Ed tor’s Note Unoccupied office parks, vacant conference rooms, and empty desks are common in America’s urban cores. Over the last three decades, the U.S. has added roughly 2 billion square feet of office space to its existing pool, most of which today’s mobile workforce no longer needs. Moreover, at any given time, more than 50 percent of cubicles and workstations and 70 percent of executive offices are unoccupied. On top of that, 50 percent of the U.S. workforce holds a job that is compatible with at least partial telework. If the average use of workspace is 50 percent, then the company is wasting $4,000 to $7,000 per year for each employee. For companies, office space is the biggest office expense, and that’s in intangible spirit. For better or worse, the American landscape is loaded with the massive untapped manmade resource known
as ‘office space.’ The rise of mobile workforce, self-employment, and skyhigh office costs are fueling demand for shared office space in business districts like the Financial District in Manhattan and San Francisco, Canary Wharf in London and Beijing Central Business District in China. To turn the spending into a utilitarian resource, companies are now tapping into the idea of densification – reducing footprint per employee. The underlying fundamentals suggest that companies in the near term will be able to capitalize on growing interest surrounding the Third Place model. Our Cover Story, ‘Burners Turn Earners,’ takes a look at the utopia where companies are using the existing framework to provide incredibly unique opportunity to the employee, the laptop entrepreneur, and declutter the unneeded, unused belongings. Plunge In! Happy Reading!
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The Team Editorial Anna Domanska, Editor-in-Chief
Christy Gren, Sub-Editor
Priyansha Mistry, Sub-Editor
Aubrey Chang, Associate Editor
Riana Petanjek, Sub-Editor
Design Kevin Paul Sr. Graphic Designer
Reepal Savaniya Graphic Designer
Project Management Tony Raval Project Director
Marketing
Jay Raol Project Director
Advertising
Jason Miller Sr. Project Director
Richard Dean, Advertising Manager
Technology John Hancock Head-Web Department
Finance Control R R Baratiya
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Le Manh Coung, Sr Software Coordinator
Julia Hunt, Magazine Production
Content Features
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HR DRIFT What Employers Need To Know About Immigration Raids on their Premises?
LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS What Skills Will Magnify Your Strengths?
Q&A WITH JANE
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The brutal and straightforward answers to HR-related queries and concerns.
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS The Rise of the AntiCubicle Movement.
TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT Deconstructing ‘Failing Forward.’
COVER STORY Burners Turn Earners. 006
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LEGAL HUB Workplace Suicides on the Rise.
HR TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY Quercus App: The Next-Gen Performance Management System.
RECRUITMENT POINT
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How To Recruit Top Talent On A Budget.
SUCCESS STORY #DreamJobCentral: Salesforce.com’s Innovative Onboarding Process.
WORKPLACE CULTURE Workplace Sitcoms Reflecting the Faulty Modern American Work Environment.
HR Events & Conferences
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Are We Silent Bystanders To Sexual Harassment In recent weeks, the commentary regarding active and passive gender inclusion has embittered the very definition of sexism and sexual harassment at the workplace. Men objectifying, disrespecting and harassing female colleague remains widespread across professions and around the globe. What’s striking is that how often women are also the perpetrators while men are on the receiving end of it. As disturbing as it is, we’re willing to gloss over cases involving female on male workplace sexual harassment. In 2016, 6.758 of 12,860 sexual harassment claims lodged with the EEOC and the Fair Employment Practice Agency partners, a 16.6% were filed by men. Starting with a 1998 ruling from the United States Supreme Court that held that men are protected from workplace sexual harassment under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, male on male workplace sexual harassments claims are becoming more common. There is a common thread through all of these facts. First, both men and women are objecting harassing, demeaning and disrespectful to colleagues. Second, both men and women are silent bystanders in the face of unbridled sexism in the workplace. “When I was in my late teens, I worked an office job predominantly older women and they were all shameless when it came to flirting with me, making sexual jokes, or patting my ass. It made me super uncomfortable and I was afraid to come out as gay because I was 010
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worried that my job would be in jeopardy if I wasn’t seen as a cute, young boy they could flirt with.” An exclusive focus on the senior management as culprits often causes us to miss a problem that is far more serious. At the end of the day, strong leadership can set the tone right for gender inclusion. But, the tacit silence over any individual or group of people receiving favoritism over another is diabolical and cheap. Clearly it is. We are not daring our workforce to become active watchdogs for respect and inclusion. We feel heartsick and demoralized by news of companies tolerating a culture of unbridled sexism and sexual harassment. At the same time, we condemn the sexual harassment and disrespect men receive at work. We are tongue-tied when it comes to having the moral courage to stand up to such behavior. How many of us remain silent on this issue? There are few studies that focus on the way men are treated at work. When men suffer from sexism and sexual harassment at the workplace, they do so in much the same way as women do. We have men and women fighting sexism against women for a long time. If only we could do the same to fend off sexism against men, it will be to everyone’s benefit.
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India is beating US at Paid Maternity Leave In India, less than 30% of women work - the most recent available data- and the deficit costs the country an estimated 2.5 percentage points of gross domestic product per year. Last year, the upper house of the parliament made an attempt to fix the problem by doubling its mandated paid maternity leave from three months to six. On the economic front, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that women-led development in India does not hurt business and is actually good for the company. Moreover, the cost sustained by employers in the process (reimbursements for temporary replacements) is de minimis. To quote a report by McKinsey Global Institute (November 2015), “Achieving gender equality in India would have a larger economic impact there than in any other region in the world - $700 billion of added GDP in 2025 – but comprehensive change is needed.” Intervention from the government in the form of enactment of laws cementing women in the workforce is a much needed measure. Women in India are largely underemployed or unemployed, and bringing them into the economy by making it easier to have a child and yet pursue a career is pivotal. No country is going to grow without women growing with it. The question to be asked is: How will the bill play out in the Indian context? Will this be enough to bridge India’s gender gap in the workforce? Or could it make things worse?
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The progressive law might actually reduce the number of women in the organized workforce. For example, after Spain introduced the family-friendly law (Act 39/99) in 1999 allowing all workers with children under 7 to work reduced hours without being fired, the enactment spurred the substitution of fertile-age women away from good jobs and a decrease of their relative pay. Similarly, when Chile made it mandatory for companies of a certain size to provide free childcare, it was found that companies responded by reducing women’s salaries by nine to twenty percent. India is doing something similar by making it mandatory for companies with 30 women or 50 employees, whichever is less, to provide crèche facilities. The United States has one of the most regressive maternity leave policies in the world. Amongst Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, it is in the last place tied with Australia and Portugal, which also guarantee six weeks. The US is one of a handful of 41 countries that does not offer any paid maternity leave mandated by the federal government. (Six months is the norm in most developed countries. A baby needs to be close to mother and exclusively breastfed for up to 4 to 6 months.) Advanced economies of Scandinavia, which consistently stand out in in the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Gender Gap Report, produce an interesting perspective. The expansion of family policies has been found to have increased women’s labor force participation; it has achieved 72 percent female employment, one of the highest among OECD countries. The landmark bill put the rest of the world to absolute shame. The move places India ahead of Australia, France, Germany, Japan and the US for paid maternity leave. Where is the best place to be a mother? Definitely, not the U.S. 016
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Healthcare Repeal & Employer Insurance Sixteenth century Italian physician Bernardini Ramazzini is credited for creating the first written account of the health problems on workers (occupational diseases). He proposed the possibilities of taking preventive measures to improve employee well-being – and coined the phrase “occupational diseases.” Half a century after Ramazzini’s death, the Industrial Revolution brought with it many occupational diseases and injuries due to the way work was reformulated and systematized. Until the advent of Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) in 1950s, workplace wellness was generally an afterthought for organizations. By the ‘90s, company started offering wellness interventions primarily focused on alcoholism and mental health issues in the form of cash or reduced insurance premiums. But, times have changed and the 2017 ‘repeal and replace’ means most Americans could lose their insurance coverage if the bill passes. Under the proposed American Health Care Act, people can’t be discriminated against for having a pre-existing condition. The story you’re about to read is a stereotypical one: Twenty seven year-old Julianne Stone had an early-stage melanoma in 2015, caught early enough that it was just a simple surgery to remove it. It was about a month from diagnosis to getting it removed and having clean pathology results. But that month means that she has a preexisting condition. Julianne Stone has employer health insurance now, 018
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but knowing that she is going to lose all benefits from the ACA, and losing her job, she may have a problem. Employers with more than 50 employees no longer have to provide insurance. So being covered through a husband’s work may no longer with provided. Moreover, the new bill will incentivize all Americans to have continuous coverage, which will further prevent people from only buying insurance when after they are sick or injured. Under the new bill, having a lapse in the coverage greater than 63 days means they would face a penalty equal to 30 percent of premiums. However, the penalty would be lower than the additional premium insurers would charge to individuals if they were able to discriminate based on health state. Consider that fact that on average people are unemployed for about 8 to 10 weeks before they find a new job. That’s about 56 to 70 days. And when people are unemployed, just getting by paying bills and mortgage can be difficult, let alone paying insurance premium. Here’s to hoping the final replacement with be a gift to Julianne Stone and the rest of America.
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A Sign That Things Are Going South Companies today are going by the ‘bleed now, make money later’ business model like Amazon.com did. What’s shocking is that some of these companies have bled more money in a year than Amazon.com ever did in its history. Take a look at Uber, while it’s not struggling to attract VC funding, it certainly is at a point where it may not be able to make a profit unless it stops paying the drivers. Just in past one month, the upper management at Uber that left are VP of product and growth, SVP of engineering, AI Labs director, selfdriving director, VP of maps, and the president himself. Some of us may have experienced it during the 2000-2001 crash. Then again, just because some executives have bailed doesn’t mean things are going south. It could also mean that all the bad guys have left, and now it may be time for you to move up. However, if its leaders you admire who are leaving, it’s a clear signal that the best people are indeed, jumping ship. In recent weeks, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick has faced intense scrutiny for his role in fostering a combative internal culture. Many have blamed him for not properly dealing with the company’s human resources issues. Things are so bad that techies at Uber have taken to posting on Blind, an app where one can anonymously share grievances. In March 2017, someone who gave themselves the title of “HRinternal” posted that over 118 employees have resigned following a kafka022
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esque meeting. The post has since been removed, and it’s uncertain whether it was someone trolling. The app has more than 1,000 Uber employees out of 11,000 Uber employees. Recruiters and rival companies have reported an increase in job applications from Uber employees in recent weeks. Many of these applicants are saying that have lost faith in the company’s leadership. Let’s hope Uber finally manages to fundamentally change its internal culture for good. The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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What Employers Need To Know About Immigration Raids on their Premises Restaurant owners and operators aren’t usually experts in conducting evaluations of work authorization documents. According to the Pew Research Center, roughly 20 percent of cooks in restaurants nationwide and around 30 percent of dishwashers may be undocumented workers. Historically, restaurants have been targets of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, and as the new administration broadens the enforcement priorities, more raids are to occur. An ICE raid could lead to civil and criminal charges. It is essential to consult legal counsel on such matters. Here’s an overview which provides restaurant owners and operators with basic considerations in case of a possible raid. Identify a first responder who will interact with the raid office while they are on your premises. Advise your employees to not block or interfere as the ICE officers conduct their activities. Suggest employees that they can contact the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) if they have any questions about their rights. Be sure you ask the ICE for the search warrant and check that it is
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properly signed. Contact your attorney immediately, although the ICE officers will not delay the raid to wait for your attorney. Do not engage in any illegal activities such as hiding employees, or aiding in their escape from the premises, or denying the presence of employees, shredding documents or providing misleading information. Contact the families of any detained worker, debrief your employees and make notes for your attorney. The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS What Skills Will Magnify Your
Strengths? Scott West is a midlevel sales executive at a Fortune 500 company. After nine years there, he was thriving – his numbers hit the roof, he was
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well-admired, and he got consistently rave reviews. He applied for a promotion that would put in charge of a global product-alignment assignment, a perfect fit for his combination of skills and ambitions. He had a solid track record, he had made no career-limiting moves, and never had any kind of run-ins with the upper management. Despite, a colleague with less experience and expertise on the matter got the job. What went wrong? As far as Scott could tell, nothing. His manager was happy with his work, and a recent performance review confirmed it. It seemed delivering strong
results wasn’t the norm. The emphasis was on problem solving, strategic thinking, and inspiring team members to thrive. Scott had lost that one opportunity. So, how could he think more strategically? How could he become more inspiring? What about problem solving? Sometimes, it’s pretty easy to improve on one’s weakness; through linear development, one can develop strength over no time. This is particularly familiar to athletes. A novice, for example, will benefit from running a few times a week, gradually increasing endurance and muscle
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memory. An experienced runner, on the other hand, won’t get faster merely by running longer distances. In order to reach to the next level, he’ll need to build up complementary skills through swimming, yoga, weight training, and more. The same is with leadership competencies. In order to
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get to the next level, one needs to delve deeper to hone complementary skills such as communication, interpersonal skills, and be more accessible to the coworkers.
reasonably strong skills. However, only 14 percent of leaders were able to reach the extraordinary level of leadership by honing one. While leaders performed well in both the categories, only 72 percent of In order to be a more leaders excelled in overall effective leader, one needs leadership effectiveness. to identify the strengths, decide on which one to focus There is a stronger degree on and which complementary of correlation between skill to develop. The the overall leadership process is pretty simple. effectiveness and the Leadership competencies possible pairings of all correlate with positive leadership competencies. business outcomes such as HBR discovered that employee engagement, each of the 16 pairs of revenue, profitability and associated behavior were customer satisfaction. What highly correlated with the you need to do is figure out leadership skills. So, what which pairs would produce skill will magnify your amplified results. strength? In a Harvard Business Review survey of over 30,000 leaders, it was found that some pairings reportedly resulted into higher scores on the overall leadership effectiveness. For example, building relationships and focusing on results are two
For instance, the main competencies are honesty and integrity. How would you improve a relative strength in this area? If a leader were particularly weak in ‘honesty,’ he or she would need various ways to improve: Behave The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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consistently, avoid saying certain This doesn’t mean that assertiveness things, and so on. However, a leader doesn’t make someone honest, and that with high integrity is more likely to be integrity doesn’t lead to assertiveness. doing these things. To build skills, the technique is pretty HBR’s competency-companion much straightforward: research suggests that assertiveness when paired with honesty and integrity Identify the strengths correlates most strongly leading Choose a strength to focus on to higher leadership effectiveness. Pick a complementary skill set to 030
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the impact of what a man cannot do, of his lacks, his weaknesses, his impediments to performance and effectiveness. To staff from what there is not and to focus on weakness is wasteful—a misuse, if not abuse, of the human resource.” Research shows how big a difference honing one’s skills can make. What’s distressing is that less than 15 percent of executives actually work on honing the skills. Perhaps, the problem lies in execution. Leaders need more than a path to enhance their strengths and fix their weaknesses. The best approach to it is by allowing people to use the linear approach they are more comfortable with. enhance Develop it in a linear fashion. Focusing on one’s strength is an innovative approach. Peter Drucker in The Effective Executive, wrote, “Unless…an executive looks for strength and works at making strength productive, he will only get
Leaders often complain that they’re not better than their peers in the organizations. The real challenge, however, is not to replace these leaders with good ones, but to turn them into capable leaders, and help them develop outstanding strengths. The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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The brutal and straightforward answers to HR-related queries and concerns. Hi Jane, As a management student during my college years, my seniors as well as the faculty made sure our batch was aware of the fact that the corporate world is full of highly competitive people. At that time, I thought competition is a part of every profession which one has to deal with in a healthy manner. I read a couple of articles online which made me believe that a little competition helps in motivating people to improve on their work efficiency. On getting recruited in the campus itself for a multinational finance company, I had my hopes high that this would be an opportunity of a lifetime and I will get to learn something new every day. Well, things definitely turn out the way I expected them to be. Right from my first day at the office, my manager made it clear to me that I have to be the best in my job and must go to any extent to achieve that kind of progress. I took this instruction in a positive way as I thought all he was doing was motivating me to work well. But apparently, he was simply getting me in the spirit of the workplace. Each and every employee over here only thinks about attaining success for which they can even pull down their colleagues. I wanted to establish cordial relations with the people I interact but nobody to open to it. The competitive vibe in the air has created enemies within one team itself which makes it really difficult to work. My colleagues don’t even share a courteous greeting instead just give cold stares as they think that I might be a threat to their job. Even when I need some guidance as I am new here, nobody is ready to help. There is a lot of The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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jealousy and insecurity around. I don’t know how to deal with this. Can you please help me out?
Answer I would firstly like to clarify that whatever you heard about cut-throat competition being inevitable in a corporate culture is absolutely true. It has been prevalent for as long as one can remember and will increase with the rise in educational professionals. There was a time when a majority of the population was not as highly educated as they are right now and hence people with expertise in the field were hired. But as the literacy rate is increasing in almost all the parts of the world, it is expected that competition in the professional arena will also increase. This and many other economic factors have made people highly competitive in the workplace. Initially competition was a healthy phenomenon as it motivated people to do better at their job. But sadly, a lot of negativity is spread in the workplace in the name of competition. Due to the envious nature of some people, it becomes difficult for others to function smoothly in such an environment. There have been cases when jealousy has led people to pull down others or try to disrupt the work of their colleagues in an office. Though this happens only in extreme situations, it is necessary to be wary of such overly-ambitious employees. Apart from this, recent studies by psychiatrists have also proved that cut-throat competition is a major factor behind depression among the working adults. Due to such a competitive corporate culture, a number of people face a conflict between their personal and professional lives. They are in a constant dilemma as to how to excel at both the places. This is when 034
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anxiety kicks in. It will be wrong to blame the co-workers for instilling such an environment at the workplace. There are certain companies which promote competition even if they are aware that it might get unhealthy. This is because all these companies care about are numbers and they are ready to jeopardize their employees’ mental state if that helps them attain impressive profits. In the long run, it destroys any kind of cordial relations the employees share within themselves. As a result of such factors, an employee might gradually lose the will to work as he will have nothing to look forward to in the office. This will adversely affect his productivity which will harm his career. Thus it is important to maintain a positive outlook even if the people around are highly competitive. As soon as you feel that stress is affecting your relations with your peers or family members, it is a sign that something should be done about it. At such a time, try to introspect in the rapport you share with your manager or your team members. If you sense any negative feelings from any of them, make it clear that you are here to do your work and not to pull down others. By clarifying this, your colleagues will be ascertained that you hold no threat to them and will behave with you normally. Despite this, it is also important for you to be the best at what you do. The external stimuli must not influence your work efficiency. Instead of becoming a part of the competition to prove your worth, be on top of the game right from the beginning. Be extremely precise in whatever you do, stay updated with the news of your field, follow the disciplinary rules of the office, report to your manager on time and nobody will find a reason to point fingers at you. The best way to steer clear of such a negative competitive spirit is to never indulge in any kind of gossip at the workplace. Office gossip can hurt people’s feelings as it is usually about discussing the negative traits of an employee. Once you get involved in it, you will spiral deeper into it and will become one of the back-stabbing competitors of your office which is the last thing you want to be. It is ideal to lose yourself in work to keep away from such a competitive environment. If you are busy all day, you won’t have time to spare behind such meager issues. This will ultimately result in your own growth and professional satisfaction. The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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Hi Jane, I have been working in the field of IT for the past 27 years now. Hence it is needless to say that I have a lot of experience in the field and know almost everything about it. In the vast number of years that I spent in this technical world, I have tried a hand at working in numerous companies. Be it a budding startup or a well-established multinational company, I have been everywhere. There have been good and bad experiences everywhere and from each of them I have learnt something. But fortunately I have never had to undergo the claws of a nagging boss. Around two months back, I joined a tech firm as they offered me a higher post than my previous job. I had heard some unpleasant feedback about the place but I thought there can’t be anything which I will be unable to manage. Unfortunately, I was wrong. I did take up the job in the greed for my power and a higher post but now I deeply regret it. The work is something I’m already good at but it’s the atmosphere and disciplinary attitude of the workplace which I can’t handle. Here all the managers expect people to blindly follow their orders just because they have a higher authority. Not only this, but extremely strict actions are taken even if someone reaches five minutes late or attends phone calls at work. Because of such repeated actions, there is a fear-based environment instilled at the workplace. It seems like a dictator is ruling the office in the form of team leaders. Even if an employee goes and puts forward such a complaint to the HR, nobody pays any heed to it and instead simply dismisses the person. Therefore there is no support from anyone in my office. A major drawback of such an environment is that an individual does not feel free to go and consult his leader in case he has a query. Even 036
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if an employee is genuinely undergoing a crisis at the workplace, he is unable to bring it to his leader’s notice. This is really bothering me. It feels like there is a dictatorship in the office and everyone has to simply follow the orders without questioning them. Guide me as to how should I survive in such an environment. I am not eager to leave this company as it will have a negative impact on my resume.
Answer You aren’t the first person who is facing the problem of such a fearinduced environment at the workplace. Leaders believe that slight fear among the employees is necessary as it helps in getting the work done on time and people tend to take instructions more seriously due to it. This is a justified thought as if all the leaders become laid-back with their teams, then the professional attitude will go out of the window due to which the work will lag behind. You might feel that the environment at your office is fear-based but it can be so because you may have always worked in a liberal culture. Thus before coming to any conclusions look around and try to analyze if the fear instilled among the employees is reasonable or not. In case you feel that the fear is more than necessary, then maybe you can make certain suggestions to rectify it. There are mainly two ways to deal with such a situation. The first one is to recognize your fears and own up to them. It has been put into our heads that fear is a sign of weakness. This is not applicable at a workplace. By admitting your fears, you might discover the self-imposed silence which is stopping you from speaking out. The
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silence of fear can cause low-grade anxiety along with agitation by keeping it suppressed. Try to be more vocal about your suggestions and opinions in a meeting or any such professional gathering. The fear of judgment is omnipresent among everyone but one has to overcome it. The worst that can happen is that your peers will disagree with you. But it isn’t the end of the world. At least you can put forward your points and who knows someday it might result in a brilliant idea. The second one is to deal with your fear with courage. I have met employees who used to avoid facing their managers due to the fear of disapproval. At times there are managers who are only interested in numbers and are not open to new ideas. If you come across such a manager at your workplace, make sure that you raise questions wherever necessary instead of living in doubt. Come up with unconventional ways of working which might help in improving productivity and suggest them to your manager as well. When your colleagues will witness you speaking up, they will also overcome their silence of fear. Take the first step so that the people around you will follow the same.
I finished my Bachelor’s in Commerce after which I took an academic drop for a year so that I could attain experience by working at various places. I recently attained my Master’s degree in Management but I am not looking forward to my college recruitment process because I feel that marketing is not my cup of tea. I have always been intrigued in managing people at work hence my first preference for a job is in the HR department. But I am absolutely clueless regarding how to go about it. I have already applied at various places in the given field but have not yet received an interview call from any of them. When I called them for a follow up, they said that there is an opening in the marketing department if I was interested. But I politely declined it. I don’t want to compromise on my field of interest even if it takes a while before a good opportunity walks in. The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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Also I would like to know that what qualities an employer looks for before hiring HR personnel. In the meanwhile, I can try to inculcate some of them so that I come across as a preferable candidate to the employer. Should I make any changes in my CV according to the requirement of the job?
Answer The job of an HR manager seems quite appealing to people these days but it is not as easy as it is perceived to be. This job position is no longer just a tactical, administrative, and paper-pushing role. The job of HR has evolved over the times and has become more statistical and skill-based than ever before. Such HR managers are considered strategic partners by the employers which help in driving the overall goals of the company keeping in mind the expectations of the employees as well. The HR manager is a link between the employer and the employees so that the goals of both the sides of the company are worked upon. Considerable progress can be achieved with the help of talent management skills in order to make the most of the employee skills available at the workplace. Even though approaching companies through recruitment agencies or other such platform like online portals is considered the ideal way, in this social age networking plays a major role in knowing important people of the field you are interested in which will keep you updated about any such job openings in near future. Attend a public conference related to HR where you will meet people of the same field and interact with them about the same. You will have a common topic to strike a conversation on where you can mention
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your aspirations. You might come across people who can help you out in the search. Some people forget that to get to the top of the mountain, you first have to begin from its foothills. Same is the case in any professional goal. If you see yourself as an efficient HR manager, you need to prove that to your employer first. As a newbie in the field, it is very rare that someone will directly offer an important position to you. What I’m trying to say is that be open to internship opportunities as well. By going through an internship program, you will get a clear idea of the duties and responsibilities of the position. If you prove your efficiency during your internship, the company might hire you. And even if you don’t, you will have some experience in the HR field to show on your CV. A point often overlooked is that the resume of a candidate must be updated every time he appears for an interview. Necessary changes must be made keeping in mind the qualities needed for the job as well as the expectations of the company. While appearing for an interview for the post in the HR department, try to focus on your management skills and how you would deal with a crisis. Simple things like these catch the attention of the interviewer. I wish you luck for the same. Hopefully, soon you’ll grab a job in the field you like and you’ll look forward to going to work everyday.
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EMPLOYEE
BENEFITS The Anti-Cubicle Movement
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In the late 1970s and early 1980s, business sections of newspapers and magazines described the intrinsic work arrangements of Silicon Valley with quenchless curiosity and buoyant enthusiasm. Darlings like Intel served as the chief example of the ‘draconian’ Patagonia. The company had no time cards, no dress codes, no assigned parking spots, no special cafeterias for executives, above all, no offices, just honeycombed floors. The wall-less subdivision of the office aptly represented share labor, like the communal farmers fine-tuned for solitude AND. Years later, CEO Andrew Grove wrote, “The cubicle may have come to represent the exploitation and unhappiness of white-collar workers, but the idea that those modular walls, those tackboards, actually determined anything was patently false.” The cubicle wasn’t born as a ‘monolithic insanity’ or even square, for that matter. It was, in fact, as a beautiful vision. The year was 1968. Star Trek aired American television’s first interracial kiss. The Beatles released The White Album. And iconic home-furnishings company Herman Miller in Zeeland, Michigan, launched the Action Office that would change the workplace forever. It was the brainchild of Robert Propst, who was amongst the first designers to borrow the European The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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BENEFITS
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idea of Bürolandschaft, or “office landscape” – privacy screens and office plants, without cutting off from the atmosphere of the room. Inventions never obey the creator’s intent, do they? Like Mikhail Kalashnikov who came to regret inventing the AK-47, Propst came to lament his invention. The sea of cube farms has become the zeitgeist of prairie dogging, meerkatting, and a humdrummery hellhole inhibiting teamwork. Sociologist C. Wright Mills, in his 1951 attack on corporate bureaucracy, White Collar, used the term an “enormous file” to describe those soulless offices. Mill’s book was joined by The Organization Man and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit in a series of attempts to assess the damage office life inflicted upon the worker. Beginning in the late 1960s, the cubicle spread quickly across the American white-collar landscape. According to Steelcase, one of the largest office furniture company, nearly 70 percent of office work now happens in cubicles. Companies have been trying for decades to find the balance between public and private workspace that best supports collaboration. A research found that only 23% of employees wanted more privacy; 50% said they needed more access to other people, and 40% wanted more interaction. Companies responded by shifting their real estate allocation toward open, colorful spaces that support collaboration and shrinking areas for individual work. This is where it gets complicated:
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EMPLOYEE
BENEFITS Researchers from Steelcase now suggest that people feel a pressing need for more privacy, not only to do work but to cope with the intensity of how work happens today. One company to back away from the noisy, open-floor plan is Silicon Valley Bank, based in Santa Clara, Calif. It began working with Fennie + Mehl to add more private spaces, including “phone booths” that can seat one or two people, “huddle” rooms for small meetings, in response to employee complaints about a lack of space for more private conversations and informal meeting spaces. Silicon Valley Bank has also doubled the number of chairs per employee, following a 2-to-1 ratio used by office designs that gives workers more choices of where and how to work. In the past five years, the bank has renovated its offices from scratch so that 60% of its 42 locations have more private spaces. The bank is now receiving “positive feedback” from employees, says Tom Suro, the director of real estate workplace services in Silicon Valley Bank. Healthcare Source HR Inc., a software provider in Woburn, Mass., hired Leslie Saul & Associates to design an open-floor plan when it moved office in 2014. Instead of cubicles, the new space has soundproof glass cabanas at the center of the open-space office. This creates more space for employees looking for quiet, while maintaining the airy feel of the brightly colored space.
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HarperCollins, a unit of News Corp., worked with Haworth on its office plans to give office senior editors and executives for the many one-on-one meetings. Employees in creative roles have workstations set up in a pinwheel style, to allow collaboration and privacy. According to David Lehrer, a researcher at the Center for the Built Environment at the University of California, Berkeley, “companies are not providing sufficient variety in spaces.” Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak got the initial inspiration to build a prototype computer from a chance meetings with others. The story reveals that workplace design shouldn’t be simplified as a binary choice of open versus closed offices. Today’s office designs represent a continuum of open to closed designs. Lindsay Graham, a social psychologist and research specialist at Center for the Built Environment at the University of California Berkeley, personality traits are likely to influence “person-environment fit.” A 2014 study from the University of Berkeley found that factors related to personality and types of work are interwoven with the complexities of workplace design. Extroverts are fueled by social interaction, and introverts are drained from social interactions. Tailoring office spaces to suit personalities is a largely unexplored territory. Renowned psychologist John Holland developed the Holland Codes, a theory that matches career choices based upon personality types. Artistic (Creators), Convention (Organizers), Enterprising (Persuaders), Investigative (Thinkers), Realistic (Doers), and Social (Helpers). For example, the Artistic often feel stifled in a cubicle environment; the Realistic feel more focused; while the investigative types feel encouraged in an openoffice workplace. Writers, engineers, designers, programmers and thinkers are the Holland Investigative types are more at ease in an open-office set up that encourages collaboration and communication among co-workers. For Holland’s Enterprising and Realistic, the traditional workplace – cubicles – offer an organized, quiet, and contained environment that allows getting tasks done while maintaining proximity to the team members on a daily basis. These are management consultants, lawyers, and human resources specialists. The U.S. General Services Administration, which provides workplace for over The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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a million federal workers, is now exploring ways to make workspaces better suited for specific missions of tenant organizations. Kevin Kelly, senior architect with GSA’s Total Workplace program, feels the open office plan has been a result of a one-size-fits-all mentality. The modern workplace is no longer a monoculture of cubicles or an open-office plan. It offers a greater autonomy of choice in the workplace to match one’s personality type, what they are doing and how they’re doing it.
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Deconstructing ‘Failing Forward’
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Man is always hungry for power. And power can be attained only through rigorous success. Humans throughout the ages have been trying to derive a perfect formula to make sure they achieve success at the first go. If one fails at an attempt, he gets instantly discouraged. Failure is considered equivalent to something shameful or a sign of weakness. But what professionals refuse to understand today is that success is not a one-time process. Repetitive efforts with stagnant dedication lead to progress. Particularly in the Silicon Valley, each and every member of this field is so ambitious that there is no room for failure. It is important to realize that failure is inevitable in the journey that leads to success. One does The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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not become inferior or inefficient if he comes across failure. Failure is a sign of trying hard towards achieving your goal. There has been no great personality who has become successful at once. Thomas Alva Edison was such a failure as a student that his teachers said that he was too stupid to learn anything. Despite receiving such discouragement, Edison went on to create the first source of artificial light for mankind, the electric bulb. After this, he continued working on his theories and currently has over 1,000 patents in his name. This proves that he wasn’t someone who would give up due to failure, but instead worked upon rectifying his mistakes. If a slight downfall or dejection can have an adverse impact on an individual, then success might seem like a long lost dream to him. To cope with failure with an optimistic outlook for the professionals of the Silicon Valley, the term “Failing Forward� was coined.
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Origin of the concept of ‘Failing Forward’
This term for the first time came up in John Maxwell’s book ‘Failing Forward’. In his book, Maxwell focuses on how one can distinguish between average people and successful ones. The main difference between the two types of individuals is the way the person responds to failure. Concentrating on this idea, the book further elaborates on great insights related to it and gives advice on how to dwell into the process of learning which is necessary for progress. This book became popular as Maxwell has rightly done the job of encouraging professionals belonging to the Silicon Valley to identify their weak spots and work on all kinds of failures in life. It also lays stress on the way one must deal with success in order to retain it for a long time, instead 056
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of misusing it. Along with this, Maxwell raises the question here that if a person is not failing, it means that he is not growing. One needs to discover the ways that will or will not work for him. Only then he can discover ways which will lead to innovation, growth, creation, and in ultimately, success. After a thorough read of the Failing Forward, it will not be wrong to assure that one’s perspective about failure will definitely change. The greatest lesson one can learn is fail gracefully. On doing so, one can get back up with confidence and the enthusiasm to do better. There is a Danish saying which goes like this, “Life is not simply holding a good hand. Life is playing a poor hand well.”
The book teaches its reader that failure is like a lifelong journey, but it makes you more comfortable with the idea of taking risks. Facing uncertainty while making decisions is as instinctive as breathing, therefore it shouldn’t make one nervous. Instead,
accept failure and try to analyze the factor which led to it. This will be helpful in making sure that the same mistake doesn’t happen twice that will lead to growth. It is crucial to become comfortable with the idea of failure in order to work upon it. The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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Making Failing Forward the motto of Silicon Valley
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Maxwell stated in the book that embracing failure can be rewarding in the long run. This seems like a vague statement if one is unable to comprehend its inner meaning. On understanding the concept one will realize that it is better to face failure as failure is a sign of growing which
is closer to success than mediocrity. If one fails, it means he is trying his best to progress. If a person remains where he is, such a mediocre approach will never help him move forward as he will not make adequate efforts. It is possible to achieve success only by indulging in radical action. A drawback of such radical action is that it holds a higher probability of failure. Thus on a simpler note, failure comes with significant efforts. Companies in the Silicon Valley aren’t concerned with materialistic increment; instead focus on ‘changing the world’. It is a rule of life that there is no change without failure. This is why the frequency of failure is comparatively higher in the Silicon Valley than other spheres of life. The Silicon Valley companies have accepted this and work on it accordingly. They keep enough room for failure in their strategies but don’t let it overwhelm them. For this to happen, one needs to avoid taking failure personally. It is not a personal incapability. It is just a result of one’s efforts. Notably, never blame an outside factor for one’s failure. Take full responsibility of the failure and work accordingly. Try to
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spot a benefit in every bad experience. There might be times when one can succeed in the very first try. In such a situation, don’t get overconfident about it. On achieving a particular milestone, don’t get content and relish it. Instead, set a higher goal and strive to work for it. It is not necessary that a person who attains success once will always be successful. Failure can come to anyone. Never be overconfident about your efforts. If they lead to failure at the next level, accept it and evaluate on the weaknesses. People train themselves for success when they should be preparing for failure. Success is easier to handle than failure. Life is full of disappointments which barge in uninvited. This is when the main question arises that how will an ambitious person deal with it? If one blames others for it, repeats the same mistake, and lets it limit him, it means he is failing backward. Failing forward is to take responsibility for the mistake with a positive attitude and to challenge outdated assumptions. One will keep repeating his mistakes till he doesn’t learn from them. One’s actions will change when he learns the lesson. With the help of the theory of ‘Failing Forward’, one will view failure in an absolutely new light. By accepting rejection, you are not letting selfesteem or ego affect the work productivity. Failure does not define you as an individual. It is simply a price one has to pay to complete the journey to success. So the next time you set up a professional plan, give yourself some space to make mistakes. Also set the timeline including the time needed to work on these mistakes. Never reach any conclusion on the basis of failure. Give yourself another chance to reach the goal. A true achiever is one who considers failure temporarily and does not let it define him. Try to keep the expectations realistic so that failure does not disappoint you. Focus on your strengths instead of over thinking the drawbacks. Keep trying different methods till you find the one that strikes. Shun negativity from your perspective in order to avoid procrastination. Never let the fear of failure take over you as it might paralyze your efforts. Keep working in the direction of your goal by implementing the theory of Failing Forward. 060
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COVER STORY Turning Unused Real Estate Spaces into Workspaces ‘Office Space as a Service’ OR ‘Unused Office Space meets Laptop Entrepreneur’ OR ‘Beyond the Boardroom’ When Malcolm Porter bought and renovated a Downtown Berkeley office building to create a studio for his ad agency, he realized the space was considerably huge. Rather than seeing the space sit unutilized he subleased it. “Identifying creative approaches to office space can be a great way to save time and money,” Porter explains. So, when the owner of a five-person packaging design agency came looking for office space, Porter agreed to share part of his studio. Unoccupied office parks, vacant conference rooms and empty desks are common in business districts across the United States. Over the past 30 years, the U.S. has added roughly 2 billion square feet of office space to its existing pool, most of which today’s mobile workforce no longer needs. The American landscape is loaded with the massive untapped manmade resource known as ‘office space.’ Things are changing, at a gradual pace, but
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moving. A startup called Liquidspace has turned the hidden reserve called unused office space into a utilitarian resource for the ever-expanding sharing economy. Liquidspace CEO Mark Gilbreath, 48, doesn’t have an office all of his own; nor does his company, which opened for business in 2011. Liquidspace may sound like a version of Airbnb or Craigslist for office; but it taps on the idea of densification – reducing footprint per employee. They don’t manage the office inventory themselves, they simply provide a location to connect office seekers with excess capacity. But, it aspires to be more than just an app-based classified. The company is trying to help enterprise-level companies leverage unused office space both their own and everyone else’s. For most companies, office space is the biggest office expense. Unfortunately, most companies waste a fair amount of their office space. A recent Intel survey found that at any given time, 60% of cubicles and workstations and 77% of The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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executive offices are unoccupied. Additionally, most employees telecommute an average three days a week with the remainder spent in the off-site meetings or working. By using share space, Intel hopes to house 20% more employees in the same space. To study how people are using the existing office space is called “actual use of space,� or AUS for short. An AUS data enables corporate managers to study how people use the office and the equipment in it. If the office space is being used inefficiently, then the company is going to suffer. Studies by the International Facilities Management Association show that the average cost of providing a workspace to an employee ranges between $8,000 and $14,000 per year. If the average use of workspace is 50%, then the company is wasting $4,000 t $7,000 per year for each workspace. The rise of mobile workforce, self-employment and sky-high office costs are fueling demand for shared office space in business districts like Canary Wharf in London, Financial District in Manhattan and San Francisco, and Beijing Central Business District in China. A handful of companies are renting workspace by hour, similar to the way Airbnb. Vrumi, founded in 2011, has 5,000 registered users and 120,000 square feet of rentable workspace across the U.K. Breather, a fouryear-old company operates in the U.S. and The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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Canada. London-based Spacehop is bringing sharing economy to the workspace market, where filmmakers, novelists, and entrepreneurs sit down to work with other creative people. With the advent of the so-called sharing economy, those who are looking for extra cash are generating income with the help of the internet and smartphone apps. Space itself has become a scarce commodity, with people renting their driveways to commuters searching for parking, garden plots to those who want to grow their own vegetables, and attics to apartment dwellers in need of storage. LetMeSpace in Spain provides a marketplace to rent out anything from parking space to unused storage. In Hong Kong, Boxful helps you declutter your life by collecting and storing unneeded belongings. Pubs are renting out space in the morning to people looking for peace to work. The Commercial Real Estate Competitiveness Study, released in the final weeks of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration in 2013, forewarned that the higher-priced office space in Manhattan could create a shortage of space available and affordable to the city’s high-growth companies. A 2015 CBRE analysis concluded that in tight submarkets for office space, residential conversions could result in losses of affordable office space in the U.K.
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At the same time, a lot of office space remains available: 185 million square feet in the United States is no longer in use and ready for reuse, according to the National Association of Real Estate Managers. The good news is, a host of factors are remaking office space, including increases in telecommuting, as well as preferences for more flexible and collaborative spaces. The underlying fundamentals certainly suggest that the need for flexibility, cost control, and more collaboration will continue, forcing companies in the near term to implement a variety of models to meet their needs with unused or limited space. A lot of companies are now experimenting with office sharing among individuals from noncompetitive industries. This arrangement allows companies to share some costs as well as an opportunity for rank-andfile workers and executives to learn how companies in other industries operate. Virtual companies are trying to incorporate collaborative benefits of onsite work by offering employees the opportunity to work in the same physical space. For example, Automatic provides a monthly subsidy to team members who co-work as an incentive to collaboration. LiquidSpace has helped small startups, and it has found space for large, established companies, including Accenture, AT&T and Whole Foods. Some of these requests range from individual desks to office suits. In the late 1980s, Ray Oldenburg coined the term Third Place, to describe neutral, public spaces where professionals can spent their free time working on The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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personal projects, socializing, participating in community events, and more. By contrast, the Second Place is workspace, where people collaborate with team members, conduct majority of their work, develop professional skills and more. The Third Place is neither living quarters nor office space, but public spaces where companies rely on to increase productivity, professional collaboration, and provide opportunities for employees to tap in experiences, perspectives and cultures. To facilitate work in the Third Place, companies are encouraging a flexible space model by renting out unused office space, enabling employees to work in from coffee shops (on the same floor) and coworking spaces. At the same time, some companies are building unique spaces that mimic the comforts of the Third Place environments, providing additional opportunities for employees to get out from behind the cubes. Other companies are redesigning their existing, unused workspace to offer far more convenient coworking options, as well as sharing extra space with like-minded companies from different industries, and introducing an additional monthly revenue stream. By leveraging platforms like Vrumi, Liquidspace, Spacehop and LetMeSpace, companies and their employees can work without the hassle of a traditional lease. Meeting rooms, coworking space, shared workspace, dedicated desks and more, are available at the click of a button. Companies can capitalize on growing interest surrounding the Third Place model. Build out the existing framework and provide employees with the incredibly unique opportunity to discover and engage with local communities. In the future, the mindset of working 8-5 in an outdated cubicle will change as employees demand greater flexibility and as companies begin to realize the benefits of optimizing the workspace. Over the next five to ten years, demand for practical office solutions will continue to increase and companies will need to leverage powerful platforms to successfully meet the needs of an increasingly mobile workforce. The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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Workplace Suicides on the Rise Workplace Suicides on the Rise Lately workplace suicides have become more common around the globe. Reports suggest around one million people have killed themselves worldwide till date including over 30,000 American employees. According to American Bureau of Labor Statistics, a total of 1,719 male and female workers committed suicide on the job between 2003 and 2007. The rate of workplace suicides has climbed drastically since 2007. The practice is currently the main source of death by harm in the United States, outperforming car accidents. This may indicate increasing pressure and stress levels among employees. The pressure on targets and deadlines, race for profits and excessive individualization as well as everyone being forced to compete with their colleagues are some of 072
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the causes of suicidal tendencies. They lead to psychological problems in the workplace which have a negative impact on the way employees work.
Mental Health Issues Mental health means striking a balance in all aspects of your life, including mental, social, physical, spiritual and economic. When there’s no harmony between work and social life, employees tend to suffer mental illnesses. Mental illnesses refer to health issues that influence the way individuals think about themselves, identify with others and associate with the people around them. Mental illnesses affect our behaviors, thoughts, feelings and abilities. The most common mental illnesses are anxiety disorders and depression. These conditions are most likely to occur amid times of vulnerability or stress, which can be experienced at the workplace. Still, stress outside the workplace can also affect mental
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wellness, which in turn affects an individual at work.
How mental illnesses affect employees Individuals who experience mental illnesses may have doubts in their capacities or seem less confident. They usually experience difficulties in concentration, learning and decision making. For instance, individuals who cannot concentrate may assume that they are underperforming at work and even worry about being laid off. Mental illnesses can likewise affect work relationships. Individuals who suffer from mental illness may pull away from colleagues, behave in an unexpected manner, and take so much time off or even look less productive than normal. This can cause tension in their relationships with co-workers and supervisors. Such cases of isolation, job dissatisfaction, workload, workplace conflict and domestic pressures lead to incidents of extreme emotional distress, domestic violence and suicide attempts.
What can you do about mental illness? Experiencing a mental illness can be extremely upsetting. A person may not comprehend what’s going on with them and may worry about other people’s reactions. Of course, it’s hard to escape the ever present stigma of mental illness in the workplace which especially sways affected employees from seeking help from others. Individuals may also be afraid of losing their jobs, fear of confidentiality breaches by colleagues they might confide in or fear being seen as weak or crazy. However, it’s essential to know that mental illness is not a weakness and it’s not your fault. Being open minded will make you feel free in seeking help early before
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you think of the unimaginable. Finding help early will get you on track to recovery faster and may even lessen the risk of mental issues in future. And like any other disease, mental illnesses can be treated. Treatment usually involves different approaches including medication, self-care and counseling. Some people might find help from support groups which connect people with common experiences. Others may find supports like housing and income while self-help strategies are also available to try. Generally, every individual has their own particular preferences and objectives while recuperation plans ought to mirror that.
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Workplace suicide prevention measures Employers and HR can step in to curb suicide cases. One thing for sure is they need to educate managers on detecting the symptoms of a possible suicide crisis. Here are some important steps HR managers can take in order to prevent workplace suicides:
Create a friendly workplace Establish an adaptable workplace in which flexible scheduling, telecommuting and mental health days form part of the way of life of a mentally healthy working environment and are put into policy. Build a quick, proactive and consistent approach to job-related issues, as this is important in assisting employees to feel secure and ready to do their best at work. Come up with a clear nontolerance policy for bullying, intimidation or harassment of any kind and make sure that the policy is imparted and implemented at all levels.
Train and nurture fully-engaged employees Encourage workers to engage in their strength areas and in ways that allow them to be strongly dedicated to meaningful work. Employees who feel associated with their colleagues and feel they have a place in something greater than themselves regularly alternate, making sacrifices for bigger benefits. When individuals are given freedom to be vulnerable, trust connections extend and when individuals show up as genuine, authentic leadership develops.
Establish programs that reward mental wellness Similarly, as work environments offer motivator programs for fitness 076
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and nutrition, HR can likewise create ones that offer motivation and opportunities to acquire ideal mental well-being. For instance, workers can earn points when they take workshops on the best way to reduce stress and enhance rest.
Use social marketing to change the conversation Build a multimedia campaign that tells individuals they are not alone if they are considering suicide and that numerous resources exist to offer assistance. Connections to associations such as National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be shown prominently on the organization’s intranet and employees can be urged to make use of resources such as toll-free Lifeline’s 24-hour and confidential suicide prevention hotline, among others.
Firing a Suicidal Employee Terminating an employment contract is never a comfortable situation, not in the best of circumstances. HRs never genuinely know how somebody will respond thus it’s advisable to resist the urge to fire a suicidal employee immediately. In case you arrive at the inevitable, having a vital plan to fire a troubled employee can minimize the risk of violence. When managing troubled employees, there are special precautionary measures that should be taken into account, especially if there’s the smallest hint that things could turn badly. Here are some of the best practices that will keep a bad situation from turning worse: • Avoid firing the employee right before a weekend or holiday; schedule the termination meeting early in the day or during the week. Or if possible, wait until the end of the day to terminate. This protects the dignity of the individual being let go and limits the number of colleagues on hand, should circumstances escalate. • Do not take breaks during the termination meeting. The troubled employee might use the time to retrieve a weapon and cause harm. On the same note, consider having a professional threat assessment done before the meeting. • Consider using a nonpartisan administrator or outside security specialist
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to carry out the termination. This is especially critical when dealing with an employee whom you’ve had conflict with, as he or she might assume that your past experience would be the contributing reason. • Have security nearby, not in the same room but rather sufficiently close to hear signs of a problem and act accordingly. • Reduce any reasons why the employee might have to revisit the company. Have uncollected belongings sent to the individual’s home through a delivery service.
Legal Compliance Suicide threats should always be taken seriously. The human resource manager or the employee’s supervisor might be the principal individual to identify a possibly suicidal worker, so it’s critical to identify the warning signs and urge the employee at risk to seek help. In the event that an employee seems to take action immediately, local crisis specialists should be contacted, since HRs are usually not qualified to deal with such circumstances directly. In case there are doubts of whether the risk is immediate, the HR expert should contact local administrations such as Employee Assistance Program (EAP), a suicide hotline or a nearby hospital. Employers should find independent, best practice EAP which can make essential utilization and results for all staff, including those who may be suicidal or in crisis. Many EAPs play an active role in helping companies prevent and manage workplace violence, trauma, and other emergency response conditions. An EAP that allows workplace referrals or free management consultation can mitigate the need for HR managers to work outside
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their specialty area. That’s the reason why HRs should establish strategic partnerships with experts and help save the lives of many employees.
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QUERCUS APP NEXT GEN PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM Next Gen Performance Management System is touted to be the future of performance management. This stream of management is undergoing a major change with more and more businesses being shifted from yearly appraisal policies to this system. This system known as the ‘Next Generation Performance Management’ monitors and evaluated the performance of employees on an ongoing basis. As the performance management system has been about annual appraisals for decades now, many HR heads are still in doubt as to why a change in appraisal system is needed.
Necessity of Next gen Performance Management System Employee Engagement Employee engagement is becoming one of the biggest problems for the HR departments due to decreasing concentration span of employees, thanks to distractive media. In 2015, a U.S. Employee Engagement poll by Gallup Daily showed that only 32 percent U.S. employees were engaged at work. Major blogs have written innumerable articles for positive employee engagement at work. This sensitive topic remains a big issue for companies.
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Varied Cultures and Generations From teenagers working since a young age to senior citizen continuing to work, the employee culture scenario has changed over time. With the industries growing on a large scale and employment done globally, managing multiple expectations and cultures with the employees is becoming tough for the HR.
Slow Decisions
It is necessary that companies have a quick access to the data related to hiring, promotion and development of employees. While opting for a yearly appraisal this data gathering becomes a slow process. To provide development and success strategies to the employees, the HR department needs to create faster data collection processes. 082
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Continuous Performance Management Shifting from an annual performance management policy to a continuous one is surely a challenging task. But the benefits it can garner are really worth. On one hand the annual appraisal policy uses a separate system where all the processes are done at the end of the year. This creates an additional work load for the managers and HR department. Even more, it does not help create a big impact on the performance of your workers as they get appraisal only once in the whole year. On the other hand, a continuous performance management policy becomes an integral part of your business. This process can be done quarterly, tri-monthly or half-yearly. You are on regular performance checks so it does not create extra work-load at the end of the year. Moreover, your workers also get a dash of motivation more than once in a year directly giving a positive impact on their performance. Thus, opting for a continuous performance management process is a crucial aspect if you want to get the most out of your employee talent fund. Along with this, the performance management system based on a regular basis can also help organizations overcome various big challenges. The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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An Integrated Performance Management System Reinventing the whole process of performance management is not as easy as climbing a stair. You need to make it so integrated in the daily routines that it provides the foundation for talent management, coaching and development. In 2014, a study by Brandon Hall Group found that the companies who opt for continuous performance management have a better ratio of employee retention and customer satisfaction. It also leads to better outputs in business. You can base your next gen performance management system on the below mentioned aspects –
1. Flexibility in Employee Goals It is given that every business works with a goal in mind. Employees and necessary materials are brought together to achieve that goal. In the same way, your employees also work with a goal in mind. 084
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When you integrate the performance management process with day to day activities, managers get clear about the progress of their workers. These goals can also be coordinated with the organizational targets. Being clear about employee and company goals gives the managers and HR a chance to discuss goal progression on a regular basis. Sometimes the goals can be revised or reframed at the correct time also, giving the benefit of zero time loss.
2. Future Focused Performance
Once you get through with the insights of past performances, focus on the present and future outputs. Your system should be such that it enables the employees to think towards the future goals and successes. For a future focused performance, it is necessary that you boost your employees on an ongoing basis. You can focus on the projects at hand rather than analyzing all the projects at the end of the year. Follow-up and assess your employees performance after one project and motivate them for a new one. An energized start every time from your workers will enhance the results of your business outputs. The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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3. Meetings and Updates When you shift from a traditional yearly appraisal system to the next gen performance management system, it becomes necessary to determine that how often the review meetings should be held. Even though there is no fixed timegap, it is advisable that managers and employees should hold meetings as regularly as possible. It isn’t written anywhere to have a fixed schedule of weekly, bi-weekly or monthly meetings. It is totally up to the managers and HR department to fix the time-gap according to their needs.
Continuous Motivation Some organizations also opt for a system where after regular performance evaluation they track the highlights of the entire year at the end of the year. It is noteworthy that regular meetings and assessments also help build the trust and engagement between the workers and managers positively. It also gives a reason to 086
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celebrate various milestones, target achievements, and successes, be it small or huge. You can also motivate your employees by creating team leaders, being in touch with them, nurturing healthy manager-employee relationships and by making everyone believe that they are a part of one big united company.
Next Gen Performance Management with the help of QuercusApp The most important aspect of a successful next gen performance management system is its process. Create a smooth process by implementing a system which will allow you to inter-connect your management systems, database, and employee progress charts. It will also help you to gain clarity on the progress at both, individual and organizational levels. One of the best ways to create a smooth next gen performance
management system is with the help of QuercusApp.
What is QuercusApp? It is a cloud based application enabling real time feedback among employees all the year round. Its helps collect feedback from employees in real time from any location. The app also tracks the performances of employees and improves their effectiveness, not just once a year but every day. QuercusApp reinvents the system of performance reviews helping you adopt next gen performance system effectively. It serves as an efficient process enhancing the success of business by proper collaboration and coaching. It also gives your workers a clear idea of where they stand and how to improve their performance by giving them real-time feedback. Your workers remain continuously aligned with your goals driving your organization towards success and greater heights. The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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Concluding Highlights of QuercusApp QuercusApp is a powerful tool that you can use for next gen performance management in your organization. Below listed are some of the major benefits it delivers• Develops leaders effectively • Identifies skill gaps • Builds on your strengths • Focuses on relevant competencies • Relieves your managers • Gives real-time feedback • Collects 360-degree feedback • Keeps all your data safe During the phase where organizations are adopting the next gen performance management system, QuercusApp can prove to be a major benefitting tool for practicing this system.
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How to Recruit Top Talent in 2017
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Not everyone is a Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk to become a massive success with only talent and ideas. With the increasing number of start-ups every year, the need for high talent acquisition is also becoming an upward trend. LinkedIn’s Global Recruiting Trend 2017 Report mentions that for 83 percent of the recruiters, the number one priority for their company is Talent. Whatever service or product your company may offer; your idea can become the next Facebook only with the right bunch of people. Without talent, a great idea converts into a unicorn, becoming practically impossible. A talented and creative team can help you progress at light-speed given the correct amount of motivation. Your idea can become the next Facebook or Tesla; if you remain rock-solid while selecting your team. You need not compromise on the quality of talent even with your shoestring budget. With the advancement of technology and competition, a number of options are available to recruit top talent even on minimal budget. Also, who says that you need to spend chunks of money even if you are a big company with a booster budget back-up? Creativity never goes out of style, and that can be applied to recruit top talent for your organization at low budget also. Here’s how to do it1. Work Place Culture and Values Create a culture where you don’t need to go scouting for talent. Instead make your organization the place where people want to come and work for. An office that feels like a comfort zone makes it easier for employees to connect with the products and services offered. Surely, you can refer to the hundreds and thousands of good work place culture articles over the internet. But to create your own culture, simple follow your instincts and carve a niche for your organization.
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Also have important values justified at work. Flexible timings, work from home, paid time-off, etc., inculcate homely values in your company which even high equities cannot compete with. Such small perks may not cost you a thing but innumerable studies prove that it helps making your employees more productive and better engaged towards work. It binds your employees to the organization at a deeper level. Supportive staff, co-workers, and understanding managers can achieve many milestones together. Once the top talent notices this kind of culture at your work place, they will voluntarily and readily want to join your organization. Now for example, who doesn’t want to be a part of Google?! 2. A Strong Mission Statement
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Whoever said – ‘Money is not everything’ maybe said it correctly. How many times have you shown the desire to work for something that has no aim?! No one will be motivated to work simply for filling their pockets. A strong mission statement for the company is like an emotional string connecting all the departments. Once the employees know that they are working towards making a difference and achieving something; they will undoubtedly work harder towards the achievement of these goals. 3. Presence over the Internet Whether you believe it or not, Internet has become more real than the real world. From small start-ups to giant companies, and small investors to venture capitalists, everyone is present over the web. Undoubtedly, web presence matters a lot more than you can imagine. The top talent that you are searching for is also present over the web. Talented and creative people do job hunting on online portals these days, and scrutinize every possible company they find worthy of their talent and work. The social media accounts of your company, your company’s official blog and website, and every aspect of your web presence makes a strong statement. The Global Recruiting Trends Report of 2017, by LinkedIn, clearly states that 72 percent of candidates visit career opportunities through the company’s mobile site; while 45 percent directly apply for a job via mobile. So make sure your company’s online presence talks about the aforesaid company values and culture, and its goals. Make it a point that when people search for your company; it tells your story correctly, makes an impact and attracts the top talent towards itself. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and other social platforms can be used for publishing job openings to recruit top talent. These platforms 094
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have a reach stretching towards the horizon, so huge that connecting to such a big number of people is not humanly possible. With the human reach that social media offers; the possibility of connecting to the right talent without making a hole in your pockets simply increases. Use the benefits of the internet to your advantage to recruit top talent on budget. 4. Technology in place of Backlogs The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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In the 21st century of civilization, it is advisable not to use the traditional method of collecting resumes and creating a backlog of applicants. If you are caught up in such a backlog and hundreds of resume readings; the right talent may slip from your hands. The most important aspect of recruiting is getting the right talent at the right time. You cannot cry over spilt milk. But it is in your hands to make sure that a huge pile of applications don’t waste your time and opportunity to recruit top talent. Focus and target on the top talent only. Instead of backlogs and resumes, use technologies that can streamline your process of hiring. You can use recruiting softwares that sort out applications according to your specified needs; saving hours of your productivity. The Artificial Intelligence (AI) recruiting technology helps to analyze huge volumes of data and technically sorts out suitable talent and applicants for the job. Specify your needs for the job and the Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology will do the rest for you. Rather than doing everything manually, simply focus on one-on-one interviews and let technology do the rest. This saves a lot of money and time also. 5. Referrals and More Referrals One of the best and most utilized sources of hiring top talent is employee referrals. Reportedly, employees that are hired by references tend to stay for longer terms and perform better; with a higher rate of job satisfaction. The 2017 Global Recruiting Trends Report of LinkedIn shows that with a 56 percent increase in the hiring volume; the top source of quality hires will be employee referrals at 48 percent. This will be followed by third party websites or online job platforms, and social professional networks at 46 percent and 40 percent respectively.
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6. Make your Organization a Global Work Place Workplace and employee diversity have gained a lot of momentum in the past years with more and more organizations opting for a global reach. Many companies have started understanding and valuing the fact that diversity in gender, age, race, talent, personalities, religions, etc., actually helps the organization to progress. A wider reach and a more varied The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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outlook are beneficial in solving many issues along with gaining more achievements. Allowing someone to work for your company from another corner of the globe where meetings, conferences, and projects are just a video-call away; makes you gain the benefits of global talent without spinning dollars. Recently, a survey done by the Society for Human Resource Management (SRHM), states that for 57 percent recruiters, the talent acquisition strategies are created with a view to attract diverse talent and candidates. On the other hand, even for job seekers, a company flexible with diversity is a plus point. According to a survey by Glassdoor, 67 percent of people search for companies and job profiles accepting diversity. To summarize these points, recruiting the top talent even with a peasized budget compared to A-listed companies is no rocket-science. Just some smart moves with the appropriate use of technology can attract exactly what you want. The world has become a Global Village, and with the advancement of technology and the Internet, recruiting top talent has become easier than ever.
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#DreamJobCentral Salesforce.com’s
Innovative Onboarding Process
In February 2013, the human resources department at Salesforce.com began building “#dreamjob central,” a knowledge ecosystem designed to be a one-stop shop for employees to find information they need. After five months of excruciating hard work, the platform went live globally in July 2013. Prior to its implementation, information resources for employees on Salesforce.com were disparate. Moreover, Employee Success Specialists were in charge of inbound inquiries through heterogeneous channels including phone, walk-ups, and Salesforce Chatter (a social network similar to Twitter and Facebook). This proved to be challenging to manage and required a plan to prepare for thousands of new employees onboarding in the months ahead. With the introduction of the #dreamjob central initiative, inbound employee questions are now all managed under one single roof. If Salesforce. com employees are unable to find the answer to
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their question, they post it on Salesforce Chatter, where it can be answered by anyone. If the community does not respond to the question, a query is created and assigned to an Employee Success Specialist for quick resolution. Once the answered is provided, the case is resolved and posted as a community thread for reuse. The initiative was put in order to meet specific business goals. Of course, during implementation, much emphasis was put into listening and mapping to business needs. For example, the Director of Employee Success wanted to see a single source of truth for new employee to find answers to their questions. Time and efforts were dedicated to raising awareness and to train all levels of the organization, including an implementation team. Additionally, a slide deck was designed to include HR specific examples and terminology. It was designed so the message could be delivered to over a hundred team members worldwide. Since the launch of #dreamjob central, Salesforce.com has inducted 5,000 new employees with existing staffing levels within the Human Resources department. More than 13,000 employees use #dreamjob central, using 900 articles from the integrated community. The implementation has helped meet business goals within the Human Resources settings. Salesforce.com’s lavish benefits probably won’t surprise you. The company’s swank perks – paid volunteer time off, wellness allowance, parental/family care, education reimbursement, The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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meal allowance for new moms and dads, and employee matching gifts program - have driven a culture of ever-increasing luxuries for tech workers. Salesforce.com has been consecutively named one of best company to work for by Fortune magazine, based on ratings such as great challenges, great atmosphere, great rewards, great pride, great communication and great bosses. At Salesforce.com, risk-takers, boundarypushers and game-changers are game! The humbled cloud computing company welcomes disruptive people who see the world with fresh eyes. The tight-knit Aloha spirit culture welcomes a prospective employee who isn’t afraid to pull a prank, crack a joke, or share a personal story. Employee photos and culture content is shared via @salesforcejobs on Instagram and Twitter. The Salesforce YouTube channel gives candidates insights into the products, customers and accomplishments. These channels give prospective employees an inside look into what life is like at Salesforce.com. Since its official launch in 2014, the Salesforce training platform, Trailhead has become one of the most recommended employee onboarding platforms for newbies. Trailhead is a gamified model of training which consists of training of almost everything on Salesforce in the form of modules and units. Salesforce Chatter, has also grown to be an effective onboarding software. It allows The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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Salesforce.com newly onboarded users to engage with different people within the organization. This allows them to leverage the platform to ask for advices, learn and get used to Salesforce.com from diverse channels. Similar to Trailhead, multiple third party websites have created extensive walkthroughs and guides on Salesforce.com. A series of interactive steps that guides the newly inducted employees through a task or feature in Salesforce.com, are recurringly used as an onboarding/training resource. Regardless, one of the most productive way to efficiently train new hires is by knowledge transfer. Salesforce experts invest in the knowledge transfer process by putting in man hours to explain the history of the organization, existing sales process, complexities involved, workability, etc. The training session lasts for a few hours and is proven to exceed the overhead expenditure for onboarding. Another interesting concept followed at Salesforce. com is the credit and reward system created for existing employees to train new employees. Experienced employees help newbies with their queries and in turn, earn credits for time they assist. These credits are placed in a league table which qualifies them to win incentives, prizes, etc. The practice is much effective and results in a friendlier working atmosphere as well. Studies show that when a new employee onboarding is done correctly, it leads to higher job satisfaction, organization commitment, better performance levels, decreased turnover and lowered stress. A pilot program can foster employee engagement and The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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growth from day one of their job. At many organizations, onboarding processes follow a common theme: programming newbies into the organization culture. With a useful onboarding process, leaders can have some control over what they can expect from newcomers. Onboarding is an extraordinary opportunity to negotiate one’s identity with newcomers. It can be a powerful, motivating tools that can be leveraged to get the best out of new employees. A smoother transition will ultimately result in happier, more productive employees. A successful pilot program can convert newly-hired employees into fully-contributing, knowledgeable employees. Today, onboarding is the first thing on every human resources professional’s checklist. Companies realize there’s higher payoff from the early honeymoon period if they’re able to make the new employee feel welcome and comfortable in the new surroundings, assuring they’re the right fit for the company. To create the perfect onboarding experience, you must take time out to devise a balanced approach, keeping in mind all the things that your employee will need to success at their job. The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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Workplace Sitcoms Reflecting the Faulty Modern American Work Environment Today’s workplace comedies are able to pull in massive audiences, critical acclaim, and a cultural relevance that keeps them on the alltime best television lists. As with most modern workplace sitcoms, entertainment is a top priority, and so is realism. It’s particularly welcome as some of these shows depends on the fickle American workplace culture. They follow the office precedent, they focus on issues like racialized minorities, gender relations, and the Schadenfreude of tearing your colleagues apart.
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Ann-Marie Slaughter, the former Princeton professor and State Department who now serves as the president and CEO of the New America Foundation, once wrote an Op-Ed in the New York Times about America’s workplace culture. The phenomenal essay bordered around the workplace-culture beat. In a similar fashion, some of the shows mentioned below are complementary of our work lives. Suits is real phenomenon. One of the reasonably accurate depictions is hiring the caliber of people. While it’s not like most top law firms only hiring out of Harvard, they do only hire out of a handful of schools. Another, work-hoarding. Remember the battle where Katrina Bennett grabs assignments from Mike Ross, and Louis Litt suddenly develops a real sense of “I want to work with this associate only” is much similar to what happens. Partners tend to pick associates over and over again to work with, even though it is officially discouraged in most firms. Another realistic aspect is the central dynamic – the pair of Anglo frat boys – Harvey Specter and his prodigy Mike Ross, who’re the cool insiders. Their antagonist Louis Litt is the socially awkward outsider who craves their acceptance. Litt may never get what he wants, but he gets his revenge in one sense: over half of the things he does to the associates is a human rights violation. At the end of the day, Litt’s overbearing slave driver attitude is how most partners, see their associates. Moreover, intensive labor-hours is a large percentage of the job for junior associates at big law firms. Associates work 80-90 hours a week, are pretty much on call at the time, and are probably making between $35-45K a year. Meanwhile, partners take The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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a share of $3.5 million to $5 million a year, and can easily afford great seats to ballet shows, spacious Manhattan apartments and expensive divorce pays. That being said, Suits does a great job of depicting some of the less glamorous work that associates are asked to do. And finally, the salacious office romances, compounded by the long hours of working in close quarters. The most famous example is the $22 million Faruqi & Faruqi LLP sex harassment lawsuit. Since it started three seasons ago, Silicon Valley has perhaps the most straight-forward skewering of the office-tech culture. There is hardly any representation of women on the show beyond the friendly VC assistant, Monica and Laurie, the robotic investor. For better or worse, the show deals with the issue in a lot of industries with women’s growth and good pay. Women are just assumed to be a lot less capable, even though they do not have the luxury to be as emotionally clueless as their male counterparts. The show draws attention to an issue that needs a major reform. According to the National Center for Women & Information Technology, despite making up 57% of the professional workplace, only 25% of professional computing positions are actually held by women and only 17% of Fortune 500 Chief Information Officer roles are The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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filled by women. Obviously, the biases faced by women and people of color can exist for many in any workplace. But, for an industry like tech, it’s still a boy’s club. The stark overrepresentation of men in Silicon Valley is making us talk about what’s missing in the tech industry: the women. America’s current longest-running Mockumentary, The Office represents employee interactions, attitudes and especially avoiding work in a pretty accurate way. In a typical office, your meetings are obviously not going to devolve into Michael Scott-style absurdity, but then not much real work gets done in any meeting. A majority of us have lived the show. We have the general office bitch, the dull CA, a few minorities, and some other employees of varying ages. Everyone doing their jobs and no one could care less about the overzealous boss. Think Jim Halpert and Pam Beesly are the only ones flirting around the water cooler? Assistant to the regional manager Dwight Schrute has a thing going on with Angela from accounting. Ryan Howard is openly involved with Kelly Kapoor. Despite all the reasons people shouldn’t fraternize in the office, the fact is, it happens all the time. According to a survey by the Society of Human Resource Managers and CareerJournal.com, four out of ten people have dated someone from work. As noted by a survey on Vault.com, a job search site, 58 percent of us have had an office romance or a fling at some point in our careers, meanwhile 43 percent of people are currently involved in an office romance. Workplace comedies won’t disappear soon. We may be watching to bury our worries in the work storylines of these characters, but at this point, it’s hard to imagine why. The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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OKHR Conference 2017
Date: April 12-14, 2017
The three-day Conference & Expo in Norman, OK will connect you to valuable resources, products, and services, including cutting-edge keynote sessions, over 40 breakout sessions, continuing education credits for Certified Human Resource Professionals, an exhibit hall, and a networking evening event. Venue: Norman, Oklahoma, USA
2017 FMLA Master Class: Louisiana
Date: April 19, 2017
Think employee leave management is a one-time policy issue? Be careful! New and confusing regulations, conflicting court decisions, and increasing employee abuse of FMLA protections means family and medical leave will remain one of HR’s biggest management headaches. To help you master your obligations and avoid costly penalties, the publisher of your state’s Employment Law Letter has crafted a cost-effective and engaging solution: 2017 FMLA Master Class: Louisiana - Advanced Skills for Employee Leave Management. This intensive day-long workshop provides the comprehensive knowledge you need to master real-life issues. Experienced attorneys will provide substantive instruction on fundamental FMLA compliance principles in light of new and existing regulations, court rulings, and application of this far-reaching law. You’ll engage with your instructors and your peers, solving challenges you face day in and day out concerning intermittent leave, return to work, employee performance, and much more. This event teaches employee leave management essentials while instilling the confidence you need to make the right coverage calls, control abuse and fraud, answer the toughest questions from employees and your executive colleagues, and avoid the expensive missteps that have devastated other employers. Venue: Hyatt Place Baton Rouge, 6080 Bluebonnet Blvd, Baton Rouge, LA 70809, USA
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2017 Human Resource Executive Health & Benefits Leadership Conference
Date: April 19-21, 2017
The Nation’s Most Innovative Conference on Benefits for Employers The Human Resource Executive Health & Benefits Leadership Conference is the place to gain immediate useful solutions and ideas to help you craft a solid benefits program that will attract new employees, retain top talent, improve employee engagement, enhance productivity and more. Sessions are created and delivered by senior executives from leading organizations, both large and small, to give you a high-caliber learning experience with real-world lessons and practical takeaways. Plus, the Conference is home to the nation’s most innovative Health & Benefits Expo for employers. In our third year, we had 90 leading providers on display - our largest exhibit hall yet! The Expo also serves as the central meeting and networking spot for attendees throughout the entire event. Venue: ARIA Resort & Casino Las Vegas, 3730 South Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas, NV 89109, USA
Training & Development Summit - Atlanta 2017
Date: April 24-25, 2017
The Training & Development Summit is an event specifically designed for Senior Level Training, Learning and Development professionals looking to source new and innovative solutions. Venue: Atlanta, GA, USA
2017 ASA Staffing Law Conference – American Staffing Association
Date: May 11-12, 2017
This high-visibility annual conference is the only event dedicated to the legal and regulatory issues facing staffing companies. From federal regulatory issues and protecting temporary workers to background check parameters and health care reform, the ASA Staffing Law Conference delivers content that is critical to staffing companies. With select and limited expo space available, this is the perfect forum for suppliers to target c-suite staffing executives. The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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Exhibit at the 2017 ASA Staffing Law Conference, May 11-12 in Washington, DC Make sure your company is at this exclusive event dedicated to the legal and regulatory issue affecting the staffing and recruiting industry. There is no other industry event that attracts this kind of high-level audience on legal and regulatory topics. About the ASA: The World’s Largest, Most Influential Staffing Association ASA is the voice of the U.S. staffing, recruiting, and workforce solutions industry. ASA members provide a full range of services, including temporary and contract staffing, recruiting and permanent placement, outplacement and outsourcing, training, and human resource consulting. Venue: Washington Hilton, 1919 Connecticut Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20009, USA
THRIVE 2017 HR Agents of Change: Driving Date: May 11-12, 2017 Organizational Growth & Talent Transformation The THRIVE Annual Conference 2017 is an immersive, skills-building experience designed to hone business-minded HR professionals’ strategic competencies. The comprehensive, 2-day agenda is packed with dynamic sessions, intensive workshops, and inspirational THRIVE Talks to empower CHROs, VPs of HR, HR directors, and other business leaders to become successful agents of positive change for their organizations. THRIVE’s intimate setting offers ample opportunity to discuss key challenges and discover best practices through lively Q&A with the esteemed roster of presenters and your enthusiastic conference peers. This conference will show you how to: • Reinvent talent management and compensation strategies to meet the demands of today’s competitive workforce • Use innovative techniques and cutting-edge methods for measuring the impact 120
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of your strategic initiatives • Master your role as strategic business partner • Inspire and motivate your workforce to new levels of engagement and excellence Venue: Bally’s Las Vegas, 3645 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89109, USA
RecruitCon 2017 Next-Level Talent Acquisition for Today’s Evolving Workforce
Date: May 11-12, 2017
RecruitCon showcases today’s best practices for supercharging acquisition efforts, including new technologies to streamline recruiting, effective analytics trends to support employers’ evidence-based talent decisions, and cutting-edge strategies to help organizations fine-tune their culture and brand messaging for recruitment and retention. Venue: Bally’s Las Vegas, 3645 Las Vegas Blvd S, Las Vegas, NV 89109, USA
Predictive Analytics World for Workforce (PAW) - San Francisco 2017
Date: May 14-18, 2017
Optimize your organization’s greatest asset: its workforce. Every single product built, service provided, goal achieved, sale made, or error made, every single thing that happens at your company because of an employee. Until recently, predictive analytics approaches were used to drive enterprise performance by predicting customer, voter, debtor, and other human behaviors. Today, predictive analytics can be similarly applied to drive performance and lifetime value of its workforce. Predictive workforce analytics can help answer questions such as; who will accelerate, who will terminate, who has the greatest lifetime value, and more. Predictive Analytics World for Workforce (PAW Workforce) gathers a powerhouse of the most innovative workforce data scientists, employers, and vendors pioneering in the predictive analytics domain to solve these (and more) workforce optimization challenges. PAW Workforce is the premier predictive workforce conference for workforce data scientists, workforce / HR analysts, and business leaders. This global, crossindustry event highlights predictive solutions to today’s greatest challenges in The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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business optimization - workforce performance and attrition. Venue: San Francisco Marriott Marquis, 780 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103, USA
21st HR Shared Services & Outsourcing Summit
Date: May 15-18, 2017
The HRSSO Summit Series are the go-to events for HR Shared Services Professionals looking to get their organizations off the ground as well as for those who are taking their SSO to the next level. This spring’s conference includes a two track Pre-Conference focus day, Workshop Day, and Two Main Conference Days. We are excited to offer two Pre-Conference concentrations for attendees: HR Shared Services in Latin America and Women in Shared Services & Outsourcing Leadership. Other additional new conference features this year include Transformation Think Tanks, Technical Learning Labs, Additional Learning Tracks, and Extended Opportunities to network with fellow HRSS executives. Venue: The Westin Michigan Avenue, 909 N. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
Performance Management Innovation Conference
Date: May 16-17, 2017
Join HCI and other leading organizations at the 2017 Performance Management Innovation Conference to hear how organizations are scrapping their annual evaluation cycle and replacing it with clarity on goal setting, coaching, and providing more continuous feedback. Learn how to engage senior leaders and front line managers to make sure you have a sustainable process in place. Venue: Magnificent Mile, 540 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611, USA
Employer Branding Strategies Conference 2017 Date: May 16-18, 2017 Employer Branding Strategies Conference 2017 Chicago (#EBrandCon) showcases leading company profiles and gathers top branding minds to share 122
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insider tips and strategies for improving and leveraging your employment brand. This three-day event, May 16-18, will bring in leaders spanning industries such as Nike, American Airlines, GE, Sodexo, Lowe’s, Ericsson, Citizen’s Bank, CA Technologies, and others to (candidly) share lessons learned in employer brand strategy development and execution. Register before April 14th for early bird savings! Venue: Union League of Chicago, 65 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60604, USA
Worldwide ERC 2017 National Relocation Conference
Date: May 17-19, 2017
The National Relocation Conference will help you shape your future as we explore best practices in the industry, create new foundations, and build on success in the face of today’s business challenges. At the National Relocation Conference, all who manage workforce mobility, build business, and network within the relocation industry gain powerful contacts, up-to-the minute ideas and information, and practical solutions from this influential gathering. Attendee Information: At the Worldwide ERC®’s National Relocation Conference: • You’ll find tools to streamline your processes, develop new programs, and identify cost savings. • And you’ll be able to benchmark with leading mobility professionals and network throughout the Conference. Venue: Hyatt Regency Atlanta, 265 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, GA 30303, USA
ATD Conference
Date: May 21-24, 2017
The ATD 2017 International Conference & Exposition will provide you with the knowledge, strategies, and solutions you need to effectively attract, develop, and retain top talent. You’ll gain insights into the latest trends, best practices, and new solutions for designing, delivering, implementing, and measuring learning programs. Venue: 285 Andrew Young International Blvd Nw | Atlanta, Ga 30313, USA
PRIMA 2017 Annual Conference - Public Risk Management Association
Date: June 4-7, 2017
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PRIMA 2017 will bring together thought leaders in the public risk management field who will share their experience and solutions to some of risk management’s toughest problems. Managing risk in our cities, counties, schools, states and tribal nations presents unique challenges and PRIMA’s Annual Conference is the only conference dedicated to YOU: public sector risk management professionals. Join nearly 1,000 of your public risk management colleagues, leaders and experts for an exceptional learning and networking opportunity in Atlanta. Venue: Phoenix Convention Center, 100 N 3rd St, Phoenix, AZ 85004, USA
Talent42
Date: June 27-28, 2017
Talent42 is the first – and only – conference that brings together tech recruiters and leading technologists. We ask every speaker and every panel to bring their “A-game”. Talent42 is a rare opportunity for the tech recruiting community to come together to share new ideas. Venue: Bell Harbor Conference Center, Seattle, Washington, USA
SHRM 2017 Annual Conference & Exposition Society for Human Resource Management
Date: June 18-21, 2017
The SHRM Annual Conference & Exposition is the largest and best HR event in the world, providing your organization with the tools and resources you need to create and implement the successful HR practices that will ensure that your company will thrive. FRESH PERSPECTIVES Internationally-renowned speakers that offer fresh points of view and inspiring stories that can help shift your perspectives and deepen your understanding of leadership, motivation, and success. You’ll hear from business leaders, HR practitioners, consultants and academicians. EXTRAORDINARY NETWORKING 124
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Networking opportunities with your peers and colleagues from across your organization, and around the world. And don’t forget the online networking! Attendees get access to our Conference Community site where you can meet and chat with other attendees and build connections with them before you even get to Las Vegas. And there’s always Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Venue: Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, 900 Convention Center Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70130, USA
HCI’s Strategic Talent Acquisition Conference 2017
Date: June 26-28, 2017
In this three-day event, you will be pushed to move beyond design and will receive help to face the increasingly complex responsibility of understanding talent recruitment in a modern society. Venue: 1 Seaport Lane, Boston, MA 02210, 877-SEAPORT, USA
EEOC Examining Conflicts in Employment Law (EXCEL) Conference
Date: June 27-29, 2017
The EXCEL Training Conference is sponsored by the EEOCs Training Institute. In its 20th year, EXCEL is the premier national training conference for federal and private sector EEO managers, supervisors, practitioners, HR professionals, attorneys and ADR specialists. Learn the latest EEO developments from the EEOC experts who enforce EEO laws and from other federal high ranking officials about their agencies’ priorities and regulatory agenda. The employer community, both the private and public sector, will gain invaluable knowledge for making those tough HR decisions! Venue: Hilton Chicago, 720 South Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60605, USA
HCI’s Employee Engagement Conference 2017
Date: July 24-26, 2017
Engaged cultures are made up of fierce, change-ready people who drive innovation, and challenge the marketplace with products and services that connect directly to the customer base. To build this type of culture, organizations must clearly articulate their purpose and values and reinforce those values by recognizing and rewarding behaviors that further those competencies. Venue: 950 Mason Street, San Francisco, CA 33132, USA The HR Digest Magazine | April 2017
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