Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Spring 2012

In Search of Candidate Courtesy

Somewhere, in the midst of the economic decline and massive job eliminations, many companies have adopted a cavalier approach to dealing with both outside vendors and employment candidates. The attitude seems to be such that no response is required, even to those who the company themselves contacted to request a proposal or to attend an interview. As a consultant primarily responsible for my own company's business development, I have become somewhat hardened to this practice; but it is nonetheless frustrating to be pursued for an immediate meeting, asked for a 24 hour turnaround on a service proposal and then receive no response whatsoever, despite numerous attempts to follow up with the person who asked for the information. It's as if there is no perceived expectation to return the same level of courtesy as that which was extended to them in the exchange.

Sadly, today's job seeker experiences this frustration everyday. Many of these folks already have fragile egos and diminished self confidence from losing a position and dealing with unemployment perhaps, for the first time in their career. Each day, they work the internet job boards, network with peers, and reach out to friends and family in an effort to get a lead on a new opportunity. Many of these individuals I meet throughout the course of my work are tireless in this effort and, despite the emotional roller coaster of the job search process, they are upbeat and optimistic about their future. But I see these incidents of lost candidate courtesy slowly eroding their optimism as they continue to experience this mistreatment by company representatives responsible for recruitment and hiring.

I recently heard from my friend Larry who was wooed by a recruiter for a senior level position and asked if he would be willing to fly to Arizona for an interview with the hiring manager. Two weeks passed and Larry heard nothing more from the recruiter until 48 hours before he was to fly out. He was emailed the airline ticket, given the address of the office, and left to arrange his own transportation from the airport. Nonetheless, he arrived on time for the interview and after a 40 minute wait, was escorted to the interviewer's office. The discussion went well and Larry returned home feeling positive about the day. He sent his thank you notes to all involved and waited to hear from the recruiter who promised to contact him later that week. After 2 weeks, Larry has not been contacted nor have his follow up emails been acknowledged. Larry told me he has accepted the fact that he probably is no longer under consideration for the position, but it's the way he was treated that bothers him more than being rejected for the job. Unfortunately, Larry's experience is not unique and has become the new normal for many companies.

What many of these companies and HR practitioners who lead the recruitment process fail to realize is that as the job market continues to improve, the war for talent will be won by those organizations that recognize the importance of candidate courtesy and take the necessary steps to create a culture that values this attribute. It's not a difficult concept and is based on the age old "golden rule" theory of treating others as you would want to be treated. Clearly, those companies that embrace this philosophy will be the employers of choice for Larry and other talented candidates who know that good or bad, the treatment they receive as a candidate, is likely indicative of the same treatment they will receive as an employee.

If we can help to provide your hiring managers a "refresher" on candidate courtesy give us a call at 610-287-1162 or email me at phil@hrsolutionsonline.com.

Have a safe and happy spring!

Phil


Social Media and The NLRB

As the use of Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter becomes commonplace, companies have recognized the need to develop some policy guidelines around the use of social media by their employees. Most social media policies are designed to promote employee awareness of how the company has chosen to use social media to market its brand, recruit employees and generally reach a broader audience. Included in many of these policies are statements that guide employees on the use of social media so as not to have the company's image tarnished by a disgruntled worker or to create a forum where employees can publicly complain about the company or its management.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) recently posted a report from last year, that outlined their opinion on various social media cases they recently reviewed, They included a case where an employee was released for identifying and calling a supervisor a "scumbag" on a social media site. The Board reinstated the employee under the premise that his action was within the context of protected concerted activity because it involved a protest of unlawful supervisory actions, occurred outside the workplace and during non-working time, and was not overly egregious or accompanied by threats.

Another case involved a policy prohibiting employees from using the company name, address, or information on their profile page. The NLRB considered this policy as written, to be unlawful.

This area is one currently being shaped by case law but if the NLRB's decisions are any indication of how social media cases will be viewed by the court, employers must take into account these issues when reviewing or investigating issues involving social media.

Don't go it alone. Take advantage of our free consultation and HR audit to see if your company is at risk. Call us today at 610-287-1162 or email me at phil@hrsolutionsonline.com.

February Newsletter-2012

The Self Destruction of a High Potential Leader

I'm always saddened to see bright, dedicated leaders fail due to their own emotional immaturity; yet the longer I work in the HR field the more frequently I witness these events occur. There has been much written about the need for effective and successful leaders to have both a combination of emotional intelligence and technical expertise. Despite being a subject matter expert, a leader without emotional maturity will ultimately fail. Never was such an issue more evident than in my recent involvement with a leader, who, I'll call Charlie, self-destructed over a period of a few short weeks.

Years ago I read a policy statement on Company Communication that stated, "Information is power; shared information is awesome power." While most leaders would embrace that statement as true, the leader who lacks self- confidence and emotional maturity believes in the guiding principal that holding on to information secures his or her role in the organization. Charlie believed that as the leader of his department, all information needed to filter through him including valuable knowledge about the products and services offered by his staff. Charlie had an abundance of legacy knowledge that he would selectively share with his direct reports thereby denying them the opportunity to learn and grow. His staff was conditioned to go to him with any and all problems rather than attempt to personally resolve the issue. Charlie became so enamored with his power that he came to believe he was more important than the Company itself and that the inherent obligations of being a senior leader did not pertain to him. Ultimately, Charlie decided that he was so gifted that he would start his own competing company and he began to openly discuss his intentions among his staff. Needless to say the staff became very anxious and upset and ultimately shared their concerns about Charlie's actions with the President. Charlie's ego must have clouded his memory in that he forgot he had signed an employment agreement that prohibited such actions and in doing so, subjected him to termination of employment. As a result, Charlie found himself on the outside without a team to lead.

As in most cases, employee terminations are more about the impact on those that remain versus those that are let go. Unfortunately, Charlie's departure has left his team struggling to keep the department operating at a high level of service since the knowledge they needed was never shared. His failure to help his staff learn and grow has forced them to scramble to find answers to problems and issues that Charlie always handled himself. Ultimately, they are all committed to providing great service to their clients and are driven to see things through but not without incurring some short term pain.

It's vitally important to the health of an organization to avoid elevating the best technical employee to a leadership position that they are ill equipped to hold. It's a common practice to take the best forklift operator and designate him as the manager of the other forklift operators assuming his technical proficiency is all that's needed for him to be an effective leader. Sure, sometimes it works out but many times that person doesn't want to lead. He or she simply wants to be the best forklift operator and doesn't want to seem ungrateful by telling you just that. That's why it's imperative that leaders be carefully selected using a variety of criteria versus" putting a body in the seat." Business owners and executives that take the time to select the best candidates for leadership positions will be rewarded with never having to deal with a Charlie of their own.

If we can help to keep you "Charlie free" give us a call at 610-287-1162. We'd love the opportunity to help.


The 2012 Employment Landscape

HR Issues That Will Affect Business Owners This Year


In an election year there is typically some reluctance to effect large scale changes in employment related laws and practices until the future political party and administration is better defined. Nonetheless, we believe there are a few HR issues that business owners should be mindful of in 2012

Wage and Hour Compliance Issues- There continues to be an increased focus on monitoring employer compliance with wage and hour requirements from recordkeeping to employee classification. The size of the employer does not matter in that the government has put "more feet on the street" in an effort to audit a broader group of employers.

Union Avoidance- The National Labor Relations Board has been extremely active in proposing changes to the union election process, development of mandatory postings and challenges to policy statements that could be considered in violation of the concerted protected activity provisions of the National Labor Relations Act.

Recruitment and Retention- Hiring statistics are reflecting a gradual increase in the creation of new positions along with a growing concern about retaining high performers now that the job market is improving. For the first time in over 2 years business owners will see a renewed war for talent and increasing employee turnover. Managing this changing employment dynamic along with a workforce comprised of as many as four different generations of workers will be a daunting task.

The good news is you don't have to go it alone. Give us a call at 610-287-1162 or email me at phil@hrsolutionsonline.com

for a free consultation and some friendly advice. I look forward to hearing from you.