Ed tor’s Note The HR Digest’s ranking of the ‘Most Influential HR Leaders Of The Year’ is meant to be a measure of their enduring success. We track and analyze each HR Leader’s performance, their influence, starting from day one of his or her tenure. Our goal is to create a list that goes beyond the recent quarterly and annual results, and truly evaluate long-term performance. Our view is that, in the mercurial corporate world, the perfect measure of an HR Leader’s work is not quantifiable. Rather, it is reflected on the human side of the business, i.e. a company’s corporate culture and values. Further, in this issue, we debate the benefits of defining a code of ethics and conduct, which has been a long-standing part of the corporate world. We discuss why companies follow the cardinal rules of creating and implementing company codes, and its myriad practical purposes. Plunge in, Leadership Inshights, page 28-37! Workplace Culture, page 124-135, delves into the beauty of open-book management.
The most misunderstood fact about openbook management is that one needs to share 100% information. Misunderstood fact’s like this is why companies are still debating the merits of open books to employees and vendors. The HR Digest sheds new light on the benefits of sharing some financial or operating data with key employees and vendors. Among other things, we have, Legal Hub, page 88-93, the difficult experience of taking disciplinary procedure against employees and the legal implications it is not conducted thoroughly and transparently; Q&A with Jane, page 38-47, your official canon for brutally honest, straightforward answers to HR related queries, and concerns answered by Jane Harper. Happy Reading! Like always, we welcome your comments. You may reach us at editor@thehrdigest.com or Editor - The HR Digest, The Fastest Media, 3651Lindell Road, Suite 320D, Las Vegas, NV 89103.
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THE TEAM Editorial Anna Domanska, Editor-in-Chief
Christy Gren, Sub-Editor
Priyansha Mistry, Sub-Editor
Aubrey Chang, Associate Editor
Riana Petanjek, Sub-Editor
Design Kevin Paul Sr. Graphic Designer
Nisha Dhamecha Graphic Designer
Project Management Tony Raval Project Director
Marketing Jason Miller Sr. 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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HR DRIFT Organizing Union Using Company’s Email Is a Bad Idea
LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS Code of Ethics and Conduct
Q&A WITH JANE
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My company’s new dietician is being too pushy and intruding
EMPLOYEE BENEFITS The Surprising Reason Why People Love Their Jobs!
TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT Building an Executive Pipeline: It’s Our Turn To Lead
COVER STORY Most Influential HR Leaders of 2016 006
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LEGAL HUB Employee Discipline in the workplace: Evaluation of Practice
HR TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY A Case of Office Dominance
RECRUITMENT POINT
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Learning From the NBA on Hiring an All-Star Team
SUCCESS STORY Tesla’s Recruitment Pitch: Be All You Can Be!
WORKPLACE CULTURE Opening The Book Of Open Book Management
UPCOMING HUMAN RESOURCES EVENTS & CONFERENCES
89 94 104 114 124 136
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YOUR RESOURCE FOR HUMAN RESOURCES
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Organizing Union Using Company’s Email Is a Bad Idea Many employers have workplace policies, which prohibit workers from using the email system of the company for personal emails. The reason behind this policy is that the company’s email system is specifically set up to facilitate company related task, not for the personal requirements of the employee. Moreover, by banning the system of personal emails, the company may be making an attempt to minimize the opportunities of inappropriate emails being delivered to or from the email address of the company and the possible legal liability and embarrassment, which can pass through the same. The National Labor Relations Board, however, has recently ruled that workers reasonably have a presumptive authority to use company’s email system for communications related to concerted activity, which comes under the protection of National Labor Relations Act’s Section 7 including the organizing of unions during the nonworking hours. This is a broad-ranging decision considering it aims to protect potential activities related to union organizing. According to this, any policy that confines the company’s email system usage to only company business on its face actively violates the National Labor Relations Act. The policy requires not to be subjected to union organization, and the requirement of an employee not to ever try and use the company’s email system for matters like union organization. Companies may still maintain policies related to email communications, such as no large attachments, personal downloads, inappropriate jokes, pornography, large attachments, etc. The company may have a policy that limits the use of the email during the work hours of business related to the company, but probably not during the approved break time of the companies. Therefore, employers should review their policies and handbooks to check if there’s any language involved, which might violate the decision of the NLRB. There’s a requirement for employers to take action in order to amend the policies so that they do not risk legal action due to a violation by the government. 012
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What Makes Uber Despise “Tipping”? Uber thinks unless drivers are offering you a complimentary bottle of water, or a fancy spices’ collection to go with your steak, why tip? Recently, the ride-sharing giant published a post clarifying the policy of the company on tipping. This has arrived after the settlement of two class-action lawsuits alleging Uber interfered with acceptance of tip by drivers. “Tipping is not included, nor is it expected or required,” reads the post on Medium. It continued, “Riders are free to offer tips and drivers are welcome to accept them.” Uber offered the reasons why it thinks this custom is detrimental for riders and drivers alike. It’s because tipping would introduce discrimination among drivers. The drivers, however, are officially not considered as an employee, but in every regard, they are the one. And if a few employees are getting paid more as compared to rest it will definitely deteriorate employee morale. Take this for an example, if you’re a hardworking employee who delivers all tasks on time and there’s your colleague who’s known to wander around. Now, instead of you, he receives praise and bonus even after not performing half as much as you. How would you feel? Will it interfere with lowering employee morale or not? Of course, it will.
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Here’s why Uber thinks you shouldn’t tip:
Their Income is Considerably Good, Possibly More Than Yours You shouldn’t be taking this in a wrong way, but they earn a good amount of money for their service. Unlike us, who need to commute at fix time, they’re free to work according to their will. Uber drivers are not at all near the bottom line of the economy. Instead, they lead a fairly decent life compared to many employees working for an organization. So why tip? For driving all day in the air conditioned car? For being stuck in heavy traffic or taking a wrong turn? They make more money when they drive during peak hours. So your tip will rarely make any difference to them unless you’re offering a hefty amount as a tip.
Tipping Will Violate Company’s Main Strategy: Transparency and Fair Price Uber is known to be the controversy’s most favorite child, but let’s not forget that it’s also known for its fair price structure and transparency. What more could an organization offer in order to boost employee morale? Transparency is necessary for every stage. The fair price structure works as the USP of the company as it promotes the sense of equality among workers. It lowers the chances of issues related to workplace discrimination. A crystal clear price structure is more acceptable rather than adding unnecessary tips. As we’ve mentioned above, tipping will simply start deteriorating the basic structure of company i.e. transparency.
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Bad Attitude, Huh? A few months ago, we came across an online “negative review” of Yelp employer posted by a Yelp employee. It was noted that the action was protected under the NLRA (National Labor Relations Act), given that the NLRB (National Relations Labor Board) has turned out to become increasingly aggressive when it comes to protecting the right of an employee to discuss workplace conditions on a public platform. This also includes the situations when the discussions revolve around disparaging the employer and obscenities. This merely states the clear fact that civility and courtesy have died under the NLRA. Now, moving forward, the NLRB, has, indeed, confirmed that not only civility and courtesy met a tragic end. A positive work environment embraced the dead end as well. A recent NLRB decision discovered that employee handbook of T-Mobile violated the National Labor Relations Act by requiring workers to “maintain a positive work environment by communicating in a manner that is conducive to effective working relationships with internal and external customers, clients, co-workers, and management.” As per the National Relations Labor Board, employees could interpret such rule to limit potentially contentious and controversial communications. This also includes communications about labor conditions and labor disputes that are protected under the National Labor Relations Act. Further, the National Relations Labor Board concluded that employees feared that such communications would be considered as inconsistent by their employers. In a similar manner, the National Relations Labor Board struck down rules and regulations of T-Mobile against the arguments of employees and detrimental comments made by them about the company. The main agenda appears to conclude that employees must be positive towards management and co-workers. The previous cases of National Relations Labor Board indicate that requiring workers to only be courteous towards clients may not set off any many alarm bells for the NLRB. Nonetheless, workers must tread quite carefully, and try not to be way too cheerful. Encouraging a positive mindset and attitude among employee may end up with negative results. 018
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The Dilemma Surrounding Fully Paid Parental Leave Policy Recently, San Francisco became the first city in the U.S. to offer fully paid parental leave to new parents. The debate over fully paid parental leave has gained momentum in a similar manner the issue of minimum wage hike did across the country. This move for paid leave will offer new fathers and mothers to spend time with their newborn or newly adopted child. Under this new mandate, all new-parent Californian workers are eligible for fully paid time off for six weeks. The employees in California are already entitled to receive 55% of wage for up to 6 weeks. This policy receives its coverage from public disability insurance. The burden of rest 45% is covered by employers. The advocates for this issue suggest the measure is necessary because there are parents who cannot afford to lose paychecks to take time off following an adoption or birth. Few government entities and big league corporations already offer employee benefits. But for startups and smaller businesses, this issue has emerged out as yet another costly mandate, which they surely cannot afford. The move consists of various implications for the startups in the city, a majority of which offer generous policies to employees already. Smaller businesses are going to get a tough time due to the implementation of this policy. They certainly cannot carry the costs on their shoulders.
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Director of Human Capital Services at TriNet, Jackie Breslin says the mandate will have mixed influence on Californian startups. According to her, it will differ from the influence of this policy on smaller businesses in California. Her company handles payroll, human resource, et al for a number of startups in California among 12,000 clients of TriNet. She says the startups in San Francisco should introduce formal policies for parental leave even if they have been providing policies for unlimited time off already. “There will be clients and companies that need to change their policies. I think that even clients that are doing something for parental leave will have to increase something.” Startups in California, which do not have provisions covering the policy of paid parental time off, may have to outsource resources from other employee benefits for this mandate. “That will be a true budgetary impact.” She notes. For instance, in some companies, fully paid parental leave could mean cutting off the perks like massages and free lunches or providing a lower amount of reimbursement for education. For a number of startups in San Francisco, especially bigger and well-established ones, the impact of this policy will be minimal. This is because they already provide similar policies to their employees. A few months, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey announced fully paid parental leave policy of 20 weeks for his employees. Multinational giants such as Netflix, eBay, and Facebook, though not headquartered in San Francisco city, offer generous policies for parental leave to their employees. Outside the universe of venture-backed, well-established startups, this decision welcomed by the Board of Supervisors of San Francisco city carries heavy controversy. Dee Dee Workman, Vice President of Public Policy at San Francisco Chamber of Commerce supported the arguments offered by small business owners. He said, “They don’t necessarily have the resources, they can’t absorb the increases in cost, and they feel like it’s kind of relentless, it is one thing after the next.” 022
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Never Ending Woes of Tesla Workers Tesla Motors and Elon Musk are accused of paying just $5 per hour to Tesla workers who were working to build a paint shop for the electric vehicle maker. Tesla Motors hired almost 140 foreign workers from Eastern Europe, a majority of them were from Croatia and Slovenia, to build a paint shop in Fremont in northern California for the production of the Tesla Model 3 sedan. The subcontractors were recruited by a German-based manufacturer, Eisenmann and received lower hourly wages, i.e. $5, which is really less as compared to $52 per hour and $42 per hour benefits and pensions that sheet metal workers usually get, says the report by the Bay Area News Group. A 42-year-old man named Gregor Lesnik, who was an employee of the subcontractor was said to be seriously injured on the job reported Mercury News. Lesnik filed a lawsuit in Alameda County Superior Court, claiming that he suffered injuries while building Tesla’s body shop after he fell from a three-storied roof. The lawsuit also claimed that after Lesnik got injured, ISM Vuzem, a Slovenian company who was responsible for hiring him insisted that he gets out of the United States as quickly as possible, the reason being legal problems such as visas, housing, and working conditions. According to the lawsuit, Tesla workers worked extremely hard for seven days a week, working for 10 hours a day, in order to construct the paint shop. It also stated that the workers were paid for only 40 hours a week and weren’t paid for overtime for all the extra work they put in. As estimated by Lesnik’s attorney, Tesla workers are owed nearly $2.6 million in wages in addition to other compensation benefits. However, Elon Musk twitted a document soon after Mercury News report, claiming the pay was $55 an hour and not $5 an hour. Musk also assured that he would investigate further in this matter and “make it right.” Musk also stated that “We still need to make sure that the injured worker is taken care of”, further adding “but less and less of the Merc story appears to be true.” 024
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Will Brexit Cause Havoc For Expats and Employment Laws? Now that Britain has decided to leave, there are so many concerns surrounding residents and various sectors of the economy. Amid all these issues, employment laws and expats are the most threatened ones. British expats have shown their concerns regarding their stay in European Nations after the exit of Britain. The government is tight-lipped whether the British expats will be forced to repatriate from Europe or anywhere else. Not only would the event be highly impossible to bring in action, but also extremely damaging to the economy. A government paper warned the expats on Brexit that there lies no guarantee that they would keep the rights to use public services such as healthcare, work, reside, or own a property. For instance, UK citizens residing overseas, especially those who’ve retired to Spain may not be able to assume that the aforementioned rights will be applicable for them. At the very least, every term which the United Kingdom seeks for its citizens would equally have to be offered to the citizens of EU willing to stay in the country. On the similar exit theory, other Member State’s citizens will no longer enjoy automatic right to work and travel to the United Kingdom and vice versa. However, the free movement and migration are connected to the adopted Brexit model. It would seem that free movement of individuals would turn out to be a critical bargaining issue for the European Union if the United Kingdom is to continue enjoying the advantages of free trade in services and goods. Based on how difficult line the government of United Kingdom will adopt, the ultimate agenda would be the introduction of a points-based immigration model, along with the lines, which currently applies to non-EU nationals. We, however, expect the existing workers from the European Union to be permitted to remain in the United Kingdom. Employers can thereafter expect a few transformations in the pool of employees entering the country. Also, it’s most likely to come across visa applicants and greater bureaucracy in recruitment entering the country. 026
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LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS
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Code of Ethics and Conduct Regardless of whether your organization is a public company that is legally mandated to have a code of conduct or an organization with no legal compulsion, every organization should have a code of ethics and conduct
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The difference between the code of ethics and code of conduct has blurred over time, and now we often use both the terms interchangeably. Before discussing it further, you need to confirm that you know the difference between the two.
What is it? Code of Ethics: A document that codifies the values and set of
principles that has a great impact on employee’s values and decision-making. It is a guide for employees of an organization that tells them what is right and what is wrong when they are making decisions within the organization. The code of ethics acts as a guide for members of an organization rather than acting as something that dictates their organizational behavior. For example: Your company is unshakable when it comes to environmental protection, then as an employee, you are supposed to pick the greenest option while handling any project or issue.
Code of Conduct:
A set of rules that are specifically designed to show the behavior and practices that are encouraged and prohibited by a particular organization. Code of conduct includes authoritarian behavioral compliances such as dress code, accountability, punctuality, environment, external communication, bribery, sexual harassment, political activity, conflict of interest, and other similar aspects. It has helped pull a lot of organizations out of the mire of scandal and also in creating a better work environment, enhancing the company’s reputation as an employer. Both the codes are similar to a certain extent as they are used to promote definite forms of behaviors at the workplace. Codes of ethics try to provide the employees with some values that may influence the decision making. And, codes of conduct provide guidance that some actions are appropriate and are encouraged at the workplace while other actions are considered inappropriate and unacceptable. Both the codes make sure that the organization is successful in obtaining a range of acceptable actions from its employees. Major difference between both the codes is that ethical standards are non-specific and guide the employee in making independent judgments. On the other hand, conduct regulations want an employee to follow certain codes or incur a penalty if he/she fails to do so. The HR Digest Magazine | July 2016
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What’s the need? Previously, ‘ethics’ was something that was mentioned only in a kid’s moral science notes and ‘code of conduct’ was something that was tucked away in joining instructions when you accept a new job. But now, code of ethics and conduct are becoming an integral part of today’s workplace as organizations are getting to know the benefits of ethical policies and conduct regulations. Either these codes can be viewed as an administrative formality with the negligible practical use or a comprehensive guideline for employees to know how an organization works. Here are some benefits that organizations may harness by leveraging code of ethics and conduct:
Tactical Decision-Making
Knowing the values and acceptable practices of an organization will provide a foundation to the employees on which they can base all the organizational decisions. Setting the norms from the very beginning may help the organization to evaluate its employees and projects based on the codes, even when the organization is growing in size.
Increased Productivity
If all the employees of your organization love their job and feel duty-bound to meet all the goals within the given deadline, the overall productivity and bottomline results will improve drastically. Due to this, it is assured that the business will sail even in the absence of the directors or top-level executives of the company, thus promising company’s consistent growth.
Assurance of Asset Protection
You may be surprised to know that a strong set of ethical standards may safeguard company’s assets. Employees who believe and abide by the workplace ethics would know the importance of a company’s assets to complete tasks and the finances that are invested behind them. Instead of misusing the resources or assets that are provided to them, they will safeguard them so that tasks do not suffer. This happens only when you treat your employees with respect and dignity and they are proud to be a part of an organization that has an environment with strong ethics and integrity. This saves a lot of time and finances that would be otherwise wasted in availing the assets necessary for accomplishing certain projects. The HR Digest Magazine | July 2016
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Mutual Respect
When people are aware of workplace ethics that a company practices, by following those ethics, they will develop an atmosphere of mutual trust, respect, and integrity. For instance, in the presence of a written ethics and conduct code, employees are expected to interact in a certain manner with their peers and customers. Thus, it will result in a positive environment that will be free from workplace problems such as violence, sexual harassment, and various other forms of the contravention. The code of ethics should not be limited to businesses and should be adopted by individuals.
Responsibility
As soon as people start taking responsibility of their actions, everyone benefits. Responsibility involves holding yourself accountable for your actions and being honest about it, such behavior will then spread at the workplace, making a cohesive and prolific workforce. Employees are more likely to keep working for a company that encourages rules and policies that are beneficial to everyone equally.
Company Reputation and Brand Value
A company can earn a lot of respect and can create a powerful brand image when it implements ethical standards. It can also work as their competitive advantage, providing them a good reputation in the marketplace. Having an amazing brand value and company reputation is more than enough to secure a majority of market share in the desired field. Displaying company’s code of ethics and conduct on its official website and making sure that its actions align with words can gain a positive response from customers, clients as well as job seekers.
Legal Considerations
Having a code of ethics and conduct in place will also save you from plenty of legal issues. Such codes of conduct provides the organization with security even if one of its employees is engaged in something unethical or illegal in the name of the company. For example: A manager deceives your client then your code of conduct may provide a legal proof that your company does not encourage such kind of behavior.
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If your manager wants you to bribe a client so that your company gets the project, the best way to tackle the situation is by sharing your reluctance with your manager and putting your foot down.
Prevents Inappropriate Behavior
Code of ethics and conduct is also beneficial in defining appropriate and inappropriate employee behavior. The code clearly portrays inappropriate behavior such as fraud or embezzlement, lying to clients, compromising operational standards, failing to deliver promised quality, and similar misconducts. This will let the employees understand why a specific behavior can harm the organization’s reputation and is inappropriate.
Improve Business to Business Relations
When your organization works with ethics, it may lead to improved relationships with other businesses as they are more likely to rely on you. Ethical values can provide guidance when it comes to working with other businesses and potential customers. Those ethical values indicate how the organization handles customer queries, contract negotiations, negative business situations, and constructive criticism in form of feedback. After considering all the values that are listed on your company’s code of ethics and conduct, you need to make sure that it doesn’t clash with your personal values. If your manager wants you to bribe a client so that your company gets the project, the best way to tackle the situation is by sharing your reluctance with your manager and putting your foot down. Knowing the benefits of defining a code of ethics and conduct in your organization will ensure that you enforce ethical behavior at board, management and employee level.
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My company’s new dietician is being too pushy and intruding A Reader Writes I work for a great organization that encourages healthy living, they provide us with gym memberships, the fridge is stocked with all the healthy foods, and they also support enough when we are late or take an off for doctor visits. I’m a successful and somewhat competitive bodybuilder, so such workplace environment is really suitable for me, until now. I’m 6’3” and very muscular, I know it can be intimidating and that is the reason I try to be very helpful and polite to people so that my appearance doesn’t seem daunting. I’m really glad that people find me approachable. Coming to the issue: my company recently hired a dietician to guide people who wanted some help with their diet. When I was asked, I courteously declined for the help over an email. Later, I bumped into the new dietician in person. She insisted me to meet her and get a meal plan, which I declined. On the next day, I received an email from here, attached with a meal plan, which I did not request. I simply ignored that email, but in the noon, she stops by when I’m having my lunch and gives me some advice on how I should change my diet. I don’t intend to insult this lady, but looking through the diet plan that she has emailed me, I can say that I’m far more knowledgeable about this stuff that she is. No doubt, she is a registered dietician, but she has no clue how to handle an athlete’s diet. Despite of me declining her help, she is being nosy and won’t leave me alone. I talked to the HR but it didn’t help. I also talked to my boss, but apparently, the dietician just ignored his suggestion. Can you please help me?
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Answer If she doesn’t get it when you say “no, thank you”, you have to be more direct about it. She needs to be reminded about the boundaries that she needs to maintain at the workplace. So, next time she bothers you, you can say something like this: “I appreciate your concern, but my health and diet are private issues, and even when I said no to your help, your insistence on talking about it is inappropriate and needs to stop.” If she still doesn’t end it, you need to repeat this as needed, with some variations. You might think that it would be rude to say something like this, but keep in mind that she is the rude one. You declined the offer politely but she won’t leave you alone, so you have to let her know that you won’t tolerate it if she violates any of the boundaries. If you don’t want to deal with her, you can go to the HR and be clear about your issue, in case you were somewhat vague in your previous discussion.
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What shall I do if my boss plays favorites?
A Reader Writes My boss supervises a team of four people, and blatantly favors one of my team members. She would often go to lunch with her and share a lot of work-related information with her while the rest of us know nothing about it. Many a times, the ‘favorite’ initializes this, but my boss won’t turn her down. Before a few days, when I was in a meeting with my boss, the ‘favorite’ entered the cabin, and my boss thanked her for helping her out with some personal stuff that they did over the weekend. At first, I thought it’s just me and ignored it. But later I came to know that this is observed by all of my colleagues and it obviously bothers us. I know it is not unusual for a boss to play favorites, but making it so obvious seems a bit unprofessional. All of us strongly believe that the ‘favorite’ is receiving good reviews, early appraisals, bonuses, and rewards even when her work isn’t any better than ours. The rest of us have been trying to tune it out and simply concentrate on our tasks, however, it annoys all of us and brings our morale down. I don’t think I have much of an option other than looking for a new job. What do you suggest?
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Answer You’re right; it is highly unprofessional of her. That’s the reason why you can’t be friends with your subordinates. Even IF it’s not affecting your objectivity, you still appear as someone who is playing favorites. You are left with handful of options in such situation: First: Talk to your boss how their friendship with your coworker is affecting the rest of you. I know it might seem very intimidating, but you need to know that this situation is created by her and not you and it points to her ineffective leadership skills. As a result of this, two things might happen, either she would understand your situation and show that in her future actions or she would report it to the HR or her manager (which might turn the tables against her). Second: You can mention it when your boss’ boss asks for feedback at any point. Your employer might come up with a solution for that by discussing it with your boss. After all, your boss’ senior rank demands a higher level of professionalism even if she dislikes you or the rest of your colleagues due to some reason. Third: If both of the above fail, you start searching for a job with a better environment. There’s no meaning of pushing yourself to work even when you are not happy and don’t get along with your team.
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My company is including commute time in our work hours A Reader Writes My office building remains open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., but my co-workers and I work in different shifts between 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. We work from home whenever we are scheduled to work outside of the office hours and then commute to the office or go home early and continue working from home until late. Our company recently decided to count the commuting time as a part of our working hours. So, if we are supposed to work from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., we need to work for only those hours regardless of the time that is spent in travelling. Obviously everyone is happy about this news, except me. The thing is, all my other co-workers live away from the office and almost take an hour or so to drive to the office, but I reside at only five minutes distance. This makes me think that I would be working for longer hours (approximately 240 hours per year) than my colleagues while receiving the same pay. Do you think I should talk to the HR or my boss regarding this and ask for some other perk that I can receive or is it simply luck of the draw?
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Answer Okay, if I’m getting this correctly, this means that if you work from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., you would start working from home at 7 a.m. and then at 8, you leave from home, drive an hour to the office, reach at 9 and again start working, until 4. Or if your shift starts at say 11 a.m., then you would require to come to office at 11, leave at 5, reach home by 6, and then work from home till 8 p.m. On the whole, once your shift starts, you are on the clock and will be paid until it ends, even if you drive to the office or to home mid-shift. You will be paid for the hours that you take while changing work locations. In this scenario, you are working for longer hours than your colleagues, but I don’t think you can trade this perk with some equivalent perk. You cannot have a feasible reason to bring this up without looking petty. It’s just luck of the draw.
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My boss is sharing drunk pics of my colleague A Reader Writes A while ago, my boss and my colleague became Facebook friends. He sent a picture of my colleague to me and my co-workers in which, my colleague was at Coachella and was super drunk. In the past, he has done many such things due to which I have lost all the respect for him. I haven’t reported this to my colleague as I’m anxious of causing her embarrassment and shame. Also, I haven’t reported this to the HR due to fear of retaliation by my boss, in case he doesn’t get fired from this. Even if he gets fired, his manager, who is his close friend would retaliate. I’m trapped as I ought to make a choice. Ethically, I should inform her, but then it may cost me my job. Can HR take some actions and punish him for what he did? Note that he used the work phone to share pictures to non-Facebook friends of hers.
Answer Your boss is a horrid person who has no honor or integrity. Just because he is Facebook friends with one of his team members and is snooping around on her profile, doesn’t give him the right to share such pics of her with other employees. It is so disrespectful, especially when a manger does this to an employee. If you are afraid of losing your job or hurting your relationships, you should at least inform your colleague about what’s going on behind her back. She deserves to know so that she can block your crappy boss from accessing her profile, if nothing else. Leave it up to her whether to report it to someone in the company or have a word about it directly with the manager. You can tell your boss that you are not okay with receiving such kind of photos and that it wasn’t good of him to send such pictures. This is optional, but what isn’t optional is that you need to inform your colleague about the matter.
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My name is Davy Jones, shall I change it for my job search? A Reader Writes I’m currently searching for a job, but I feel that I’m not coming across as a professional when I appear for an interview or apply for jobs. My name is, I swear I’m not kidding, Davy Jones! (I was born in the 70s and apparently, my parents had an “ill” sense of humor back then, not to mention, my mom was a big fan of Davy Jones. And yes, I’ve heard all the jokes about The Monkees and my locker! *sigh*.) I’m in my mid-forties, now that I’m searching for a job, my concern is how professional am I coming across with this name on my resume and other documents. Of course I can change my name, but I really like it (now that I’m used to all the jokes). Also, all of my friends and family call me “Davy.” Should I go with “David” and mention that my real name is “Davy” only if any legal issues or paperwork come up?
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Answer I wish I could say, “No one is judged solely by their name, it’s your skills and knowledge that really counts.” But names do matter (especially when you are a part of The Monkees!). Before a decade or so, recruiters had a tendency to invite people with “white”-sounding names for the interview compared to people who had African-American names. So, your name has a higher impact on the hiring manager and may affect their decision to invite you for the interview. But, let’s be real, it’s 2016, regardless of what your name is, maybe your resume is lost somewhere in the cyberspace. So, instead of considering your name as the obstacle, you can use it as a Steppin’ Stone(okay, stepping stone) to stand out from other candidates. Having a unique name that is memorable will only prove as an advantage instead of obstruction. Depending on your field, you can use your name to show your personality, which will make you stand out from all the job applications that your prospective employer might receive. I would recommend you to stick to your name, joke about it if needed, and most of all, be a believer!
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BENEFITS the
Surprising Why People reason Love Their Jobs! Do you love your job? Yeah, when the pigs fly, is what many throw back when questioned about their love for jobs. When we talk about Minotaur, Unicorns, Jackalope, and leprechauns as some of those people who love their jobs, you’ll say, “These things do not exist.” We wouldn’t blame you for the notion as it’s the story of every second employee. The idea of being in love with your job may seem like a folklore snatched from an age-old book of mythology. The truth is individuals who love their jobs, perhaps, aren’t unicorns. Sure, they do share a few traits, which make them extraordinary, and help them with things they love the most. So what actually lures individuals into loving their jobs? There are probably a few nuggets, which eludes most of the individuals. Now, the phrase ‘love’ here doesn’t mean they never have a day off when they’d be rather doing something else. For the most segments, these are the individuals who get up wondering about ‘What’s going to happen today at work? Did I mail the finished task to my manager? Oh, did I frame a report on monthly supply?”
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WHAT’S IT ABOUT LOVING
YOUR JOB?
Job autonomy is a significant concept, which has a long history in organizational and workforce sciences. Often, it has been linked to turnover, stress, and satisfaction just to name a few. Generally, the aspect that makes you fall in love with your job is the freedom to take your own decisions regarding work. A majority, 64 percent of employees around the globe feel they’re engaged at work because of freedom. Flexibility, freedom, and autonomy are key components of job satisfaction. Mark, a software engineer working in a renowned tech company says, “Having the freedom to create, improvise and be entrepreneurial.” Similarly, Emilia working in marketing department of popular event management company states, “I love having the freedom to experiment and fail, and still support my actions.” One thing, which employees love the most in their job is permission to fail when they take a certain risk. Adam, who works as a writer in a digital media publishing house has a better view to offer. ‘‘I was merely a trainee when my editor called me in her cabin and asked me whether I could manage the contents of a whole website on my own. At the beginning I was surprised as it was a huge thing to say, but I had to earn the trust by keeping up with her expectation. So I did. Now, after years when I look back, I always thank my editor for offering me an opportunity to carry on things in my way. Her trust offered me a sense of freedom and I felt motivated to do more eventually falling in love with my job.” AvaniPakti leads the health and happiness team at the Zevenseas says, “You have to proactively ask employees for their opinion on a regular basis, and allow people to speak their mind without fear.”
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EMBRACING OF THE SENSE FREEDOM Nothing makes an employee happier than being at a workplace that offers a sense of freedom. When freedom pervades a workplace culture, you have a whole group of happy colleagues around. In most of the cases, companies swear by the freedom and environment offered to employees. Freedom arrives in many forms. There’s freedom to flex your work hours in order to accommodate a convenient family time while still fulfilling the organizational goals. You may have the freedom to bring in new ideas and do things differently opposing the stereotypes offered by management. And last but not the least, the sense of freedom, which allows you to enjoy a healthy work-life balance. Organizations, however, may vary in the extent to which they may offer freedom in the true sense. A very few companies understand the idea of ‘freedom at workplace’. The rest are trying to comprehend the notion of introducing such culture in their organizations. Google is one such company that has honed the art.
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FREEDOM WHEN, HOW, ALLOWS AND WHERE More and more organizations are allowing their employees set their own working hours, work remotely, and determine vacation allowances on their own. According to leading researchers, freedom to choose when, how, and where is not only helpful, but can be highly rewarding for companies as well. As per the 2009 Forrester report, 43 percent of the workforce in the United States, i.e. 63M individuals, is expected to enjoy the flexibility of working from home by 2016. Out of these, 34M individuals already do. The trend is driven by a variety of factors, which also includes the desire of professionals to control their day-to-day tasks. As much as 92 percent of millennials, especially, are quite keen to eschew busy office life for a freedom to choose work hours and place. It is duly noted that companies which officially allow their employees to choose to work remotely for at least thrice per month were likely to report 10 percent growth in revenue, more than previous year without implementing such policies. Few companies like Valve – the video game maker, attribute a major part of their success in business to their flexible work schedules, i.e. open workflow managements. They offer options to employees to choose what roles they wish to play on a certain project and what project do they prefer working on. Companies with open workflow management also cite this level of freedom as one of its initial competitive benefits in retention and recruiting. The HR Digest Magazine | July 2016
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CARVING FOR A NICHE FREEDOM In the workplace, offering space to employees for the purpose of fulfilling their goals in the methods they see fit can be considered as a solid move of leadership, but only if conducted in a right way. Despite the scenario, as challenging as it may feel to define what freedom exactly means, the notion can be equally challenging as well as paradoxical when it comes to defining its boundaries. Freedom in the workplace can also be defined as the ability to work from home, exercise creativity in order to reach immediate work goals, keep non-traditional hours, take unlimited vacation days, or otherwise. As far as why both small and large companies are embracing or considering employee autonomy, the reasons certainly run the gamut.
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BUILDING AN EXECUTIVE PIPELINE: IT’S OUR TURN TO LEAD
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What could be more vital to a company’s long-term health than minting out future leaders? For one thing, while a company may have a long list of candidates who could step up at a moment’s notice, an alarmingly increasing number of leaders are ill-prepared to do the jobs of a key executive. Look at Microsoft’s Steve Balmer, longtime Bill Gates protégé and second in command for the top job, who made some serious damage to the company through poor handling of products and acquisitions once Gates left. Or, Mattel’s Jill Barad, who couldn’t give her insight into financial and strategic aspects of the job, in spite of having a winning track record in marketing. A newly-elected leader could be accomplished in at least one area of management, but when they haven’t mastered general competencies such as planning and executing acquisitions, public relations, et al, they aren’t truly competent leaders. The problem is not newly-elected leaders failing to fill in the shoes of 062
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the departed. It’s lack of succession planning, which is too narrow and parochial to cover the skill gaps. However, researchers show that several factors contribute to a leader’s success or failure. Certain companies succeed in developing a healthy talent roster. This is because, they combine two practices
- succession planning and leadership development into the long-term process of minting out leaders across departments in their organizations. The two practices, when combined, separate functional silos, and share fundamental goal - getting the right skills in the right place.
A handful of companies are breaking down these silos to develop a successful succession management process. When setting up a succession management system that will build a steady, reliable pipeline of leadership talent, companies must look into the following.
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Centralized efforts Top organizations unify their talent management. Top talent is owned by corporate not by a function, business or geology - the term is “corporate property.� This basic rationale has an enormous effect in the variety of experiences leaders have in top organizations since businesses, topographies and capacities can’t deny their best talent from moving across boundaries in order to optimize the organization.
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Top official involvement If you truly wanted to develop leaders, you have to include top leadership. Former P&G CEO and now Chairman A.G. Lafley conducts his own senior leadership development program. Lafley welcomes every member to the system personally.
Members from P&G senior executive team mentor and tutor these future leaders every month. Likewise, these same senior executives support the recruiting endeavors at business schools.
Focus on key processes Top companies for leaders live by the statute of finding and hiring top talent versus developing mediocre talent. If you hire incredibly talented people, you are significantly more inclined to find great leaders. Once you have the right talent in the entryway, you require a strong performance management system with a flawless feedback loop. Finally, you have to teach these individuals a variety of development experiences that build knowledge, perspective and skills.
Make it a strategic focus Top companies are never free enterprise about leadership improvement - they see the infusion and growth of talent as critical to key achievement and they are persistent in their way to deal with building talent. Their leadership development process is unified and purposeful about building up a progression of experiences that fabricate great functional leaders.
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Build leaders and leadership Leadership ability increases as HR systems, for example, performance management, compensation and job assignments are connected across organization boundaries, and are intentional about building the right kind of leaders. Most organizations are principally centered on building individual leaders through appraisal of individual leader skills and training and development to enhance those abilities. Top organizations for leaders additionally build strong leadership talent that supports a culture of integration and opportunity to grow from within.
Create esteem for inside and outside partners Top organizations create leaders who have the desired skills to deliver on their strategy and the abilities to guarantee client satisfaction. Leadership skills are the way to deliver results and value to shareholders. Top organizations want to build leaders to deliver value to employees, investors and shareholders. In a recent study by Ashridge in collaboration with the Academy of Business in Society - today’s leaders must be capable of the following. understand the business risks and opportunities of environmental and social trends and how their sector and other stakeholders (regulators, customers, suppliers, investors, NGOs) are responding to them (82%) align social and environmental objectives with financial goals (81%) integrate social and environmental trends into strategic decision-making (70%) identify key stakeholders that have an influence on the organization (73%) understand how the organization has impact on these stakeholders, both positively and negatively (74%) engage in effective dialogue (75%) build partnerships with internal and external stakeholders (80%) engage in and contribute to public policy (60%) 066
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When what is required from a leader changes, so as the focus of leadership development. It is clear that the global demand from leadership skills from emerging generation of leaders is shifting. It is the HR’s role to understand the broader skills at play and create a program that fits the demand. They must create training and development programs that are effective in minting our capable and robust leadership talent.
are actively experimenting with how to build great leadership talent. Today, more than 90% of the world’s top 200 firms are led by Baby Boomers or people from an older generation. However, only 23 of these firms are lead by the Generation X. While the Baby Boomer generation brought idealism, productivity, optimism, energy and a little bit of arrogance, they were also able to create successful business models based solely on command and control.
Companies like IBM, HSBC, Ernst & Young The HR Digest Magazine | July 2016
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COVER STORY
Most
Influential HR Leaders of 2016 Although, a company’s sole purpose is to make a profit and grow, profits are never the sole driving force behind its growth. Instead, successful companies rely on influential HR leaders to predict outcomes, diagnose problems, and prescribe actions on the people side that will add value to the business. To be an influential HR leader, it is not only critical to understand the basic principles of best HR practices, but to be proactive and develop influence over the various helms of your organizations. Here’s a list that ranks the most influential HR leaders of 2016 who have been able to unlock of create value by inspiring human capital side of the corporate world. 068
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HOLLIE DELANEY Director of HR at Zappos We all love Zappos! It is out in front of new and unusual HR policies. It introduced the “pay employees to quit” policy to the world. They made old-school recruiting, cool and hip again. Hollie Delaney, director of HR is one cool HR leader. Delaney believes that one of the reasons why people love working for Zappos is because “we trust them to do the right thing by the customer and to do the right thing by one another.” This is because nobody wants a ‘babysitter’ in the form of a manager. Holacracy, employees have complete autonomy to make their own decisions. Companies like Zappos do a great service with HR innovations. But, that doesn’t mean you can copy them to bring a wave of innovation in your company’s culture. The HR Digest Magazine | July 2016
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LASZLO BOCK Senior Vice President, People Operations Google Being an SVP for a giant tech company is not easy. Google’s head of People Operations, Laszlo Bock has one motto, “never ever, ever compromise on quality.” Bock puts a lens on recruiting employees, “give candidates a reason to join. We all want meaning. We all want to be happy and to enjoy freedom from want. Work for most people is a pretty mediocre experience. It doesn’t have to be.” Under his leadership, People Operations at Google has made breakthrough innovation and yield high business value. Hats off to Laszlo and his team for shaping a culture that stands as an inspiration to thousands of tech companies. The HR Digest Magazine | July 2016
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SCOTT PITASKY Human Resources Chief, Starbucks Following a decade long career as an investment banker in the Wall Street, Scott Pitasky shifted his focus to Human Resources in the ‘90s and he hasn’t looked back since. After working with Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates at top HR roles at Amazon and Microsoft, Pitasky joined the Starbucks chain in 2014. His three decades of work in human resources and organizational design has helped him create a positive work experience for Starbucks employees. He is leading the College Achievement Plan, the Veterans and Military Support program, and the 100,000 Opportunities Initiatives, to name a few. Three decades of work in Human Resources has helped accelerate the pace of change in the field of HR. He is promoting Project CHREATE (The Global Consortium to Reimagine HR, Employment Alternatives, Talent, and the Enterprise), an initiative aimed at shaping the future of the Human Resources. The HR Digest Magazine | July 2016
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HENRY JACKSON President and CEO of SHRM A lot has been written about Henry Jackson, head honcho of one of the largest professional association for HR – the Society of Human Resource Management. He encourages HR leaders to be social to use technology to be at the helm of innovation and appeal to the new generation. To the millennial generation, which sees HR as a less rewarding field, you may say, Jackson is making Human Resources fun again! The HR Digest Magazine | July 2016
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FELICIA FIELDS Group VP HR, Ford Motor Company When the previous VP of HR decided to leave Ford Motor Company during the 2008 Great Recession, the new CEO Alan Mulally had a plan. It involved no federal funds to bail out the company, and to make it a success, he partnered with Felicia Fields to turn Ford around. Together, the duo created and executed an effective plan to turn the company around from just an auto company to the most encouraging workplaces in America. The HR Digest Magazine | July 2016
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DAVE ULRICH Global HR Leader Unlike other HR leaders on our list, Dave Ulrich is a professor, author and Global HR thought leader. He has written several books on the capabilities of leadership, speed, learning, accountability, and talent through leveraging human resources. He may not be active on Twitter or LinkedIn, but many of curriculums are seen as the foundation of HR studies. Here are some pearls of wisdom from Dave Ulrich, “best HR professionals who recognize, master, and deliver the competencies we have identified will deliver more value�. The HR Digest Magazine | July 2016
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LEIGHANNE LEVENSALER VP of Product Management, Workday Workday is a market leader in the world of HR software. She began her career as an HR Specialist in Organizational Development and later on loved to product update planning and customer engagement at Workday. She has worked tirelessly with several organizations to create models and frameworks for the emerging HR software market. So, what is her primary focus when developing a new product? Talent Management, answers Levensaler. The HR Digest Magazine | July 2016
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LISA BROWN MORTON President and CEO of Nonprofit HR Brown Morton, 42, came to the U.S. to pursue a degree at Howard University. After a sturdy career in nonprofit human resources, she founded Nonprofit HR Solutions, which has grown from $48,000 in 2001 to its current revenue of more than $3 million. Her firm is the only company of its kind in the US, covering outsourcing, talent acquisition, HR education and advocacy and projectbased support. Morton is someone who moved from having her own portfolio of clients to running a full-fledged company, hundreds of American organizations rely on. The HR Digest Magazine | July 2016
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SHARLYN LAUBY SPHR, CPLP Sharlyn Lauby is the president of ITM Group Inc., a consulting firm focused on developing training solutions that engage and retain talent in the workplace. We, most likely know her as the author of the well-known HR blog, the HR Bartender, where she has created an open forum for professionals to discuss work-related issues. It’s the way she has leveraged technology to elevate the presence of HR in the tech space, that has proven to be an inspiration to hundreds of HR professionals who want to actively participate in social media. As she says, “I was very involved with the decision by HRCI to add blogging to the list of approved recertification activities. I’ve been an early champion of the benefits blogging and social media can bring to individuals, as well as organizations.” The HR Digest Magazine | July 2016
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Employee Discipline in the workplace: Evaluation of Practice
Conflict can arise in any workplace. One has to make sure they are dealt with fairly and consistently. Sometimes, the only way you can do this is by carrying out an investigation. When an HR manager properly conducts investigation, it allows the company to fully consider the matter and then make a proper, informed decision based on it.
Key Points
An investigation is a fact-finding process to collect all the relevant information on a conflict. An investigator should be given proper guidance on what exactly they are required to investigate, and how their findings should be drafted. The investigator should not be involved in the issue being investigated. The investigator should gather and document what the issues of the conflict are, consider what evidence may be available and relevant, and how it may be collected.
Most conflicts that arise in a workplace can be resolved without relying on a formal process. This way the matter can be dealt with swiftly. If an informal resolution doesn’t not come into the
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picture, then an investigation may be necessary if formal action is needed, such as a written warning, much less a verbal one.
Situations that will often require an investigation include: Receiving a grievance from an employee Allegations of workplace harassment or bullying Disciplinary matters against an employee Concerns over company policies and procedures.
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Investigations are a vital part of handling certain conflicts within an organization. In disciplinary investigations a flawed or incomplete investigation can undermine the disciplinary process. This could further leave employers vulnerable to claims for unfair dismissal. If an employer dismisses an employee they must be able to show that they had: a) reasonable grounds for this, b) genuinely believed that misconduct occurred, and c) arrived at this belief after a reasonable investigation. Once should be able to show that they came to their decision based on a result of a thorough and fair investigation before the dismissal of any employee. Investigations are vital, when a grievance has been raised. Where the grievance is not defended, the evidence collected during the investigation process can be used to explain the motives behind this and show an employee that their grievance was taken very seriously.
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Best Practices
An HR manager/investigator should be fair and objective when carrying out an investigation. They must look for evidence that supports and undermines the allegations. An investigator’s job is to be available during the investigation not personally get involved in the matter not get involved in any consequent decision making be trained in how to conduct an investigation. Similarly, when conducting an investigation, an investigator should: consider what the issues are under investigation plan how the investigation will be conducted decide in what order evidence will be collected collect all relevant evidence and consider what the evidence shows report their findings.
An investigator should be given all the details that give information on what they are expected to investigate. The investigation process should aim to establish the facts of the conflict by collecting important evidence, such as witness statements, physical evidence, written documents and drawing a conclusion. How much investigation is required and how it should be approached to resolve will vary from matter to matter. A complicated matter may take several weeks to conduct properly. A relatively simple matter may only require a small amount of investigation for it to be reasonable. Any reasonable investigation process is vital for a fair disciplinary procedure. One needs to take time to establish facts when drafting a disciplinary allegation so that the parties involved are dealt with fairly. Doing so could help save companies from unfair dismissal claims. Here are some key steps in carrying out a fair investigation process: The HR Digest Magazine | July 2016
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You’re Fired: Common Disciplinary Mistakes By Employers Not following the disciplinary policy at all Not warning the employee of the possible consequences of any disciplinary process before the disciplinary meeting Not getting out the nature of allegations clearly to the employee subject to the disciplinary process Not providing the employee relevant evidence accumulated against them Not giving ‘warnings’ when they are appropriate Most cases should to be managed in a matter of weeks and unexplained deferments in the disciplinary procedures will be criticized by the Tribunal. Furthermore, difficult cases, such as a fraud allegation or a criminal offence, take much longer. One of the most common failing found in such cases is that the same individual is also responsible for the disciplinary procedure. Ideally, different people should carry out the investigation, the disciplinary hearing and appeal process. In most cases though, this isn’t practicable, especially for small companies with very little manpower. There are been several cases where the Tribunal looked at the appositeness of using external HR Consultants during the disciplinary process where the Employer is small in size and does not have sufficient staff to hear the disciplinary/appeal/conduct the investigation/needs professional advice etc., and Tribunals take the general view this is acceptable as long as it is made clear who makes the final decision to dismiss and the decisions are made appropriately. There have been several cases in the U.S. history where the Tribunal also looked at the liberty of hiring external HR consultant during the disciplinary procedure where the employer is small in size and does not have adequate staff to hear the disciplinary/ claim/direct the process/needs professional counsel and so forth. In such cases, the Tribunals take the general view that this is acceptable as long as the official who makes the final decision to dismiss, made it appropriately. Most employers have an alienating tendency towards employee discipline and often end up with different coping mechanisms. The variations in the discipline processes 092
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within the organization could be due to improper design of the disciplinary process. Lack of discipline can cause losses in overall productivity and bring in conflicts, which will have a serious repercussions on the organization’s performance. It is important to have a proper disciplinary process in place that will facilitate the overall performance of the organization. Search for historic employee complaints, exit interviews, medical records, and linemanagement file notes, past appraisal records, absence statistics, or any other documentation that is relevant to the case. The most important thing here is to ensure that the process is structured, open and transparent. Try to give all witnesses/interviewees the same opportunity to discuss their personal role in matters – and any impact the case has had on them personally. Treat everyone with respect and look out for stress levels. Be prepared to adjourn a meeting if an interviewee is visibly distressed or unable to continue. Follow up by clarifying any situation that comes to light through the process. It is not unusual for an investigation process to uncover important facts which were initially believed to be irrelevant. Further exploration and or interviewing may be necessary. Do not form opinions until all witness statements are approved and any/all evidence is examined and investigated. The HR Digest Magazine | July 2016
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A Case of Office Dominance To state the obvious: Microsoft’s LinkedIn acquisition brings a big shift. But, what does it really mean, though? Whether you want it or not, LinkedIn will no longer be the place you go to look for a new job or network with people within your industry. Microsoft envisions a future in which LinkedIn is the ultimate echo chamber of your identity, not Facebook.
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SKEPTIC MUCH? The planned acquisition of LinkedIn by Microsoft Corporation potentially is a very classic move. Of course, we’d be hardpressed to admit that, but that doesn’t change the truth. Perhaps, the skepticism isn’t an unnecessary guest here, as it arrives for a lot of reasons. The price tag of the acquisition, for one. So far, at $26.2 billion, this is the largest acquisition by the software giant in its history of previous acquisitions. The size alone, perhaps, is one of the reasons for the alert, given the checkered history of Microsoft with such large deals. We all do remember, Nokia. Don’t we? Similarly, Yammer Inc., and Skype Technologies designed to pad social and digital credentials, managed little of either. But, unlike predecessor deals, this deal is never going to fail. In fact, this will succeed where the rest of the deals failed, i.e. registering profit and growth. LinkedIn will boost Microsoft’s HR technology while making the social networking platform even more valuable for HR professionals and recruiters.
DISCOVERY OF TREASURE
Satya Nadella has certainly learnt some valuable lesson in the time span of serving Microsoft as a CEO. Lessons from Nokia might be the hardest one, which are surely going to last for a lifetime. What it is then? Maybe a treasure chest or secret path to appealing consumers? The reason is, there lays a real synergy amid products and companies, especially productivity suite of Microsoft Office and the core database of LinkedIn of more than 400M professional profiles. Mr. Nadella has been betting heavily on the fact that these two concepts, which have been reconceived, should be one instead of being two separate ones. “It’s really the coming together of the professional cloud and the professional network,” he says.
IMPACT ON BUSINESS CULTURE The deal between Microsoft and LinkedIn relies on advanced analytics and big data. It’s to create value for clients. The aforementioned subjects are turning out to become increasingly significant in industrial segments like healthcare. The impact of business culture due to LinkedIn acquisition by Microsoft will be very strong.
What makes Microsoft so sure of its success this time? Well, surely it’s not overconfidence. The HR Digest Magazine | July 2016
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Microscope plans to inject a fresh layer of immense knowledge into its products by acquiring the user database from the profiles of over 400M job seekers and professionals. The company plans to mine the crude material about networks and backgrounds of employees to seek fresh approaches to making businesses perform in a better way. As the software giant looks forward to a future, which goes beyond its core software of server and PC, it has placed applications based on the cloud like Office 365 and Dynamics at the center of its strategy respectively. Clearly, it seems Microsoft has made a huge bid to place itself in the center and front position in the life of every professional. Through this deal, the Microsoft is taking on the company, which is dominant in B2B social networking. As a recruiting team of HR professionals, a place to publish online resume, and a sales prospecting tool for enterprise sales reps, LinkedIn can do wonders for Microsoft when it comes to approaching the business and human resource niche.
MONEY MAKING DEAL The $26.2 billion dollar deal has clearly outlined Microsoft’s vision in which an individual’s profile on LinkedIn resides amid the other segments of their professional life, connecting to Skype, Windows,
Outlook, and Microsoft Office productivity tools for instance PowerPoint and Excel, among other Microsoft products. A possible integration for Microsoft and LinkedIn is applicant tracking. Indeed, the multi-billion dollar deal will aid Microsoft to witness growth in the HR value chain, and support LinkedIn to coagulate its HR Position. As HR professionals are aware, LinkedIn is certainly a great source of information for collecting valuable information, recruiting, and retention. The acquisition would force HR to think differently about the software giant and what all it does.
GATEWAY INTO HR WORLD Microsoft is seeing LinkedIn as a source to supercharge Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software for identifying and tracking sales leads. Microsoft arrives at fourth place in total market share among the giant CRM players, namely Oracle Corp., SAP SE and Salesforce.com. Salesforce is the dominant of the CRM market, but carries a minority of complex and ill-defined market (sometimes). LinkedIn has LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and more importantly, the data and reach, which any CRM company would crave for.
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BIG LINK TO DRIVE MORE BUSINESS Access to Every Company’s IT DecisionMakers. Probably, your organization chart is laid out in some fashion on the social platform LinkedIn. Just think about how often sales team of your company scrolls through the website hoping to discover new leads in the perfect hopes that maybe, they’ll stumble upon a name of decision maker, and also, miraculously, discover an unguarded email address. Following this acquisition, Mr. Nadella has got his hands of 433M registered users’ database. Out of these users, some of them have the resources and power to turn a red quarter into a black. Giants like Salesgenie, InfoUSA, and Hoovers whose main mission is to offer lead data to marketing and sales teams will have to compete Mr. Nadella’s company in attracting new clients. This is not the end of it, in case you’re wondering it is. The internal team of Microsoft will now have an access to these decision makers and names. Anytime the software manufacturer has a new tool or a service, which it wants to peddle to a certain title or industry, it got a breathing, real-time database that it can internally access. Additionally, it can charge its rivals to access the database because let’s face it, the sales team of Google, SAP, Amazon, Oracle, IBM, and all of the other behemoths
were probably scanning “Now” Microsoft’s LinkedIn for the purpose of sales leads.
A LEAP OF FAITH LinkedIn users are, debatably, core demographic of Microsoft. They also offer the software mammoth a significant thing it has long sought, but never had. Yes, we’re talking about a network used by users to identify. Microsoft needs to persuade (or manipulate) the LinkedIn users to use it across as many products from Microsoft as possible and adopt the identity. Access to the users, as well as the massive amount of data, which they throw off, could possibly yield products and insights within Microsoft, which would allow it to monetize its investment in a way LinkedIn does. LinkedIn, so far, hasn’t evolved with a pace beyond its roots as it was expected as a jobsearch site and recruiting tool. In fact, most of the users aren’t even looking forward for a job and so far, LinkedIn has done a very poor job of fetching them to drive back to the site regularly to link with and expand their professional network. Hardly about one quarter of 400 million LinkedIn users return to site every month. This, perhaps, offers a big reason why this multi-billion dollar acquisition under the leadership of Mr. Satya Nadella may succeed.
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Well, Microsoft is no more a company which it happened to be when it acquired Yammer, Skype or Nokia. No pun indeed! Under Steve Ballmer’s control, the company sought to drive Microsoft users to its stable platforms, Windows is the one. As a corollary, it meant that acquisitions were incorporated with other Microsoft products quickly and development of latest features slowed.
A DOOM FOR FACEBOOK@ WORK? While the buyout of LinkedIn by Microsoft has offered the former’s platform a much-needed fuel for development and growth, Zuckerberg’s ambitious project “Facebook@Work” has received a fiercest and strongest competitor in the field. The project is globally used by 450 companies with thousands of other companies waiting in line to join, though it’s in beta mode currently.
to addressing the missing social chunk in its well-established line-up of enterprise products.
ARRIVING AT THE END Mr. CEO of Microsoft has shown a sheer willingness to interact with users, even if they’ve devices running on Google’s Android or Apple’s iOS. According to the Microsoft Executive, LinkedIn will be offered significant autonomy, which will be similar to how Microsoft handles Mojang – The Maker of Minecraft. Eventually that would result in walking a fine line between synergy and autonomy. The longer the rope, which Mr. Nadella offers LinkedIn CEO, the less advantage there may be to products of Microsoft. But, don’t bet against the CEO of the software giant. If an organization as big and regal as Microsoft can be reenergized by Mr. Nadella, who is to say he can’t weave the same magic to 13-yearold LinkedIn.
LinkedIn used to be considered as the closest competitor of Facebook@Work, although their offerings were quite different from one another, but soon it lost its touch. Now a strong backing from Microsoft could prove to be very beneficial for the company. Microsoft plans to utilize LinkedIn as an element of social fabric across every Microsoft platform. It’s looking forward The HR Digest Magazine | July 2016
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Ready to Rise Learning From the NBA on Hiring an All-Star Team
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Hiring the right candidate is the key to success of any organization, may it be a small business or a multi-billion dollar organization like the National Basketball Association. Exploration for the right talent is a colossal task in itself, not only the process of sourcing candidates, medical and psychometric assessment, short listing, and interviewing candidates, but also the resources that the company puts in, including time and money. The money is worth a good hire, as bad hires can cost a lot more. Replacing a bad hire may cost more than the position’s annual salary. That is the reason why companies focus on evaluating candidates and weed out the bad ones. However, what’s more difficult is picking the best candidate from a handful of promising ones. Stating in Steve Jobs’ words, hiring the right talent is akin to finding a needle in a haystack. Whether you are a basketball fan or not, the way NBA teams identify their hires and then assess and recruit them, provides a great advice for hiring managers who wants to build a great team by hiring the right candidates from the pool. Here are some hiring lessons from NBA teams on hiring ambitious, charismatic and dynamic players:
Defining The Job Before Defining The Person For any basketball player, the formula of success is obvious, they should be able to jump higher, pass and shoot better, and run faster. The job description doesn’t describe the desired candidate as someone who must have 10 years of experience in playing basketball, or score 13 points per game, should have attended a Division I school, and have a higher Emotional Quotient. Even if some of the players may fulfill all the “so-called” criteria, it doesn’t imply that he will be a pro basketball player.
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Hiring managers should focus on performance-based recruitment, instead of making a checklist consisting of years of experience and required skills. Instead of focusing on skills itself, they should be more bothered about how the skills are applied on the job. For instance, a great photographer knows about the right lights and angles while capturing the photos and similarly the best developers know how to use off-the-shelf tools to create robust software.
Knowing The Team Need Before Hiring Similarly Skilled Candidates NBA teams understand what they need and so they hire different type of players to play in different positions and don’t hire similarly skilled candidates. They need a big man at the center for rebounding and defense while they also need a point guard who could quarterback the floor. So they cannot hire all the big guys, as each hire has a great impact on the job description of next hire. More often than not, hiring managers focus on a narrow set of skills, as a result, the team will lack diversity. A team needs all sorts of people; some of them have to be good at organizing, and some need to be an idea machine while others should be good at turning ideas into reality.
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Considering Performance-Qualified First And Cultural Fit Second Many players are invited for a pre-draft workout before the selection process of NBA teams starts. All the players were put through the paces to check if they are capable of reaching the minimum performance standards. Those who were able to complete the challenge were then teamed with other players to play a series of 3-on-3 games to test their on-the-job skills. Few of these players are then shortlisted to meet the coaches so that they can better understand their character and personality. Before hiring a person just because he/she is a cultural fit, it is important to know that he/she would be able to do the actual work while placed in the actual work environment. But how would you know that in an interview? You can get some insights about the candidate’s problem solving skills and major accomplishments, which might be helpful in knowing if he/she would be capable of facing the challenges at the job. These performance based questions might also provide an answer to if the candidate will be a great cultural fit.
Recruiting Skills Matter The NBA draft is considered as a market of active candidates while free agency is a pool of passive talent. Candidates in the NBA draft only have one choice, on the other hand, free agents usually earn the same amount on any team that is interested in drafting them, but they have a choice to pick the team that’s best fit for them.
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The team that would be able to provide the player with better opportunities will obviously recruit the key talent. Everyone is a part of this recruiting, including management, coaches, and some key players. The best talent will always be discriminating, the ones who have to pick between multiple options are not comparing your offer with no other job; in fact they are comparing your job with every other competitive and comparable option. Passive candidates often go under the recruiters’ radar when the passive candidate pool has the best talent. Hiring the best among active and passive candidates require extraordinary recruiting skills and managers who can understand an employee’s requirement.
Considering Recruitment As An Investment And Not As An Overhead Cost The most different thing about the NBA teams’ recruitment process is that they spend a lot of time with each prospective player off the court in social sessions, meetings, and having meals together. Also, former coaches of the players were invited so as to better understand player’s personality, learning ability, work ethic, and leadership qualities. Hiring the best talent is an investment in the company’s success and not a transaction, which can be delegated. Knowing the importance of a right candidate, companies should not hesitate in investing as much time as required to make the right decision. Many hiring managers never spare enough time to do it right because they didn’t do it right the first time. These hiring lessons can be implemented whether you want to hire a star NBA player or just an elite candidate to improve your team performance. It is about understanding the vacant position and then finding the right person to fill it up. 112
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Tesla’s Recruitment Pitch: Be All You Can Be!
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A lot of brands are successful because of their ability to hire top talent that is able to push their business on top. Their interview processes are a proof that they know exactly what talent what they to hire. These companies are not willing to compromise. For some candidates these companies’ hiring styles may seem intimidating. From the hindsight, these companies not only have a top notch interview process that can identify the talent they’re looking for, but a successful process to ensure the quality of the hire is incredible. Tesla Motors is one such company that comes in mind when you say ‘top notch interview processes’. It follows a collaborative hiring process, introducing the candidate to the company when they arrive for the interview. Prospective employees are expected to take an entire day out to get to know the facilities as well as be open to multiple interviews with members across different departments. Throughout the interview process, candidates are asked to answer two major questions: How passionate are they about the company and its mission? Do they have a compelling reason to work there? Can you handle the tough working environment? But, that is not all. Candidates are also subject to a number of interview rounds, which include a phone screening. A recruiter from Tesla calls up applicants to learn about their skills, and chat with them about the role. Then comes the phone interview with the team. Candidates are required to have a chat over the phone with the hiring manager or a senior engineer about their experience and to get a little knowledge about the technical details of the job. The on-site interview at Tesla requires candidates to create a presentation about their past work experience. The HR Digest Magazine | July 2016
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During the presentation, candidates are also subject to an arduous Q&A session for a panel of four to six people. The panel consists of hiring manager, senior engineers and directors. Once the presentation is over, each panelist has a one-on-one interview with the candidate. The questions vary from technical know-how to fundamental engineering topics such as kinematics and dynamics to behavioral questions. There’s also an additional phone interview for those who cannot make it. The overall interview process isn’t difficult. In fact, it exits to check if the candidate is passionate about working with Tesla and their mission. It helps Tesla not only hire someone who is capable, but also someone who is actually passionate about working with the company and its culture. Interestingly, the hiring process helps weed out people who are only interested in the company because of the name. For non-technical job opening, Tesla has a unique recruiting app which sources people of its U.S. sales team via Jobsuitors. Jobsuitors is a one-topshop for companies on the hunt for candidates. It’s not just an app, but a unique recruitment tool that use an algorithm similar to that of a dating site. To make unique candidate-company matches, Jobsuitors asks both employers and candidates to fill out an extensive application. It includes questions such as: What skills do you have? What skills do you want to learn? What are the skills you don’t want to use? Candidates are also asked about their level of happiness at each of their previous jobs as well as the kind of hours they’re looking to keep at the next one. Tesla, on the other hand, provides an insight into the company culture and desired traits of the hire. The HR Digest Magazine | July 2016
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Using Jobsuitors, Tesla is able to find as much as it can about a candidate’s personality and their job kills. Companies like Tesla are switching to Tinderlike interfaces for finding the right candidate. The $25 million talent acquisition industry, is filled with names like Jobr, RealMatch, Whitetruffle, Switch and Shortlist. Tesla, is not the only one to try out novel means to find the right candidate. Out of Tesla’s 7,000 or so employees, around 300 are veterans. Tesla specifically seeks out vets to fill in the position, and for a good reason that is. Tesla has a soft spot for veterans and recruits them through word of mouth of veteran groups or at job fairs. Veterans bring special expertise that goes well with building electric cars. Their technical knowhow about mechanics and electronics, as well as teamwork, discipline and leadership skills go well with Tesla’s work culture. Tesla holds casual meetings for vets where they can share their own ideas about how the company can improve itself. For Tesla, hiring disciplined workers is a mutually beneficial relationship. Veterans at Tesla have an easier time transitioning back to normal life when they return from the job. The company is flexible with the schedules of the enlisted one. Tesla held employee Megan Gates’ position while she was on duty for two years, and she remains comfortable balancing her National Guard service with her work. “I give Tesla my schedule and say ‘these are the weekends I need to leave,’ and they work around that schedule,” she says. “Everyone here is so supportive.”
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It’s not just US army veterans who are hired at Tesla. At least 200 of Tesla’s employees previously worked at Apple. Truth be told, the hiring process in many companies is similar to the one at Tesla. So, what makes Tesla’s recruitment pitch so unique? A lot of companies fail to provide a meaningful hiring-working experience that Tesla does. Tedious engineering isn’t what most candidates have on their mind when they are set up with an interview with a famous tech company. It’s mostly perks and bonuses. Elon Musk, Tesla founder, is for one, a man with a compelling vision who wants to hire people who believe in him. He believes, it’s meaningful work that motivates people beyond a robust compensation plan or a simple playful interview process.
You have to have a very compelling goal for the company. If you put yourself in the shoes of someone who’s talented at a world level, they have to believe that there’s potential for a great outcome and believe in the leader of the company, that you’re the right guy to work with. - Elon Musk, Chief executive of Tesla Motors.
This, in fact, should be the hiring goal of all companies looking to achieve excellence. When companies lay out a deeper, meaningful vision people can believe in, they not only attract sales and investors, but also the top talent in the industry. So dream big, your talent pool depends on it. The HR Digest Magazine | July 2016
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WORKPLACE CULTURE
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The avant-garde concept of sharing crucial financial and operational information with employees, which can be accessed by anyone from the organization at any point of time, is referred as Open Book Management. Such practice not only will help employees to see the big picture, it will also make them feel responsible for the organization’s growth and success. If you are a business leader, it might be really difficult for you to imagine the situation when all of your employees know about the finances of the company. Implementing this concept at your workplace requires an effective framework so the employees understand and act on that information. You can also decide what data will be shared and how frequently will it be available for employees. Also, bear in mind that sharing wrong data at the wrong time can lead to rapid disaster. The main objective of Open Book Management (OBM) is to make employees view the business as a business owner and to get that, companies have to do much more than simply allowing them to access the financial information. Employees need to have financial literacy to understand the information that they are provided with and then act accordingly to work for a better outcome. They also need to be motivated to use the information for the betterment of the organization; otherwise, the shared information can do more harm than good. The best and most profitable way to run a business is to let every employee know how the business works and then empowering them to make their contribution and giving them a stake in the financial outcome, may it be good or bad.
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If implemented properly, the benefits of OBM are not limited, to employee retention and improved bottom-line results. Some of the surprising benefits of OBM are: Better incentive programs: By keeping open financials and making your employees understand about all the digits that they see in the spreadsheet, you can provide them with a better idea about the company’s financial situation and how it is using the funds to achieve its goals. New approach: By sharing company strategies, employees can come up with new and innovative approaches that might highly impact organization’s profitability. Any company will do better when they are not limited to what the senior executives think and will harness the inventiveness and aptitude of everyone who is a part of the company. Eliminate office politics: When the information is available to everyone, the chances of employees playing politics and forming gangs decreases considerably. The main reason behind office politics is that people at different levels have different information and they can use this to their benefit by sharing wrong or partial information with others. Better focus on work: People get pried when they feel something uncertain and know that information is kept hidden from them. Their focus would be diverted to know the matter completely, but when the management has nothing to hide, they will be more focused on work rather than snooping. Higher employee morale: If you assure your employees or team members that you are open about all the information and everything that is going on in the business, they are more likely to trust the organization and stay loyal to it. It also encourages them to share everything that is happening at their end. This information is really helpful in decision making and will improve the environment of your workplace.
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Here are some of the successful organizations that swear by OBM at their workplace:
Pixability Bettina Hein, the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Pixability admits that she learned it the hard way that open book management is the only way to sustain in a high-risk and high-growth startup. She says, “In my first company, we completely lost the trust of our employees when they thought things were going fine and one day we announced major layoffs. It was so painful that from that day onward we opened all our books to everyone.” So later when she founded Pixability, a video production business, she determined to adopt open book management from day one. According to Hein, employees will adapt their behavior, if you provide them with information. At Pixability, Hein has fostered the culture of transparency by sharing information related to cash, sales, burn rate, and run away every day with her staff of seven. Pixability also has a daily 15 minute huddle as a part of their workplace culture, during which Hein shares good news with all the employees, followed by numbers and what they mean. The entire teams are informed what they have done since last huddle and what is coming in the way of progress. Thus, employees at Pixability have a clear idea of their do’s and don’ts and can contribute well in the improvement of overall business.
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Bomgar - software image Bomgar’s CEO Joel Bomgar set a goal to sell 1 million licenses for its remote desktop support software, for which all of the employees of the company must be aware of how increasing market share affects the company. The CEO mentions that each employee at Bomgar is educated with the basics; they are made to understand cash flow and profitability on a daily basis. Then employees are emailed with the dashboards that show the number of licenses the company has sold along with the revenue that it has generated and a list of every deal. Employees are aware of the number that they need to hit to reach break-even and once that is done, they are rewarded with bonuses. A few years back, he came up with an innovative way to display employee’s progress with the help of two huge cylinders – one filled with 1 million bee bees while another is kept empty. A bee bee is transferred to the empty cylinder for every license sold. He then said, “If we move all the bee bees, we will be a billion dollar company.”
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The Sky Factory This award-winning company was founded by Bill Witherspoon in Fairfield, Iowa. The company is recognized for its wall and ceiling installations that are inspired by images of sea and sky. These images are installed on the ceilings and walls of spas, hotels, restaurants, and hospitals, thus bringing a part of nature inside. Witherspoon states that OBM, consensus, and transparency are fundamentals of The Sky Factory; he also mentioned that the company is so used to transparency that it is really difficult to imagine relying on the inputs of selected employees. On every Friday, there is a meeting that is attended by all 34 employees of the company, which discusses financial and non-financial aspects of the organization. Every employee of the company is trained in financial metrics so each employee is good at interpreting the key numbers. All the decisions of the company are made by consensus, which has helped it to nurture even in the difficult economic conditions. The most misunderstood points about open book management is: you do not need to share 100% information; you can share the important points that impact employee while you do not have to reveal crucial information like company’s profitability. It is so ironic how a lot of companies feel a need to control the information flow to do better while the concept of open book management and its benefits are immense. If you are not sure if this idea will work for your workplace, you can give it a try with 60 to 90 day pilot program. So, you will get enough time to know if it works, before committing to an alien concept. After you have given a shot to this concept, chances are, you will swear by this process in no time!
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2016 Employee Engagement Conference
Date: July 19-21, 2016
In an era of greater corporate transparency, workforce mobility, and skills shortages, culture, engagement, and retention have emerged as top issues for business leaders. But these issues do not belong to HR alone. Almost every survey from Deloitte, Gallup, and others, highlight the high priority of employee engagement for organizations - especially as a CEO pain point. But how much is leadership actively doing to lead this effort? Ultimately culture and employee engagement are a top down effort. Today “buy-in” for engagement initiatives isn’t enough to drive the change needed to drive real commitment and retention in an organization. Venue: Denver, Co
Talent Management Exchange
Date: July 24-26, 2016
Today, HR is on the front lines of change, developing and sustaining comprehensive strategies to align talent management with organizational goals. The Talent Management Exchange brings together executive-level leaders who are serious about maximizing the impact of their people, culture and talent processes. Our carefully constructed program will equip you with the latest strategies, tools, technologies, innovations and research to elevate, evolve and transform your human capital strategies. Venue: Ritz-Carlton, St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
Ahri National Convention 2016
Date: August 3-5, 2016
The AHRI National Convention and Exhibition is Australia’s flagship event for HR and people managers. This annual event is for HR professionals, people managers, and business leaders and will show national and global thinking for business today. The accompanying 100+ stand exhibition will provide delegates with the latest products and services in the HR field for new ideas to take back to the workplace. Attendees can choose their own experience by registering for 1, 2, or all 3 days. Venue: Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre
2016 NZ HR Expo
Date: August 24-25, 2016
The NZ HR Expo is New Zealand’s largest HR Expo and provides sponsors and exhibitors lots of opportunities to engage and network. It is an integral and complementary component of the NZ HR Conference. Venue: Te Papa, Wellington, New Zealand 136
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HR Swiss Congress
Date: September 6-7, 2016
The bi-annual HR Swiss Congress has established itself as meeting place for HR managers from all over Switzerland established, offering participants a high-profile platform for knowledge transfer and networking . Get the latest issues and challenges, and creative business models and perspectives are presented user-oriented. Venue: Kursaal Bern, Switzerland
ASHHRA 53rd Annual Conference & Exposition
Date: September 16-19, 2016
Join us at ASHHRA 53rd Annual Conference & Exposition to learn how to enhance your health care business knowledge, advance your leadership capabilities, strengthen your role as a change agent, gain knowledge of the hottest trends in health care HR, and network with your peers. Venue: Seattle, Washington
2016 Learning and Leadership Development Conference
Date: September 19-21, 2016
HCI has developed hundreds of events over the years; some of the factors we look at in programming our conferences include trends, market conditions, pain points and the rate of change in our industry. One thing is certain, in disruptive times organizations are now dependent on new processes and models of learning and leadership development to innovate and grow. By aligning learning and leadership development initiatives with business goals, we can achieve a direct and measurable impact on the business. We believe this should be the primary objective of organizational learning and development. Providing skills, development, and training to help engagement and retention are the right things to do, but this only provides an indirect impact on business through a margin of increased performance. It is HCI’s position that learner-centric programs are important, but the contribution to business goals should be the priority. Venue: The Westgate Hotel, San Diego, California
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16th HR Metrics and Analytics Summit
Date: September 19–21, 2016
Our lineup of esteemed thought leaders will highlight the numerous touch-points where HR can directly influence business initiatives so that HR professionals can seize these opportunities to grow their internal cache: you are uniquely positioned to bring value to your organization as never before. LEARN HOW TO POSITION YOUR METRICS AND ANALYTICS TO DRIVE CORE BUSINESS DECISIONS. Venue: The Westgate Hotel, San Diego, California
London HR Summit
Date: September 26-27, 2016
A powerful platform for peer to peer collaboration for HR Managers and Directors who want to find solution providers to help better equip them with the tools they need to face the challenges of daily professional life. The London HR Summit is a unique event, designed to maximize your opportunities to make lasting business relationships with an audience of qualified HR professionals. This Summit offers you an efficient and stress-free way to see what’s new in the industry and make profitable connections and partnerships. Venue: Radisson Blu Hotel, London Stansted
5th HR Minds Forum
Date: September 29-30, 2016
Learn how to manage human capital during organizational transformations. Get facts on analytical insights that help drive performance and retention. Discover key challenges in talent management and practices how to overcome them. Identify most effective strategies to manage local as well as international HR teams. Develop behavioral assessment tools to ensure the best talent is the ‘right fit’. Find out the most recent practical software solutions and technological breakthroughs in HR. Venue: Hotel Novotel Berlin Mitte, Berlin - Germany
Global Talent Management Leaders
Date: September 12-13, 2016
We are delighted to welcome you to our 2nd Annual Global Talent Management Leaders Summit in Berlin. This exclusive global platform convenes senior level HR and talent management leaders from around the world to debate the most pressing concerns they are facing daily, benchmark their HR practices, access leading information, and learn new ideas and strategies that they can replicate within their own organizations. Get your Talent Management right! Join us and discover innovative strategic and tactical insights, best practices and solutions within a 138
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forward-thinking global talent leader’s community. Venue: Classic Hotel Riu Plaza Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Executive Compensation And Benefit
Date: September 13-14, 2016
Global organizations face a challenge to compete for top talent more than ever. While there are uncertainties in some markets, in others we have seen a return to competition. Coping with increasing scrutiny in regulations, corporate governance is now more important when it comes to executive compensation. In our 15th annual summit, we will explore the trends and challenges which are most critical to today’s executive compensation and benefits experts & authorities and discover new paths to successful package design.We will tackle key issues through a mixture of strategic sessions, case studies, panels and roundtable discussion. Venue: Thon Hotel Brussels City Centre, 1210 Brussels, Belgium
6th Annual Tech Scout
Date: September 20-21, 2016
Driving your business forward through unifying external venturing, partnership, and portfolio growth. As the technological market speeds ahead, gaining more momentum with each new breakthrough, it is critical for companies to gain a competitive advantage to solidify their position among the top innovative leaders. Capitalizing on external innovation and strategic partnerships is key to fostering strong long-term growth. Through these partnerships and effective scouting, companies can further disrupt the traditional innovation market and drive portfolio development. This summit brings together leading innovation, R&D, and corporate venturing executives together from an array of top companies across different industries. Venue: Meliá Galgos, Calle de Claudio Coello 139, 28006 Madrid, Spain
Salon RH Suisse 2016 10th Exposition for Human Resource Management
Date: October 5-6, 2016
Salon RH offers a conference program of more than 120 lectures in various presentation areas, the ’Practical Forums’. The ‘Practical Forums’ are located within the exhibition halls as open communication and presentation areas, to make sure visitors can easily access the seminars and exhibitor stands. Venue: Halle 2 Palexpo Geneva
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Human Resource Summit 2016 Barcelona
Date: October 12-14, 2016
The Summit is a cost and time effective way for leading service providers to meet with UK HR Directors. Your time over the 2½ days will be spent in a series of pre-selected 1:1 meetings, informal networking during the evening dinners and lunches and, if you’re a delegate, participation in our topic driven Strategy Group sessions. We will provide you with your own personal schedule, so your time at the event will be productive and reflect your business needs. The Summit is an invitation-only event, with just 140 places available. Step away from the day to day to develop ideas, share best practice, hear about proven solutions and be inspired! Venue: Dolce Sitges Barcelona
The HR Summit Brisbane
Date: October 19-20, 2016
Never has the challenge for HR professionals been greater than it is today. Against a backdrop of global economic volatility, industrial disputes, an aging workforce and new rules of engagement, HR continues to evolve and seek new ways to add strategic value to their organizations. While the battle to gain a seat at the table has for the large part been won; the new challenge now is for HR to demonstrate their value as a business partner and gain executive support for the people agenda. Venue: Stamford Plaza Brisbane
Strategic HR U.S.
Date: October 23-25, 2016
Strategic HR at Mt. Washington enters year FIVE to great critical acclaim. Engage with a seniorlevel, a strategic-thinking audience in every aspect of the conference. Discover programming that encourages you to think big. Share HR lessons you’ve learned along the way. And take in the spectacular, historic Mount Washington Hotel. Learn provocative topics from distinctive sources, planning for dynamic HR leadership, the world of business and finance, and creative inspiration. Venue: Omni Mount Washington Hotel, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire
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2016 Global Talent Management Conference Date: October 24-26, 2016 Formulating a holistic approach to global talent management is challenging in today’s complex business environment. A number of external forces are working together to create a real need for organizations to strengthen their global talent pool. The integration of major moving parts which include executing your succession plan, developing global leaders, planning for global rotations, and implementing effective engagement/retention strategies must all seamlessly work together in a fast-paced and changeable global environment. Venue: Thon Hotel Brussels City Centre, 1210 Brussels, Belgium
HR Tech World
Date: October 26, 2016
HR Tech World opens in Paris again this year; the World’s foremost Congress & Expo is recognized globally as the leading event on the Future of Work. HR Tech World is the largest global gathering of it’s kind, evolving into an economic powerhouse by playing host to buyers from over 100 countries worldwide, with combined revenues of +€11 Trillion (72 of Top 100 Companies by Revenue attending this year). Our growing community has influence over 40 million employees globally, no other community is having such a powerful impact on shaping the future of work through HR and Technology. Venue: Paris
London HR Summit
Date: September 26-27, 2016
A powerful platform for peer to peer collaboration for HR Managers and Directors who want to find solution providers to help better equip them with the tools they need to face the challenges of daily professional life. The London HR Summit is a unique event, designed to maximise your opportunities to make lasting business relationships with an audience of qualified HR professionals. This Summit offers you an efficient and stress-free way to see what’s new in the industry and make profitable connections and partnerships. Venue: Radisson Blu Hotel, London Stansted
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