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EDITOR’S NOTE What makes daily commute to work bearable? Or mundane activities like commuting, doing the dishes and folding laundry? What if you could take your mind off the monotonous task, and energize it with something educational, mentally stimulating, and professionally relevant? Podcasts will help you do just that. Imagine you call up a friend and say, “Meet me at the pub and tell me what’s going on with the world?” Now imagine that’s actually a pleasant evening. That’s what podcasts do. Podcasts have taken the place of unproductive media consumption habits. Instead, they fill the space in between, when you’d simply let your mind wander afar in silence. Podcasting will only continue to grow. I suggest you find a few podcasts on topics that intrigue you and subscribe. You will likely benefit from the podcasts, learn new things, and you might even have an opportunity to share it with the world! Happy Reading!
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THE TEAM EDITORIAL Anna Domanska, Editor-in-Chief Priyansha Mistry, Sub-Editor Riana Petanjek, Sub-Editor Christy Gren, Sub-Editor Aubrey Chang, Associate Editor
MARKETING Jason Miller Sr. Project Director
DESIGN Kevin Paul Sr. Graphic Designer Reepal Savaniya Graphic Designer
PROJECT MANAGEMENT Tony Raval Project Director Jay Raol Project Director
ADVERTISING 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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22 58 82 92
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HR DRIFT
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LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS
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Q&A WITH JANE
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BOTTOM LINE, A BETTER VALUE
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WHAT MAKES A GREAT LEADER TODAY?
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COVER STORY
Iceland Mandates Equal Pay Law to Break Down Last of the Gender Barriers in the Workplace
Are People in the Pyramid Working Together?
Should I be sharing financial information with my employees?
Are You 100% HONEST with Your Employees?
Many of us carry this image of this all-knowing leader who is here to do something bigger than us.
HR Podcasts of the Year
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CONTENT FEATURES
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WHEN IT’S A MATTER OF IMPORTANCE
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MIND THE GAP
What can you do when you face pregnancy discrimination?
Can Technology Underscore Unconscious Bias To Achieve Gender Gap?
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HIRING FOR TOMORROW’S BUSINESS
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SUCCESS STORY
Should you hire for potential or experience?
What is Google’s Secret to hiring the best people?
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IN TOUCH WITH TOMORROW’S WORKPLACE
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HR EVENTS & CONFERENCES
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Which is the best project management app for you?
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Immigration Compliance Scrutinizes Hospitality Industry The hospitality industry is most vulnerable to immigration compliance. In January, ICE raided ninety-eight 7-Eleven stores across 7 states and made 21 arresrs. The acting director for Homeland Security Investigations at Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Derek Brenner estimates that the number of on-site investigations would quadruple in coming years. The announcement comes in light of Trump’s prior focus on immigration compliance. Brenner alerted employers of every company and industry, irrespective of its nature and size, to strictly follow the compliance procedure. ICE would provide advance notice to the employers before thorough search. The large-scale scrutiny is done to keep check on starters. For non-compliant, ICE shall not
ICE’s three-pronged approach to conduct worksite enforcement
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leave any stone unturned to address the immigration violation and hold the m guilty. The steps taken could be as aggressive as going ahead with criminal investigation on the accountable. Approximately 11 million undocumented individual live in the USA. So, it is not uncommon that a majority all of the American employers knowingly employ unauthorized workers. The franchise type of ownership in the hospitality industry makes it most vulnerable to immigration compliance. The standard hiring policy of the parent company may need a few modifications with change in location to comply with federal, state and local laws. Hence, any failure to abide by a single compliance procedure put franchises in a susceptible zone. The immigration agents raided 98 stores in 17 states post notifying the respective owners & managers of the franchises. This is one of the largest immigration actions taken by the Trump administration. The immigration check resulted in 21 arrests and fines in million dollars. The pressure of immigration compliance multiplies by stringent punishment: • Civil penalties for I-9 violations could mean penalty as high as $2,191 per violation and up to $21,916 for knowingly hiring an undocumented worker • Criminal penalties for managers and business owners found harboring, smuggling, hiding, or transporting undocumented workers could mean a $250,000 fine and/or 10 years as prison sentence.
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Massachusetts Pregnant Workers Fairness Act Goes Into Effect on April 1, 2018 Effective April 1, 2018, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act amends the Massachusetts employment anti-discrimination statute. The PWFA specifically prohibits employment discrimination based on pregnancy or pregnancy-related conditions, including but not limited to lactation and the need to express breast milk for a nursing child. The PFAW also makes it unlawful for employers based in Massachusetts to deny a reasonable accommodation for an employee’s pregnancy or pregnancyrelated condition if the employee requests for it. The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination (MCAD) has now released the MCAD Guidance on Pregnant Workers Fairness Act as well as an MCAD Q&A to help employers and employees with queries. While employers are already subject to other laws that prohibit discrimination based on sex, pregnancy and pregnancy-related conditions remain to be a precarious issue. The PWFA will cover the grey area and offer protections to not just pregnant employees, but to all employees with pregnancy-related conditions, such as lactation. Employees who believe that they have been discriminated against on the basis of pregnancy or a pregnancy-related condition may file a formal complaint with the MCAD within 300 days of the discriminatory act.
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What is corporate responsibility towards Migrant Workers? According to the UN Migration Agency, “approximately 25 million people worldwide are working in situations of forced labor.” Globally, about “150 million people leave their countries each year in search of economic opportunities elsewhere.” International companies depend on offshore workers and tieup with recruitment companies and contractors to hire them. Due to unethical recruiting practices, many migrant workers are subject to inadequate legal protections and delusive hiring practices. In many countries, recruiters charge enormous fees equating to as much as a years’ salary, causing the workers to start their jobs under enormous debt. There is no international law forcing global corporations to prevent exploitation in their supply chain. However, the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, which was adopted in 2011, mandates that businesses must recognize these problems and address them. The responsibility falls on the companies to make a difference, and they can. The Guardian noted that “with their cash reserves alone, the world’s 25 largest companies could pay informal workers in their supply chain $5,000 extra per year, ITUC calculates.” This kind of income increase would be of significant help to a migrant worker sending funds to financially support a family in their home country. While there are no perfect solutions, companies must take several steps to make a difference in the lives of migrant workers. Here are a few that should be priorities such as, self-assessment, enforcing protective measures and adopting protective policies. 016
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Foster + Partner Releases Gender Pay Gap Report And The Numbers Are Not Surprising In 2017 the UK government made it mandatory for employers with 250 or more employees to publish their gender pay gap report on their respective public-facing websites. This report must be submitted to the government online. In accordance with the law, the UK’s largest architectural practice, Foster + Partner has disclosed its gender pay gap in staff salaries. The statistics clearly spot the gap as the females are paid 10.5 percent less per hour than their counter partners. This figure is based on the median of the staff salaries – the standard way of comparing payroll between firms. The gap widens when calculating the mean average of hourly pay, that is, 23.8 percent times. A similar result is reflected while analyzing the difference in bonus payment. The bonuses paid to women are 33 percent times less than that of men when calculated on median method. The mean value of the bonus is 72 percent. The Practice has reasoned it to be the result of recruitment of women employees in the later part of the year 2016/2017. As according to the company policy, an employee is eligible for a bonus once he/she has completed 6 months service by review date. The managing partner, Matthew Streets has mentioned explicitly that the gender pay gap issue is complex. To address it, the Practice has to look for gender diversity and more inclusion on at all levels. The process will take some time to get achieve the right balance.
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Iceland Mandates Equal Pay Law To Break Down Last Of The Gender Barriers In The Workplace Iceland has taken a monumental step in its attempt to close the gender pay gap. A new law makes equal pay for equal work a must in the country – regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexuality or nationality. The new law which went into effect on January 1, 2018, covers about 150,000 salaried workers in the country. All companies and government agencies with more than 25 employees must now obtain an official certification to show that they give equal pay for work. There are courses which will help the 1,200 companies in Iceland with more than 25 employees implement the new pay scales. Upon completion of the course, the companies will get a certificate that has to be renewed every three years. Companies that fail to reward equal pay for equal work will be fined. Iceland’s equal pay law intends to close the gender pay gap by 2022. Until now, women in Iceland have earned an average 19 percent less than their male colleagues. In October 2017, thousands of Icelandic women left work at 2:38 p.m. to protest the pay disparity. The walkout time was symbolic of when women stop receiving pay during their 9 to 5 workday compared to men. In the United States, women earn 79 cents for every dollar men earn. The gap is the smallest it’s been since the 1960s, but it has been closing slowly since the 1980s. If the United States reaches full gender parity, the World Economic Forum (WEF) estimated, it could add $1.7 trillion to the economy.
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According to the WEF, the top five countries for gender equality are Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, and Rwanda.
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LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS
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A Business Literary Program HOW TO DESIGN A GREAT BUSINESS LITERACY PROGRAM By: Jane Harper
Employee participation in business decisionmaking is one of the prime ways of building a successful team at work. But not all companies think it’s productive. Participative management can be successful through varied schemes such as suggestion systems, collective bargaining, quality circles, complete control, job enrichment, and among others. However, participation requires a significant level of business literacy to be meaningful; hence, employees need to be trained in various areas through qualitative business literacy programs for participative competence. Organizational framework and context are revealed to employees through business The HR Digest Magazine | April 2018
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LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS
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literacy programs. It’s the training where employees learn about income statements and its meaning, the difference between cash and profit, and major operational models. Employees also learn about the importance of all proposed business concepts and how they can contribute to success. In participative management, employees are charged to make active contribution to the company’s success, irrespective of how long they have worked with the organization. But more often than not, we fail to translate the business literacy in the right way. We rarely ever define success in the practical sense or educate employees on how to
measure success. Employees with trivial business literacy will struggle to make meaningful contributions, leaving them on a difficult path to become successful and at the edge of poor job satisfaction, which is one of the reasons why employees quit. Aside from few disadvantages such as slow decision-making process and security issues, the benefits of ‘successful’ participative management include increased productivity, job satisfaction, improved quality, employee motivation, and reduced operational cost. These benefits are none negotiable in any business organization that has chosen to succeed. Where are we getting it wrong? Our business literacy program! Effective participation means being able to read and speak the business language; the ability to measure success using ratios, cash flow and profit. But this cannot be taught through a mind-numbing approach. Considering employees’ challenges in comprehending financial information, educational levels and backgrounds, we have outlined the ways to design a great business literacy program. The HR Digest Magazine | April 2018
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1) Determine what to teach The basic concepts linking all business operations are always important to start with. Consider areas like cash flow statement, income statement, and key financial statements which contain data sets that are very influential in management decision making. These three financial reports have the basic 026
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information required for evaluating business success. Employees that are able to understand the rudiments here are able to directly see how business decisions impact on the company’s health. Consider elaborating the financial information in a hierarchy; from team level to the company’s
picture of their daily jobs and decisions.
3) Make it simple
operational practices.
2) Make the objectives clear At this point, some employees would find it difficult to see the big picture of all statements taught in step one. Teach the company’s operational and financial objectives, including other information that reveals the company’s direction at the different levels of operation. This allows the employees to develop a correlative
Financial statement can be confusing and overwhelming when first introduced. The entire concept and vocabularies will be new to some of the employees. Sometimes, accountants refer to the same concept with different words, and this will be confusing if not clearly addressed. For instance, net income, earnings and net profit mean the same thing, likewise income statement and profit-and-loss statement. It is wrong to assume that they can identify each easily. Choosing the right and consistent definition for the purpose of clarity and simplifying the language to enhance easy assimilation of the terms.
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5) Make it practical It is proper to use casual instances in teaching business literacy to demystify the numbers. Consider using how people manage their personal finances to explain how it works. You can compare personal checking account to an income statement, for instance. Paychecks as revenue, bills as expenses and money left as profit or deficit. These terms will make the numbers approachable. 028
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At this point, you should try to tie the terms and numbers to the company to see how the employees would respond. Having learnt enough, most employees would begin to ask a lot of questions to clarify their understanding and readily available to make contributions that will move the company forward. Consider linking their daily operations to the business financial measures
answers.
6) Ignore teaching accounting Since you are not training future accountants, offloading the principles governing taxes and accounting rules would introduce unnecessary ambiguities. Accounting rules are important but it’s best to leave that out to accountants. Let the employees deal with cash, income, and revenue in your business literacy program.
and ask a few questions regarding percentages that may signify profit. This will help them to quantify the amount of effort required to make feasible contributions. Also, consider telling the employees where they are with the numbers to enhance the practicality because that will be their next mystical questions. The employees will not be able to apply the new concept if you can’t provide
7) Provide fun and get the employees involved To be sincere, learning numbers is not the most interesting class to attend. Introducing fun and play time during the class help allay anxieties and fear of not understanding the concept. Distraction is inevitable at some point as some of them would wander away The HR Digest Magazine | April 2018
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trying to resolve some of your points. Make provisions to get them involved regularly to help their consistency. Your involvement techniques may include skits, reviews, exercises, and board games which addresses the new concepts.
8) Show your commitment Do not mix the message you’re sending to the employees. The standard knowledge is that they are trusted and believed to be very instrumental in the company, and that is why they are undergoing the business literacy program. Also, other leaders must also contribute to the training by answering employee questions and supporting them to understand, not just the facilitators.
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Based on the different forms the training can come, some companies develop customized materials by hiring consultants or using internal employees and others purchase the regular materials. However, the materials or training format should directly educate the employees to gain participative competence.
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The brutal and straightforward answers to HR-related queries and concerns. Send in your queries with the subject line ‘Ask JANE HARPER’ at info@thehrdigest.com
Hi Jane, I’m currently in a very expensive art school in Europe. It’s always been my dream to be a paid artist and I think I’m quite good at what I do. My parents have always been supportive of my dream and they paid off my school so I only have a small amount of student loans. So any paid work I get is a monumental help. A few months ago, my dad’s sister asked me if I could get some stuff done for her office. This included logos, office painting, a design for a mural in her office, and a design for magnets that go on cars and other small things. I remember telling her that I was really busy this semester and that I would have to charge her for my time because it would cut my free time. She said, “Don’t worry about money, I’ll pay you.” I did some initial sketches for her to see if we were going down the right path and she got mad at me for wasting her time with non-finished products. The next time, I UPS shipped her an elaborate oil painting. I received an angry call from her telling me that she didn’t like the painting and told me not to waste her time. I tried explaining this is why I like to do sketches so there’s no misunderstanding. She agreed this time and I finally created things she liked a lot. My grades were slipping while I was working on this project and it was costing me time to socialize with my friends. I did final versions of the
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logo, a mock up of the office mural and the final version of the oil painting – all of which she liked and approved of. I lost quite a bit of money for the materials and the shipping and it was very stupid of me not to send the invoice right away. It’s been three months now and I haven’t received any payment. Yesterday, I received a nasty reply to my follow up email asking for payment. My aunt accused me of dragging my feet and I quote “Do you realize how much doing work for someone like me can do for you? I am giving you free advertising because hundreds of people will come in and out of my office every week!” I am still in shock. I haven’t told anyone about the email and I don’t know how to go about it without causing a big rift in my family. What should I do? - An art student, 20.
Answer Let me start off by saying your aunt is using bullying as a negotiation tactic. Use this as a lesson – 1. Always make the ground rules clear when you take up an art gig. 2. Don’t take up anything for free unless it’s volunteer work for charity, and even then set limited for how much you’re willing to do for them. 3. Avoid working for family. To handle this situation, do the following. One, refuse to do any more work for your aunt until she pays you for the cost of your materials and time. Tell your family what is going on so when things 034
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go ballistic, your parents are prepared. Secondly, you own the copyright to all of your designs. Since your aunt refuses to buy the designs from you, or take them on a lease, she cannot use any of it for her business. Lastly, get ALL contracts in writing so when people renege on payment you can successfully take them to court and win. Let this be a learning experience for you. People are going to try and get their way out of paying you in the business you have. Grow to be upfront about monetary issues or suffer the consequences.
Hi Jane, Employee is chronically absent for silly reasons. We interviewed for a position back in August. During the interview the candidate told us that he would need time off in November to arrange the details of the wedding, as well as time off in December for the wedding. We said it wouldn’t be a problem since he is only taking two weeks off. When December came, the employee took two weeks off for the wedding. I said it wouldn’t be a problem, and his coworkers are ok with covering the shifts. Come January, the employee requested for two more weeks off to go on his honeymoon. We denied it and said he could only take one week off. The employee went on the honeymoon and called on the seventh day to inform us that he would need five more days off since a
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very close family member has passed away. Given the precarious situation, we decided to approve of the family emergency leaves he was taking. Last week, he asked for two more days off to attend the Christening of a family member’s daughter. We are very upset with the absenteeism. When this employee does not show up for work it means that someone else needs to carry the work load. It’s a very small staff, and this means spending an extraordinary amount of time rearranging our schedules and starting our day earlier. What is an appropriate policy for a 20 member company where an employee’s absence means that someone else has to cover their work? Are we being too lenient? -A concerned manager.
Answer Whether the employee’s reasons for time off are legitimate or not, do not matter at this point. The employee is not able to be at work reliably. To ensure that you have a workforce reliably present, here’s what you need to do – “Vacation leaves are planned. So when you request for an unplanned leave, it means more of a disruption on the schedules of employees who’re left behind doing all of your work. I don’t want to discourage you from using your leaves when it’s extremely necessary to, but I’m concerned about the chronic absenteeism. I need you to be reliably present at work and because your leaves will likely cause resentment in your coworkers.” Assuming that the problem continues, you can conclude that he 036
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doesn’t care about being present reliably at work. In this case, you’ll need to set standards and hold him accountable for the chronic absenteeism. You can always hire someone new if the pattern of chronic absenteeism continues.
Hi Jane, Should I be sharing financial information with my employees? I run a privately held company and don’t like anyone to know about our financial details except when extremely necessary. And that includes my employees. How much financial information should I be sharing with my employees? - Worried, Owner
Answer Sharing a detailed income statement with your employees is TMI – Too Much Information. However, sharing sales data is something I encourage. Sometimes using margin percentages is also helpful so people know how profitable it is sell a particular product or service. If possible, avoid disclosing the bottom line income you’re making. Since you’re not a public company, there’s absolutely no reason for your employees to know how well you’re doing. The HR Digest Magazine | April 2018
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EMPLOYEE
BENEFITS Bottom Line, A Better Value Are You 100% HONEST with Your Employees? By: Anna Versai
Employee benefits in a modern workplace have gone beyond the likes of health insurance coverage, paid holidays, meal breaks or other fringe benefits and perks. Transparency demonstrated through communication, respect, honesty, admitting wrongs and regular feedback are of more significance to employees lately in any corporate culture, having grown tired of surprises and hazy future in their careers. This is in a bid to assist them to establish avenues of promotion through personal development and in planning their future positions while enjoying job security. It is now clear to accept that people are willing to protect themselves irrespective of their employer’s decision. And as such, offices stand the chance of losing top-talent if the employees’ demands are not met - this results in higher employee turnover which is 038
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EMPLOYEE
BENEFITS a major factor that dents productivity, efficiency and service delivery as the companies struggle frequently to rebuild new intakes. Transparency is no longer a quality to overlook in any corporate culture or leadership qualities. We would have a clearer picture of what transparency could have achieved in the past if it was not neglected by many organizations by trying to access the number of talents that would’ve been harnessed and salvaged.
A MAJOR REASON WHY MOST LEADERS SHUNNED TRANSPARENCY IN THE PAST IS THAT THEY ACCEPTED TRANSPARENCY AS A MEANS OF DEPICTING WEAKNESSES AND TO LOSE COMPLETE AUTHORITY. They believed that transparency will take away the efficacy, gravitas and leverage of the credentials they have worked hard to attain. But this is a comp`te negligence of the existing 040
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reality, which has been recognized as a major problem with most leaders in the past. Employees are motivated to know that they are not the only ones having personal issues to overcome. They desire to have more understanding of their leaders in as much as the social media has provided more space to overstep many boundaries previously enjoyed by leaders. This
has changed a lot by rubbing off the choice of leaders; whether to be transparent or not. Leaders are now expected to be more human, a bit vulnerable and less perfect no matter their positions or level at work. The digital age has also called for people to prefer video messages to voice where they can access facial expressions to strike a balance with information received.
Workplace transparency demonstrated by a leader means putting up a human face, which is a tool that has proven to be more effective in employee motivation and retention than paying huge salaries. We will look at some positive business milestones and employee benefits that can be achieved through workplace transparency as we access if it’s a must-have leadership quality in our recent corporate environment. The HR Digest Magazine | April 2018
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EMPLOYEE
BENEFITS Better employee engagement The act of transparency in any organization helps the employees to have a clearer understanding of its goal and vision. And that provides a broader knowledge of their responsibility, having known what needs to be achieved by the firm to make progress. Employees are also enabled to develop better ways to be engaged towards achieving the set goals without fears of arriving at results not required by the organization. Lack of transparency confines the employees to their understanding of the business models established by the firm and limits their creativity and personal contribution which is required for the success of
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every team. The likes of LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner believes in employee engagement through workplace transparency. To foster it as a model for building his company, he holds bi-weekly meetings with the company employees where suggestions and company matters are effectively discussed. On a practical note, 70 percent of employees that participated in a survey by Harvard Business Review in 2013 on employee engagement say they are most engaged when they are continually informed about company strategies and updates by their leaders.
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BENEFITS Problems are solved faster Every leadership role calls for a continued implementation of measures to solving business
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challenges using the employees. Solutions to problems modeled by every leader stand a chance of not being very effective if the implementing employees have very little or no end knowledge of why they are carrying out a task or designing a model. Employees respond more effectively and faster when they learn more about
Transparency allows the employees to understand how they are performing, where they need to improve from sincere reviews and new strategies they can adopt to set good records. their commitments and also work faster in providing solutions by aligning better with the leadership view to seeing the bigger picture in the employer’s mind through the strategies, responding efficiently to deadlines and necessities without yielding to delays or burnout.
Promote Accountability We have severely seen situations where senior staff take total credit for employees’ achievements and still refer to them as unproductive while also rating them low in performance appraisals or directly
blame them for their own failures. These and more are resolved when a workplace adopts transparency. Efforts or performances are recognized appropriately since challenges are highlighted and assigned with trust. A transparent leader frequently communicates the employees on how much they have achieved and this results in credibility in the workforce and function distribution. It allows the employees to understand how they are performing, where they need to improve from sincere reviews and new strategies they can adopt to set good records. This is a huge benefit and motivation every employee wants to have.
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EMPLOYEE
BENEFITS EMPLOYEES BECOME EASIER TO MANAGE AND RETAIN Workplace transparency makes the employees be aware of what they have at stake. Hence, it unifies them easily, forcing everyone into a team determined to beat their fears. It helps the leader to communicate better when there’s need to motivate the employees as a need to work hard is already on everyone’s desk. It will also allow employees to share their opinions and perspectives which is necessary for every team. It also allows a strategic plan to match some individuals to handle certain assignments based on the job requirements without having others grumbling why they were not chosen or been overlaboured. This gives job satisfaction as a major benefit to the employees as they are able to contribute while understanding their workflow and achievements. Every work team mature together when they are able to deliberate on individual profiles, concerns, performance expectation, and results, it’s the 046
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Emp tra t kno
most successful ways to develop the required creativity and to discover the best combination to discharge pressing responsibilities.
SMOOTH WORKPLACE RELATIONSHIP Employees in a workplace with transparency find it very easy to build work relationship knowing fully about what they are set to achieve. It is a lot easier to blend individuals from different departments to work as a
ployees in a workplace with ansparency find it very easy to build work relationship owing fully about what they are set to achieve.
team in such an environment as they have no doubts or fear about each other’s performance and goal. They just build an authentic relationship instantly having full confidence and trust as they are poised to respond based on the superseding corporate culture.
PROMOTE TRUST IN LEADERSHIP Trust is an essential quality of leadership. Employees are less motivated to work if their leader
cannot be trusted. They simply would not take the leadership style serious, disregard policies and see every leadership move as a means to oppress or take advantage of them. Employees hesitate to take instructions and afraid to get involved deeply in the business with thoughts they may be invoked if there’s any legal charge against the company in the future. Transparent leadership style gives the employees the opportunity to investigate every doubt they have and show them gain full trust in both the company, future plans and the leadership style. The HR Digest Magazine | April 2018
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WHAT MAKES A
GREAT LEADER TODAY?
By: Diana Coker
Many of us carry this image of this all-knowing Superhero who is here to do something bigger than us; something beyond us. We’ve made leadership about changing the world and have created outdated leadership development programs that are based on success models for a world that was, not a world that is coming. The HR Digest Magazine | April 2018
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With the number of leadership training conducted only in the U.S. yearly, every company should by now have at least five (5) highly influential leaders if the training were all successful. But it’s sad that most are a scam – rarely recognized as a waste pipe by many organizations that continually invest so much in leadership training programs. According to McKinsey, U.S. companies spend over $14 billion yearly on leadership training. A data from the Training Industry suggests a progressive growth of global expenditure on development training yearly, but the results are not following the 050
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same trend. A survey by UK business school notes that only 7 percent of senior managers believe that their companies have effectively developed global leaders, whereas 30 percent of the US companies admitted that lack of
a human mindset and behaviour. The more responsibilities we are exposed to, the lesser focused we become. An average adult can only recall about 10% of what is being preached in a classroom. And most leadership training programs are imposed on individuals already pushed to the extreme to be productive at their various workplaces.
skilled leaders has denied them chances of exploiting international business opportunities. Leadership development was identified as current and future priority by five hundred (500) executives asked to provide their first three humancapital priorities in a survey, about 75% of them choose leadership development as their first priority.
Developing employees unit by unit have since been adopted as the most promising leadership development route. This provides distinctive training context which tries to handle challenges according to the units, forecasts and crucial leadership decisions. But that has not perfectly dealt with training failures in leadership development posed by many challenges. Here are our five reasons why leadership training programs always fail.
Many have identified poor creativity, style of the classroom and the training duration as major reasons why more leadership training fails. The problem should be seen as our choice of working with unproductive models to change The HR Digest Magazine | April 2018
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1) CONTEXT QUALITY Every training program must have a context that must be very clear to be successful. The setting, statement or idea that form leadership events are very key factors which do not always buttress leadership training that can be fully understood, considering the distinctive qualities of its participants. Also, to be a successful leader doesn’t mean you have the prerequisite to
impart to people accordingly. By the way, teaching would fall into a different category if we want to classify skills. A successful leader in some cases may fail to perform on a flip side of the same business events. This has been proven using academic studies where the CEO of a European services business was known to be extremely good when markets are speedily growing, but during an economic downturn, the same CEO could not provide viable financial decisions to lead the groups’ business unit. 052
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MOST COMPANIES EMBARK ON LEADERSHIP TRAINING WITH THE NOTION THAT THEIR CANDIDATES ARE SUITABLE FOR THE TRAINING IN ITS UNDEFINED CONTEXT. AND THIS SAME IDEOLOGY IS ADMINISTERED BY MOST TRAINING INITIATIVES WHERE EVERY PARTICIPANT IS MEANT TO FIT INTO A PROVIDED TRAINING PATH.
2) LACK OF PRACTICALITY The connection between theoretical initiatives and the real business environment is blurry. Business cases are always peculiar to events and only match with the theoretical training by a little percentage. Candidates require extra skill to juxtapose theories into real-time business decisions. And recalling that adults are prone to remember The HR Digest Magazine | April 2018
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less than 10% of what they learn in classroom discredits their chances of utilizing what has been taught in any effective manner. Aside from that, real-time practical learning only guarantees adults about 75% of what is taught. And when next do we think they would have the chance to explore the same scenario in a
practical regime after the training sessions? Leadership training that is more refined to simultaneously handle business events have better chances of being successful than relying on practical questions to assume understanding and skill development. Participants lack the push to demonstrate substantial understanding through real work experience that will enable them to home their new skills while applying the approaches. Companies fail to use major business projects as an opportunity for leadership development in view of providing a practical realm for the emerging trainees.
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most leadership training programs are over 45 years old. The deepest thoughts, beliefs, assumptions, and feelings of these set of candidates must be clearly understood to drive any positive influence in their behaviour as a prerequisite to adopting a higher performance in leadership.
4) LACK OF POWER TO IMPLEMENT NEW IDEAS 3) IMPROPER EVALUATION OF PARTICIPANTS Employees with the highest qualification are always considered for leadership training with plans that they only need to adjust their mindset to acquire the leadership qualities expected. Taking a different opinion temporarily (relatively in a classroom) does not guarantee a change in future behaviour when business decisions are crucial. People tend to do less in the area of learning as they grow older, including change of perception, no matter how qualified they are. And 90% of candidates in
A research conducted by Harvard Business Review in the 1980s showed that many companies campaigned and sponsored business transformation but were not ready to accept business models acquired from the various training. It is worth noting that organizations send their employees for the purpose of enhancing their leadership role. HBR survey showed that some well-trained and motivated employees were not able to apply their new knowledge and business strategies when they returned from training. Because they lack the power to effect any change to the system. Could it be that some companies are actually sending employees for leadership training just to acquire skills they would still The HR Digest Magazine | April 2018
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not accept? Some newly acquired leadership skills are not more effective than old strategies, then we can conclude that some training programs were already failures before being delivered in training.
5) LACK OF SYSTEMS TO DIRECTLY MEASURE RESULTS Organizations are only able to justify their investment in leadership training by retaining the trained individuals in positions where they are required to lead. They simply lack systems to properly evaluate improvements in their leadership performances through business decisions. This indirectly sidelines the call for so much motivation to showcase measurable performance aside from other factors while also limiting access to identify leadership programs that have made realistic contributions to their candidate’s development. Similarly, the trainers are partially left blind on their 056
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context quality while also lacking an open system to sincerely assess their program credibility, identify areas that need to be improved and models most suitable with different categories of candidates. Leadership training programs lack a system to assess behavioural change and to monitor career development that should have supported the trainees and company in monitoring realistic contributions made by training programs.
DO WE MONITOR BUSINESS CHANGES AFTER TRAINING? WE OFTEN OVERLOOK ITS IMPACT ON OUR BUSINESSES EVEN WHEN THE TRAINING IS TIED TO SOME BUSINESS BREAKTHROUGHS. Companies looking to alleviate most errors that frustrate success in leadership training will need to carefully investigate the intrinsic behaviour of their candidates; to ascertain the most viable context, matching suitable leadership development appropriately; while there is also a straightforward system to evaluate results and to monitor improvements.
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COVER STORY HR PODCASTS OF THE YEAR By: Anna Versai
Hi there, and welcome to The HR Digest! If this is your first time listening, I’m Anna, and in this podcast I dig deep into hiring challenges and solutions for HR managers. I also talk about my relationship with Katie, and sometimes I get a little carried away. Last week I told you how she kept interrupting me during a meeting, and how things seemed to be building to a crisis. Well, I’m glad to say that it’s all over now. Katie is… worried about her succulent. May be someone is pouring orange juice over it when no one’s looking? I wonder who that would be? Today we’re talking about HR Podcasts of the Year. As someone who indulges in listening to over 50 podcasts each month, it’s safe to say I’ve reached a point where I might need an intervention. Podcasts are captivating! These days, I can barely get through a casual conversation without bringing up a stat, or some other information from one of my favorite podcasts! So, I figured I would share a list of HR podcasts for HR thought leaders, CHROs and HR professionals around the globe.
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COVER STORY
DRIVETHRU HR Capped at thirty minutes, each episode of the DriveThru HR podcast is designed to cover topics including culture, recruiting, strategy, talent management and technology. The hosts are William Tincup, Nisha Raghavan, Crystal Miller and Michael VanDervort. Each episode are engaging and actionable. Guest speakers shares their experiences and knowledge on a broad range of HR topics. You can follow the conversation on Twitter with hashtag #dthr.
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HR HAPPY HOUR With over 300 episodes and counting, “HR Happy Hour� is perhaps the longest running and most-popular HR podcast. It is hosted by HR Technology Conference co-chair Steve Boese and H3 HR Advisors CEO Trish McFarlane. The show features live interviews with HR thought leaders, technology providers, and of course, HR professionals who talk about best practices, leadership, management, human resources and HR technology.
CIPD PODCAST The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has more than 135,000 members committed to championing better work culture and working lives. This monthly podcasts covers a wide range of HR-related topics including talent acquisition, management, compensation, training and development, and technology. While it has a British take on all things HR, the lessons are broadly applicable.
HBR IDEACAST This weekly podcast by Harvard Business Review features leading thinkers in business and management. Each episode hosts the cream of the crop CEOs, HR thought leaders and authors to internationally acclaimed cellist talking about successful collaboration at work. With more than 400 episodes to date, this podcast covers topics
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COVER STORY like workplace productivity, negotiation in ethics, and HR compliance.
NINE TO THRIVE HR This podcast by Human Capital Institute covers human capital topics including talent acquisition, engagement, retention, people analytics and development. It features speakers from Fortune 1000 companies, authors and academics.
PLANET MONEY Produced by National Public Radio (NPR), Planet Money describes itself as “the economy explained,” with stories and surprises. Each episode features the brightest minds from the world of finance. One might ask if the economy has anything to do with Human Resources. Well, the answer is, yes. It has a direct bearing on the voice of Human Resources on a daily basis. This is because HR managers are responsible for recruitment, training & development, compensation benefits and payroll. There are benefits to knowing what’s happening in the economy on a global scale.
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BEST PART OF MY JOB Imagine you could call up a friend and say, “Meet me at the bar and tell me what’s going on with today’s corporate world.” Now imagine that’s actually a fun evening. That’s what Best Part of My Job is all about. HR and recruiting analyst Lars Olson asks his guests: What’s the best part of your job? The responses are often complex, highlighting what people really want from work, what motivates them. This podcast helps you understand what people truly value about their job.
HREXAMINER RADIO HOUR Offered in a 30-minute format, this HR podcast discusses issues of the day. Host John Sumser covers a broad range of topics and ideas in recruiting and human resources.
THE EMPLOYMENT LAW & HR PODCAST
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COVER STORY This podcast is designed to offer the latest updates on Law and best practices for recruiting and managing your staff. It can be really difficult to keep up to date with employee laws which change from time to time. This podcast hosted by Alison Colley is designed to bring you all the information you need in easy to understand and easy to executive way.
HIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS This podcast, which is hosted and produced by software company Entelo, has produced over fifty episodes. Each episode features a special guest who cover topics ranging from diversity to leadership during the discussion. It’s easier now more than before to discover, subscribe and listen to hundreds of free podcasts. The topics of discussion are endless. Start optimizing your time and listen to HR podcasts while driving, walking or commuting. Most importantly, you’ll be aware of what is going on the world of human resources. Umm, I think that’s it for today’s show. Please rate, review and subscribe.
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WHEN IT’S A MATTER OF IMPORTANCE What can you do when you face pregnancy discrimination? By: Diana Coker
Individual experiences at work as employees are quite distinctive. Sometimes, it feels like you’re the only one that has ever experienced such. Yes, it’s always unique. But all employment laws account for the most extreme conditions, including all those that many of us are yet to imagine, while also considering the very minimal scenarios. The important thing is to follow the right procedures for a deserving justice when we perceive discrimination. It is a fact that some employers are afraid of dealing with pregnant women, despite how family-friendly workplaces have become in recent years. They tend to believe that pregnant women are no longer as hard-working as they used to be. Hence, discrimination in varied forms may begin to surface subtly. In a few cases, aggressive! Pregnancy discrimination may surface in the form of promotion denial, assigning of jobs that depict underperformance - mostly undesirable functions, training denial, demotion, etc. As a pregnant employee feeling you have been discriminated, there are procedures to gain justice easily. But let’s first look at your rights and protection under the U.S. federal law
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referred to as Pregnancy Discrimination Act before outlining the necessary procedures. This should help to identify the exact conduct that has been violated by your employer (or potential employer) and also clarifies your feeling of being discriminated. 1) The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) is against discrimination in all areas of employment such as promotion, hiring, pay, firing, and all employment benefits. Corporate policies that impede women from working because they are pregnant or fertile are also forbidden by PDA. 2) The Pregnancy Discrimination Act (PDA) only applies to workplaces with at least 15 employees. Consider visiting the office of the Department of Labor Women’s Bureau in your locality to know if there’s an agency in your state that can assist you if your office is having less than 15 employees. However, many state laws cover for employees working in companies with as little as 5 workers. 3) Your boss cannot fire you for filing a complaint against him/her, provided you believe that the employer has violated the Pregnancy Discrimination Act. 4) Work leaves received due to maternity or pregnancy is treated exactly as other employees on leave due to disability or sickness, this includes the duration at which a position would be held open. 5) Your promotion cannot be skipped because of your pregnancy. 6) As long as you’re able to discharge the duties of a potential position, your employer cannot decide not to hire you because you are pregnant. Employers do not have the right to ask if you are pregnant or intend to be pregnant and you are not entitled to inform the employer that you are pregnant. 7) Different offices may treat pregnant employees that are not married differently. Some religious organizations with authorization from courts may discriminate employees who violate the institutions’ code of conduct, including premarital sex. Although these employers are required to show 068
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that men engaged in premarital sex are treated the same way and not different from the women. However, benefits related to pregnancy are not limited to employees that are married in most organizations.
What to do if you still believe you are being discriminated Having carefully reviewed your rights covered by the Pregnancy Discrimination Act, if you believe you’re being treated wrongly or discriminated, the first thing to do is to talk with a very close colleague you really trust. This colleague should have a good knowledge of discrimination act as covered by your corporate policy. Alternatively, someone working in your HR department would be ideal or better still your union representative, office manager or supervisor. Sometimes, simple conversations would resolve serious problems; offer a chance for internal resolution. In the event that internal management could not resolve the issue to your satisfaction, consider reading through your employee handbook to help your precision on the violations. A lot of companies already have a procedure outlined for filing a discrimination complaint. Sometimes, the employees are referred to the human resources to get that done. For your legal rights to remain active, consider filing for the charge as soon as possible, mostly valid within 180 days of the action. You may want to verify the validity period from your state. N/B: Even if you are no longer an employee of the company, your filing will be fully accepted. Secondly, you do not need to hire a lawyer to defend your claims.
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1. Write down the event as soon as possible and keep a copy somewhere safe, preferably at home. Your information on what happened should include date, time, the place it happened, what was said (the conversation), and witness (if any). Consider keeping this information even if you have not decided to take a legal action or file a complaint yet. 2. Discuss it with your union representative (if available). Through the union rules, you can file a grievance. You should call a civilian or women’s rights group if you do not have a union. 3. Discuss with your employer about how you feel. 4. Do not withdraw from doing a good job or updating your records of work. Keep copies of your job evaluation at work, including memos and letters that confirm you’re discharging your duties well. However, your boss may begin to devalue your performance to defend his/her discrimination. 5. Get support from family and friends to help your emotion. Fighting back discrimination is not an easy process, including the challenge of dealing with it alone. For further information on the steps in filing a pregnancy discrimination against your employer, please visit the EEOC’s website m Pregnancy discrimination is one of the workplace challenges that may be difficult to identify easily. And almost every victim requires assistance to figure out how it should be handled on a note that you’re so sure of being discriminated. Also, consider sourcing for information at your workplace or any rights and law centre within your state or locality.
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MIND THE GAP By: Jay Raol
Unconscious bias has established a big hole in gender balancing, particularly in the workplace. This leaves the men more considered for employment in various sectors more than the women, even when they both have similar performance credits. Employment statistics from various sectors in the labour market over the decade suggests that sex gap is continually widening significantly in many sectors. We can say its worst in the energy & mining, manufacturing, and software & IT services where women struggle to represent up to 25% of all employees according to a report from Global Gender Gap in 2017. Employee gender diversity imbalance is really obvious that some multinational companies, especially in the technology industry, having admitted guilt, are putting up a fight
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to deal with the widening gender gap in hiring. Sadly, most of them have no positive result to share. However, there may be a bigger promise to closing the gender gap – the use of machine-learning products or AI for recruiting – a technology that has been proposed for quite some time now to attenuate bias hiring. Many would want to believe it’s ending with hype just because AI technology is already taking too long to prove a point on the gender gap. It would be interesting to know that many companies are beginning to invest in AI-based software for talent management and sourcing as learned from Sharon Florentine at CIO. A report from Talent Economy suggests that about 1,143 recruiters in the U.S. are planning to invest more into AIbased software in 2018, with 86% of them relying on the software for talent sourcing. While this sounds like a big move to us, the organizations are also doing this to spend less or nothing in hiring; an expectation the AI technology is poised to live up to aside from eliminating unconscious biasing. 076
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WHAT IS AI FOR RECRUITING? Artificial Intelligence (AI) for recruiting is the use of artificial or augmented intelligence to solve problems that computers can handle in a recruitment process. It’s a new technology designed to automate or seamlessly streamline some workflow processes in recruiting, mostly in handling a large volume of data and sampling. If a software is used to auto-screen job candidates by learning resumes with no sentiments, responding based on established parameters, then the software is said to be AI-based for recruiting, which can be referred to as augmented or artificial intelligence.
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE AND HOW CAN MACHINELEARNING PRODUCTS HELP CLOSE THE GENDER GAP?
The most important move to closing the gender gap in the workplace is recognizing its existence. Many HRs want to believe that gender diversity is not an issue at their workplace, leaving AI-based software futile towards any gender balance motive. Recognizing gender imbalance calls for its solution; traced back to
unconscious bias in hiring. And the understanding of this bias nature is enough to win huge motivation to seeking gender diversity. Kevin Mulcahy, co-author of “The Future Workplace Experience: 10 Rules for Managing Disruption in Recruiting and Engaging Employees� The HR Digest Magazine | April 2018
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and an analyst with Future Workplace says
“The challenge with unconscious bias is that, by definition, it is unconscious, so it takes a third-party, such as AI, to recognize those occurrences and point out any perceived patterns of bias.
promote individuals that are not same with themselves. The established patterns can then be used on machinelearning products. “You have to create a culture of ‘If
AI-enabled analysis of communication patterns about the senders or receivers -- like gender or age -- can be used to screen for bias patterns and present the pattern analysis back to the originators.”
BY DEVELOPING STRATEGIES Having recognized the need to diversify gender by dealing with unconscious bias, the next step is to set up models or strategies that can address the bias pattern accountably. HRs must allow the employees to contribute in deriving patterns that 078
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you see something, say something’ that goes as high up as executive leadership.
Do not expect lowerranking people to call out examples of bias if senior people have not provided permission and led by example, ” Mulcahy says. “You can still use AI to help; machines know no hierarchy and
ACHIEVE A BIASFREE AI FOR RECRUITING ALGORITHM More emphasis must be made here to ensure that the company is not running in a circle. The parameters to be used in developing algorithms for machinelearning products or AI for recruiting must be properly scrutinized to ensure that the program is not also biased to achieve nothing. “AI/machine learning can help close the diversity gap, as long as it is not susceptible to human bias,” says Aman Alexander, CEB product management director, an organization that performs assessments on recruitment algorithms for machine-learning products. “For example,
can provide analytical reports back to workers of all levels, but there has to be a human element.”
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application attributes/traits and not be impacted by on-the-job, human biases, ”
recruitment standards. But AI/ machine learning tools are far from this challenge. The system can be trained empirically to make decisions
ANSWERS TO POTENTIAL-BASED HIRING
on candidates that may likely succeed using statistical relationships, which ordinarily would be difficult to calculate individually if unconscious bias is determined to be bypassed manually. CEB’s Alexander says that the machine can be trained using the company’s traits and primary focus, defeating threats to gender diversity.
Alexander added.
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“The human mind is not designed for the type of pattern recognition that can be most helpful in making hiring decisions. For example, most people would be able to rattle off a list of the many traits they desire or avoid in an ideal candidate but would have no idea what the relative success or failure rate is of people who exhibit
those traits. They, therefore, don’t have any data to justify their beliefs,” Alexander says. “AI and machine learning analysis, however, can provide hard data that either confirms or denies recruiters’, hiring managers’ or executives’ beliefs about the types of hires they should be making.”
RECRUITING RELEVANCE A target-oriented candidate search is a lot easier with AI tools. For instance, if a company is looking for a female C++ programmer, the AIbased software has the ability to search through and screen all the female candidates with the relevant qualifications provided, including the amount of experience and supply them to the recruiter or HR manager. The search goes beyond matching job titles and experiences, AI tools have the feature to focus on specific skills that can make the candidate a very successful system programmer. “If you are going out and trying to identify candidates, you have a massive-scale data problem right off the bat -- you’re looking at something like a billion social profiles, and you have to determine what’s relevant, what’s not, what is information about the same person, what’s out of date, and make inferences about that data,” says the CEO of HiringSolved, Shon Burton. “Using AI and machine learning to search speeds up the process and makes it more efficient, while also making it easier to find diverse candidates at top of the hiring funnel.” The HR Digest Magazine | April 2018
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HIRING FOR TOMORROW’S BUSINESS Should you hire for potential or experience? Success or failure in every organization is as a result of workforce quality – contribution from every employee. And only the right workers can achieve the required success. This makes recruitment very crucial in every organization; be it a startup or already established firm, employees are productivity pioneers and must be hired carefully. While some firms would prefer hiring experienced employees to cut down the cost of training,
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which includes time, money, and uncertainty, many firms that prefer hiring for potential enjoy a lot of benefits others need to learn. Though, sometimes, the experience is mostly required in vital positions such as leadership roles and other positions that require immediate deployment or service; they can also represent limited creativity and narrow the talent pool.
Conducting a wide band recruitment program is a good course of finding the right candidate(s), but the process can be very tedious. Most of the time, series of tests and assessments are used to identify qualities that are most suitable for the position(s) open. And for employers that are not sure 084
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of the candidate to hire; potential or experience, we will carefully look through some of the reasons why you should hire for potential or experience and the positions/companies suitable for each category to help your evaluation.
WHY YOU SHOULD HIRE FOR POTENTIAL Hiring for potential means opting for a long-term contribution, which is mostly the best way to invest in employees. Potential is referred to as the ability to grow or develop into a more reliable
or great personality in the future from unrealized ability. It can also be defined as “latent abilities or qualities that may be developed and lead to future success or usefulness.� This quality is the main target employers must look out for in candidates while hiring for potential. The HR Digest Magazine | April 2018
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Potential demonstrates candidate’s ability to adapt to the job description considering the level of conscientiousness and problemsolving skills while also taking care of strengths and weaknesses. It is not wrong to believe that potential is an attribute in many job applicants with zero experience but it’s usually difficult to ascertain. Common hallmarks of potential candidates include curiosity, motivation, insight, engagement, and determination according to Harvard Business Review. It is also a quality that if identified administers raw creativity and a huge success factor. Here are the reasons why hiring for potential is a good option.
ADAPTABILITY: FUTURE SUCCESS IS NOT MEASURED BY PAST PERFORMANCE It may be difficult to believe that experience could have a negative correlation with future success. A few examples may provide an insight that experience can trap personality. Bad habits learned during the past experience, perhaps, more than a decade will be difficult to drop for 086
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the new position. Business approach acquired from the previous job may be difficult to implement or transferred to the new business environment. Also, it would be difficult to completely drop old ways of performing similar duties not approved by the new
and corporate practices.
INNOVATION AND DIVERSITY A fresh perspective is one of the trademarks of high-potential candidates with talents. During training and seminars, teaching potential candidates a new business idea allows them to explore other of their qualities to present possible ways that can shape the model even better. This leads to new innovations, new ideas or business model which eventually promote productivity and efficiency required in the corporate body.
office; this will place a barrier, hinder flexibility and slow down the employee’s susceptibility to adapt to new cultural practices. Candidates with no experience are coachable with so much motivation, eagerness to learn and adaptive to new tactics
Companies that rely so much on unique skill will have the opportunity of grooming a candidate that would bring a new shift and diversity in their services. For instance, in product design or customer service, potential candidates have a chance to make a unique impact by bringing viewpoints that are completely new. This gives any office an edge to attain to new heights of productivity when potential and experienced talents are combined to make a team.
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COST-EFFECTIVE Experience candidates are known to cost more and expect a higher salary. Potential individuals known to have no experience in the field they are to be recruited often demand a low salary. By recruiting an individual with the chance of performing excellently in a few months time, employers stand the chance of hiring top talents without paying heavily.
ROLES AND COMPANIES MOST SUITABLE FOR POTENTIAL TALENTS Problem-solving positions are best preferred for potential talents. They also perform very well in positions that require unique approach at all time. Potential talents are best in positions where they are expected to grow and develop into a bigger force for the company. Potential individuals will flourish in startups and growing companies. They will also do very well in wellestablished firms where they are expected to replace some employees that would soon retire or leave the
firm. They are lucrative additions when there’s need to change management in any firm.
WHY YOU SHOULD HIRE FOR EXPERIENCE Unlike potential talents, the experience is more objective and measurable in the sense that there is a previous knowledge about the duties to be performed. Employers are always more comfortable with experienced applicants; they are directly accessible based on actual work performed in the past and their qualification. It gives any recruiter an insight of how the candidate may likely perform – not totally a guarantee of performing excellently if hired. Hiring for experience means a lot of job training would not be required; it calls for (almost) a direct deployment, less coaching and among other benefits slightly highlighted below.
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also dealing with challenges. Unlike the potential, experienced individuals are easier to identify and evaluate during the recruitment processes through interviews, tests, and reference validation. This reduces uncertainties and guesswork while also providing a faster solution to a vacant position.
RESOURCEFUL AND FLEXIBLE WITH POSITIONS Experienced candidates are known to have worked in almost all levels of the value chain in their field of experience. This makes them very resourceful and more highly skilled to take on various tasks or fit in easily into different positions. Employers will have the opportunity to try experienced candidates at various positions if make a swap with an employee with similar experience if the newly hired staff is not as productive as the office requires for a certain position.
HINDSIGHT AND CHARACTER Experienced individuals are more professional from the onset. They have already identified their capabilities, real identity in the job, grounded 090
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and understand where they need to improve. For positions like a sales rep, experienced individuals can easily convince their old customers to buy from your company if the products serve the same purpose. They can also provide a new form of practices from their learned lessons and help in gravely in decision-making.
ROLES AND COMPANIES MOST SUITABLE FOR EXPERIENCED TALENTS Resource management or leadership roles are the best positions for experienced individuals. They are also good in positions that coordinate workflows and administration. These positions require at least a little knowledge of the routines and structure. Companies that have been established for long require experienced candidates to maintain their pace and competition. Experienced individuals are vital when a company is about reaching its peak or already faced with a high need to maintain established services or a popular brand.
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WHAT IS GOOGLE’S SECRET TO HIRING THE BEST PEOPLE? By: Anna Versai
Illustrations by: Google
It takes the right team to build any of the most successful tech companies. Formation of the makeup team is a painstaking process, undertaken from the management to the staff and great care has to be exhibited with serious choices that must take its toll in filling any gap, which ultimately translates who should get hired to fill a required vacancy. Generally, success breeds attention and attraction; exactly as Google attracts millions of people who wish to be part of its successful team. Google receives millions of job applications per annum. Hence, a very innovative approach to labour hiring will be required to extricate the needed resume from the pile of millions of resume. Being one of the most successful tech company in existence and having made accessing
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information more convenient, changing how people live, work, and play, this success would not have been achieved if Google had failed to hire the right people from the very start.
THE VERY START OF HIRING THE RIGHT PEOPLE IS THE JOB INTERVIEW
Biking on the Google Campus
Google is very fortunate to have had Laszlo Bock as Senior Vice President of People Operations. Block deeply understood how to shake up the traditional methods of job interview to better predict how a job candidate will actually perform if they joined the organization. Laszlo Bock, who is now Chief Executive Officer of Humu 094
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left Google in 2016, but Google still retains his management principles in human resources. In his 2015 publication, “Work Rules,” Bock outlined Google’s principles of hiring while also stating how recently the company had slashed the time for hiring to one and half hours week from the initial ten hours of a manager’s time per week. With top executives spending a full day on it, growing its labour base from 40,000 (in 2013) to over 60,000 employees today. Bock had also thrown more light on the fact that years of research and experimentation were influential in helping Google to the hiring of exceptional people down to a near science. When Bock came on board at Google, he shook up few things in the way Google hired, a shakeup which proved useful. Bock had set Google Rubric: a well-structured approach assessing behavioural and situational approach intelligence, candidates are asked a consistent set of questions with clear criteria for determining the quality of their responses, while scoring
CafĂŠ at Google
for general cognitive ability having five constituent components and starting with how well the candidate understood the problem. Google applying data analytics to assess the outcome of the interview process, allows the company to narrow down to specific candidates who have the best potential for success at the company. Not necessarily based on experience.
According to Bock, Google applies its trademark innovativeness into its hiring process and does not stick to the traditional hiring process which all other companies apply. “There are four simple principles that can help even the smallest team do much, much better at hiring,� Block wrote.
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SET A STANDARD THAT CANNOT BE COMPROMISED As Bock had pointed out clearly the only way to quickly determine if an applicant is good enough for the job; that is to set a standard and not budge, better off even to hire someone who is better than the established standard. Hiring someone with better skill than you have established will make your job easier and save you lots of time and stress of going through capacity building for your new employee. This will ensure that there is no drudgery for you in the discharge of your functions and when you are
Google office lawn
Google Doodle Book
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not readily available, you have a capable hand to handle situations that might require your attention and would need your skills. Google sets its desired standards while hiring and the company never compromises on those set standards, surely the best amongst the applicants will always meet these standards and ultimately get hired by Google.
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Most people hired by Google have exceptional skills already which are lacking and needed by the Google team.
orking in 3D
Dogs at Google
BE READY TO ACCESS CANDIDATES OBJECTIVELY According to Bock, any company hiring should “Include subordinates and peers in the interviews, make sure interviewers write good notes, and have an unbiased group of people make the actual hiring decision,” and it does not end at that. Bock continued by advising that employers “Periodically return to those notes
and compare them to how the new employee is doing, to refine your assessment capability.” Google job interview panellists are always checkmated by Google so as to eliminate biased judgment in the course of interviewing applicants. The company even allows subordinates participate in interviewing their potential bosses and managers. This way the applicant is grilled from all points of view.
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FIND CANDIDATES ON YOUR OWN To hire the best hands you don’t have to completely outsource this responsibility of picking your team to recruitment agencies, you should heavily rely on your own career portal and also heavily seek referrals from your very vibrant and productive staff. Every career person has one or more people who they synergize with for transfer/sharing of ideas and knowledge in the same career path. There might be possibilities that one of the people in this circle of synergy is seeking for employment, seeking to change his place of work or might be without a job. That would be a great way to acquire such talented person to come work for you without even advertising for vacancy and going through the hassles of perusing heaps of resume.
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When your company starts to expand, Bock said, “Ask your best-networked people to spend even more time sourcing great hires.”
This great human resource management guru even advice and recommends that managers make use of LinkedIn, Google+, alumni databases, and professional associations to discover talents they might need to bring to work for them. Google finds its own candidates by looking out for candidates with the potentials needed by the company, the company even asks it’s Googlers for referrals, believing that like minds interact and exchange ideas even outside the company.
Googler Desk
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GIVE CANDIDATES THE REASON TO JOIN You would really need to make the employment offer attractive by making your firm and the team it parades very attractive to the applicant; it has to be like an irresistible offer. Bock in his publication says, “Make clear why the work you are doing matters, and let the candidate experience the astounding people they will get to work with.”
even the best of applicants will not resist being a part of the company’s workforce. These are some of Google’s secrets to hiring the best hands in its labour pool as revealed by its Laszlo Bock, the company’s former Senior Vice President of People Operations.
Bock had also gone ahead in his publication to cite instances where Jonathan Rosenberg, advisor to Alphabet CEO Larry Page, had been of the habit of keeping 200 Google employees’ resumes in his office; a ploy to work on the applicant’s psyche. According to Bock “If a candidate was on the fence about joining Google, Jonathan would simply give them the stack and say: ‘You get to work with these people.” Google provides a lot of reasons to work with the company and its team parade great minds that 100
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Googlers at work
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WORKPLACE CULTURE Hello there, stumbling reader. Given that you’re glancing at this article, I’m going to unerringly guess that we’ve got a couple things in common: We both rely on web tools to collaborate with our colleagues, and we’re both a little frustrated by the variety of tools available to serve us a whole lot better.
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IN TOUCH WITH TOMORROW’S WORKPLACE WHICH IS THE BEST PROJECT MANAGEMENT APP FOR YOU? By: Priyansha Mistry
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WORKPLACE CULTURE When I got my first intern desk job for a month, like all other interns, I kept reminding everyone on Skype that I was “super swamped,” although with what, exactly, remains a mystery. All conversations with fellow interns started with “the boss just doesn’t get it,” despite the boss always advising me to “do whatever you want… unless you think it’s wrong…then do whatever you think you should – just keep me informed.” And, I partly remember messaging Dave all day, mistaking it for flirting. Time crawls when you’re an unpaid intern and your only medium of communication with the outside world is Skype. A couple of years later, at my first “paid” job, I met a nice, young woman named Jackie. The 25-yearold from Texas didn’t have a whit of vitriol in her body, and yet I dreamt of killing her hamster. You see, Jackie had this thing where every time she sent an email she’d walk right into my office to tell me that she had sent me an email “boing!” We’d say the same things: “I just wanted to let you know that I’ve sent you an email!” I would say “Yup, I am reading it right now,” and then she’d say “Awesome! 104
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Just wanted to let you know!” (Boing! Boing!) Now, small talk remains to be my only frustration of office life. Smiling at Emilio the receptionist five times a day gives me a headache and Owen in HR is always trying to get me to come to his terrible one-man show. My newfound peaceful silence originates from Asana. I eat poorly, but want to do better – so I am definitely not talking about a yogaasana. There is no one around me to hear my green suede skirt *squeak* on the leather couch. (More: There is no around me…) In fact, there is no one around to hear me – for all of my team telecommutes. The irony, though? We’re all on the same page even though we’re all over the globe.
PUTTING TELEWORKING INTO PRACTICE Working from home. Teleworking. Telecommuting. Whatever you call it, it’s on the rise. For employees today, work is often
seen as an activity not a place, and organizations of all sizes are scrambling to accommodate for fear of becoming uncompetitive. For a lot of industries, this approach has been largely successful – leading to productivity, morale and retention gains while reducing costs. According to FlexJobs, more than nine million Americans work from home at least half of the time, and approximately 56% of U.S. workers hold jobs that could easily be transitioned to a remote based system. Why? Because it’s easier than ever to telecommute and use software to collaborate online and keep your team up-to-date on task. Just because you’re in a different time-zone doesn’t mean you can’t still communicate and work together as if you were in the same room. The HR Digest has been testing and using various tools throughout the years to keep our virtual team connected and productive from locations around the world. Here are a few tips and in-depth reviews of the best work collaboration tools.
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BEST FOR:
Freelancer, solo operation, Nonprofit, Public Administration, Small Business, Midsize Business
IDEAL TEAM SIZE:
Small to mid-sized companies Among team collaboration tools, the most commonly known is Slack. It is often a winner due to the wide variety of many features and dozens of integrations with other tools like Trello and Intercom. By default, all conversations on Slack are open so the team has complete view of what’s going on in a project or a specific task. You can also mark conversations as private and only invite certain team members.
KEY FEATURES:
Drag, drop and share files with team members Integrations with 3rd party apps like Dropbox, IFTTT, Google Hangout, etc. Video call feature iPhone and Android app Team members, Notifications, file names, and messages all searchable and stored indefinitely for auditing and post-mortem 106
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BEST FOR:
Freelancer, solo operation, Nonprofit, Public Administration, Small Business, Midsize Business
IDEAL TEAM SIZE:
Small to mid-sized companies One of the most popular project management tools, Asana allows users to assign tasks to other members, add followers to projects and monitor deadlines. It’s very useful as a to-do list or calendar for strategic planning.
KEY FEATURES:
Track projects for up to 15 people Assign tasks to team members and monitor deadlines Assign task due date and time Make notes, comments and upload attachments to any task Add tasks to several projects and teams simultaneously Integrate Asana with applications using an application program interface (API) Built in integration with Google Drive, Dropbox, Chrome and others The HR Digest Magazine | April 2018
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BEST FOR:
Freelancer, solo operation, Nonprofit, Public Administration, Small Business, Midsize Business
IDEAL TEAM SIZE:
All company sizes Teamwork needs no introduction. It’s an affordable option for people looking for a collaboration tool with basic yet functional project management. Some of its features include the ability to give tasks priorities, create milestones and invoices among others including monitoring time spend on a particular task.
KEY FEATURES:
Compatible with iOS, Android, Chrome, Web, Mac and Windows Integrates with Dropbox, Google Drive, Quickbooks and more Features include time tracking, Gantt charts, sub tasks, etc. Unlimited users
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BEST FOR:
Freelancer, solo operation, Nonprofit, Public Administration, Small Business, Midsize Business
IDEAL TEAM SIZE:
Small to mid-sized companies Basecamp has quickly become a contender in the comparison of team tracking tools. People use Basecamp to organize busy schedules and keep track of to-do lists and tasks. At the same time, tech startups, independent entrepreneurs, and small companies love Basecamp for its cardbased layout.
KEY FEATURES:
Compatible with mac, PC, iPhone, iPad, Android and email Backup data to Google Drive or Dropbox Data is secure via HTTPS encryption and 2-factor authentication Integrate with more than 100 apps and add-ons Unlimited users When responding to a task, you can close your browser window and come back without sending and your note will still be there The HR Digest Magazine | April 2018
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BEST FOR:
Freelancer, solo operation, Nonprofit, Public Administration, Small Business, Midsize Business
IDEAL TEAM SIZE:
Small to mid-sized companies Trello is a collaboration tool that resembles Solitaire. You can drag task cards across columns, just like you would playing Solitaire. It works well for monitoring projects and assigning tasks. Trello also makes using Scrum, Agile and other project management frameworks easy.
KEY FEATURES:
Clean, simple layout with easy to understand instructions iPhone and Android app Unlimited cards can be made Backs up your data Share links to boards and invite outside members to view or collaborate
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HR People and Strategy Annual Conference
Date: April 22-25, 2018
HR People + Strategy is the premier network of executives and thought leaders in the field of human resources. As SHRM’s Executive Network, HR People + Strategy provides members access to forward-thinking exchanges, research and publications and executive-level networking opportunities. Chartered in 1977 as the Human Resource Planning Society, the founders rallied around their desire for an association that would bring people together who were interested in advancing the science and art of human resource management. They were —as they are today — HR professionals, leading academics and trusted advisers. The implied goal was to help people acquire the knowledge and credibility required to play a key role in the design and execution of organizational strategy. Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
HR Uncubed
Date: May 01-02, 2018
HR Uncubed provides 2 days of actionable advice, networking and a great time at the heartbeat of today’s creative community, featuring a diverse group of speakers from companies around the globe, including former GE CMO, Beth Comstock, ESPN analyst and former NBA star Jay Williams, and best-selling author on the science of success, Eric Barke. Brooklyn, New York, USA
ATD 2018 International Conference and Exposition
Date: May 06-09, 2018
The ADT conference boasts more than 10,000 attendees who are dedicated to the design, delivery, management, and strategy of talent development. If you’re looking for the specific value offered by the conference, you may want to check out their ‘Convince Your Boss’ page. San Diego Convention Center, San Diego, California, USA
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Date: May 09-11, 2018
Recruiting is changing and businesses are hard pressed to keep up. While the potential for landing star candidates is high, so is the competition. RecruitCon 2018 showcases today’s best practices for supercharging acquisition efforts, new technologies to streamline recruiting, effective analytics trends to support employers’ evidence-based talent decisions, and so much more. Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Indeed Interactive
Date: May 14-16, 2018
Search for Greatness at Indeed Interactive 2018! Choose from dozens of insightful sessions, in which you’ll learn to leverage the latest recruiting innovations and engage in thought-provoking conversations about workplace trends. Walk away inspired to define “greatness” for your organization and equipped to discover your next great hire. Austin, Texas, USA
Performance Management Innovation Conference
Date: May 17-18, 2018
This conference is dedicated to uncovering new and effective methods your managers can employ when providing feedback that connects employees to organizational goals and motivates them to higher productivity and innovation. The HCI Performance Management Innovation Conference will bring to you successful case studies from colleagues who will share their no-cost tools and strategies that you can use to help your managers genuinely engage the workforce through these powerful conversations. Chicago, IL, USA
HRD Summit/Europe
Date: May 22-23, 2018
The HR Directors Summit is the most senior gathering of HR leaders in mainland Europe. The 2018 Summit is set to be our biggest ever yet, with over 300 HR leaders attending for 20 hours of intelligence sharing across 4 streams. Amsterdam, The Netherlands The HR Digest Magazine | April 2018
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Talent42
Date: June 05-06, 2018
Talent42 is the first – and only – conference that brings together tech recruiters and leading software engineers. We ask every speaker and every panelist to challenge the audience. Talent42 is a rare opportunity for the tech recruiting community to come together to share new ideas. Pier 66, Seattle, Washington, USA
2018 Strategic Talent Acquisition Conference
Date: June 05-07, 2018
The 2018 Strategic Talent Acquisition Conference will help you optimize the overall TA function as well as hone each segment--attract, source, assess, select and onboard--to give you the competitive advantage you need to survive in a scarce labor market. Miami, Florida, USA
SHRM Annual Conference & Exposition
Date: June 17-20, 2018
SHRM Annual Conference & Esposition offers relevant opportunities for any professional in the HR industry. With more than 200 concurrent sessions that allow for customized learning and access to thousands of solutions providers, you are practically guaranteed to walk away with a fresh perspective and new tools at your disposal. McCormick Place, Chicago, Michigan, USA
HR360 European Summit
Date: June 20-21, 2018
How would you like to tap into some of the best minds in HR today to learn how they are getting ready for the increasingly digital new world of work? Only at HR360 will you meet 200 of the innovators and pace-setters that are taking HR transformation to new frontiers – reinventing organizational structures, redefining the employee experience and driving greater use of real time analytics. If you’re serious about building an HR division that adds greater value to the 118
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business bottom line, don’t miss this opportunity to benchmark your people, processes and technology with those leading the way. Berlin, Germany
BEYOND – The Global HR Leadership Forum
Date: June 14-15, 2018
This conference stands apart because it is a genuine forum where forwardthinking HR leaders and senior executives will come together to discuss the latest insights and debate the future of this dynamic function within an intimate networking environment. The Forum aims to transform your thinking about the HR profession, shifting your paradigms to perspectives that you have not considered yet. The forum will address the technology changes that are impacting HR, but (where other conferences stop) it goes “beyond” and also considers technology in the context of the society and how social impact can be generated. Next to this, the Forum will address how “de-humanized” HR can be “rehumanized” by building EX-centric companies. Amsterdam, The Netherlands
California HR Conference
Date: Aug 26-29, 2018
The California HR Conference is a unique experience for HR professionals who seek a comprehensive, California-focused HR education that’s coupled with innovative learning sessions and exceptional social opportunities. Created and curated by the Professionals In Human Resources Association, the California HR Conference (CAHR) is a hub of human resource content for professionals who either practice or are responsible for HR management in California. Long Beach, California, USA
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