New Site for the HR Happy Hour Show

Regular readers of this blog will have noticed every two weeks or so a few posts about the HR Happy Hour Show appear, to promote a little Blog Talk Radio show I host along with Shauna Moerke, the HR Minion.

Shauna and I figured the show needs its own unique place in the blogosphere so we have launched a new site, www.hrhappyhour.net, for the show.

All the archives for prior shows will be there, as well as places to submit show ideas, or to let us know that you want to be on the show as a guest.

We will also post there about all the upcoming shows, and make the site available for show guests and fans to contribute their thoughts as well.

Take a look at www.hrhappyhour.net and let me know what you think.

HR Happy Hour - Episode 8 - HR and Sports

The wildly popular HR Happy Hour Show is back live, tonight August 28, 2009 8PM EDT

Episode 8 - 'HR and Sports' - August 28, 2009 - 8PM EDT

What are the connections between Sports and HR and Talent Management? Is managing superstar employees at all like managing superstar athletes? What can coaching Little League baseball tell you about management? Are my beloved Jets going to get the Super Bowl? Shauna and I will talk about these topics and who knows what else with scheduled guests Tracy Tran, Todd Kmiec, Lance Haun and Kris Dunn

You can listen to the show using the player below and also via the call in number 646-378-1086. Press '1' after calling if you want to come on the air.

It should be an awesome show and I hope you can listen to the fun.

Long-term deals - Are they for jocks only?

If you work for company in the United States, and are not a member of a Union, it is quite likely your employment agreement is know as 'Employment at-will'.  What is Employment at-will?  From LegalDictionary.com we find:

Traditionally, U.S. employers have possessed the right to discharge their employees at will for any reason, be it good or bad. The "at-will" category encompasses all employees who are not protected by express employment contracts that state that they may be fired only for good cause. "Good cause" requirements are typically a part of collective bargaining agreements negotiated by employee unions; nonunion workers rarely have this form of protection.

But you know what category of worker in the US frequently gets the protection and security of guaranteed employment contracts?

Profession athletes.

These top professional athletes in sports like baseball and basketball can sometime agree to contracts upwards of five years, and the very best can command staggering compensation:

Source - nydailynews.com

Alex Rodriguez of the Yankees recently agreed to a 10-year deal that may pay him up to $305M.

Not bad.

A-Rod is a top player, an all-time great, and it makes sense for the Yankees to lock up his services for essentially the remainder of his pro career. A-Rod can't decide on his own to jump ship and join the Red Sox next season.

But most organizations do not have the same assurances and control over their stars and top performers.  Almost all of your top players are working under Employment-at-will arrangements. The best java developer, marketing analyst, or senior accountant can pack up their desks and march out tomorrow, maybe even to one of your competitors.

 Almost all companies are willing to take the chance that great talent will leave in exchange for the ability to adjust staffing levels, downsize, and have total flexibility in workforce deployment.

However, if the latest economic data is to be believed, the long downturn is showing signs of ending, and leaders will soon be faced with more challenges.

A recent article in Forbes reports that over half of senior executives surveyed are extremely concerned about key employee retention once the recession ends:

65% reported they were highly or very highly concerned that high-potential talent and leadership would leave once the economy turns. And 52% of surveyed executives predicted an increase in voluntary turnover at their companies once the recession ends, four times the number expecting a decrease

The Forbes piece goes on to offer many familiar strategies to help retain high performers: increased engagement efforts, modifying compensation plans, and holding executives responsible for retention. Good ideas, but the article makes no mention of the strategy used in pro sports to ensure the best available talent won't simply walk out the door for a better deal somewhere else.

Contracts. 

Why shouldn't the organization offer two or three-year deals to 'lock up' the very top tier of performers? 

The organization can get the benefit of knowing (for at least a couple of years) that this critical talent will remain with your firm, and the employee gets at least some near term job security, even more important after the job losses of the last two years.

Of course these contracts limit the organization's flexibility to change course, and downsize, but if they are given to just the top tier of performers, then those are the last ones you would let go anyway, right?

And I don't want to hear about any 'double-standard' complaints, A-Rod has a 10 year $300M contract because he is a star, Nick Swisher 'only' plays under a 5 year $26M deal because he's a role player. Nick understands he's no A-Rod, and somehow he manages to show up at work every day and do his job.

So what do you think, time to 'lock-up' some of your star players?

A User Interface Lesson from the Produce Department

I have always been a huge proponent and implementer of Employee and Manager Self-Service systems for the enterprise.  These systems come with lots of promises, easy access to information, reduced administrative burden on the HR department, and the opportunity to give 'ownership' of HR data to the employees and managers.

It's a win all around, right?

But the problem with many self-service solutions is that they inherit the user interface and design elements from the core enterprise systems that they sit on top of. Boring or ugly design, lots of menus to navigate though to get to what you are looking for, and terminology that is straight out of the programmer's manual.

HR Self-service systems need to be simple, easy to understand with no training (and by people who may not even read English all that well), and extremely efficient.

They need to work more like this:

Wegmans - Pittsford, NY

A simple self-service kiosk for weighing and printing price labels for produce. Bag up your items, place them on the scale, enter your code, and get the price label.

Look at the key elements, large and colorful action buttons, graphics that help users (especially ones with limited English skills) to make the correct choice, and a speedy, simple transaction.

The current most popular items are prominently featured with large, color pictures, giving the shopper one-touch access to complete their transaction. I bougt some Green Peppers, and with one touch, I had my label and was on my way.

Why is this important for HR Systems?

Think about how in your employee self-service system, the online Pay Slip is almost certainly the most frequently accessed function. Is the link displayed prominently, like the Green Pepper? Is a shortcut available to provide one-click access? Or do the employees have to endure something akin to this:

Employee Self-Service - Employee Payroll Data - Payslip Information - Current Payslip

In the grocery store kiosk I kind of expect to have to punch a few choices, even look up a code to buy something exotic like a kiwi. But for tomatoes, peppers, or corn, I expect a quick and painless process.

So how do your employee self-service systems stack up? Do you make it easy for employees and managers to do what they need to, especially for the most common transactions?

Or is every interaction with the system like trying to find the right code for kiwis?

Help You, Help You

Professional sports and agents go hand-in-hand these days. Very few pro athletes handle their own contracts and negotiations with team ownership. Agents like Scott Boras and Leigh Steinberg became famous as some of their clients over the years, a testament to the power and influence of agents.

In 1996 a movie about a sports agent 'Jerry Maguire' put the phrases 'Show me the money' and 'Help me, help you' into pop culture.Flickr - JohnnyCashsAshes

But since you're not a professional athlete and most likely don't have a super agent negotiating your next deal for you, you need to be your own agent. And what do the best agents bring to the table?

Preparation - The best agents understand not only your value and your performance record, but also the history and market position of the company. If this is a salary negotiation with a new company use all available sources of information, starting with the obvious (company website, financial statements), the less obvious (company Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, LinkedIn Company profile), and the most raw (Glassdoor, Vault, and Indeed forums). Walk in to that room knowing you are better prepared than the person across the table from you.

Confidence - This confidence stems from thorough preparation.  Once you have assessed the situation, established your key must-haves (salary, benefits, vacation, etc.), then you have to walk into the meeting confident but not arrogant, firm but not inflexible.  When you truly understand your contribution and the value the marketplace puts on your skills, confidence should not be an issue. You are a star baby, make sure you always understand your own awesomeness.

Client focus - remember who the client is, it is YOU.  As your own agent you are trying to negotiate a deal that will be mutually beneficial to both parties, but at the end of the day you are your only advocate. You have to protect your interests first. Unless you are working for your Mom, the person on the other side of the table almost certainly does not have your best interests as their top priority, in fact they shouldn't. Only you have to live with the outcome of the negotiation, so you better make sure you advocate for yourself every step of the way.

Network - In sports negotiations a good agent is constantly working and maintain contingency plans, in case the deal can't get worked out.  He or she uses their network connections in other organizations and with media to have some idea of where their client can go next, or better still, which teams to try and play against each other to get the best deal. You should be doing the same, staying on top of what the other target companies in your region or your industry are doing. Who may be hiring? What company is expanding?  Is your industry undergoing consolidation or is outsourcing changing the nature of what you do?  The more personal contacts you can make inside your industry and with your local business organizations the better.

Here is what a great (fake) agent can do, are you getting these kind of results repping yourself?