PODCAST: #HRHappyHour 327 - Business and HR Transformation at General Motors

HR Happy Hour 327 - Business and HR Transformation at General Motors

Sponsored by Virgin Pulse - www.virginpulse.com

Hosts: Steve Boese, Trish McFarlane

Guest: Michael Arena, Chief Talent Officer, General Motors

Listen HERE

This week on the HR Happy Hour Show, hosts Steve Boese and Trish McFarlane are joined by General Motors Chief Talent Officer Michael Arena to talk about GM's business and HR transformation efforts, a program called 'GM2020'. On the show Michael shared how GM's business has had to undergo pretty significant, rapid, and cultural change in response to some dramatic changes and challenges in the automotive industry. 

Michael shared how GM's HR and Talent organizations have had to help the organization meet these challenges by becoming more agile, developing and acquiring new skills and capabilities, and learning where and when to support, foster, and encourage new, innovative ways of thinking - leading to the development and launch of the next generation of great automotive solutions.

We also talked Cadillacs, Corvettes, Buicks, and Chevy Trucks - because c'mon, who doesn't love those?

You can listen to the show on the show page HERE, on your favorite podcast app, or by using the widget player below:

This was a really engaging and interesting conversation with an HR leader at one of America's most famous and successful companies - thanks to Michael for joining us.

Remember to subscribe to the HR Happy Hour Show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, Google Podcasts, or your favorite podcast app - just search for 'HR Happy Hour'. 

This week on the #HRHappyHour Podcast Network

This was a big week on the HR Happy Hour Podcast Network and with the HR Happy Hour on Alexa, so in case you missed anything or wanted to catch up on your favorite HR podcasts this weekend, here is a quick rundown of this past week across the HHH Network:

HR Happy Hour 326 - High Tech HR: Innovating + Expanding Opportunity at Red Hat

Host: Steve Boese

Guest: DeLisa Alexander, Executive Vice President, Chief People Officer, Red Hat

Sponsored by Virgin Pulse - www.virginpulse.com

This week on the HR Happy Hour Show, Steve is joined by DeLisa Alexander, EVP and Chief People Officer at Red Hat - an 11,000+ employee high tech company built on open source technology and committed to the idea that sharing, community, and being open can unlock the potential of people and organizations

HR Market Watch 10 - The Future Role of the Recruiter

Host: George LaRocque

Guest: Art Papas, CEO, Bullhorn

What's the future of recruiting? And what does that mean for recruiters?

Join George LaRocque from HRWins to explore how the role of the recruiter is changing today with guest Art Papas CEO of Bullhorn.

We're Only Human 27 - How McDonald's Measures Learning Outcomes

Host: Ben Eubanks

Guest: Kevin M. Yates

One of the hard things for HR leaders to do is understand if the work they are doing actually has an impact on the business. What's the ROI, if any, of the investments and effort you're putting into your work?

That's an question we're going to discuss today with Kevin M. Yates, a brilliant L&D leader and a self-described data detective, who recently joined the learning team at McDonald's. In the conversation, Kevin makes it really clear how to think through using data, evidence and facts to support what HR and learning leaders are doing in the business. 

Remember to subscribe to the HR Happy Hour Podcast Network shows on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, Google Podcasts or your favorite podcast app - just search for 'HR Happy Hour'.

Finally, the HR Happy Hour Show for Amazon Alexa is going strong too - in the Amazon Alexa app you can add the 'HR Happy Hour' skill to your Alexa's daily Flash Briefings for updates three or four times each week from Trish McFarlane, Steve Boese, and Ben Eubanks. These are short, 3 - 5 minute 'mini' episodes covering a wide range of topics on HR, the workplace, technology, business and more. And if you don't have an Echo device you can also listen online at  the HR Happy Hour Show on Alexa.

Here's a sample of one of the shows from this week:

HR Happy Hour Show on Alexa - Episode 32

Host: Steve Boese

In this episode, Steve talks about when to let an employee who resigns work out his or her 'two weeks notice' and when to show them the exit door immediately after they turn in their resignation

That's it from your pals on the HR Happy Hour Podcast Network - have a great weekend!

How tight is the labor market? One retailer is already taking applications for the holidays

You've seen the headlines, (or heard me talk about them on the HR Happy Hour Show), unemployment is really low, the number of posted job openings has never been higher, and companies of all kinds are reporting that finding and retaining talent continues to get tougher.

Just how tough is it out there?

Well here we are in late June and Kohl's, a major US retailer is already accepting applications for holiday (think Christmastime), seasonal workers for their stores. Here's the details from a piece on CNNMoney:

The department store announced Wednesday that it is already accepting applications for seasonal positions. Kohl's is staking an early claim in a tight job market that has made it hard for companies to find workers.

Kohl's is filling jobs at 300 of its 1,100 US stores for the back-to-school and holiday seasons. Additional jobs at stores and fulfillment centers will come open later in the year.

It's the earliest Kohl's has ever started hiring seasonal workers, said Ryan Festerling, the store's executive vice president of human resources.

Unemployment is 3.8%, the lowest since 2000. For the first time in at least 20 years, there are more job openings than people looking for work.

A couple of quick thoughts on this move by Kohl's to get a jump start on holiday seasonal hiring:

1. Kohl's is signaling, and I bet they have the internal data to back it up, that holiday hiring is going to be really, really tough this year for lots of reasons we've mentioned above. Starting as early as they can, they are hoping, will help them fill the roles they need by the dates they need them filled by.

2. For the talent pool for retail holiday season help, Kohl's has gotten ahead of the likely competition for these workers. This story has been in the news a fair bit, and people who are thinking about looking for these kinds of jobs this year might consider Kohl's before other retailers - especially since they can apply right now.

3. Despite all the talk about the end of retail and the inevitable domination of online shopping and Amazon, physical retail still matters. Lots of people work in these stores, and with a strong US economy, most of the large retailers will be looking to add staff for the holiday rush. Heck, maybe I will pick up a few hours this year over at the local mall.

That's it for me for a summer Friday - have a great weekend!

Making it easier for employees to get paid

I caught some news last week from the small business payroll provider Gusto announcing the initial launch of a service called 'Flexible Pay', a service designed to give employees at companies using the Gusto payroll service the ability to choose their own pay schedule and get paid whenever they want for hours they have already worked.

Think about how most shops run a typical Bi-weekly, hourly payroll cycle. The employee works and clocks their hours and OT for a 14-day period, often ending on a Friday. The employer (or their service provider), sums up all the hours, calculates gross pay, sorts out the taxes and other deductions, and issues a paycheck or direct deposit for the employee's net pay about a week later - usually the following Friday. So the work done by the employee is essentially loaned to the employer until the two-week collection period ends, and the week of processing time is over. And for lots of employees, ones who might be facing bills or other obligations that don't line up well with the employer's pay schedule, that delay in getting their pay presents a problem.

They might look for a payroll advance, put more spending on their credit cards, or even seek out a high-interest payday loan - often because the one to almost three week 'float' doesn't work for them in their lives.

So the idea that a payroll service provider like Gusto is making it possible for employees to have more choice in when they get paid for time already worked, while also making it available to employers, (Gusto is basically fronting the funds for the employer until the 'real' payroll runs), I think is one that is long overdue, and is needed and will be appreciated by lots of employees.

A couple of disclaimers here - this service is really new, and so far only available to Gusto customers in Texas, (more states are on the way), Gusto did not ask me or compensate me at all to post about this, (in fact I am pretty sure they did not even contact me about it), and finally, there might be other payroll providers out there with similar products and services (ADP, Paychex, Ceridian, etc.), I don't claim to know that this is an offering that is unique to Gusto. So please let me if your company already offers this, and I will add a footnote to the piece. But regardless, this is a cool idea and I hope it catches on with more companies and payroll providers.

I will leave with this image - a crude Google map of Las Vegas with location pins for Starbucks locations, (which seem to be everywhere), and for Payday Loan Companies. Can you guess which is which?

Have a great day!

PODCAST: #HRHappyHour 326 - High Tech HR: Innovating and Expanding Opportunity at Red Hat

HR Happy Hour 326 - High Tech HR: Innovating + Expanding Opportunity at Red Hat

Host: Steve Boese

Guest: DeLisa Alexander, Executive Vice President, Chief People Officer, Red Hat

Sponsored by Virgin Pulse - www.virginpulse.com

Listen HERE

This week on the HR Happy Hour Show, Steve is joined by DeLisa Alexander, EVP and Chief People Officer at Red Hat - an 11,000+ employee high tech company built on open source technology and committed to the idea that sharing, community, and being open can unlock the potential of people and organizations.

On the show, DeLisa shared her perspectives as an HR leader in a large, growing, technical company, and the major challenges and opportunities facing HR leaders today, and some of the ways DeLisa and her team at Red Hat are approaching these challenges. Chief among these are competing for technical talent in a highly competitive labor market, expanding opportunity (especially in tech), to traditionally underrepresented communities, and preparing the environment for them to succeed at Red Hat, and how Red Hat's culture and ethos around open source and community building informs and supports everything they do in HR and talent.

You can listen to the show on the show page HERE, on your favorite podcast app, or by using the widget player below:

This was a really informative, interesting, and fun conversation with an innovative and progressive HR leader at a leading organization in a competitive space - I hope you enjoy listening as much as I enjoyed the conversation with DeLisa.

Thanks to DeLisa and the folks at Red Hat.

Subscribe to the HR Happy Hour Show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher Radio, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your shows - just search for 'HR Happy Hour'.