An HR Technology Sampler

As I am getting my materials in order for Week 1 of my HR Technology class, I thought I would attempt to compile a list of all the different tools/technologies that will either bt discussed, demonstrated, and in some cases used by the students.  Let's see how many I have come up with so far:

ERP - Oracle, PeopleSoft

Time and Attendance - Kronos

Self-service - not sure yet, maybe iEmployee

Talent Management - Halogen Software

Recruiting - All the obvious, but for the sake of this list, Monster, Dice, LinkedIn, HigherEdJobs, Jobvite, SmartRecruiters, visualCV

SaaS - Zoho, Workday

Collaboration - Wikis, blogs, Idea marketplace, Second Life, RSS

Communication - Twitter, Yammer, SurveyMonkey, CoverItLive

This is just off the top of mind, and after thinking about it, it does seem like a tremendous amount of different technologies and concepts to try and cover in 10 weeks.

What should I emphasize, what can or should be downplayed?

What are the most important technology concepts and lessons to be learned for today's HR leaders?

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The Net Generation in Class

Been spending some time this week reading the fantastic, 'grown up digitial' by Don Tapscott.

It really is a great book and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in understanding how Generation Y, or the Millennials, or the Net Generation, or whatever you would like to call the group born between 1979 and 1997 will forever change education delivery, workforce management, social networking, and collaboration.

To me the key points I have taken from the book center around the ways that Gen Y students generally prefer to be 'taught'.  The classic mode of delivery with the teacher in front of the class expounding his or her words of wisdom which the students dutifully transcribe and hopefully successfully regurgiate later on for the exam. This method is tired, old, and frankly boring for everyone.

Gen Y students want to to give their opinions, insights, and help to co-design the curriculum and content.  They are much more comfortable in a collaborative environment, and will gladly assist and help each other in their efforts.  They have the tools to explore and inject concepts and content from everywhere.

A key takeaway for me as the insructor is to stop talking so much, start listening and start asking more questions. 

In class I introduce a number of technologies like Performance Management, Succession Planning, wikis, blogs, and microblogs.  But rather on 'telling' the students what they are used for, perhaps I need to spend more time having the students tell me what these tools can be used for.

I think, then we will both learn more, and be better for the experience.

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Links for the Week - November 21, 2008

Some assorted links for a cold, snowy Friday in the Northeast USA.

1. Boston College to stop handing out e-mail addresses to new students - from Read Write Web
2. The company as Wiki - an interview with Brad Anderson of Best Buy
3. From Mashable, how to keep track of 500 blogs in 10 minutes
4. Some amusing examples of corporate misadventures in new tech from Fast Company
5. From Citizen Marketer - how Yammer helps new employees
6. Working the 'stache into your employment brand - from Fistful of Talent
7. From Bersin - could a wiki be your next Talent Management system
8. Create short URL aliases and track the impact using Cligs
9. More businesses turn to microblogging for internal collaboration and communication - from the New York Times

More to follow as I stumble upon interesting stuff......

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Bring something to the table

We have all read ad nauseam about how HR needs to 'get a seat at the table', where organizational strategy and plans are discussed and developed. Well, if you want a seat at the table, be sure you bring something to the table.

Flickr - katesheets

Something innovative, groundbreaking, difference-making.

Something they may not have heard or seen before.

A plan to exploit 'Web 2.0' for improved recruiting or employee collaboration.

A strategy to assess the current skills and competencies of the current organization, so as to be poised to act when the economy rebounds (and you know it will).

An effective plan to keep valued staff engaged, even if you are forced to let some of them go. 

Don't just expect to turn up and be included because of your relative position on the org chart.  No one in that room will get excited if all you have to offer is compliance reporting and maybe a new employee discount at the local dry cleaner.

Times are tough - be willing to take a chance, make a difference, and earn the seat at the adult table.

Social networking and HR

Virgin Atlantic sacks 13 staff members for inappropriate Facebook comments - link.

Things are just going to keep getting trickier for HR. 

The Virgin Atlantic staff were probably out of bounds with their activity on Facebook; if there were truly safety and health concerns they should have taken them up with their management.  But the danger in this story getting so much play is the actions that some firms may take in response; bans of Facebook use, increased monitoring of employee internet use, and in general more suspicion of employees and less openness and trust.

Flickr - Torley - 'I'm going to tell you a secret'

I would argue that is the very last thing companies should do. Companies should be thinking about the issues in these terms:

1. Where are my employees congregating and conversing online?  Facebook, Twitter, somewhere else? And what kinds of things are they saying and who else is listening?

2. Should the company attempt to join or monitor the conversations on these external sites, or create and support an internal social network or collaboration environment? 

3. When comments or conversations take place among employees that are not exactly flattering to the company, what should the appropriate company reaction be?

These are difficult question for sure, especially for many HR organizations that may not be that well-versed in these technologies to begin with. For now, I would offer these simple recommendations:

1. Trust your employees to do the right thiing

2. Create an environment of openness where employees feel like there are meaningful internal mechanisms for complaints and honest feedback

3. Make sure that employees understand that you are not trying to control or monitor their private lives

So much of corporate communications and processes be it marketing, product development, customer support, etc. are gradually and inexorably moving to more 'open' platforms.  It is also inevitable and necessary that communications among employees and between employees and the company will become more 'open' as well.

The smart company will recognize, understand, and capitalize on this shift.