Dr. Smoot

Om

2008-04-29T08:38:00.003-04:00

I think I am adopting this as my new HR mantra.....

"Good HR acts as a market player, not a mechanical manipulator of people."

This was written by Bill Strahan in a new blog called HumanMarkets.
This really fits with what I have been attempting to discuss in my blog. Too much of the time over the years, I have seen HR trying to manipulate people instead of trying to really improve the business.

In my little personal workworld, I am trying to persuade others to behave this way. To start focusing less on the petty differences & letting those issues encompass the whole day, and start focusing on how we can integrate ourselves within the entire fabric of the organization. If we do so, we behave as a "market player," and we are more proactive, and better prepared mentally to handle most situations.

In another related post, the HR Capitalist asks, "Can you get a non-HR job in your company?".
The answer for me right now is no. But that has not always been the case...so I know how to do it. For me it's just a matter of time before I can say yes to #1: Knowing the business, and #5: Demonstrating personal credibility.

Per Chance, Do You Have Room For Some Humility?

2008-04-27T17:29:00.005-04:00

I just caught up this afternoon on all my favorite blogs. I admit I skipped some articles. So I when I say I "got caught up" that does not mean I read anything. I had many thoughts about all the entries. Choosing one: an entry from Seth Godin's blog from April 22nd entitled "You're Right". This got me thinking about HR and how we market ourselves within our respective companies.

Recently I ranted about possible reasons why HR is not allowed to the table. Essentially, I really believe that HR is insecure about its position because:

1. We are forced to prove our existence.
2. We don't believe we should have to.
3. We are unable to make ourselves appear remarkable.

HR departments should possibly hire an agent or a marketing consultant to boost their public image.

Instead they develop superiority complexes to mask their insecurities. And eventually do more damage than good. Think of someone you know who has a superiority complex (especially to mask their insecurity.) That person is a pain in the ass, aren't they? And you avoid them.

So if employees are frustrated with the HR department and it is having an effect on you getting to the table, think about:

1. Not taking their frustration personally.
2. Consider that they may be right.
3. Don't think it's pandering or weak to say, "I'm wrong."
4. Your pride getting in the way of a happy (internal) customer.

There's No Business Like My Business

2008-04-26T19:00:00.004-04:00

I had to disconnect from the machine for awhile.

(Play: Gary Numan, "Me, I Disconnect From You"...and read on)

For the past three months, I have either been blogging, reading and responding to other blogs. I was a Web 2.0 junkie.

But as my job went into hyperdrive....it's open enrollment time as well as annual review time...policies, benefits, and procedures are changing....and my personal life went off the tracks....and my body broke down to the flu...something had to give....and it was my blog.

As much as I enjoy doing this, it has become part work for me. H.R. work that is. I admire those that keep their blogs up everyday and amazed by folks who twitter and/or text all day long. But as a Gen X'er, I am not getting this constant need to communicate. Whatever happened to the wonderful world of silence?

And why does every store & restaraunt play popular music at very audible levels? It just seems more and more that there is not really a constant need to communicate, but a constant need to have noise.

I will try to keep up in this mywikiblogspace world. But there will be some days that I'm just not going to care, and not fear I'm not connected so I can have some peace & quiet.

Everyone takes a sick day from work. But do you take a sick day from life?

House Painting, The Flu, and HR Blogs

2008-04-22T19:26:00.003-04:00

have nothing in common.

When put together, don't play well together either. So these are the reasons there have been no posts lately.

Know Your Rights

2008-04-14T19:07:00.006-04:00

Let me say this my fellow Americans, I am glad we have free speech in this country.

Oh wait a minute, do we?

Today, Fred Hosier posted on his HR Blunder website:
http://www.hrblunders.com/dilbert-tangles-with-first-amendment-when-do-employees-free-speech-rights-cross-the-line/
about a employee at the Catfish Bend Casino in Iowa who got fired for posting a Dilbert cartoon on the employees bulletin board that compared managers to drunken lemurs.

The problem with this, is this man was just broadcasting to his colleagues what everyone knew to be true already. Managers are like drunken lemurs. Woops, did I just say that? It's a good thing this blog is anonymous. If my employer found out about this, I would be in big trouble.

But wait a minute, again. The first amendment of the United States affords me the right to free speech, doesn't it?

And the same goes for the workplace. Right? Shouldn't I be allowed to say what I want, when I want, etc?

(sigh) After the day I had today, I'm so torn between being a civilized, diligent HR person and wanting to give the finger to the whole lot of them.

All right, I will be the civilized, diligent HR person.

So I will say this, knowing what I know about this guy in Iowa getting fired, is that, not all the rules in the world apply to the workplace. In short, as a person coming to work, the company is not paying you to be yourself, express yourself, or be whatever is you need to be. The company is paying you to come to the jobsite, actually WORK and in turn they will give you cash and health care, etc. So should the Iowa guy have been fired, knowing what I know....no. But should he be allowed to express his humor.....perhaps.

Am I contradicting myself? Not really. It is the responsibility of the Iowa guy to come to work and work while he is there. But it also the responsibility of the Catfish Bend Casino to make Iowa guy aware of his rights as an employee and what they expect in terms of conduct. If they don't, them shame on them and Iowa guy is probably better off not working there anyway. In my opinion, this seems silly that the Casino has no room for humor, but if they don't, they should kindly remind Iowa guy that, "We have no sense of humor here and neither do you. So get back to work and don't do it again." In other words, if it's within company policy and it is not heinous, like stabbing a co-worker, a verbal warning would be suffice.

The point is Know Your Rights.

The Clash "Know Your Rights" from "Combat Rock" 1982

Death by Blogging & Smoking and Drinking are Better!

2008-04-10T22:28:00.004-04:00

Two article to share about our current culture:

"In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop"
published by Matt Richtel for NY Times

"Two weeks ago in North Lauderdale, Fla., funeral services were held for Russell Shaw, a prolific blogger on technology subjects who died at 60 of a heart attack. In December, another tech blogger, Marc Orchant, died at 50 of a massive coronary. A third, Om Malik, 41, survived a heart attack in December.
Other bloggers complain of weight loss or gain, sleep disorders, exhaustion and other maladies born of the nonstop strain of producing for a news and information cycle that is as always-on as the Internet."

The article is a bit long but made me want to stay up all night and read blogs ;-)

Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/06/technology/06sweat.html?_r=5&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=login

and

from Matthew Scott of Financial Week, a sister publication of Workforce Management:
"Obesity More Costly To U.S. Companies Than Smoking, Alcoholism"

"The report found obesity is associated with a 36 percent increase in health-care spending, more than results from smoking or alcoholism. Since 34 percent of American adults fit the definition of obesity, cutting costs associated with the condition will challenge companies for years to come.

Companies are gearing up to combat obesity.
The report said that more than 40 percent of U.S. companies have obesity reduction or wellness programs, and an additional 24 percent plan to start such programs in 2008. The programs can yield a return on investment from ranging from zero to as much as $5 for each $1 invested."

Full article: http://www.workforce.com/section/00/article/25/46/91.html

One Day Left to Submit Your Comments to the DOL Regarding Changes to the FMLA

2008-04-10T09:02:00.001-04:00

You have one more day, until April 11, 2008, to submit comments to the DOL regarding: (1) proposed changes to the existing FMLA regulations; and (2) offer suggestions regarding what regulations the DOL should adopt to implement the newly enacted military family leave provisions.

The proposed regulatory changes may be viewed at: http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/FedRegNPRM.pdf

Comments may be sent to the DOL electronically at http://www.regulations.gov

You may also mail comments to: Richard M. Brennan, Senior Regulatory Officer, Wage and Hour Division, Employment Standards Administration, U.S. Department of Labor, Room S-3502, 200 Constitution Avenue, NW Washington DC 20210.
The DOL strongly encourages that you submit your comments electronically.

Help shape the FMLA. Provide your FMLA comments to the DOL.

Need to motivate your employees? The secret is SUGAR!

2008-04-07T11:36:00.007-04:00

This posting in the NYT op-ed section tells us everything we need to know about motivating employees. Feed them chocolate chip cookies and lemonade all day long. Here is a snippet:

What limits willpower? Some have suggested that it is blood sugar, which brain cells use as their main energy source and cannot do without for even a few minutes. Most cognitive functions are unaffected by minor blood sugar fluctuations over the course of a day, but planning and self-control are sensitive to such small changes. Exerting self-control lowers blood sugar, which reduces the capacity for further self-control. People who drink a glass of lemonade between completing one task requiring self-control and beginning a second one perform equally well on both tasks, while people who drink sugarless diet lemonade make more errors on the second task than on the first.

The whole article is at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/02/opinion/02aamodt.html?_r=5&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=login

I'm HR and you need me, dammit!

2008-04-06T17:21:00.006-04:00

How many times have you heard this statement, "Managers don't respect HR." When maybe what they should be saying is "Managers don't respect me as an HR professional." Yes, maybe it's you, not the profession. After all for Management to not respect HR, is to not respect themselves. Duh, they are also part of the human capital.

So if they don't respect you, can you see any reason why they would want you at the table? Let's look at three different reasons why this may occur.

1) You are an asshole.
By Bob Sutton's definition from his book, "The No Asshole Rule": "flat-out rude, selfish, uncivil, mean-spirited and really don't care whom they step on." Yes these people exist in HR. In fact, they may just be the worst assholes. They hide behind their power. They treat their HR staff poorly. They take credit for work that was done by their staff. They make up lies about what their boss told them.

If you act like this especially over a long period of time, the truth will out. Management may not know what to with you because they know you to be overbearing autocrat & a mean SOB. So they ignore you and only ask you to clean up messes.

2) You are a child.
You insufferably whine. You throw temper tantrums when you are not invited to every meeting. You believe that just by your positional placement that you have power, damn it! You assume because of your title and the traditional heirarchy of your organization that you have a rightful place.

3) You are irrelevant.
Are you still relying on SHRM for all of your HR news? Are you over 40 and believe you know what your younger staff needs to motivate them, even though you never speak to them? Do you think about the ways things used to be in your organization and long for the good ol' days? Do you not speak to anyone in the organization about what's going on because you "know" everything already? If so, you're irrelevant.

In all cases, Management knows they need HR. With that HR should not walk around the office as if they are indispensable and behave poorly. Just because Management needs HR to fire employees, does not mean they cannot fire your over-entitled, self-righteous whiney ass.

To be "at the table," is to be respected as an HR professional. My experience with this is that no matter how old you are, no matter how long you have been with an organization, no matter how right you think you are, you need the following three things to be respected:

1) Power: the ability to influence behavior, change the course of events and to overcome resistance.
2) Influence: the ability to change behavior which leads to changes in attitude.
3) Cooperation: the ability to be diplomatic, gain support, network, work with relational positions over heirarchal positions.

So next time you are wondering why you are not "at the table," seriously look at yourself first. If you are either an asshole, a child or irrelevant and have no power, influence and are uncooperative, why do they need you?

Perhaps it is the organization. But if you are doing a respectable job as an HR professional, even within the worst of organizations, you will still have some small victories. The small victories will be seen better than your bad behavior. And you will be invited.

Top 3 Albums of 2008

2008-04-06T17:07:00.008-04:00

The year is a third over...so it's time to present my Top 3 albums of the year (so far.)

1) Hot Chip "Made In The Dark"
This is wonderfully dancey, quirky & melodic album. Shades of Depeche Mode, Talking Heads & disco.
Favorite line: from "Hold On:" "I'm only going to heaven if it taste like caramel."

2) Atlas Sound "Let The Blind Lead Those Who Can See But Cannot Feel"
Trippy, experimental rock from Bradford Cox, singer from Dearhunter. After about 5 songs in, it becomes this ambient sound in the room. Never tries to hard to grab your attention, so it's perfect to have on when working.

3)Why? "Alopecia"
Band from Oakland area that is kind of folk, kind of hip-hop, kind of pop, kind of (insert genre)…with clever and funny lyrics. Yet not for the faint of heart. The Mountain Goats meet Beck.

What Business Is It Of Yours Anyway?

2008-04-04T05:58:00.001-04:00

I have not posted for a week because I have been crazy hectic with work and outside committments. I am not even keeping up with reading my favorite blogs. Hence I feel so disconnected from the HR World.

This clip from "Romy & Michelle's High School Reunion" serves two purposes.1) Considering all the weird things that our office has had to do lately in the name of Organizational Development, I wonder if I really am in HR anymore.2) I am drafting a posting on why HR doesn't get a place "at the table" and how tired I am of hearing all the insufferable whining about this. Maybe if HR professionals stop pretending to be something they are not, maybe this wouldn't be such a problem.

Enjoy this for now and stay tuned for more.....

Music News: Something Wicked This Way Comes

2008-03-26T20:46:00.003-04:00

First of all, I heard Madonna's new song with Justin Timberlake & Timbaland called "4 minutes." I am praying this is a dream. This is the worst thing I ever heard that Madonna has ever done....ever. Is she hurting for money, attention, or what? Why is she hanging out with these two? Frankly T&T are running out of steam with the same beats. Please Madonna, don't put this out. Store it away in a closet like Prince did with the Black Album. Whatever you do, just don't follow your husband down the path of massive pop culture mistakes. Surely you remember the early 90's when you sucked & everyone hated you.

Secondly, Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins, said about his lawsuit with Virgin, that they have"irreparably harmed the group, their reputation and goodwill with their fans." Ha-ha-ha. All that started happening when you realized your falsetto brings hits, you released one pretentious album after another starting with Mellon Collie, and fired James Iho & Darcy whats-her-name. Hire them back, grow your hair back & stop acting like a baby and maybe people will care again.

Uncool alert: I watch American Idol. And even though I know AI isn't all that; it's just a popularity contest; it's still fun water cooler conversation. Anyway, Dave Cook's rendition of "Billie Jean" was .... I know I am going out on a super uncool in a Pitchfork kind of way limb here.....truly very good. Actually it was the best thing I have heard on the show. And I could not wait to hear it again. I did. It still rocked. Don't hate the playa, hate the game.

The Trouble with Tribbles

2008-03-24T21:20:00.004-04:00

When I'm not writing about something HR-related, I will probably be ranting about the Music Industry or raving about some new music that I can't stop playing.

Here is a rant on the Music Industry. First of all, why should I care? Because I spent 10 years working in it. By the time I was done with it (some may say it was done with me) it was common for me to express this opinion, "the music industry will go by the way of canals. It's out worn it's welcome." It really surprised me how very few people wanted to hear this. Some actually were very upset, as if the music industry was like the sun and moon, parts of our life that had been around forever. Secondly, why should I care now? Bitter, table for one? Perhaps. More likely, I am not a fan of whining.

A new colleague introduced me to Seth Godin by giving me a copy of his book, "Purple Cow." (BTW, anyone doing a job search, hint HR Wench, should read this) Seth has some very definitive things to say about the music industry which hit the nail right on the head. Here is an excerpt,

"For years, the record business has been dominated by a few major players, and they work hard to follow each other's lead. The labels have similar pricing, merchant policies, contracts, and packaging. Each label avoids criticism by sticking with the pack.

But when the market changes - when technology reshuffles the deck - the record labels are all in trouble. With no practice leading, no practice trying the unknown, they're trapped, panicked, and in serious trouble. Their trade organization, the RIAA, is spending millions of dollars lobbying Congress to legislation to keep the world just the way it is. In the long run, of course, they'll fail. You can't keep the world the way it is, even if you buy the influence of Congress."

(And as far as I'm concerned I really don't care that the RIAA goes after P2P users. No matter what you call it, it's called stealing. Put a dress on a pig and it's still a pig. So to those getting nasty letters in the mail, saying you owe $xxxx, suck it up.)

But the RIAA puts out press releases every couple of months that make the online newspapers as well as the local TV morning news about the slump in CD sales and it's all because of the Internet and downloading. Frankly anyone who knows the facts knows their press releases are all lies and propanganda trying to salvage the careers of overbloated industry moguls.

Unfortunately you can't see the tears I'm crying.

To be continued....

Does anybody really know what time it is?

2008-03-21T10:27:00.001-04:00

Currently FMLA regulations do not specifically require employers to provide employees with information detailing the amount of leave designated as FMLA leave. Employers just need to notify the employee that leave has been designated and will be counted as FMLA leave. The recent case of Edwards v. Heathcraft, Inc. No. 7:05-cv-36 (HL), 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11596 (M.D. Ga. Feb. 15, 2008), upheld this regulation.

But as every HR professional knows (because you read the 130 pg, triple column, smallest font in the world, Federal Register on proposed rule changes for FMLA. God knows I didn't. I'm waiting for the HBO mini-series) that the DOL has proposed revising the notice provisions by adding the requirement (825.300(c)(1)) that employers tell employees the number of hours, days or weeks of leave that have been designated.

Oh my, did I just hear a collective whine?

Frankly I support this idea and our office just implemented this practice last year. In fact we go to the extent of informing them of when they will exhaust their paid leave time, what happens to their benefits, when their benefits will expire and/or all the necessary relevant situations that could occur in the future as a result of their leave. Of course this only really works with non-intermittent leave. And it works best if an employer requires employees to use paid leave first before going on unpaid leave, which we do.

It can work greatly to the employer's advantage. I perceive it in the same way, employers use a panel of doctors for WC. If the employee is closely monitored and they know they are closely monitored, they have more incentive to return to work. In this case, they are definitely aware of their status. Employees waste less time returning to work because they value their accumulated paid leave time.

Is this a lot of work to figure out when, if and how? Yes. But once you make the calculations, the onus is on the employee. They'll make better informed choices about their leave. And return to work as quickly as possible, avoiding the temptation to abuse the FMLA system.

Bob Sutton hates Kevin Spacey

2008-03-18T22:05:00.001-04:00

Not really. It's just that I've been reading Bob Sutton's book, The No Asshole Rule and it reminded me of the movie, Swimming with the Sharks. Kevin is definitely an asshole.

Read the book, watch the movie...it may make you feel better. It does for me. Bob's book is making me remember that my work life is not nearly as bad as most people I know.

It's all fun & games (March Madness, that is) until someone doesn't return my call.

2008-03-17T21:15:00.000-04:00

I just came across this article published in the L.A. Times a year ago, written by Molly Selvin entitled "More employers allowing some March Madness at work." The article sites two companies that have given into the idea that instead of fighting their staff's lack of interest in work during the three weeks of the NCAA championship, it gladly supports it. Worse yet, it's considered "an opportunity to boost morale." What a bunch of bunk.
When using the rationale that...
"With 24/7 e-mail and Internet access fuzzing the line between home and office, employees are spending as much as 36 minutes a day, or three hours a week, checking their bank balances, arranging child care, watching TV and cyber-shopping from their desk,...."
and
"Some workers will spend as long as two hours a day tracking the NCAA tournament games.." it's just best to give in and/or give up.
Oh, wait a minute, I forgot, when I am at work, I'm supposed to be...what was that again?...yes, that's right....WORKING!
When I read these articles that glorifiy slacking, I am left with a misunderstanding of the modern work world.
From this article, I gather
1) Sports are the most important thing in everyone's life.
2) Being concerned about retaining "talent" is not the same as retaining productive workers.

The other thought I had about this, what if I were a client or customer of either of these companies and I found out my requested service was being put aside because the company wants to make sure that all their employees are enjoying the NCAA tournament. I am fairly certain I would not be feeling to motivated to be a return customer.

One of the companies that was mentioned in the article was a Maryland based banking firm, First Commonwealth Funding. So I tried to reach them today to see how business was going, in lieu of all the wonderfully inspired employees they must have. I discovered their website is down, their 800-phone line rings busy and their regular phone line doesn't ring, the line just goes down. Now either
1) Business is so good, they don't have time for new customers, or
2) Everyone in the office is installing TV's and sound systems for the big games.

Personal phone calls, internet usage, birthday cakes, staff outings, etc. are all quick diversions. But can you imaging TV's in your workplace? Playing sports games, listening to co-workers cheer & talk obsessively about it? If this is a company's way to motivate, it obviously has more problems than retention.

My last thought on this is that, the rationalization that managers use this to motivate is probably just a thinly disguised way of legitamizing their own need to slack off.

Here is the link to the entire article: http://www.latimes.com/classified/jobs/news/la-fi-madness14mar14,0,1904286.story

Marla... the little scratch on the roof of your mouth that would heal if only you could stop tonguing it, but you can't.

2008-03-16T18:07:00.001-04:00

The first thing I want to share is some self inflicted pain I caused myself. While driving recently in a rental car, I had no way of plugging in my mp3 player. So for my hour drive, I listened to the FM radio; scanning the frequencies for a recognizable song that would make the drive more pleasant. When a commercial or an unbearable song broke the rhythm of one station, I simple pressed the scan button and went onto the next. And then it happened. The unbearable song that caught me it's death grip. It started out simple enough, a catchy discoey drum beat & a funky bass line & then a little candy keyboard line floated in. I knew this song. But who was it? I figured it was a 70's soft-rock band, like Ambrosia (after the first album.) And I just could not turn it off; I had to know. Then the guitar riff started & soon after the vocals, "Spending all my nights, All my money going out on the town." I knew this frigging song! And I knew I hated this song! But I did not know what it was! And then the chorus came like a tidal wave of nausea, memories of junior high & jukeboxes in bowling alleys..."Baby come back, any kind of fool can see." And there is was, all was revealed: Player-"Baby Come Back." Since I was in it, I stayed for the whole crap fest of a song.
Now why is this important for a blog entry? Simply because this happened 3 days ago and that song is still stuck in my head.
So people, here is my first bit of advice. Silence is golden. Don't let a horrible song ruin your weekends. If you hear it, and you know it, and you hate it: Turn it off.
But if you just can't resist....here is Player, ripping it up.

Dr. Smoot's Healthy Advice on Human Resources and Popular Music

2008-03-16T11:23:00.000-04:00

What the world needs now is another blog, like it needs a hole in the head. Yet here is where I come in. As opposed to posting on the blogs of others, I just have to much to say on my own. Hopefully this blog is viewed and is helpful to those seeking advice, relevancy & some humor in the world of Human Resouces and Popular Music.