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7 Reasons HR Needs to Learn About Unretirement

April 2, 2017 by Sharlyn Lauby 5 Comments

Years ago, people just retired. They announced to their boss that they were going to retire. The company threw them a party, gave them a gold watch, and wished them well. Then, they spent their time traveling, working on their hobbies, etc. I don’t know that those days exist anymore. And if they do, it’s only for a small handful of people.

There’s an emerging conversation about unretirement. It’s the idea that you don’t have to retire. You can work on the things you want and do more of the things you enjoy. And it’s not necessarily age-based. Professionals of all ages are planning for it. Human resources needs to take note of this trend. It’s one that could benefit HR and organizations in many ways.

Recruiting: Having a contingent workforce is a must. Unretirement provides organizations will access to labor. These are individuals who don’t want to work full-time but do find occasional work a nice option. They are also someone the organization knows. So, you understand their strengths and weaknesses.

Employee Referrals: Freelancers and contractors can be a source of employee (and customer) referrals. It wouldn’t take much to revise the employee referral program to include non-employees. Referrals are still the best quality and lowest cost per hire.

Employee Engagement: While people do work to support themselves, they also work for the sense of fulfillment. In fact, many workers are staying in the workplace longer because they simply like working.

Knowledge Management: Retaining workers, even in a part-time or contingent status, allows the organization to retain knowledge. Organizational history, information about processes, and background about key clients is essential to the business.

Learning and Development: Speaking of knowledge management, organizations might find it beneficial to create short peer based training programs as a way to pass along skills and knowledge. If an employee announces their “retirement”, see if they’re willing to stop by once a month to be a lunch and learn speaker.

Performance Management: Another way that “retiring” employees can help the organization is by being a mentor or coach. Again, doesn’t need to be full-time work. Maybe they stop by once or twice a month. They have BOTH knowledge of the organization and they’re an outsider. Just be sure to give them the training to be an excellent coach and mentor.

Replacement and Succession Planning: Pew Research says that 10,000 people each day turn retirement age. For organizations concerned about a large number of employees leaving the workforce, allowing employees to openly discuss an exit strategy could be advantageous.

It’s time for organizations to have a discussion about retirement – what it is and isn’t. And how unretirement fits into the picture. I’m so convinced that unretirement is a trend that will be taking off in the near future that I’ve started another blog dedicated to the topic. It’s called “The Unretirement Project”. Mr. Bartender and I will be sharing our perspective and journey toward unretirement. I hope you’ll check it out and subscribe.

Unretirement has the ability to help organizations find and retain great talent. It has the potential to keep workers engaged and excited about their contributions. Unretirement can help organizations and individuals prosper.

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Company Doors Drive Employee Turnover – Friday Distraction

March 31, 2017 by Sharlyn Lauby 1 Comment

Organizations have several different types of “doors”.

Some companies have configured their office space to have “no doors”. Everything is open. Employees work at communal tables. Meetings are held in little spaces that are pre-reserved. This open office concept has been seeing some backlash lately, but many companies swear by it as a way to encourage collaboration.

Then there are “open door” companies, which means that employees are encouraged to walk in, sit down, and say whatever is on their mind. Feedback is encouraged. Obviously, there’s a downside if the policy doesn’t match the practice.

Finally, some companies have the “revolving door”. Today’s Time Well Spent from our friends at Kronos explains it all too well.

The sad part about the cartoon is that often we don’t need data to see the revolving door of employee turnover. But we do need data to remove the revolving door. Think of data as the tools that will help take the door off its hinges and into the dumpster. When trying to impact employee turnover, there are three core data areas to examine.

Recruiting and onboarding practices. Organizations need to look at their hiring practices to make sure they’re selecting the right people. And review the onboarding process to ensure new employees are being set up for success. If companies hire the wrong people and don’t properly train them, employees are sure to leave.

Employee recognition and rewards. Employees want to know they’re doing a good job. And if they make an honest mistake – which does happen – that they will have an opportunity to fix it. If employees come into work every day not knowing what to expect, they will start looking for a more stable work environment.

Retention and offboarding. Companies need to understand why employees leave. Correction: companies need to understand why employees start looking for another job. A subtle but important difference. More importantly, organizations should know the reasons employees stay with the company. It’s valuable information to share during the interview process (which leads us back to #1).

We need data to remove employee revolving doors.Click To Tweet

Next time you’re walking around your office, check out the doors. Which type(s) do you have? And are you okay with what you see?

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13 Tips for #SHRM17 Conference Attendees

March 2, 2017 by Sharlyn Lauby 1 Comment

For those of us in the human resources profession, the SHRM Annual Conference is approaching. This year’s event will be held June 17-21, 2017 in New Orleans. I’m really looking forward to the event. It’s an opportunity for me to see fellow bloggers that I interact with on Facebook and people that I worked with as a SHRM volunteer.

If you’ve never been to a SHRM Annual Conference before or it’s been a few years, let me tell you – it’s a big conference. We’re talking tens of thousands of people. Don’t let that scare you. It also means the conference offers something for everyone…if you prepare yourself properly. So, here’s my list of tips for people who are planning to go to the event:

Download the conference app. If you’re looking for copies of handouts and special announcements, it will all be in the app. You could wait and do it onsite. There will be WiFi during the conference, but it’s not like your WiFi at the office or home. So, download the app before you leave.

Plan your schedule but save some time for impromptu meetings. There’s a delicate balance between sticking to a schedule and taking advantage of last minute opportunities. If you’re a scheduling freak like me, I block off free time to use for last minute coffee meetings (or sneaking off to Café du Monde!)

Some of the best sessions are the early bird ones! I know, it’s New Orleans and the trip wouldn’t be complete without an evening on Bourbon Street – enjoy the parties. But I can tell you from experience, some of the best sessions are early in the morning. I know I’ll be grabbing a dirty chai to make the “Creating a Coaching Culture” session at 7a on Tuesday, June 20.

Don’t miss the legislative update! Mike Aitken, SHRM’s vice president of government affairs will be presenting a session on “The Trump Administration and the 115^th Congress: The Washington Outlook for HR Public Policy” on Sunday, June 18 at 12:30p (right before the opening general session.) This is a session you won’t want to miss!

Download the SHRM Certification app before you leave. If you are a certified professional and have an iPhone/iPad, make life easy on yourself and download the SHRM Certification mobile app. You can track recertification points as you earn them.

Drink plenty of water. I know, everyone says this but it’s true. Personally, I think the most popular booths in the expo hall this year will be the ones giving away Yeti Ramblers or Swell water bottles. (Hint, hint to exhibitors looking for fabulous swag ideas.)

Use the bookstore as a central meeting location. Every time I’m at a conference, there’s always at least one moment where someone says, “Where should we meet?” The answer? Right in front of the SHRM Store. Works every time. And, while you’re waiting, you can check out the excellent books and resources they have available.

Follow the Twitter stream – #SHRM17. I know that not everyone is keen on Twitter but this is one of the things Twitter does well. Dust off your Twitter account before you leave and save the hashtag. It’s a way to follow the action. You might get some ideas about a session to attend, a book to purchase, or someplace fun to eat.

Check out at least one session on the Smart Stage. SHRM has their own version of TEDtalks – it’s called the Smart Stage. The sessions are short (less than 20 minutes) and take on a more conversational tone. I’m hoping to stop by Jonathan Segal’s session on “Social Recruiting and ‘Thong Man’” Tuesday, June 20 at 1:30p.

Pay it forward. We don’t know the plan for the Tuesday night party yet. Whoever it is, some people will love it (and others not so much). If you’re not going to use your Tuesday night ticket, give it to someone who will use it. At some point, you will want someone to do that for you.

EXPO! I simply cannot say enough how important it is to visit the vendors in the expo hall. These companies are the reason that SHRM can get awesome speakers and keep registration prices low. Exhibitors and sponsors offset those costs. So, walk around the expo and see the latest HR products and services.

Bring a FedEx label to mail yourself stuff home. The expo hall is also the home to all kinds of conference swag. If you’re concerned about your luggage hitting the weight limit, just print off a FedEx shipping label and mail stuff home. If you don’t use it, fine. At least you have a plan.

Join the SHRM Foundation Step Challenge. This is a relatively new addition to the SHRM conference activities and one I really enjoy. It gives me a steps challenge and I’m giving back to my profession at the same time. Stop by the SHRM Foundation booth (#1941) for details!

Oh, and one last thing…back again this year is the Social Solutions for HR preconference workshop. The session will be held on Sunday, June 18 from 8a to 12n and it’s focused on sharing social media strategies that will help HR achieve their business goals. I’m delighted to be one of the speakers and I hope you can join us.

As you can see, SHRM’s Annual Conference and Expo offers a lot of education, networking, and fun for professionals looking to stay current with what’s happening in the profession. See you in NOLA!

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby wondering down Bourbon Street in New Orleans, LA

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10 Recruiting Tips for First Time Managers

February 26, 2017 by Sharlyn Lauby 1 Comment

One of the things that often happens when you become a supervisor or manager is that you’re invited to participate in the recruiting process. It could be because you’re now responsible for a team of employees. Or another manager will ask you to participate because you will work closely with one of their employees.

Regardless of the reason, there are a few things that new managers need to understand about their role in hiring.

Tell HR when an employee resigns. And tell them right away. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the average time to fill a position is 42 days. The typical notice period is two weeks. If you tell HR about a resignation when it happens, then you’re only potentially without an employee for 28 days (assuming you get a two week notice). If you tell HR on the employee’s last day, that increases to 42 days. Allow HR to help you – tell them as soon as you know.

Review the job description. This is the perfect opportunity to make sure that what’s written on paper about the job is what the employee actually does. Responsibilities change regularly – and that’s okay. Just make sure the job description reflects what the employee is going to do. And make any necessary updates.

Discuss contingent staffing. In #1, we talked about how long it takes to fill a job. If you already know you can’t live a month without an employee, talk with your boss and HR about what can be done. Maybe overtime can be authorized or a freelancer can be brought in to help.

Hiring managers are allowed to source candidates. When job openings occur, remind the rest of the team that the employee referral program exists (you do have one, right?). Encourage them to tell the opening to their friends. Send out info about the opening to your social media network. Sit down with HR and tell them where you have connections. Work with them to source applicant flow.

Don’t assume you know how to interview. I know on the surface that interviewing sounds very easy. But it’s not. There are questions that are illegal to ask like “How old are you?” and in some states asking “How much money do you make?” There’s an art to interviewing. Ask HR if there’s an opportunity to attend interview training.

Take good interview notes. Don’t try to remember everything! If you interview 3-4 people, it will be tough to distinguish between candidates. Find out how to take good (and legal) interview notes. Tell candidates during the interview that you will be taking notes.

Collaborate! I’m a big fan of collaborative hiring. Identify a couple of people who the employee will work with regularly and get them involved in the recruiting process. It helps to create buy-in and it allows a new hire to know more than one person when they start. Every organization has unwritten rules and new hires will want to find answers – but maybe not from their boss.

Keep the candidate informed. At the end of an interview, tell the candidate how the recruiting process works, the timetable to make a decision, and who they should contact once they leave. But first, make sure you and HR are on the same page about this information. Even if the candidate doesn’t specifically ask, let them know anyway.

Always send a TBNT (Thanks but No Thanks). The people who interview with your company have the opportunity to also buy your product / service. You don’t want to lose a candidate and customer at the same time. If a candidate isn’t being considered any longer, let them know. They will respect you and the company. Coordinate response letters with human resources.

Look for talent, even when there’s not an opening. In #4, we talked about managers helping to source candidates. That doesn’t have to take place only when there’s an opening. Managers should always be looking for talent. For example, I’ve never worked with a sales director that wasn’t always on the search for good sales talent. And when they found them, they presented the candidate to the company. Didn’t matter if we had an open requisition or not.

When it comes to recruiting, everyone has the same goal – find the best talent, as quickly as possible, using the most cost-effective means. It’s not just “an HR thing” because managers will ultimately work with the employee. So managers should join the recruiting process. It’s a win for everyone involved.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby at the 34th Street Graffiti Wall in Gainesville, FL

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Quick Shots for #HR and #Business Pros – Curation Edition

February 24, 2017 by Sharlyn Lauby Leave a Comment

There’s been a lot of conversation lately about what is being termed “fake news”. While the discussion about fake news has been related to politics, it occurred to me that this could easily happen in the business world. ERE had a blog post about it – “Fake News Afflicts the Workplace Too.”

Sue Meisinger, former CEO of SHRM, also talked about “HR and Fake News” in her latest Human Resource Executive Online column.

NPR had a nice read recently on “Fake or Real? How to Self-Check the News and Get the Facts.” What I liked about this article was that the author wasn’t trying to tell you ‘this source is fake news’ and ‘this source isn’t.’ They just provided a list of steps you could use to figure it out for yourself. Step #1 – Pay attention to the domain and URL.

Candidates and employees use the internet for information. There’s no way around it. Organizations should make sure that employees are able to identify good, trustworthy sources. I call it curation. And I believe it’s a business competency that needs to be developed.

In fact, some organizations are implementing programs to help employees refine their curation skills. A couple of years ago, I had the opportunity to hear how Fujitsu Labs was using content curation in organizational learning. Their 3-step approach for learning curation can be used in many organizations.

1) Employees search the topics they wish to explore, identify relevant sources, and select content.

2) After analyzing the content, they synthesize it by adding their point of view or context.

3) Then, employees share their curated materials and comment on others curated materials.

Training Magazine also has a feature story on “The Art of Content Curation.” This article focuses on the connection between subject matter experts (SMEs) and content curation. I believe in today’s business world everyone is an expert at something, so making sure that SMEs are perceived as trustworthy sources of news and information is important to their credibility.

I saw an article that said the world’s internet traffic surpassed one zettabyte last year. I cannot even fathom how big that is…but it’s big. Huge. It goes without saying that there will be some less trustworthy information. And unfortunately, some flat-out made up stuff. We must be responsible internet users and, before we share, make sure what we’re sharing is accurate.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby at the Newseum in Washington, DC

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Employees Need to Learn Freelancing Skills

February 21, 2017 by Sharlyn Lauby 3 Comments

I read a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article recently titled, “The End of Employees”. It’s a good read and you should check it out when you have a moment. The article talks about the growing number of companies that are using freelancers, contractors, etc.

Freelancing is more than a trend. It’s a business dynamic that deserves attention. There are lots of different terms for it – some call it a contingent workforce or the gig economy. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) defines a gig as “a single project or task for which a worker is hired, often through a digital marketplace, to work on demand.” Regardless of what you call it, there’s a lot of it going on.

According to the Freelancers Union (and yes, there is one), freelancing is a $1 trillion industry (that’s not a typo – trillion with a t). Freelancing represents 35 percent of the U.S. workforce. And probably one of the biggest things to know is that a growing number of individuals are choosing freelancing as a career (63 percent). We need to shed the stereotype that freelancing is this thing people do when they can’t find a job.

As the WSJ article mentions, organizations are benefitting from using contingent workers. They can tap into specialized talent when they need it. They can flex up or down their operations easily. This is the “borrow” component of a buy, build, and borrow recruiting strategy.

But there are a few things that I would add to the WSJ article. If you’re an organization looking to develop a contingent worker strategy, or an individual wanting to start freelancing, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Organizations that want to hire freelancers:

Put a process in place to source, select, and onboard freelancers. If you’re bringing on freelancers because they have specialized skills, then this isn’t a “lowest fee” hire. Do your homework and understand the market. Select a freelancer who will work well with the team. And give them the tools to be successful. If they will need to attend an internal training session, let them know that in advance.

Engage your freelancers. The goal of developing a contingent workforce is to have people who will drop everything and help you when you need it. The way to accomplish that goal is to keep them engaged with the organization. We’re not talking about dangling an occasional carrot. Engagement can be keeping them informed about what’s happening. Possibly inviting them to an internal gathering. Or sending them a thank you note for a job well done.

Individuals who want to freelance:

Learn the critical skills associated with freelancing. Being an employee and freelancing are two different things. They both have their advantages. But freelancing includes acquiring reliable technology, having a workspace to be productive, and budgeting for your own professional development. Freelancers must know how to price, sell, and service what they do.

Get comfortable with the unknown. Freelancing involves not getting a paycheck every week. There’s no such thing as paid health insurance. On the plus side, you also don’t have to ask anyone for a vacation day. Freelancers should be comfortable with working on their own, with little guidance at times. They must budget their time. And they need to be okay with occasionally not having a client.

The real success of the gig-economy isn’t how many people are using it. It’s how many people are using it successfully. Individuals need to learn the skills to be successful freelancers. And it could make some sense for organizations to teach employees how to become successful freelancers. Because if that’s the direction we’re heading, then organizations will want people to have those skills long before they need them.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby after attending the Great Place to Work Conference in Austin, TX

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The Customer Is the Customer

February 5, 2017 by Sharlyn Lauby

Someone recently left a comment on HR Bartender with a mention of the old saying, “The customer is always right.” I think my opinion of the saying has changed over the years.

There are times when the customer is absolutely right. The company messed up big time and they need to take responsibility for their mistake. Organizations have a huge opportunity to win a raving fan, instead of gaslighting the customer into thinking it was their own fault or simply apologizing without accepting responsibility. Organizations should invest in customer service and problem-solving training to help employees work directly with customers. I don’t believe customers expect perfection. They do expect to be treated with respect; and ignoring service challenges isn’t the way to do it.

There are also times when the customer is wrong. Often, it’s because the customer doesn’t understand the rules. Great examples are industries like health care, telecommunications, and government. They have unique regulations, lengthy contracts and forms, and it takes some time before we get the hang of working with them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not bashing those industries. It’s who they are and, as a consumer, we need to educate ourselves on how to work with them. We have an obligation to understand what we’re buying.

But at the end of the day, the customer is still the customer. And there’s not an unlimited supply of them.

So, organizations need to listen to their customers. If an organization sees an increase in complaints about a particular topic, maybe they need to address it upfront with customers.

Years ago, the HR department I worked in tracked the number (and subject) of complaints we received each month. A complaint was defined as something an employee came into HR to discuss. If an employee stopped me in the ladies room to complain – and yes, that does happen – it wasn’t registered as a complaint. Whether it was right or wrong, we decided that if you took the time to come to HR, that it must be important and it would be logged.

Back to my point. What we discovered was that we could start to see trends. One meeting here and another meeting there didn’t look like much on their own, but you could see that there was an issue. It told us to pay attention and start doing some research.

Businesses need to do the same thing. If they make a mistake, fix it. If they see a trend, address it. I believe as a general rule, people want to be good consumers. They don’t engage with your organization because they’re looking for a fight. Complaining isn’t fun. So companies should figure out how to let the customer be the customer. It’s a win for everyone.

This customer’s image captured by Sharlyn Lauby outside the Tequila Museum in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

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