Call for nominations: HR Executive of the Year #HRExec

Quick break from the regular content on the blog to share an announcement and an opportunity for you or for the HR leader at your organization.

Each year over at Human Resource Executive magazine, (where I have a monthly Inside HR Tech column), the publication's editors award the prestigious HR Executive of the Year award to one HR leader that is recognized for making outstanding contributions to their organization and who exemplify the increasingly strategic role of Human Resources in business today. (You can skip the rest of my description and jump straight to the nomination form if you like).

Past HR Executive of the Year recipients include Google's Laszlo Bock, Mara Swan from Manpower Group, and last year's HR Executive of the Year, Mark James of Honeywell.

For Human Resources leaders, being recognized as the HR Executive of the Year is probably the most prestigious honor that an HR leader can receive - something akin to HR's version of the Academy Award, or for my sensibilities, the MVP of the NBA.

The qualifications needed to be considered for HR Executive of the Year are pretty simple - candidates must have overall responsibility for the entire human resource function in their organizations, three or more years of experience in their current positions and five or more years of experience in the field. 

One individual will be named HR Executive of the Year; up to four individuals will be named to the HR Honor Roll. For the HR Honor Roll, companies will be divided into two categories: those with fewer than 7,500 employees and those with 7,500 or more employees.

The 2014 HR Executive of the Year Nomination form can be found here and the call for nominations for this prestigious award closes on May 5, 2014.

I encourage you to submit your HR leader for this fantastic honor, and heck, if you are your HR leader then I encourage you to submit yourself!

How to be Awesome in 2014 - #HRTechConf

WARNING: Promotional Content for this year's HR Tech Conference to follow...

One of the highlights of each year’s HR Technology^® Conference has been showcasing the most Awesome New Technologies for HR. And in 2014, we’re bringing a whole new element of excitement in response to attendee feedback: the popular Awesome New Technologies for HR session will be expanded into two distinct categories for:

• More established solution providers to show off their latest and greatest addition to their products
• True “start-ups,” those newer companies that are in their early stages, and trying to innovate and disrupt what the big boys are doing

We are currently looking for solution providers in both categories!

Why apply for consideration?

Selected participants get the opportunity to demonstrate their solution live to hundreds of potential buyers in a General Session at the Conference, be featured in conference promotional activities, and become a member of an exclusive club of HR technology companies that can truly call themselves “Awesome.”

How to apply for consideration?

Simply complete the form on the HR Tech Conference website in its entirety and submit it no later than May 31, 2014. Please note, the product/features you are submitting must be generally available to customers no later than October 2014.

How do I know if my company is a contender?

HR Tech will be contacting only those providers selected to continue in the application process. For those selected, HR Tech will request a formal demonstration (delivered via web conferencing). The demonstration should be a maximum of 10 minutes in length with the majority of that time consisting of actual product demonstration. Provider selections are expected to begin in May 2014 with the final participants for the Conference selected by August 2014.

How many providers will be chosen to participate in one of the sessions at 2014 HR Tech?

Approximately 5-6 providers will be invited to participate and demonstrate at each of the Awesome New Technologies for HR sessions. It is expected that the CEO or the most senior product executive from the participating company will present live on stage at the Conference.

Any more questions about how the Awesome New Technologies for HR session, let me know!

Now go forth and be awesome...

Great places to work are like great sports franchises

The nice people over at Glassdoor.com released their 'Top 50 Best Places to Work for 2013' list today, and as usual it is an interesting collection of all kinds of organizations - large and small, high-tech and old-school, and relatively young to long lasting.

The full list can be found here, as well as on the image to the right, (click the thumbnail for a larger view).Click to expand

The important aspect of the Glassdoor 'Best Places' list, unlike any of the other, similar types of lists that are around, is that it is determined not by some kind of expert panel of thought leaders, judges, or academics; but rather it is calculated from the company reviews and ratings about the companies that have been left on the Glassdoor.com site.  So these ratings are the closest equivalent to say, the Amazon.com book review or the Yelp restaurant review for the workplace.

But since I like to compare, evaluate, and assess just about everything through the prism of the world of sports - rather than give you a (lame) take something along the lines of 'Facebook is the Best Place to work again, I wonder what lessons you can learn from this', I thought I'd make it fun, (for me at least), and cherry pick a few big names form the list and juxtapose them with the big time sports team they seem the most like.  

Why do this?

Why not?

Here goes:

2. McKinsey & Company - Easy, these guys are the New York Yankees.  Big name, big reputation, have a kind of mystique about them and have had it for a long time. The name that the rest of the market compares themselves to.

4. Bain & Company - Again, pretty easy. If McKinsey are the Yankees, then Bain are the Boston Red Sox. Also have a big name, have had some success, but will always be looking up at the big dog on top.  It is fitting that McKinsey came in a couple of notches above Bain.

11. Careerbuilder - Not as obvious as the McKinsey and Bain comparisons, but I will go with the basketball's San Antonio Spurs.  Consistently good, with some legendary performance in the recent past. But also consistently overlooked and sometimes underrated despite their pedigree. Finally they both have a bit of 'I can't believe they are still relevant after all these years' kind of feel to them.

24. Trader Joe's - I will go not with one team with which to compare the eclectic grocer, I will go with an entire league - the National Hockey League (NHL), currently not playing their current season due to a labor/management dispute.  Like the NHL in sports, Trader Joe's is kind of a niche player in the grocery business, has a kind of weird appeal, but if it was gone hardly anyone would really miss it. Think about it - does anyone really need a Trader Joe's?  Or the NHL?

35. General Mills - Time for a football comparison. Let's go with the Green Bay Packers.  Midwestern organization, been around forever, everyone can recognize them by their brand, and kind of hard not to like, even if you don't care about cereal or sports. Feels like they will be a part of the landscape forever.

50. Starbucks - I'll go international on this one and call them Manchester Uniited from English football soccer. They are both ubiquitous, have a global presence and instant brand and name recognition, and both have the most annoying fans/customers that you will ever encounter.  Man United fans and Starbucks customers are really similiar - smug, kind of annoying, ('Quad-soy-no whip-light foam-hazelnut-extra shot'), and somehow think being a fan/customer grants them some kind of unearned social status.  Disclaimer: I am a Liverpool/Dunkin' Donuts person. 

That's it - I need to stop there, but I am sure you have your own ideas. There are 45 more companies on the list that need a sports team equivalent assigned to them, have at it in the comments!