What do you call a buncha HR nerds in one place?

If you are interested in following the SHRM conference, check out PunkRockHR (on Twitter as well) and Cheezhead. It is almost as good as being there.

Strike that, nothing is better than being there but it is going to be as close as you will be if you are in the office like me.

Going to the Portland Recruiting Roadshow?

If you are going to the Portland Recruiting Roadshow tomorrow, I will be there. I would describe what I will look like but I haven’t arranged my outfit for the day. If any HR/Recruiter people are going to be there who regularly (or irregularly) read this blog, I’d love to hang out and make fun of the presentations. Or you could sit over in the corner and just stare at me and wonder “Hey, is that the guy from that blog?”

Announcing the Launch of HRM Today

Today marks a new beginning. A revolution. A change in everything you’ve ever though. A brand new…

Sorry, I was channeling Steve Jobs there.

HRMToday.com, a new blog specifically aimed at Human Resources professionals, launches today. And since I really suck at doing press type releases, I’ll just go ahead and do this on the fly.

“But hey Lance, don’t you already have an HR blog?”

Yes I do but HRM Today is different and not just “different as in the same thing but instead of being painted red, it is painted crimson.”

1. In case you haven’t noticed, YourHRGuy.com was really designed as a resource for job seekers and employees to understand HR. The underlying assumption is that people are interested in knowing a perspective from the HR side. Generally that is the case for a majority of readers.
2. In that time though, I’ve been very lucky to pick up loyal readership from HR professionals all over the world. I throw these people a bone once in a while talking about issues that are near and dear to our collective hearts.
3. I wanted a place that speaks to those professionals exclusively and also allows other HR professionals to either cross-promote their HR focused content or use it as a blog for themselves (even anonymously if they like).

So yes, different in that content will be HR focused and that it will be open to anyone who wants to promote their own HR focused content (either through cross-posting or using it as a blog). The only restrictions I want is that the content actually be HR focused, no spam at all and minimal jargon. That last one is only a preference though.

Head over to HRMToday.com and check it out. If you are interested in contributing, sign up and if you are interested in watching the community grow, you can subscribe to the RSS feed or get once daily e-mail updates.

VP Making Less Than Subordinate?

It happens. Or so says the mailbag:

I have a situation discovered inadvertently through my boss. I am a VP within the company. An individual was offered to move from another city out to our location to help replace and lend expertise due to several exiting reps. This individual was assigned to my area and reported to me as part of the team. Unbeknownst to me, the individual was offered over 15% more in annual salary as well as incentive increases to offset the income lapse from what was earned at the original office. When I found out, I brought up the disparity to the exec only to be told I would need to pick up the team success to see a possible adjustment to my income. There is much more responsibility and accountability in my role compared to the other individual. HR has been approached and the response was to speak with the persons who put this in place. Been there and done that. What to do?

I have already talked about making less than your subordinate so I won’t try to hit too many of those points again.

As an HR guy, I’d love for people to bury their head in the sand about pay. After all, if we could live in a vacuum and figure out what we’d like to make for the work we’re doing and we are happy about this, what does it matter? The problem with that is it is unrealistic to expect people to act this way. If you’re the boss, you want to be paid more (even if your salary if perfectly sufficient). If you were unhappy with your pay, it would have been better to address it without making the comparisons. After all, there are a few legitimate reasons why a subordinate may make more that I addressed in my last post about subordinate compensation. One of those reasons is one you brought up: market conditions. If you have an employee you want to attract from another market, oftentimes you are going to apply that pay to attract them. That may include making them more highly paid than the boss.

If you are getting brick walled by HR and your boss, you’re not getting anywhere. You have a couple options: start looking for better paid positions or earn your money through making improvements in your department.

To me at least, the most fascinating aspect about this whole question is that it doesn’t mention the performance of the person hired or if the company makes a great ROI on the employee. If you are the VP of Sales and this person makes a ton of money for the company and happens to get paid more than you: great! You have a great person on your team making your numbers look good. Your prosperity rises and falls with your employees and not the other way around.

Your Blog Sucks

I hate to break it to you but your blog sucks. In other words, the reason you aren’t getting readers is because I know the answers and you do not. Even the most popular blogs on the internet aren’t getting it done because they suck too. I don’t know what the people who are reading those popular blogs are thinking. Perhaps they are insane.

I am going to give steps so easy to follow, even my readers will pick up on them. Here is how to write a kick ass blog:

1. A Title That Will Tick Everyone Off - In the blogosphere, everyone judges your book by its cover so it better be one that gets your attention. The best way to get attention is to take something that many people believe and say they are incredibly stupid for believing it. Another way is telling people why they aren’t as smart as you.
2. Content Isn’t Important - Having strong opinions and letting everyone know how smart you are for having them is the only thing that is important. Instead of focusing on content, focus on highlighting words with bolds, italics and underlines to prove your point: you believe something and it is 100% correct.
3. Assume Your Audience is Dumb - Repeat things several times if necessary. Remember, these people are reading your blog for the enlightenment that you provide and using too big of words will scare them off. Use simple words that they can understand and explain core concepts that everyone should already know just in case. You never know with some of these people.
4. Use Lists to Beat Your Point Out of Thin Air - There is no limit to your list but you should never have less than three points. In fact, longer is better. Try to argue against a hundred point list. You may find holes in 20 of the arguments but that still leaves 80 arguments unrefuted. “Nice try you door knob! Let me know when you refute all 100!”
5. Don’t Use Sources to Back Your Point Up - You’re better than the sources you would cite anyway. For bonus points, use the ultimate sources to back up your points if you must: yourself and the blogs that agree with you. Make sure to make the links as hard as possible to follow so that nobody will check them out (see, I just cheated those last few links).
6. Make Sure to Vilify People That Dare Disagree With You - Who has the blog? That’s right, you do. So now act like it! Make sure to mention the fact that Lee Harvey Oswald also disagreed with you in your original post. Anytime somebody tries to bring up a point against your post, make sure to mention the fact that they are siding with the person that shot Kennedy. Who do you believe: the guy who sides with a known assassin or the guy who is thoroughly against presidential assassination? Bulletproof I tell you!
7. Encourage People to Comment That Agree With You - Make sure to recognize every comment in support of your point with a strong “THANK YOU! Finally someone gets it!!11″ You only need a couple of these per post to convince you that at least some of your readers aren’t complete morons. Thankfully, because it is the internet, chances are someone will find a way to agree with you no matter what you actually say.
8. Never Admit Defeat - It is unlikely that you’ll be bested but should it ever happen, you could do a couple of things. You could continue to admit that you are right in face of whatever evidence the person besting you is presenting. It may not win the argument but it will drive that person crazy enough to make it feel like you’ve won. Another one is deleting the post. After all, it is your blog.
9. A Conclusion That Bails You Out - A way to avoid defeat is to simply have a squishy conclusion that you can point to that says the opposite of what your entire post implied (or even stated outright if you’re doing it right). For instance, if you have spent the entire time arguing that nobody knows how to write a blog that doesn’t suck, you can bail yourself out by ending with “While a majority of blogs out there do suck, there are some really great one’s out there that follow all of these principles routinely. It is nice to know that some people know what they are doing.”

So while a majority of blogs out there do suck, there are some really great one’s out there that follow all of these principles routinely. It is nice to know that some people know what they are doing.

Two Weeks Notice Gone Wrong

From the mailbag:

In Jan my wife decided that she would take a position in another part of the country and I would be leaving my employer or seeking a transfer to a different location. I sought out advice from the director of sales (exec mgmt) on how to proceed on the local mgmt level. He advised me to notify local mgmt of my situation and continue working without any change. The information was well received from local mgmt and they had no issue at that time.

About 1 month ago the local mgr took me into his office (with a witness) and said that for “budget reasons” he needed to know when I was leaving so he could plan his next fiscal year. I replied that I should be gone by July first, whether it was a transfer or going to another employer (not competition).

Last week he took me into his office (with a witness) and said that effective today we are going to take your 2 week notice and pay you for the next two weeks. Could you please gather your personal belongings and give me your office key? End of conversation!

I have spoke to HR and they have advised me that they would now like to pay me through June 30 and have me sign a release. HR said that by telling them that I was leaving on July 1, I was giving a resignation.

Any ideas on how to proceed?

This is a fun scenario. I am going to throw down the disclaimer that I am not a lawyer so blah blah blah… I am going to take it from two standpoint’s: what they should have done and what they have to do.

What they have to do under law is absolutely nothing assuming a couple of conditions are satisfied:

1. You don’t have a policy or contract
2. You aren’t in a union with protections
3. You aren’t in some state with a unique law about notice

Now I am just going to assume that 2 and 3 aren’t on the table and address number 1. Now you may say you don’t have a contract or a policy doesn’t protect you but if local management accepts your resignation for July 1st without objection and your performance or conduct is not at issue (which is what it sounds like), they could have entered into a verbal contract with you.

From an HR standpoint, I would say that’s where management made the boo boo. By accepting your resignation date and then reneging on what they said they would do, they broke a verbal contract with you.

Now what they should have done whenever they said they were letting you go is give you your entire compensation through July 1. I would not advise people pay notice period unless they feel like it will be a distraction. Otherwise, the employee should be allowed to work through the end of the period.

Here is the kicker: HR wants you to give away your rights for correcting something that was their bad to begin with. Not that requiring a signed release is a bad thing (and I would likely do the same), it is just that in this scenario, the employee is the one with the upper hand. If I were in that scenario, I would say that I would sign a waiver that covers this specific issue. I’d rather not take it up to claims court (but I would if it came down to it) but I’d rather not give up any rights to get what I deserve. If it came out later that there was a pay discrepancy or maybe a discrimination issue that you were involved in, I’d want to keep those rights fully available.

Again, that’s what I would do. I would never sign something that gave away my rights but you may be happy enough with that outcome to just take it. That being said, there are options for recovering including claims and even hiring an attorney if you felt like it. And I would say that before anything, you at least pay for a consultation with an employment law specialist and see if you have any legal rights past the one I mentioned.

Guest Post: Reaching Effortless Accomplishment

Editors note: This is a guest post featuring Raphael Natale B.S. M.H. C.H.

For over a decade in consulting with various corporations and small businesses, I have seen a similar theme in all of the people I have counseled. The theme is the desire to keep accomplishing and finally succeed. As normal as that may seem there is an inherent problem in placing success and accomplishment as a place or destination to be reached. By doing so, your well being or OK-ness and fulfillment have been placed outside of you and then you are not OK or fulfilled unless you reach all of your goals.

I am sure you have heard that success is a journey and not a destination, this I consider a truism although just knowing a truism is not enough. Here is a process that has helped many businesses and individuals reach effortless accomplishment while already being OK. The process is four fold:

Step One: Creating you vision for your business.
A vision simply defined is seeing the possibilities for accomplishments as real. An empowering vision for a professional organization answers the questions; what do we want to contribute and to whom. The answers to those questions provide focus direction and points to what your organization stands for. Visions are built upon organizational values and individual values and values refer to those qualities and attributes one holds as important.

Step Two: The ability to learn from mistakes in a way that furthers us.
You can ask yourself what am I learning about my incomplete goals that will contribute to the success of my future goals.

Step Three: A strategy for dealing with limiting beliefs.
Tell the truth about what you have and have not accomplished. What does that tell you about the belief you hold then ask yourself or co-workers what are five new perspectives relative to this belief and which new perspective empowers me to reach my vision.

Step Four: Maintaining a spirit of gratitude.
Ending each day with a spirit of gratitude reinforces our connection to the power we have to shape a productive and meaningful professional and personal life.

My final point is; we can not fail at life and business when we are in it for the experience. Given you are already on your journey and having your experience, you’re already a success. Take regular and consistent action steps towards your goals and remember, you are already OK.

Raphael Natale is founder of Authentic Technologies, a business consulting and training firm dedicated to supporting the acceleration of productivity and beneficial change for individuals and their organizations. They are available online or by phone at 949-582-2043.

HR’s Worst Nightmare! Secrets!

At the risk of sounding cryptic, something big is coming in the next couple of weeks for yours truly. The goal of this “something big” is:

1. Increased focus and attention to YourHRGuy.com
2. Giving proper content attention to the people who are my audience
3. Expand into a mystical fourth or fifth dimension

I am being intentionally vague. That being said, if you are an HRish professional who also happens to be a blogger (or an aspiring blogger) and would like an opportunity to expand your audience, please contact me [lance (AT) yourhrguy (DOT) com] for some less vague information on the upcoming “something big.”

Inspiring Yourself With Music (Or Something Else)

I can’t go to sleep. I spent my entire Memorial Day weekend either sacked out or in heavy interaction with other people. The ebb and flow of it all is incredibly interesting, I just wish I didn’t have to deal with or think about it at midnight before work the next day.

I went through this phase in my life where I was incredibly inspired by music. Sometimes all it took was a little guitar riff to let an emotion wash over me. Sometimes a lyric could tell my entire story. My personal journal was full of written down music lyrics that I thought defined the moment. I was consumed by music though. I could easily spend all day listening to CD’s (or later on, MP3’s).

Looking back on it now, it seems very artificial to be pining for the days when music meant a lot to me. It seems like a lot of people find their way through their formative years with the help of music. Whether it be through rebellion or inspiration or love. For the record, my first tape I hid from my parents was LL Cool J. My first CD, Green Day’s Dookie didn’t come out from a classical music CD case until my junior year in high school. For inspiration, I turned to a worn out Boyz II Men tape. My first girlfriend and I had a “song” by K-Ci and JoJo. I had to Google the name of that band too.

The funny part about it all is that I didn’t lose that love of music, it wasn’t a phase, and it doesn’t seem artificial. 10 years ago, I picked up a guitar for the first time. I didn’t become a superstar but I became good enough so that when I pick it up, I can actually enjoy it. Every time I play (which I do with a decent frequency), I feel more tightly connected with music. I don’t know if it has anything to do with feeling the frequency of the notes resonating through your fingers.

I think the biggest breakthrough for me came when I realized that music didn’t have to emote me. The revelation that music could be used to reveal emotions I was feeling or the mood I was going through was a big deal. The more practical application was that I could correct bad or ineffective moods very easily with music.

So to the practical part of this post: a couple of days ago, I was stressed out. When I drove to work, I put in my Coldplay album instead of listening to sports talk radio (which is really for the better with all of the baseball talk). Half an hour later, all is better. It is a clever manipulation, one that initially made me angry. “Nothing changed, stupid,” I said to myself coldly. True enough.

In the end, it didn’t matter because that clever manipulation helped me perform better and ultimately did make the real change happen (albeit not directly, not that it matters). You have to use your inspirations to help you out in real life. If that means using your inspiration to leverage career success or using it to just get through your work day, do it.

So my inspiration is music which I guess isn’t all that unique but it works. Do you have a particularly unique inspiration? How do you use it to become successful?

Thankfully, I’m not a Gen Y Blogger

As I am starting my third year of blogging about my profession (you can see my first post for entertainment’s sake), I am starting to realize that I am not a very good Gen Y blogger. I am 26 and so I should be posting things about how I am going to change the world, change HR, change … my pants. You see, because I just spilled ice cream on them.

I was invited to join the Brazen Careerist network which is always a nice ego boost. I was called a hotshot (which by the way is utterly and completely true). It is for bloggers who are under 30. I fit that I suppose. Then I was looking at their front page and noticing how hardly anything I ever write about fits in among my peer bloggers. I know this because I am not stupid but I also know this because looking at my stats/demographics analysis, I have about 30% more 35-49 year olds than 18-34 year olds (which, if you know internet traffic, is completely upside down).

Then yesterday, I sort of had an epiphany. I was reading this post in my Google reader and I clicked on share with a note and wrote (and I quote): “More Gen Y whining.” I should clarify that this wasn’t in response to the actual post (Jaclyn Schiff doesn’t write crap), but in response to the comments which were almost offensively ironic. Talk about unintentionally making the authors point.

As far as I could tell, none of the people commenting (as of yesterday) had read the book. Yet they were tearing the thing apart based on an article written in a newspaper (read: limited in scope and availability of additional resources). I have read the book and knew that while I didn’t particularly agree with the overall conclusion of the thing, it did have a lot of damning information in there that supports the generalizations he makes. And while they are generalizations, that takes nothing away from the validity of the studies being done. If only 21% of people my age can explain the reasons behind the Korean War, that says something. You may not like it and you may try to rationalize it but the fact remains that many people in our generation stay voluntarily ignorant.

For many Gen Y bloggers, this is okay. For me, it isn’t. I have a feed reader (80+ blogs), I have diverse interests yet I am still reading, still working on acquiring, retaining and applying knowledge that will make me better at my career and life. And yes, I may be better at finding information when I need it than other generations but sometimes you need that information in your head. At least in my opinion, you need an accumulation of diverse knowledge to make great decisions.

And while I’d love to believe this sort of thing is going to come about in my lifetime, some of it is simply contradictory to every recent trend in business (and, let’s be honest, common sense). Saying that probably doesn’t win me the Gen Y viewership and that is fine with me (Booyah, I’ve got moxie, baby!). Being a realist (or cynic) isn’t that sexy. If being right means being a little less sexy though, I’ll take it (even though I have a lot of sexy to give).

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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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