Category Archives: HR Parties

A Farewell Tour for an HR Pro

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If you didn’t see it, one of the all-time greats of the NBA, Kobe Bryant, recently announced he was going to retire. Kobe is a personal favorite of mine, because, besides Jordan, he might be the most competitive player I’ve ever seen play.  If you played against Kobe, he hated you. If you played with Kobe, he put up with you! I love me some Black Mamba!

So, Kobe is now on his city by city farewell tour.  This happens in sports all the time for the great ones.  We got to see it last year with Yankee great Derek Jeter.  It’s always the same thing. Each city/team tries to outdo each other with giving gifts and paying tribute to the all-time great player.  Everyone plays nice. Hugs (I like that part). Gifts. Don’t guard me too close so I can make a few plays for the fans to remember me by! You know the drill!

When a HR Manager decides to retire, we never get a farewell tour.  I think we should!  Here’s what an average HR Manager Farewell Tour would look like:

Week #1 – Your benefits vendor invites you out to Applebee’s for a free lunch. Go ahead get the appetizer, the sirloin, and the strawberry lemonade! Heck, throw in a brownie bite. Yeah, in might go over your $25 limit, but this is your tour, no one is going to care you took $28, not $25!

Week #2 – Your HRMS vendor wants to drop off a little something to congratulate you. Looks like a bottle of wine!  (Pro tip: I would ask if it’s alcohol on the front side, then meet them in the parking lot!)

Week #3 – Your EAP vendor dropped off bagels from Panera, with three kinds of cream cheese! Way over $25, but you’re really sharing with the group, so you can divide that out. Pretty safe! (Pro Tip: On your farewell tour, make sure to bring in a toaster into the office, if you don’t already have one – some will always drop off bagels!)

Week #4 – CareerBuilder just wants to send you a little something to say thanks! Also, who’s taking over for you?  CB swag is always great. Pick through the box for the good stuff first, then throw the rest in the break room. It will be gone in no time! (Pro tip: if you spend a bunch with your job board vendor – like $25K+ – you can turn this into a lunch!)

Week #5 – Your ATS vendor called to wish you luck. You just happen to drop the ‘hint’ you can’t wait to go to more movies! It’s a passion of yours! You love going to the theater, but it’s so darn expensive! Theater gift card will be coming soon in the mail!

Week #6 – It’s the employee cake and ice cream social event.  You have to throw this one in, even though, you’ll be the one ordering your own cake and ice cream! It’s your party, make sure you get the cake you want, and not that cheap crap you order for all the other employees who retire!

Week #7 – Save this one for last! It’s time to call on your staffing vendor! Staffing vendors are an easy steak dinner and drinks kind of night. You do this last because you don’t want to come back to the office and look anyone in the eye after this night. Staffing folks can party, and still believe that if they get you drunk you’ll tell them all your secrets. The secret is, we don’t have any!

The bigger the organization the longer you can stretch out this tour since you probably have more vendors. It’s your tour, do with it what you will. Just remember, you earned it!

 

Having Fun at Work

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Mark Manson is a brilliant writer, one of my favorites. He recently wrote an article titled, “Screw Finding Your Passion” where he made a comment about fun:

“A child does not walk onto a playground and say to himself, “How do I find fun?” She just goes and has fun.”

I get asked a lot by HR Pros who are working hard to influence their work culture and raise employee engagement about how can they make their workplaces more fun.  I think the above quote will be my new go-to answer!

If you offer a fun environment, meaning you don’t stamp out the fun your employees naturally want to have, all you need to do is allow fun to happen.

Now, you know your problem.

You try and manufacture a certain kind of fund. A kind of fun that you and your executives feel employees will feel is fun. But, it’s not fun. Safe fun is not fun.

Did you want to use the safety scissors as a kid, or the big sharp ones the teacher had?  Did you want to play the game the parents put together at the birthday party, or just run around with the other kids making up something?  Planned fun, is the opposite of fun.

If you want a fun work environment, you have to allow fun to happen in a way your employees believe is fun. Sometimes that will make you nervous. That’s okay, that is what fun is all about.  If it didn’t make you a bit nervous, it wouldn’t be fun!

When I took my first job as an HR pro, I worked in an office where ‘fun’ wasn’t really something that was being had. I brought in one of those little indoor basketball hoops that hook onto the back of a door and put in my office door.  I would then challenge people to a game of “Pig”.  The office battles became epic!

One day the CHRO came down to the HR offices and saw the hoop and asked me to play.  No one, including me, expected this! He was the opposite of fun. He was a buttoned-up executive! But, he was letting us know, that he approved of us having fun! He wouldn’t do it often, but every once in a while, he would come down and challenge one of use to a game. People would gather, they would laugh, they would have fun.

How do you create a fun work environment?  Let people have fun.

 

5 Great Excuses To Miss a Co-workers Wedding

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I had one of my Recruiters ask for some advice this week. It wasn’t work advice, it was a little more personal.  She had told a person she would attend a wedding of a family member with them, but was having second thoughts. It was one of those Holy Crap moments! I don’t really like this person that much, and I don’t want to go to a family wedding with him and send the wrong message.

So, what was my advice?  It started out pretty straight. Tell them the truth!  “Look dude, I’m just not that into you, and the last place on earth I want to be on Saturday evening is sitting at a table with your parents and Aunt Betty with them thinking “ours” is next!”

As you can imagine, that wasn’t going to do.  Not that she didn’t want to tell him the truth, but she also didn’t want to hurt him. She was looking for a softer way to cut him loose.  You know! A how-do-I-get-him-to-not-want-me-to-go excuse – like he can’t stand my breathe or I have hammer toes, or something!?

Now, she was truly diving into my end of the pool!  You want a “Fake Reason” why you can’t go!  YES! I’m in HR. I’m in Recruiting. I’m the king of fake excuses of why people don’t get the job!  I’m on it!

So, here’s the first 3 I gave her:

  1. You haveVD! (Ok, I know this is strong right out of the gate – but let’s face the facts – most dudes will run from this!  Funny Fact: She is a millennial and had no idea what “VD” was! I’m old! Using WWII references like it was cool 2015 slang!)
  2. Your Dog has Cancer!(Sketchy I know, but girls and their pets…this one might work.  Funny Fact: Her dog actually did have Eye Cancer, but was cured, so not technically lying…)
  3. You have to Babysit for a Co-worker!(Now this one is fraught with problem – guys have gotten this one before and they might pull a. “Oh, I’ll come and help!” then you’re stuck and have to find some brat to babysit for the night. Funny Fact: She was like “Oh, hell No! I have a Real Job, why would I babysit!”)

All of this brainstorming got me thinking of how I’ve personally gotten out of going to Co-workers Weddings that I didn’t want to go to.  Here are my Top 5 Excuses to  Miss a Co-worker’s Wedding:

  1. I’ll be on Vacation! This is good because you usually find out about the wedding of a co-worker way ahead of time. All you have to do is actually plan for this and take your vacation during the weekend of the wedding. Far, far away from the actual wedding.
  2. My kid has a sports tournament out of town that weekend.  A little sketchy, but it is really hard for them to verify you really didn’t have a sports tournament, and let’s face it, I’m going to my kids sports game (the 127th of this year) vs. your once in a lifetime moment.
  3. I came down with the “Flu”!This one nobody believes, but it’s the go-to excuse because everyone uses it and it has been internationally certified as an acceptable lie to get out of anything.
  4. My Mom/Dad/Grandma/Grandpa/Great Aunt Betty/etc. fell and are at the hospital. I needed to go see them. They needed my help. It was serious.  Let’s face old people fall. In fact, it might be the only thing they have left to do. You hear about old people falling everyday. Very usable excuse in a pinch because it’s somewhat believable and old people don’t remember later on when someone asks “How are you doing after your fall?”, and they’ll go “better” and then complain about their aches and pains.
  5. I’ve got another Wedding that same day! Again, believable, but what you’re really saying to the person is “I’ve ranked you lower than someone else in my life. I hope you understand, but I didn’t buy you a place setting off your registry!”

What is your top excuse for not going to a co-worker’s wedding?

It’s Always Someone’s First Time

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Sometimes I forget that many other HR and Talent pros aren’t as geeky about the profession as I am.  I like to break down the profession of HR on the following scale:

1. The 1%ers.  These are the people who really get HR and Talent. They are the ones who actually decide what the future of the profession will look like, because they are smarter than all of us.  I am not one of these folks. I love to hang out with these folks, and I’m happy to call some of them friends, but I’m sure I annoy them with my questions and trivial insights.

2. The First Ten. The top ten percent of our profession.  Most of these are folks are the people you see running big HR shops, HR thought leaders, pundits in the space.  Smart folks to be sure, but also folks are involved beyond just doing the job of HR. They are the foot soldiers of the one percenters. They carry the message. I like to think I’m here most days.

3. The Masses.  These are the good men and mostly women who do the work of HR and Talent Acquisition on a daily basis. These are SHRM members, who might go to a national conference, state conference and definitely attend local meetings every once in a while. They are in the trenches every day, fighting the good fight, trying to make organizations better through great people practices. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.

4. The Why We Hate HR pros. These the bottom ten percent folks.  These are the HR and Talent pros that make the organization hate HR. They use their power in HR for bad, not good.  They take out their crappy, meaningless lives on unsuspecting employees.  These folks should be hung publicly. They work to bring down the entire function of HR as a whole, but think they actually do good HR work.

I try to remember this scale when I talk to HR and Talent pros around the world.  Most just want to do better, and most are seeing problems and issues for the first time.  It’s not that they “don’t get it”, they have never seen it.  It’s there first time.

Someone might be very experienced in HR and Talent, but seeing something for the first time, or have made the decision to try something they have never tried.  As a first ten it’s my role, I believe, in the industry to help those folks in any way I can to get better.  That helps the entire profession to get better.

So, what does this all mean?

I want to encourage HR and Talent pros to reach out.  If I can’t help you, I’ve got great friends who can.  The community will help you get better, if you really want to move your organization forward.  We love success stories!

At one point in time we were all first timers doing this HR and Talent thing.  We either learned through trial and error, or through someone helping us that had already experienced what we were trying to do.  The cool part about the community I hang out with, is we all remember our first time, and want to help you with yours.

Live from #SHRM15 – It’s a Wrap! Lessons Learned.

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The largest HR conference in the world, SHRM National 2015, concluded this week on Wednesday.  As I reflect back on the conference for 2015, I wanted to share some thoughts and learnings I got from the conference.

Here are my thoughts in no particular order:

1. The Expo is still overwhelming.  700+ vendors and some of the SHRM veterans tell me it’s smaller than in year past.  Who cares! It’s still freaking huge!  The funny part is these 700+ companies are truly only a fraction of sellers who are coming after HR and Talent Pros on a daily basis.  I’ve been coming to SHRM for years, and the size of the Expo never stops fascinating me.

2. SHRM is missing an Gigantic opportunity.  15,700 SHRM members attended the annual conference.  About 235,000 did not.  SHRM should be Streaming content live to the members who can’t make it.  Not all the content, just some of the content. Give those that can’t come a taste of what they’re missing.  Of course, some of the big keynotes won’t allow this, contractually. But, almost, 100% of us speaking for free, would welcome the streaming opportunity.  If SHRM streamed content from the national conference, they could get another 50,000 members watching remotely! I can’t tell even implore to you how bad of a missed opportunity this is for SHRM.

3. We are all not Zappos and Google.  I think SHRM speakers get this more than most.  99.9% of SHRM attendees work for organizations that have daily struggles in real HR and Talent problems.  The members come to get better, not to hear how the .1% do it better.  We don’t have Zappos culture, we don’t have Google’s resources, we are Real HR people, give us real HR examples.  I think in 2015, SHRM did a good job of getting speakers that were like the rest of us, and I appreciated that.

4. I’m confused how SHRM schedules speakers and space.  I wish SHRM would tell you up front what size room you would be speaking in. Kris Dunn and I had one of the smallest venues to speak in. Probably a room of 500 and it was packed. People sitting on the floor, standing, etc. My friend Mary Faulkner, who was really good BTW, from Denver Water, had a giant room that probably sat 2,000!  It was Mary’s first time speaking at SHRM, the room was too big. Ours was too small.  SHRM had to know this.  Socially, Kris and I could have gotten 500 people to show up in the parking lot and hear us do our thing.  We’ve worked for years to build an audience.  Why doesn’t SHRM take that into context?

5. HR Vendors Have Learned the ROI on big parties just isn’t there.  Back in the day at SHRM National, you could jump from party to party, every night of the conference.  Huge parties! Free food, drink and entertainment.  This year, there was only one, and it was the SHRM party with Jennifer Hudson. Great party, but it was the ONLY one!  There were private parties, dinners, etc. But nothing for the masses.  That was a change, and I don’t see it coming back.  Vendors are getting more specific and smarter with their spend. Why spend a couple of hundred grand on everyone, when you can spend $25K on a few that you’ll know will more than likely buy?  That’s just good marketing.

6. The SHRM App continues to get better.  Early in the conference I threw SHRM VP of Conference, Lisa Block, under the bus when I tweeted out what “idiot” password protected that SHRM App, which was a first.  I quickly had to eat crow when Lisa tweeted back and said she was the idiot and the reason why was because now the App had all the content of each speaker’s presentation.   Which was totally awesome!  And, I’m the idiot! Lisa did good. Can’t wait to see what she has up her sleeve next year.

I hope to see you all at SHRM in 2016 in D.C.!

 

 

 

Live From #SHRM15 – Everyone Wants Priority Status

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Next week I’ll be speaking at SHRM’s Annual National Conference in Las Vegas with my good friend Kris Dunn.  Come check us out!  Our session is titled: We’re Bringing Techy Back!  It’s on Monday, June 29th at 2pm in rooms N228-N230.

In this session we’ll discuss everything you need to know, as an HR and Talent pro, about selecting your next HR technology, what HR tech companies are saying, and what it really means. We’ll also give you some great tips on negotiating the price! Our hope is to take the fear and confusion of HR Tech and make it simple and clear.  We’ll also have some fun and probably be a bit snarky about the HR Tech industry!

Also, check me out on Periscope (TimSackett) as I’ll be attempting to do some live video feeds from the Expo floor and maybe, just maybe, live from our session at SHRM.  It’s super easy, just download the app to your phone and you can watch whatever it is I’m videoing, live, in real-time. You can also ask questions and make comments.

As I get ready to take off to Vegas I started thinking about checking in to my flight and hoping I’ll get a good status so I can find some space in the overheads and not have to wait at baggage claim.  I hate the concept of priority status, because I hate the way it ‘classes’ individuals.  I get it. Delta wants to take care of those passengers who are most loyal. I actually like that part.  After that, it all becomes a little hairy!

First comes the needs of those who need extra time and help boarding. Usually, elderly, injured and families with babies and strollers.  I’m fine with this, but the family thing has gotten out of control. I mean, look, your kid can walk by themselves, you don’t need extra time! You’re just gaming the system.  If I was smart I would befriend a really old person and offer to carry their bag!

First Class is next. Okay, they pay the most, I can buy into that.  I’m a capitalist. I can fit my brain around that.

Next, comes those skymile frequent flyer types.  Again, I’m all for loyalty programs, and would argue these folks should probably get on before first class, but they are both getting on early, so all have no real issues.

This is where all hell breaks lose.  Seating Status 1, or 2, or 3, etc.

There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason behind the rest of us get on the plane!  They claim that ‘zone’ seating is done back to front, but if you’ve flown anytime recently you know that isn’t true.  You can buy into zone 1 if you want to pay a little extra to jump on early, but not as early as about 50% of the plane listed in the above classes.

Basically, Delta has created this entire system where people just all push towards the gate and wait for their zone, but try and get in early on their zone. It’s chaos!  And their is no reason for it.

Can you imagine if you did this with your employees or candidates?  It’s dysfunctional at best, and creates ‘fans’ who end up hating you at worst.

I fly about 12-15 times per year, not anywhere close to the real frequent travelers I know.  But each time I question the boarding process and what a bad process it is, on all airlines, not just Delta.

What’s a better way?  I like the pure capitalist play of seating by ticket price! Those who paid the most, get on first, all the way down to those who paid the least or got ‘free’ travel with miles. I’m even willing to have this take longer. It might not be ‘better’, but at least I can justify why I’m getting on last!

See you in Vegas.  Make sure you hit me up on Twitter (@TimSackett). I would love to meet you in real life while I’m at SHRM, unless you’re creepy, then please hit up Kris Dunn (@Kris_Dunn)!

Sackett’s Guide to SHRM 2015 #shrm15

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It’s that time of year when HR freaks from all over the world begin planning out their annual pilgrimage to the SHRM National Conference. The 2015 SHRM conference is being held in Las Vegas, which always makes it a popular destination to attend. SHRM is expecting over 15,000 HR and Talent Pros to be in attendance, and I will be one of them!

I’ve had the pleasure of attending the last seven SHRM National Conferences and have been lucky enough to speak at the last three and this year will make it four in a row, as my good friend, and FOT founder, Kris Dunn and I will be taking the stage on Monday June 29th at 2pm to talk HR technology in our presentation titled “We’re Bringing Techy Back!” (now try and get the song out of your head!).  Kris and I will be sharing what HR and Talent tech we use and what we would use given different size organizations and budgets. Come check it out! KD and I always have fun when speaking together and we’ll be in rare form for SHRM National!

Please connect with me if you’re going to SHRM National, I love meeting new and old friends at SHRM. I spend most of my time doing this. A thirty minute conversation with a great HR pro and a Diet Mt. Dew is usually better than any session I could attend!  Being able to build a great HR network of brilliant people is the real value of attending a SHRM conference.

I do SHRM a little different than most.  I search out great speakers, not topics.  I’ve gone to too many sessions where I wanted to kill myself from boredom.  So, I’ve learned to find great speakers because they’ll always teach me something new and keep me entertained!  Here are some other sessions I recommend and will be checking out myself (in order of presentation time):

#1 – Sackett & Dunn – We’re Bringing Techy Back! Monday June 29th at 2pm

#2 – Mary Faulkner – The Leader’s Legacy: Managing Your Impact on Your Company’s Culture.  Monday June 29th at 4pm. Mary is a true HR practitioner and Head of Talent at Denver Water. She’s an HR pro who truly gets it!

#3 – Steve Browne – Culture that Rocks! Tuesday June 30th at 7am.  If there is a reason to get up at 7am in Vegas, it’s to see Steve. Great HR pro and Head of HR for LaRosa’s Pizza. His energy is off the charts and I guarantee he’ll get you going for the day!

#4 – Steve Boese and Trish McFarlane – After the Contracts are Signed: Keys to Successful HR Technology Implementation.  Tuesday June 30th at 7 am. Friends of FOT and two great speakers, Steve and Trish deliver every time.

#5 – Joe Gerstandt – The Future of Diversity and Inclusion. Tuesday June 30th at 10:45am.  Flat out Joe is one of the best speakers at SHRM year in and year out. Polished, insightful and funny. He gets modern day Diversity and Inclusion better than anyone.

#6 – Matt Ferguson – What CEOs Think About 2015’s Top Workforce Issues. Tuesday June 30th at 2:15pm. Matt is the CEO for CareerBuilder and they have some great data, plus I like hearing what CEOs think from a CEO!

#7 – Jennifer McClure – 7 Strategies to Transform from HR Leader to Business Leader. Tuesday June 30th at 4pm. Jennifer is the HR lady whisperer! Extremely popular SHRM speaker, she fills the room, so get there early! Also, Jen is a FOT alumnus.

#8 – Inga Masjule – How to Build World Class HR Around the World. Wednesday July 1st at 11:30am. I met Inga while speaking in the Cayman Islands, she is an HR pro there, currently, but has run HR teams all over the world. Smart lady, who can really give you a flavor of what it’s like to work in HR all over the world.

I’m sure there are other wonderful speakers as well. These are just ones I know will be awesome!  I’ll spend a bunch of time on the Expo floor as well. It’s a great place to demo a ton of different technologies that are being offered in HR and Talent Acquisition, in a low sales environment. Take advantage and see what’s out there.  You’ll be amazed at how inexpensive some of the technology is becoming!

Hit me in the comments if there is a session you feel is a can’t miss!  Also, if you want to meet in person send me a message and I’ll do everything I can to make that happen!  See you in Vegas!

Cayman Islands and HR

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I just got back from the Cayman Islands where I was invited to speak to the Cayman Islands Society of Human Resource Professionals at their annual meeting.  As you might imagine, it was awesome!

This is only the second time in my life I’ve been out of the United States to speak (the first being to Toronto – which is kind of in my own backyard, so it’s hard to count!).  I definitely need to do this more, as I think I actually learn more than those I’m speaking to.

Here are some of the great things I took away from the Cayman Islands, HR and Hugging.

1. The HR and Talent Pros in Cayman are as passionate as any professionals that I’ve ever spoken to. They love HR and Talent Acquisition and they are hungry for knowledge and to get better.

2. HR in Cayman is as unique as you’ll find anywhere in the world. You have native Caymanians who are working to develop their talents and Expat-HR pros from all over the world thrown into the mix. You put all of this together and diversity of thought is incredible.

3. Caymanians love hugs! I got a bunch. Real hugs. Not those fake hugs we tend to give each other in the states.

4. Great HR conferences take a lot of work from a lot of people, but it also is a labor of love from one or two people, usually. Chris Bailey (@anythingoverice) is one of those people in Cayman.  He’ll be at SHRM national, make sure you connect with him, he’s one of the good guys in the world! Also, check out CISHRP’s, Inga Masjule, at SHRM National as she’ll be speaking on the topic of International HR – she’s good people as well, and smart as hell!

5. The majority of Caymanians are very religious (Pornography, sex toys, etc. are illegal in Cayman). They also celebrated Batabano when I was there. I struggled to put these two things together in my mind!  But, I will again go to Cayman for Batabano and dance in the parade!

6. Upon arriving to Cayman I would have thought they have absolutely no issue recruiting any kind of talent to the islands. I was shocked to find out this is a major problem at the professionals levels. Cayman is the fifth largest financial center in the world and they have a ton of highly paid jobs going unfilled. The largest recruiting dilemma to overcome? It’s too good to be true! People can’t believe what a great opportunity is, and believe there must be something you aren’t telling them!

7.  I got to see a speaker named Dr. Graeme Close (@close_nutrition) out of the UK who talked about wellness and nutrition. He is a former pro Rugby player and current strength and conditioning coach for England’s Rugby, Ski and Snowboard Olympic teams, as well as other pro athletes.  If you are responsible for wellness at your company, you must have this guy come and talk to your employees. He’s brilliant, motivating and funny.  He would be perfect to kick-off any wellness program.

8.  In 4 days I swam with Stingrays, Dolphins, Sea Turtles and countless fish, witnessed Batabano,  ate some of the best food I’ve ever tasted (most memorable was local fare from downtown Georgetown directly after Batabano – on one plate I had Lobster, shrimp, breadfruit, rum cake, potato salad, plantain, beans and rice – it was glorious!) and had the single best Gin and Tonic of my life at Catch.

9. Every group of HR/Talent Pros have things that no one wants to, or is willing to, talk about. Those taboo topics. Caymanian’s have theirs as well, and it was empowering watching them address these head on, it’s truly the only way we move the profession forward.

10. HR and Talent Acquisition conference planners! Pay Attention! CISHRP does conference food better than anyone else in the world, and second place isn’t even close! CISHRP had the best food I’ve ever had at a conference. I’m sure having it at the Ritz Carlton has something to do with it, but the leaders at CISHRP still had to pick the menu!

Thanks again, Chris and the CISHRP crew, for having me come down!

Sackett’s Office Holiday Party Rules

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It’s fast becoming that time of year when you’ll be invited to office holiday parties across the world!  This is one of my favorite times of the year.  Let’s face it, I’m married and 40sih, the office holiday parties are one of the few times a year I have a get out of jail free card.  “What!? You want to do shots? Well, I shouldn’t, but I want to be a ‘team’ player. You know me!”  My wife mildly puts up with me, for one night, so I can act like one of those millennials who works with me.  Usually, I’m yawning at 11pm, and wondering what I’m missing on the local news.

The HRU holiday parties are awesome. Basically, because I’m in charge of two things: 1. Ordering the food and 2. Paying the bar tab.  Which means we have plenty of variety of great things to eat, and we have an open bar.  The ‘kids’ like an open bar. It always goes over well.  I don’t have any rules.  I used to be one of those ‘bosses’ that was like, “you better show up”, which led to about 2 or 3 people being at the party that didn’t want to be. But I’ve matured, and now I’m like “don’t come if you don’t want to have fun!”

I do think some HR Pros need rules for their employees, and as usual I’m here to help you.  So, here are Sackett’s Office Holiday Party Rules:

Rule No. 1 – If you drink too much and throw up at your office holiday party, never go back to work at that job. Ever!

Rule No. 2 – If you bring a date that looks like a stripper, you’ll be forever known as the employee who brought a stripper to the office holiday party. Dress appropriately, strippers.

Rule No. 3 – There are these things called Smartphones which take pictures.  Always remember this, or you’ll be reminded of it the next morning on Facebook.

Rule No. 4 –  If you have a date that is anti-social, you might want to rethink that plan.  No one wants to deal with ‘creepy’ at an office holiday party.

Rule No. 5 – It’s okay to dance at your office holiday party. It is not okay to dance alone at your office holiday party.

Rule No. 6 – You don’t have to ask if your employer will let you expense a cab or Uber ride home. They will, 100% of the time. Be safe.

Rule No. 7 – Don’t flirt with your office crush at the office holiday party. You have 364 days a year you can do that and not look completely desperate.

Rule No. 8 – Getting your boss drunk, and making an idiot of her, isn’t funny, it’s career limiting. Be a good ‘wing-person’.

Rule No. 9 – Don’t get all religious at an office holiday party. Yes, I’m sure, Jesus is the reason for the season, but not the office holiday party season.  Jesus isn’t into that season.

Rule No. 10 – Don’t talk work.  Talk cars, or sports, or kids, or video games, or movies, or books, anything but work.  Get to know your co-workers as people.

 I’m different than most HR Pros in that I actually like holiday parties, and company picnics, and every other time we can get together as an organization that isn’t work.  We spend more time with our co-workers than our families, on a normal week.  Our co-workers become our close friends and extended family.  It’s wonderful to break bread with them and just have fun.  Learn who they are outside of work, and meet others in their life that our special to them.

So, go have fun. Don’t be stupid.  An order something expensive that you normally wouldn’t do when you’re paying the bill!

7 Rules for your Office Halloween Party

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Is your office dressing up for Halloween?

Mine isn’t.  It’s not that I wouldn’t.  Okay, I wouldn’t.  But if others wanted to, I wouldn’t say “no”.  I mean everyone has that one person in their office that’s a little way too excited over Halloween.  I get it.  I have kids.  They lose their minds at the thought of free candy and dressing up.  But you’re an adult, let’s try and keep it together here at the office.

That is why I think it’s important to Rules for your Office Halloween Party.  Here’s mine:

1. Racism theme costumes never go over like you thought they would when you were drunk and came up with the concept. “No, really, we’re going as the black KKK!” Just don’t do it.

2. Anything with ‘naughty’ in the title isn’t work appropriate. Naughty Teacher, Naughty Nurse, Naughty Witch — you get the idea.  The only time this would work is when taking the opposite stance — Naughty Human Resource Manager is totally appropriate.  This costume consists of a cat sweater, hair in bun, long skirt (pants or skort), old lady panty hose and 6 inch pumps. Sexy!

3. Don’t be the ‘guy’ offering “tricks” all day. That’s just creepy.  Also, don’t be the ‘gal’ offering “tricks” all day. That’s just slutty.

4. Anything that interferes with your ability to do your actual job, shouldn’t be a costume selection.  “Well, I didn’t think about how me being a Rubic’s Cube for the day would get in the way to me being a nurse.”

5. Dressing up like the boss is always in good taste, but only if your boss doesn’t hate you.

6. If you have to put a sign on to explain what you are, go back to the drawing board.  ” Wait, you see I’m ‘Hard to Get Along With'” Yeah, we got it…

7. If less than half your staff will be dressing up, you need to cancel dressing up.  At that point, it’s just sad.

In HR we love our dress code rules and for Halloween parties why should we be different!  What your favorite Halloween party rules at the office?