Workers Compensation is Crap
As a side story, I was playing a video game version of Jeopardy and a question (answer?) came up where the correct answer (question?) was “Workers Compensation.” The only problem is, this game was created in 1987 and the correct answer of course was “Workman’s Compensation.” This was 1987 after all! When men worked (or at least got compensated for it) while the women folk stayed home and fed the kids. Oh my, how times have changed. Now 20 years later, I am playing an old gaming system (that has been obsolete for 16 of those years) and blogging about it on something called the internet.
So here I am, 20 years later, hating the words “Workers Compensation.” If you have ever had to experience a case, you understand. The cold sweat. The shaky hands. The paranoia. The paranoia is what kills you. Or it kills me at least.
Every time someone around your work says “Ow” or “Ouch,” you over-react like a first time parent. Saying things like “maybe we need to call a doctor” with a minor cut or asking questions like “When was the last time you had you tetanus shot?” You start putting cushions on every single remotely sharp object. No wonder people think we are insane paranoids.
But hear me now and believe me later, it isn’t our fault!
No, it is the system of guilty until proven innocent if you’re an employer. It is the system of ridiculous OSHA requirements. People ask me why I flip out whenever work at home is suggested. Work at home? You mean getting injured at home. I can control the environment to a certain extent here at work but when OSHA is rewarding money based on the fact that somebody got hurt in their home office (often due to their own ridiculous negligence), yeah I am going to freak out.
I think it has to be better in some states but I am sure it isn’t rainbows and ice cream.
I don’t know what I was thinking…
I tried out GeekLog and it…
well…
I’m back to WordPress.
After spending several hours tonight cleaning up spam (this after I had instituted three plugins to deal with spam), it was time to switch back. Which is all well and good I suppose.
I might change the theme a bit but that’s it.
Bringing them in so you can kick them out
As part of the problem that I see in separating HR from recruiting, one of the major ones that I really didn’t touch on as much as I would have liked is the management of the employee lifecycle at the company. Setting proper expectations on the front end of an interview and sending that consistent message throughout leads to a much smoother start for a new employee if they are hired. Similarly, taking the proper steps to educate, train, develop and retain an employee makes sure that unnecessary turnover is avoided. That means more time can be spent on developing relationships and making the extra effort to fill a tough req rather than spend time on keeping the revolving door swinging.
So while it might seem like I was picking on recruiters in my last article, my frustration grows with an HR department that can’t keep people sitting at their desks. And while my frustration is high with an HR department that can’t keep seats filled, my frustration can be accelerated with management that wants to doom an HR department with their policies, pay structure and lifecycle management. And that’s where the buck stops.
Everybody who is anybody in management has said that people make the difference in your company. Your HR department head should be reporting to your CEO, not to an Operations or Finance (yuck) head. It is so critically important that it should be laid at the feet of the headcheese that if they don’t understand the value of their HR department, their company is going nowhere. Their HR department knows if your business has become a revolving door. And if they are worth anything, they will know (at least partially) why that is the case. And if you have done good and invested wisely in them, they will often tell you what can remedy the situation.
But if you are an executive and you continue down the path of no return, you won’t be coming to me and ask why can’t fill reqs. You will know why I can’t fill reqs. And it will be laid at your feet.
How do you keep to your guiding principles?
I don’t know about some of you but whenever I started getting into HR, I did so with a lot of lofty goals and guiding principles in mind. Making genuine contacts, helping people get into the right career (whether it was with me or someone else) and continually educating and improving myself. I think we all do this, regardless of the career we choose. Then…
Well, then life happens. Not only do you have expectations, goals, deadlines, reports and all these work hassles (I say that with kindness of course), you have REAL life as well. Some of us do at least. The ones that get out from behind the computer once in a while.
You lose sight of those guiding principles, the ones that actually mean something. The ones that give fullness to your career.
Last week, I had the pleasure of making real contact with a colleague. And while I do value making contact through the internet with people, nothing quite connects like a jabber box (a.k.a. the telephone). I spoke with Ami from Recruitomatic a bit about offshoring and a bit more about my blog and HR on the front lines. It was a ten minute conversation but it was more than what we could have done over several hours of emailing. That’s what I like about the telephone.
Which brings me to the point that the conversation reminded me to post about. My blog is about keeping connected with my guiding principles. It isn’t a substitute for it but it is part of it. It serves as an outlet and it serves as a reminder. Whenever I called Ami, it reminded me that I wanted to make contact with several other people just to see how they were doing. Old job seekers that I had helped in the past that I couldn’t place with us but who otherwise were great people. One had found a job and one hadn’t and it reminded me that someone I knew was looking for somebody with this person’s qualifications. They have an interview this week together and I was pleased at that result (especially when, at this time of year, it is obnoxiously difficult to talk to people about switching careers.
The point of this isn’t to pat myself on the back, it is to demonstrate the way I remind myself to stay committed to those principles. How do you keep yourself focused on the overall goal of your career (possibly your life)? How do you not keep from being bogged down by work and start getting excited about fufilling a purpose you have laid out for yourself?
Balance between HR and Recruiting
There is a fine line to be drawn between HR and recruiting and quite a bit has been discussed regarding these two. Some have said they should be separated and I think I can understand that. Recruiting can often be part of the brand experience of a company, it can be marketing and it can be sales all in one. Those three things are usually not associated with traditional HR departments. How strange could it be to try to shove recruiting into HR then? HR, the red-headed stepchild of either the Finance or Legal departments in an organization does not fit in with recruiting, the sexy, meaningful realization of marketing and brand awareness at the local level(s). After all, it is one thing to sell a product to a customer, it is quite another to sell a lifestyle, a work environment and a position to a potential employee.
So why do I think HR and recruiting are not only connected at the hip but have an incredibly close relationship in a “global economy”?
Simply stated, it is all part of the employee lifecycle. And managing that throughout with reasonable offers and expectations set in front, training and employee development, and exit planning so that recruiters can be prepared for the next batch of hiring.
When unplanned turnover happens, it is often (but not always) avoidable. And when turnover happens, it is a burden on a recruiter (who may already be sitting on several recs). Wouldn’t you rather have your recruiter working on new and high worth positions rather than scrambling to replace a guy that you could have retained? Whenever someone is recruited that ends up having avoidable job fit issues, wouldn’t you rather that the recruiter be closely aware of the issues and to work with traditional HR to either solve the issue or to move forward with someone else?
The biggest reason is that separating HR and recruiting will lead to mistakes in most organizations. Mistakes that are both burdening on the employee as well as on the company. Not only lost revenue but lost opportunity. And with the success of both HR and recruiting depending so much upon each other, there has to be a strong, departmental team.
The reason I post this now is because it is a conflict I see daily in my current position. And I know that as we get bigger, the problem and balancing only becomes more stated and more complex. And while it will always be a balance, it shouldn’t ever be a conflict. Because what is best for recruiting is best for HR and whatever is best for HR is best for recruiting.
What do you ask your interviewer?
So you’re at your job interview and it is winding down. It has been a great interview so far and the interviewer has answered all of your questions. Here is the problem: the interviewer has answered all of your questions! Now what? Careerbuilder has some great things to ask right here and I want to highlight a few I really like:
- “How do you rate your competition?”
- “What were the major strengths and weaknesses of the last person who held this job?”
- “What are the most immediate challenges of the position that need to be addressed in the first three months?”
The reason I like these questions in particular is because my response to you will open the door for you to present what you could do to help our company.
Good interviewees make the interview questions, even the one’s they ask, complimentary of their skills and their offerings to the company.
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About
Your HR Guy is a Human Resources Generalist practicing in the field. But don't let that fool you, this isn't a boring blog. I seek relevance and humor in a place we will spend much of our lives. Everything from workplace issues, job seeking and terrible bosses. Read more...
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