.S. carrier.

So, my down time in the airport yesterday had me pondering...how has Southwest been successful?  I think it is based on a few guiding principles –

    * Keep things simple
    * Keep it consistent
    * Manage costs and maximize productive assets, and
    * Manage customer expectations.

These are business strategies that can be applied to most businesses.

Keep It Simple

While Southwest’s competition operates numerous types of planes, Southwest flies just one plane type.  This saves millions in maintenance costs, employee training, parts, etc.

Business Application – Do one thing and do it well

In the technology world, Human Resources software providers are trying to be all things to all people.  At Achievant, we have determined what we do is provide HRIS software solutions to small and mid-sized companies.  Achievant is not a payroll company, but we work with your payroll company to manage your employe data.  We have seen numerous companies try to meet all needs by bolting together the components of a human capital management system (i.e., HRIS system, time and attendance tracking, learning management, performance management, applicant tracking, and succession management) together with a payroll system and try to pass it off as integrated.  As a result these providers are adequate at many things, but not really good at anything.  Don’t get caught up in a feature/function comparison….who has the prettiest screen, bell, or whistle.  You should evaluate the entire package.

Keep It Consistent

I have to admit that I have not always been a fan of Southwest's approach to assigning seats.  Which is…..there are no assigned seats. You just line up according to an assigned number and you choose an open seat as you board the plane.  As someone who is slightly a control-freak (ok, maybe a little more than slightly), this was initially unsettling to not have a seat assigned specifically to me.  But, as I have flown with them more I have come to appreciate the control of choosing my seat...the one that is not next to the crying child or the chatty person, and have relished the opportunity to get a seat with extra leg room or no one sitting next to me.  Best of all, they still provide beverages and snacks for free!

Business Application – Manage the brand experience

At Achievant we work very hard to manage the experience our clients have with us and our Human Resources software solution.  Every time they contact us we want to respond to them in a friendly way, on a timely basis, and in a way that is relevant to them.  

No fees, no frills

As other carriers have removed perks and added fees, Southwest has kept its customer proposition streamlined and unchanged. The airline only sells in a few price "buckets" which allows it customers to understand the fare structure and believe they are getting value for their money. Prices are all-inclusive too, no fees for fuel surcharges, ticket changes, or luggage.  They have looked for out-of-the-box solutions to things like the clunky beverage cart.

Business Application – If customers can’t understand the pricing structure, they can’t understand the value you offer

Most HRIS systems, learning management systems, time and attendance solutions, and payroll providers utilize an ala carte menu for the services they provide.  In addition to the monthly or annual subscription, anything additional you’d like (e.g., a system change, new report) is charged by the hour or project.  This can make it very difficult to manage your costs.  I have spoken with numerous potential clients who when questioned how much they pay their current system provider, respond that they won’t know until the end of the year.

At Achievant, we have adopted a modular pricing model that is very simple to understand and is inclusive.  You are not charged for new version releases, minor system changes, client support, etc.

Management, Happy Workforce

Herb Kelleher finally stepped away from Southest earlier this year after leading it for more than a generation.  Although he was a very colorful leader, the airline avoided fads, shied away from anything that increased costs or complicated the basic travel proposition. Management ranks are lean, but most importantly, productive.

Southwest has embraced a culture of making their work (and consequently our travel) more fun.  They sing, dress in casual uniforms, and allow employees to go “off-script”.  In return, they have employees who are friendlier, seem to enjoy their jobs, and don't strike.

Business Application – If your workers aren’t happy, your customers aren’t happy

It is important to note that there are many intangibles that contribute to how much employees enjoy their job.  Take time to focus on these and you will be repaid for your efforts in higher levels of customer satisfaction.  360 degree feedback can be a great tool for this.

These are important business applications that I think will apply to any industry, not just HRIS software and talent management providers like Achievant.  In the meantime, I will continue to watch the progress of Southwest. 

On June 6th, President Bush signed an amendment to Executive Order 12989 requiring all federal government contractors to use E-Verify to confirm the employment authorization of new hires.

 

E-Verify is the Internet-based system operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in partnership with the Social Security Administration to electronically verify employment eligibility of newly hired employees.  This is done by comparing information electronically from Form I-9, the employee eligibility document used for new hires, against more than 425 million records in the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) database and, for noncitizens, against more than 60 million records in the DHS immigration database.  Some officials believe the system should be mandatory nationwide.

 

The amended Executive Order requires all federal agencies and departments that enter into contracts to require, as a condition of each contract, that the contractor agree to use an electronic employment eligibility verification system (E-Verify).  This applies to: (1) all persons hired during the contract term by the contractor to perform employment duties within the United States; and (2) all persons assigned by the contractor to perform work within the United States on the federal contract.

The amended Executive Order directs the Secretary of Homeland Security to issue rules and regulations to implement the requirements.  According to DHS Secretary Michael Chertoff, the implementing rule is being sent to the Federal Register for publication.  This will be followed by a 60-day public comment period.  Secretary Chertoff indicates the new system could be up and running later this year.

The original Executive Order 12989 provided for debarment of federal contractors whenever the Attorney General made a determination that a contractor had violated the Immigration and Nationality Act's employment verification provisions.  The regulations implementing the amended Executive Order will be updated and will presumably make the debarment penalty applicable to federal contractors that fail to use E-Verify.  Secretary Chertoff declined to comment on whether subcontractors will also be required to use E-Verify, but it is likely that such a requirement will be specified in the forthcoming regulations.

What are your vacation plans this summer?  Are you taking time off from work?  

I was reading a survey by Yahoo HotJobs which found that of 1,100 workers, 51 percent plan to skip summer vacations this year. 

Why? 

Well, many are fearful of a possible recession and/or are burdened by too heavy a workload.

• 44 percent of workers say they shoulder greater workloads than they did a year ago, yet most of them (35 percent) can’t escape mounting pressure to boost their job performance.
• 25 percent of workers are looking around for new jobs or are updating their résumé in anticipation of doing so.
• 57 percent of workers cite employee burnout —this is up from 49 percent a year ago.

Having an opportunity to get away from work on a regular basis is beneficial to both the employee and the organization.  Employees with no escape tend to burn out much more quickly.  Vacations provide employees with a new perspective on their work and allow them to return refreshed.  Also, many organizations such as financial institutions require employees to be away for 5 consecutive days as a security check. 

 

 

This morning I read an article by Anthony Balderrama who is a writer at CareerBuilder.com.  Anthony asserted that we all tell lies at work.  Now I don’t know about you, but that wasn’t a news flash for me.  Our workdays are filled with many “little lies” or exaggerations and they have become part of the corporate culture norm. 

 

The good news is that much of our dishonesty doesn't result from bad intentions; it often is the results of trying to please other people, even at our own expense.  Although telling a lie can be easy, and you might even get away with it sometimes, you're not creating the best work environment.  To help bring more honesty into the workplace, Anthony identified five lies we're all guilty of telling. 

 

You might ask yourself if you are guilty of telling them and assess how you could better handle them.

 

1. "I'd be happy to"
   
   Think about the last few times you've said you'd be happy to do something.  How often was that statement sincere?  I oftentimes find these words coming out of my mouth before I think the assignment all the way through.  If I accept a task then my boss expects me to get it done.  So if I’m afraid that a new assignment might interfere with my other work I usually try to review my workload with my boss to clarify priorities and remind him what else I have on my plate.   
   
   
2. "No, I don't have any questions"
   Ok, who hasn't been given an assignment that just didn't make sense, but when the boss asked if you had any questions you said no?  Usually this is based on the fear of believing that if I ask questions, they’ll think I don’t know what I’m doing.  However, in reality the opposite of this is true.  Projects usually turn out better with clarification. 
   
   
3. "My alarm didn't go off"
   This one is not a problem for me as I am rarely late for work.  I tend to take the straightforward approach of, "I'm sorry I was late", and then get right to work.  If it happens infrequently, it probably won’t be a big deal.   
   
   
4. "I'm not sick – it's just allergies"
   The only thing worse than being sick is having to use personal time to cover it and getting even further behind on your work.  If you think you have too much work to take a day off you might be tempted to pull one over on your cold and flu-fearing co-workers and attribute the sniffles to allergy season – don't.  Your coworkers won’t be pleased that you're putting their health at risk and lying to them.  If staying home is not an option for you, at least barricade yourself in your office and try to minimize contact with co-workers.
   
   
5. "I'm right on schedule"
   As someone who has project management responsibilities, I am very cognizant of meeting deadlines.  When asked about the status of a project it can be very tempting to say everything is going as planned, when it’s not.  "I am working on it," might be the better response, but you need to develop a timeline to put the project back on track. 

 

I spent my morning with a potential partner going over key aspects of their business model for which we will be adding support in our application.  It was a very typical software requirements meeting: it started out with a group of people looking across the table at each other wondering how to start.

I suggested we start with four or five goals and work our way into the details of each in succession.  Pretty soon we were drawing like cavemen on whiteboards, talking compensation matrices and other minutiae of the HR world.

Some of the items we indentified would be tough to implement and at one point the statement was made that “maybe this isn’t a solvable problem”.  Huh uh.  No way.  Not going to happen.  All problems can be solved.  Sometimes the cost or the time or the effort required exceed our means, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done.  It just has to be rethought.  We left the meeting with scads of notes, a number of great ideas and the general feeling that we’d had a productive morning.

When I got back to the office I found a news article about Time Magazine’s Top 100 Influential People in the world.  It was an interesting read.  One story in particular reverberated with me after the morning’s meeting:  if Mary Lou Jespen can bring a computer to children around the world who don’t even have physical classrooms I can create an enhanced performance management and  compensation management tool that can morph and evolve to meet almost any client’s needs.

Challenges arise, problems happen and all too often I see people give up.  I hate that attitude.  With creative thinking, some strategic compromises and hard work a lot can be done with a little.

My hope is that after each such meeting, whether with a client, a potential partner, or our own staff people leave with the feeling that by working together, by pursuing the goal we can get to wherever it is we want to go.

Everywhere I’ve worked I’ve recommended background checks on employees along with drug screens and a robust set of policies and procedures. 

It’s not the most fun thing to do.  I generally dislike a lot of policy and procedure.  It’s annoying and it sets a tone I don’t really like.  However, take a look at the security breach at LendingTree and you’ll see why these things are necessary.

In short, employees from the company gave their passwords to unscrupulous individuals who then accessed account data of clients using the service.

This is a tough hacker approach to defend against.  Offer someone enough money and they are likely to be willing do most anything.  How much for info on Britney Spears’ medical records?  How much for a photo of a celebrity’s kids?  How much for a password?

You can’t control human behavior, but you can be aware of it.  If you run a shop with sensitive data and you hire people who have a criminal record, with huge debt, who maybe take drugs you increase the likelihood that those employees can be compromised via bribes or other approaches to illicit data access.

Performing background checks and drug screens help weed out potential risks.  Having robust security measures, frequently changing passwords and a termination workflow that makes sure account access is terminated in a timely fashion when an employee leaves the company all help ensure your data doesn’t become someone else’s data.

Routine review of access logs would also have helped catch the LendingTree problem more quickly.  If a user is suddenly accessing the system all hours of the day all days of the week it’s a fairly sure sign that that user’s account has been compromised.

A little bit of due diligence, however tedious or even slightly uncomfortable can go a long way to ensuring that your data remains secure.

In my last blog I talked about performance appraisals.  So today, I will personalize it a little more and talk about my own performance appraisal.  In all fairness to my boss, probably the worst person in the world to have to do a performance appraisal on is the HR person.  It’s “our” process, “our” form, etc.  So, HR people are more vested in the entire process than most employees.  And although I’ll read hundreds of reviews on “other people”, this one is about me. 

I know that in a performance appraisal the criticism I will receive is inevitable (of course totally unwarranted from my perspective!).  Frankly, if it does not include criticism it’s not very useful to me as a development tool, although we each like to believe that the criticism of ourselves is unfair. 

The critical piece in criticism is “How I give it, receive it and deal with it will tell a lot about me”. 

I have several choices on my approach to dealing with this feedback.  Here are a few of the ones I've seen most often: 

1.      Tupperware Approach – I simply internalize the feedback within myself like I’m a tupperware bowl and I put a lid on it, never to be looked at again. 

2.      Uhaul Approach – I don’t deal with the feedback, I simply pick up and move on to another job or another company, until I am criticized there. 

3.      Bulldozer Approach – I will smash right on through, reacting, blasting people with the hope no one else will have the guts to criticize me again. 

4.      Phone Approach – I will call everyone I know, gossip about my review experience, try to make myself look good and diminish the perspective of my boss. 

5.      Growth and Development Approach – I am willing to make adjustments in my behavior in order to grow and develop as both a person and as an employee.  I accept that there is probably some truth in the criticism. 

How did you respond to your review? 

Over and over I have seen the performance appraisal process fail because -

• Manager lacks information concerning an employee’s actual performance.  This is one of the primary reasons 360 reviews are so beneficial.  They provide the opportunity to see an employee’s performance from the perspective of subordinates, peers, and management. 
• Standards are unclear. 
• Manager is not prepared or fails to take the evaluation seriously.  They schedule the review and then throw it together at the last minute. 
• Manager is not honest during the review.  The manager doesn’t know how to effectively provide constructive criticism. 
• Employee does not receive continuous feedback.  The only time they hear how they are doing is at “review time”.  Feedback must occur on a regular basis. 

There are also advantages for an employee to receive a performance appraisal -

• It provides a clear and complete view of how they are performing compared to expectations.
• It provides a time to discuss their strengths and weaknesses.
• It provides a time to set future goals and recommend a specific program designed to help them improve performance.
• It’s an opportunity to express opinions in two-way communication.

Although I mentioned earlier that I believe the process is more important than the form, I do want to mention a couple things to keep in mind while writing the performance evaluation -

• Review the performance throughout the entire evaluation period, not what has just happened recently.
• Include comments consistent with ratings.  If you rated them high, tell them why.  What specifically do they do that made you rate them that way.  Likewise, be sure to provide comments for “needs development” ratings. 
• Be sure to include specific examples:  customer comment cards, employee of the month, perfect balancing, etc.
• Finish the evaluation by adding comments to areas of strength and areas that need improvement.  Require the use of a self-evaluation. 
• Don’t hesitate to have HR read the evaluation before giving it.  Sometimes an unbiased observer can shed valuable insight into an employee. 

Now that you’re ready to give the performance evaluation –

• Schedule a time and place for the evaluation.
• Be specific, not general.
• Discuss the employee’s developmental needs and goals.
• Discuss the salary increase or lack thereof.
• Give the employee time to comment on the evaluation and to sign it.

One of the most important components here is training on how to do a performance evaluation.  Tomorrow, I’ll explain what that should look like.

 

There seem to be no end of cautionary tales in the media these days.  Hackers steal over four million credit card numbers,  more hackers steal students’ personal information,  electronics come straight from the factory already infected ,  your swipe card for door access at work and other places can be easily hacked , and even your pacemaker (if you have one) isn’t safe.

It’s like a hail storm of bad technology news.  I might move to a deserted island somewhere and give up all my modern conveniences in order to escape to digital mongrel hordes that are after my data.

So what do you do?  You take all the precautions you can.  You make sure your anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-malware and anti-spam software are all up-to-date.  You make sure your OS is up-to-date.  You are careful about what links you click, what emails you open, what programs you install.  You make sure your spouse, kids, mom, dad, cousin and aunt are all aware of the same precautions and are taking them.

Sounds tedious.  Sounds time consuming.  Sounds like a pain in the rumpus.  It is. But you’re not done yet.  You need to make sure that all the people who have your data do the same: the grocery store, the bank, your online retailers, your doctor, your accountant, your HRIS vendor and pretty much everyone else you do business with.

If you outsource an HRIS needs (like time and attendance, learning management, payroll integration, etc) you need to make sure that vendor is doing all they should.  They don’t just have your data… they have the data of every employee in your company and quite possible the data of their dependents, beneficiaries and a whole host of other innocent people.

A company should spend at least 10% of its IT budget on security.  All of the things I suggested you do above are the bare minimum they should be doing.  Ask to see their security policies, their intrusion response documents, their SAS 70.  Ask to see everything.  Then ask them how they know all of these policies are being followed.

For me, I believe actions are better than words.  Any good company has their employees sign acceptable use policies, claim they use “best practices” around digital security.  I like to prove that.  How?  You can:

1.       Hire someone to perform a physical penetration.  In the past I have (about every six months) had someone walk into the office, pretend to be a computer technician, a new IT employee, whatever and then work to gain access to computers, networks and other data stores.  It’s a great way to keep people on the alert.

2.       Pay a company to perform a penetration test against your network (or, if you have staff with the right skills perform it yourself).  Do it once a quarter.  Things change and you need to make sure you haven’t accidently opened a whole in your digital fortress.

3.       Send out monthly security newsletters… it helps keep security on everyone’s mind.

4.       Subscribe to security alerts from your anti-virus, anti-spyware and other security software vendors.  They generally do a great job of getting in front of new attacks and keeping you aware of the latest schemes.

 

There will always be new and improved security threats.  There’s not much you can do about that.  What you can do is be aware, be ready and be on guard for what may be coming your way.

Today I am back on the HR 2.0 topic.  It seems like every blog, news article or factoid I read these days is all about social this or wiki that and the word “mashup” seems to be on the tip of everyone’s tongue.  Actually ‘social” and “wiki” are already kind of dated and mashup is (IMHO) a newer, slightly evolved, version of the same.

So, reading about things like Yahoo! Buzz and MyPunchBowl’s own Buzz I began to wonder what an HR mashup would be?  What would it do?  How would it make our lives better?

I see two possible HR mashups: one for the HR professional and one for the HRIS user.

First, let’s define what a mashup is: a mashup is essentially the aggregation of data from diverse sources into one place.  A hip techno geek might want to wax poetic about the separation of data and presentation, but in my mind that’s over complicating something that is basically simple.  In the modern age you can get instant access to pretty much any piece of information you want and from pretty much any source you prefer.  Bring all those pieces of information from all those various sources into one place and present it in a meaningful way and you have yourself a mashup.

If you look at either Yahoo! Buzz or MyPunchBowl’s Buzz you’ll see what is essentially a mashup (more so for Yahoo! Buzz) that adds a social twist by allowing users to rate the content within the mashup.  Visit Digg and you can see more of the same.  The proliferation of this kind of site must mean there is (at least a perceived) need for it.  I think it also means that the need has not been met.

So, back to the HR Mashup…

What if you, as an HR professional, had a mashup at your disposal that brought together all of the HRIS, HR automation, time and attendance, etc information of meaning to you and then let other HR professionals give it a virtual thumbs up or thumbs down so that the cream rose to the top and the chaff fell away?  Would it help you keep up with current HR issues, changes in HR law and see HR trends emerge?

What if you, as an HRIS user, had a mashup at your disposal that brought together all of the time and attendance, learning management, performance management, applicant tracking, etc data you might want?  You could see that suddenly everyone is taking the day after Thanksgiving off or that everyone in your job family has signed up for a new course or certification or that everyone with your experience is applying for this new job?  It seems like it might be a nice way to stay on top of changes and events within the workplace for which you might use your own company’s HRIS tool.

A mashup is kind of a mob mentality, but one that would use a collective to push important current and emerging topics to the forefront.  It’s really a two heads are better than one kind of thing: if every other HR professional is finding topic C to be particularly salient maybe you will too?  Or maybe you can keep your marketability high by seeing the trend that everyone competing for that job you want 9or have) is adding to their skill set by getting certification Y.