This is frightening
The TV show “The Office” has a website where you can submit your HR nightmares.
I’ve spent the entire night reading through this and watching”The Office.” I can’t believe some of the examples they’ve given. Some of them are awful.
Oh, how painful!
Increasing Benefits Cost is Just a Band-Aid
Last week, I wrote about employers passing on benefits cost to at-risk employees (specifically smokers but could be broadened). I received a lot of great comments from both this blog and recruitingbloggers.com. Examples include:
Ann says: Lung cancer for a smoker ok — will be blame the lung cancer from second hand smoke for an employee who used to work in a bar, or who is married to a smoker? The path gets quite slippery.
Lori says: I do not smoke, but my husband does. How would that work in regards to my employer knowing about my husband and charging me more? I certainly will not volunteer the information if not asked outright.
Jacqueline says: The way we determine auto insurance is based on risk, so why not apply that to health insurance? People who choose to drive fast sports cars are charged more than other drivers.
Maureen says: Health care’s rising costs are the #1 danger to our country’s solvency. It is endangering jobs and the welfare of our country’s citizens.
Colin says: Well, the problem here has long been that employers should not be in the health insurance business. The fact that we’re even having this discussion (put that cruller down, Mr. Smith) is entirely the result of a policy that dates back to Franklin Roosevelt.
Why I don’t necessarily disagree with employers trying to cut costs using these methods, the slippery slope has to be acknowledge and the temporary nature of any sort of change along these lines has to be considered. This does very little to control the long term costs of medical care as I don’t see an outright ban of smokers at all workplaces and while that population continues to decrease, the cost to treat continues to increase.
We are one of the few western societies in which health insurance is connected to employment and that has obviously created the problem we have today. Many take care of this through single-payer (government inspired) insurance. There is already enough debate about whether or not that is viable for this country but if companies want to reduce medical costs, I don’t see it happening under the current model no matter what attempts at social engineering companies may try.
Interview with CEO of Resumefit (Part 2)
Here is part two of my interview with Tom Schmidt of Resumefit.
You can see part one here.
Click here to download a sample resume using this technology.
Your HR Guy: Some HR people I know are skeptical of any type of psychological battery. How is yours different or how do you ensure that the results are valid?
Tom Schmidt, Resumefit: Many employers are inviting candidates to complete an online assessment. Our assessment is not so much different than many other reliable instruments such as those from DDI or SHL. However, it is workplace specific. The Center for Applied Cognitive Studies where the assessments were developed specializes in workplace behavior. Tens of thousands of these assessments have been completed by individuals and are already being used by Wachovia Bank, FedEx, and other well known clients. The question is, “Will some cognitive scientist or organization be able to shoot a hole through the two assessments we use? Read more
Interview with CEO of Resumefit (Part 1)
After my video resume post, I received an e-mail from Tom Schmidt at Resumefit about his product. I went to the website and was really intrigued by the product and where the possibilities could lead. I asked if I could interview him for this blog and I am breaking it into two posts (so I am not being compensated).
According to their website,”Résuméfit in conjunction with CentACS, Center for Applied Cognitive Studies, and Qualitech Solutions, Inc. provides a comprehensive software solution to candidates and companies of all sizes trying to improve their selection and retention process.” If I could sum it up, I think this is a serious step forward for resumes.
This is long but really interesting. I really encourage you to read it if you are at all interested in a cutting edge resume product. Here is part one of two: Read more
Non-Compete Agreements are Bogus
If there is one document in the hiring process I hate to hear about, it is the non-compete agreement. If there is any single document that can kill a new person’s first day excitement, it is the non-compete agreement. If there is any single document that can rock the foundation of a loyal employee’s trust in a company…well.
Now, I am not questioning the legality of non-compete agreements (there has been quite a bit of legislation and court rulings that muzzle those agreements in many states) but under many circumstances, they simply aren’t necessary or are overly restrictive.
Now the idea behind a non-compete is pretty harmless: making sure your competitors don’t take trade secrets through taking top executives and other principle people of an organization. What it has become is a tool of intimidation with overly broad definitions of competitors (or none at all), blanket use throughout all levels of an organization and long timeframes.
When are non-compete agreements ok? Under the following conditions: Read more
Increasing Benefits Costs to At-Risk Employees
A recent trend in benefits is to pass some of the increasing costs of medical insurance to at risk employees. One of the easiest assailed groups are smokers. Not only are they easily identified but they are not faultless in their affliction (like some cases of obesity or cancer with genetic predispositions). The second reason is that smoking is verifiably expensive. A recent study cited the figure of 6-8% of total medical costs in the US is attributable to smoking and nearly one in five deaths can also be traced back to that cause. While 6-8% may sound like chump change, health care costs in the US comprise of 16% of our GDP. Or nearly two trillion dollars.
While workplace bans on smoking while at work isn’t uncommon in the new century, stricter methods have been put into place. In 2005, there was a well publicized case about an employer banning smoking outright as a condition of employment. And it is becoming more of a common practice to charge smokers more for health care coverage than their non-smoking colleagues.
This trend has outraged some rights groups while gaining applause from health groups and insurance companies. On one side, it is unfair to dictate what your employees do outside of work. Not only that, but there are greater risk factors where employers will not penalize an employee. For example, alcoholism may go untreated for years and may do damage far beyond that of moderate to light cigarette usage. On the other hand, employers want to find ways to decrease costs and maintain profitability. Discrimination on the basis of smoking is not against the law so employers are free to do as they please in this arena. And this sort of discrimination isn’t uncommon anymore. As an example, companies routinely give health care discounts to employees who participate in their wellness programs and discriminate against those who don’t participate.
Where do you come down on the issue? There are obviously very polar positions on the issue but there is definitely some middle ground. I’d like to hear your take on it before I post my next post in which I will go into my views in great detail.
The keys to your job search are at JobCentral.
Are Video Resume Sites Desperate?
I know it is crazy for me to suggest that video resumes won’t work. I am sure that’s what they said about locomotive, automobile and putting a man on the moon. And I know I should get my tinfoil hat on to suggest that video resumes might not be the no-brainer solution for people who wish to set themselves apart.
If that is the case, why would I get comments two months after I made a post to both my blog and RecruitingBloggers.com about the silliness of video resumes? As you can see, Peggy made a comment saying that most job seekers will benefit from having a video resume. And what do you know, Jason made a comment over at RecruitingBloggers singing the same praises. All within an hour of each other on the same night!
Please!
I maintain, and will continue to do so until my fingers are bloody little nubs, that the time spent on perfecting your video resume (or video supplement or whatever) is better used to perfect your paper resume and cover letter with time left to network with professionals in the field. I am assuming that we do have a finite amount of time here on the planet though. The samples I saw on that website didn’t compel me any more than the suggestion. And to further my point, their resumes could use some improvement without even mentioning their performance on their video resumes.
Video resumes don’t do it for me just like video conferencing doesn’t do it for me either. If you are going to speak, call me. If you have a presentation to give, send me the Powerpoint. Seeing your bobbing head on the other end of your voice may be novel but it adds little to job considerations.
Your HR Guy hates Attendance Issues
A person asked me over email about attendance issues and all sorts of mean, nasty things came to my mind when it was mentioned.
Oh how I loathe ye great attendance policy. My post on ROWE is the only time I’ve mentioned my despise for workplace attendance policies. There are a lot of different folds of attendance policies that I would like to address:
- They are archaic. I would say that any attendance policy that isn’t flexible enough to keep your best people at work is archaic. I would think that besides ROWE workplaces or those who are super flexible, your attendance policy is crap. If your attendance policy punishes supervisors for being flexible with work times, it is crap. I heard of one workplace where a person worked 4-10’s as pre-arranged with the supervisor and counted the fifth day as an excused absence in their attendance policy (which had a limit). That’s insanity
- Attendance policies were meant to be abused. You have hard limits on the number of absences and tardies that employees get and those crappy employees get right there on the edge of that limit all of the time. The abusers know the limits of the attendance policy.
- Attendance discharges are so easy. HR loves the attendance discharge. As long as they’ve executed each attendance discharge by the book, it is a great, nearly risk free discharge. Of course, these don’t always happen to bad employees. And “Sorry my hands are tied” is a really awful response to a manager who didn’t understand why a pre-arranged absence is now leading to termination.
- Which doesn’t mean we don’t need a policy. No, no, no. Unless you are ROWE, you definitely need guidelines in place. My ideal would be an attendance system that is much like a performance policy. Less hard limits, more understanding how attendance really makes their work suffer. Abusers are still gone under the system.
- I am the executor of bad policy. Every HR person inherits bad policy and they should petition to change bad policy as soon as possible. That being said bad policy isn’t a reason not to enforce bad policy (now illegal policies, that’s another issue altogether). You do yourself and the business you work for disfavor if you don’t fairly apply the rules of the workplace.
So there is my crusade against attendance policies. And yes, this doesn’t work for every situation I realize. But even different situations can use better attendance policies.
The Stereotype of the Older Worker
The Employment Blawg has a great post about employing older workers.
I personally enjoy employing older workers. I am relatively young in comparison to the rest of the workforce. All of the executives I have recruited are older than me so I guess the difference between a guy who is 38 and 58 is pretty slim from my point of view.
Still, it definitely seems like there is still a lot of bias against old people, especially in younger or more tech savvy companies. As George mentions in his blog, it is a hush-hush thing among HR folks but it is a widely acknowledged problem.
On that same note, I had a comment in my book review about Microsoft’s hiring process from an older person who just doesn’t get the idea of those types of interview questions. I wonder what the demographics of fast moving, entrepreneurial, or tech savvy companies look like.
There is some good advice for older workers looking for resume success in this Forbes article. It is written by the founder of Jobs 4.0, a job board that specifically targets job seekers over 40. Which isn’t the reason it is good, it is just interesting.
Site update
I know that I have quite a few people that read me on feed readers but you should come check out the new site layout. I am going to try and customize it from where it is currently. That is the nice thing about working with WordPress. I also added a couple more links and new commenting functionality (Ajaxy!).
Well, that is enough Web 2.0 for one night!
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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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