Category Archives: Trench HR

The One Gift HR Really Wants for Christmas

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Ok, before we get started, stop it. I could have titled this “The One Thing HR Wants for the Holidays” or “The One Thing HR Wants for Chanukah”, etc., but I didn’t the majority of people celebrate Christmas, so I used Christmas. Breath in HR people. (for the record we celebrate both Chanukah and Santa in my house, my kids are equal gift getters!).

So, what would it be? If you could have one thing in HR for Christmas, what would you ask for?

And don’t be lame, “Oh Tim, I would just ask for world peace and have Snapple bring back Compassion Berry” No you wouldn’t! Not if it was real, I mean really real!

I’m sure a bunch of HR Pros would ask for a new HRIS System. I mean that’s what we do during the holidays, we want the biggest baddest fastest new electronic device that will make our lives easier and make us look 10 pounds thinner!   Maybe just an add-on system like a new CRM, or employee referral automation, or mobile employee feedback app, they are all cool and hip!  Who wouldn’t like one of those!?

I’m sure a bunch of HR Pros would ask for the ability to Hire more employees!  What a gift that would be.  Not only for the people getting hired but for your overwork staff and hiring managers who have worked double and triple duty because your cheap boss won’t open up headcount.  HR never has the staff it wants!

I’m sure a bunch of HR Pros would ask for a new Employment Brand!  Oh to be as sexy as Google, Zappos or Sodexo – wouldn’t that be a wonderful environment to work in HR.  Life just seems easier when you work for a sexy brand.  It isn’t actually – but that what great branding does, it makes some idiot like me think it must be easy to work in a great place like that – they should hire me!

I’m sure a bunch of HR Pros would ask for better Talent for their organizations (which is technically way more than one gift but let’s face it, some of us HR Pros don’t follow directions well!).   This is the freaking holy grail, right!  If we only had the top talent (instead of saying we only hire top talent, then hire those who respond to our posts) our lives would be so much easier!

There are so many things we could ask for in HR, but this is why I love HR, for all those gifts I listed above, and for so many more you and I could come up with. We work in a profession where we have the ability to deliver each and every one of those to our organizations.  With enough time, patience, influence, strategy and luck, not one of those things I couldn’t give my organization.  Maybe that’s the best gift of all.

For the record, mine? It would be a ‘Visionary Leader’. That’s the one gift I would ask for.

Those are rare, those are hard to find.  Not many of us get the opportunity to work with a true visionary. Great managers, strong leaders, charismatic personalities, yes; But a Visionary Leader, that is something few get the opportunity to experience.

What would be your One gift you want for HR this holiday season?

The Secret to Being Happy at Work

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We’ve all been sold a really harmful lie, by a lot of people.  That lie is:  To be truly happy at work, you must do what you love (or some variation of the same theme). It’s complete garbage that is usually told to you by an ultra-rich person (or celebrity) who can do anything they want.

Someone who really doesn’t have to earn a living because they have a spouse earning a living for them or someone who just flat out got lucky, right place, right time, and does something they actually love.  I know, I know, “Tim, you create your own luck!”, said by the same idiot who’s wife is a brain surgeon and allows her deadbeat husband to be a “writer” at home.

Still, most of us define our happiness like this:

Step 1 – Work really super hard.

Step 2 – Really super hard work will make you successful.

Step 3 – Being successful will make me happy.

I hate to break this to you, being successful will not make you happy.  It will allow you to buy a lot of stuff, you’ll probably have less money arguments and you might even feel good about your success, but if you’re not happy before all of that, there is a really good chance you won’t be happy after to gain success.

Let’s start with this concept:

Work Success ≠ Happiness

Have you ever met someone working a dead-end job, a just-not-going-anywhere type of job, but they are completely joyous?  I have.  I envy those people.  They do not define their happiness in life by the level of success they’ve obtained in their career. Their happiness is defined by a number of other things: are their basic needs met, do they enjoy the people they surround themselves with, do they have a positive outlook on life, etc.  These individuals do not allow the external world to impact their happiness.

Their happiness is derived from within.

In HR I’ve been forced to learn this because I’ve had people try and sell me on that Engagement =’s Happiness which is also a lie.  I’ve had incredibly engaged workers who are very unhappy people and very happy people who were not engaged.  I’ve found over time, I can do almost nothing to “make” someone be happier.

I’m an external factor to their life.  Don’t get me wrong, as a leader, I can give praise and recognition, I can give merit and bonuses, etc. While that might have a short-term impact on an employee’s happiness, it’s not truly lasting happiness that comes from within.

So, how can you help someone find their happiness? 

I think we have to start realizing that you don’t have to ‘work’ at something you love, to have happiness at work.  Putting work into this perspective of life is key. I like what I do a whole bunch, hell, I blog about it! But if I really thought about it, I don’t ‘love’ it.

I love my family.  I love floating on a lake on a warm summer day.  I love listening to my sons’ laugh in pure joy.  I find my happiness in many ways, only part of which I gain through my career. My secret to happy work is finding happiness in a number of aspects with my life.  That way if I’m having a bad day at work, or a bad day at home, I still have pockets of happiness I can adjust my focus to.

What is your secret to being happy at work?

5 Things HR Leaders Need to Know About Developing Employees

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I think we try and deliver a message in organizations that all employees need and want to be developed.  This is a lie.  Many of our employees do want and need development. Some don’t need it, they’re better than you.  Some don’t want it, just give me my check.

Too many of our leaders truly believe they can develop and make their employees better than they already are.  This is a lot tougher than it sounds, and something most leaders actually fail at moving the needle on.

Here are some things I like to share with leaders in developing their employees:

1. “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time” -Maya Angelou.  I see too many leaders trying to change adult employees.  Adult behaviors are basically locked. If they show you they don’t want to work.  They don’t want to work.  Part of developing a strong relationship is spending time on people who are not a waste of time.

2. People only change behavior they want to change, and even then, sometimes they’re not capable of it.  See above.  When I was young in my career, I was very ‘passionate’. That’s what I liked calling it – passionate.  I think the leaders I worked with called it, “career derailer”.  It took a lot for me to understand what I thought was a strength, was really a major weakness.  Some people never will gain this insight.  They’ll continue to believe they’re just passionate when in reality they’re just really an asshole.

3. Don’t invest more in a person than they are willing to invest in themselves.  I want you to be great. I want you to be the best employee we have ever had work here.  You need to be a part of that.  I’m willing to invest an immense amount of time and resources to help you reach your goals, but you have to meet me halfway, at least.

4. It’s usually never the situation that’s pissing you off, it’s the mindset behind the situation that’s pissing you off.  Rarely do I get upset over a certain situation. Frequently, I get upset over how someone has decided to handle that situation.  Getting your employees to understand your level of importance on a situation is key to getting you both on the same page towards a solution. Failure to do this goes down a really disastrous path.

5, Endeavor to look at disappointment with broader strokes. It’s all going to work out in the end.  It’s hard for leaders to act disappointed.  We are supposed to be strong and not show our disappointment.  This often makes our employees feel like we aren’t human.  The best leaders I’ve ever had showed disappoint, but with this great level of resolve that I admired. This sucks. We are all going to make it through this and be better. Disappointment might be the strongest developmental opportunity you’ll ever get as a leader, with your people.

As you get ready for 2017 and you have big plans for employee development in the new year, keep these things in mind. Development of adult learners, your employees, is extremely complex. You want to help them better their weaknesses when in reality you should really be focusing on how to leverage their strengths, at least this is what science tells us.

Regardless of your approach, employee development fails when you try a one-sized approach to teach all the employees the same. The best employee development is individualized, focused, and driven by the employee themselves.

The Worst Holiday Gifts You Can Give Your Employees

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It’s usually HR’s job to come up with the annual employee gift. Most companies are lame and will do the exact same thing every year. If they don’t give a turkey on Thanksgiving, they’ll definitely give out turkeys at Christmas. If they did give a turkey at Thanksgiving, you’ll likely get a ham or a fruit cake for Christmas.

Can I just say Christmas, instead of the “holiday season” or list all the possible options? My family is Jewish, but we get it, almost no company will ever recognize Chanukah, and if they do, it’s usually and insulting, “Oh, isn’t that the Jewish Christmas?!” Ugh. Most of the American workforce follows some Christian-based religion that celebrates Christmas, so it’s just easier to play along with the majority.

At some point, usually right around the pagan holiday of Halloween, someone in HR will raise the question to leadership, “Hey, what are we doing this year for ‘Christmas’ for the employees?”  What they really are asking is, “How much money are we spending per employee for some gift that looks more expensive than what it really is?”  Depending on the organization, it’s a wide range!

Here are the worst holiday gift ideas to give your employees:

  • Company Logo Portfolio – you know those fake leather bound binders with a legal pad inside. Twenty years ago those were so hot! Now, they’re sad. If you give this out as a gift you should be shot. “Oh, great, thanks, a pad of paper I can’t wait to take a picture of this and post it on my Snap making fun of the lame company I work for!”
  • Company Logo Bag – Any bag really. Duffle. Messenger. Backpack. The only time this isn’t lame is when it’s a really nice bag. Meaning the bag, minus your stupid logo, better cost at least $100 per bag. Your $12 limit per employee just makes any bag you choose, sad. Oh, it’s a Herschel bag, okay, you’re good, send me one to!
  • Any Company Logo Item Your CEO Wouldn’t Buy For Themselves – Let’s face it no one wants a crappy polo shirt, or cheap hoodie, or water bottle made in China. If your leadership team wouldn’t buy this on their own and use it, don’t buy it for your employees. If your CEO is a cheap SOB, ignore what I said above and just skip logo items altogether!
  • Any Mass Pre-packaged Food Items – You know what really sucks? Getting a gift basket of elf-sized trial-sized food items made to look gourmet that were probably made seventeen months ago.
  • A Charitable Gift in “My” Name – I love being charitable. I hate when some tries to be charitable on my behalf. You don’t know what I support! I might hate sick puppies and I don’t want money going to them. That’s not your call. My favorite charity is my kid’s college fund! Are you giving me money for that?

Employee gift giving, especially the bigger your organization is, is a tough game.  You don’t want to be cheap, but if you have 10,000 employees, that one endeavor becomes super expensive! The best thing to do is just stop it all together!

You go through one negative year of people complaining they didn’t get their lead-based painted candy corporate logo candy dish, then the next year no one remembers. Instead, let your hiring managers throw potluck lunches and have some fun. People will remember those, have more fun, and they might actually interact with each other!

 

 

Reindeer Games: How Santa Ruined Inclusion Forever

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I’m a big fan of what Jennifer McClure is doing with her DisruptHR events! 5-minute presentations that challenge the audience to think about things differently. It’s fast paced, it’s fun, it’s unlike anything else in HR and that’s awesome! If you want to bring a DisruptHR event to your city contact Jennifer through the DisruptHR website and she’ll answer all of your questions.

I can tell you from going up on stage and doing these 5 minutes is way harder to do than a full hour! In an hour you can wander around and come back to stuff you forgot. In 5 minutes you need to have a narrow topic and be tight! It’s so much fun!

This is one my most recent DisruptHR talks. It’s the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and how Santa is like most old white guys when it comes to hiring and selection. I will guarantee you’ll never watch that movie again without thinking about this! Enjoy.

Reindeer Games | Tim Sackett | DisruptHR Talks from DisruptHR on Vimeo.

The Newest HR Certification on the Market! Get it Now!

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If you read my post yesterday on the frustration HR pros and leaders have in deciding between getting their HRCI certification and/or their SHRM certification, you’ll see why I decided to write this!

I’ve officially decided to launch my own HR certification! This will put the rest the unanswered question of, “Which HR Certification Should I Get?” You’ll get mine fool!

Let me lay out my certification designation and marketing position for HR Newest (and Hottest) Professional Certification!

Introducing The HR Kingdom! Where you can now all become HR Queens and Kings!  I mean don’t you already feel like the Queen of HR!? Now you can officially be the Queen of HR, with my certification. Here’s out you get yours:

The HR Kingdom designation certification:

Step 1 – Send me $350 dollars if your female and $500 if your male. If you’re Transgender, you can pick whichever one you self-identify with, or have both, I don’t care, just send the check. It’s less for females because they get paid less. Once we fix this, I’ll charge them the same as males.

Step 2– You will then have a live video Skype call with a member of my court. After this call is completed you’ll be given one of a number of designations as follows:

 – Queen or King of HR – Senior level HR Pro/Leader who ‘gets it’. You know what the heck you’re doing in HR and you’re also not afraid to plan the company picnic and tell the CEO they’re full of shit. You’re a change leader, a silo breaker, and process be damned you get the job done!

– Princess or Prince of HR – HR Pro/Leader who is will eventually get it, but you’re too green to get most of it, but you’re on your way. Most likely you’re a millennial who thinks they get it, but you’ve only been in HR for five minutes and have no freaking idea what you’re talking about.

– Fool of HR – A member of my court has figured out you’re basically working in HR, but you have no freaking clue what the hell you’re doing. You’re basically a fool trying fool everyone you actually know what you’re doing, but we know better.

Step 3 – I’ll send you your official “Crown” to worn anytime you’re working in an official capacity of HR. You’ll also get to officially use the ‘crown’ emoji behind your name on your resume, LinkedIn profile, on your license plate, tattoos, etc. If you’re a “Princess” you’ll get a tiara, if you’re a “Fool” you’ll get one of those funny hats.

Step 4 – You must now officially recognize those other members in the Kingdom by their official designations. So, if you run into another Queen of HR, the official greeting would be, “Hello, your Majesty”, if it’s a fool, “move aside fool!”

I don’t know much, but I know a hell of a lot of HR ladies who will want to be Queens and Princesses of HR! Now that’s marketing your certification to your audience! Give them what they want. Give them something special. Give them royalty!

If you want to be a part of the HR Kingdom, it’s really simple, just send me some cash fools!

Which HR Certification Should I Get? HRCI or SHRM?

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I’m being put in the middle of two friends. On one side I have HRCI. I’ve known HRCI ever since I got certified in my SPHR in 2001. I trust them, they were my first professional designation. They made me feel special.

On the other side, I have SHRM. I’ve known SHRM a bit longer. I trust them, they are ‘the’ professional organization of my profession. They are recognized the world over. To be recognized by SHRM for anything is an accomplishment in the field of HR.

We’ve all been in this scenario before, right?

Two of your friends, who don’t really get along anymore, but you want to stay friends with both. The problem is, both of these friends only want you to be friends with them and not the other. If you have your HRCI – PHR, SPHR and/or GPHR, or you have your SHRM-CP or SCP, or maybe, like me, you have both, you’re kind of being put in the middle of these two friends and being asked to choose.

It’s uncomfortable. It’s confusing. It’s frustrating.

I’ve gone on record to say I won’t have both my HRCI-SPHR and my SHRM-SCP. I said that. I said it was stupid and this past week I got an email from HRCI that my SPHR was up for recertification. Ugh. My initial reaction was, “oh, I need to get online and log my credits and get my certification up to date.”

Then I remembered, why am I doing this? I don’t want two certifications I only want one. But, which one do I want? Which one is going to be the best for my career? Which one is the right now?

That’s the question that neither HRCI nor SHRM has answered for us. I’ve told both of them this, specifically. They actually both feel they’ve answered this question for us (HR Pros and Leaders), but they haven’t. It’s the one question I get most asked by my readers via email, LinkedIn messaging, on Twitter, etc. “What HR certification should I get, Tim, HRCI or SHRM?”

Unfortunately, I also have that same question. My frustration level has gotten so high with this I’m currently thinking I’ll probably just keep both because no one has answered which one I really need, but having both is really redundant. You don’t need both. You only need one. Which one? That is literally the multi-million dollar question for both organizations!

If you’re waiting around for either organization to answer this question, you’ll be waiting a long time. Both have their marketing statements on why you should choose them, but it still doesn’t answer that one question. WHICH ONE IS RIGHT FOR ME!?

I think it’s going to take time for the market to flush out which one it finds to be the most valuable. I believe you’ll see organizations in the near future accept either because they don’t see a differentiation between them. Eventually, both organizations, SHRM and HRCI, will make changes to more clearly differentiate what their certifications will offer those going after each, respectively.

Don’t you just love it when your friends stick you in the middle and make you choose!? Great marketing strategy for organizations, don’t you think…

The One Conference HR Pros Need to Go to in 2017 #WorkHuman

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So, I’ve been on the record that my favorite conference to attend is the HR Technology Conference. It’s my favorite because I geek out on HR and TA Tech and I’ll send three days on the expo floor demoing every product under the sun. That’s me. That’s not most HR pros.

I’ve actually had HR pros read my stuff and go to HR Tech and then come back to me and said they weren’t too happy with my recommendation. When I asked them why they went, it was because it was my favorite conference. To which I needed to ask, but are you even into HR Tech or have a need to buy? It was always no!

The one conference that I really like and I’ve yet to find someone who didn’t get a ton out of it, has been Work Human. Work Human is really unlike any HR conference you’ve gone to. It’s as much about making you a better person, as it’s about making you or your organization better at HR. You leave feeling positive, refreshed, ready to go back and make things better. Let’s not kid ourselves, that’s really hard to do for a conference!

At the end of May in 2017, I’ll be heading back to Work Human for my third straight year. The content stream is unique. Don’t think you’ll be sitting through non-stop hour and fifteen-minute sessions, Work Human is not that! You’ll find twenty-minute sessions, hour sessions, A list keynotes, time to meditate if you’re into that, or time to have a cupcake, if you’re into that (I was way more into the cupcakes!).

The Work Human folks are actually offering my readers a $100 discount off the early-bird pricing of $895, if you register before the end of 2016 (December 31st). All you have to do is visit the Registration page and put in the code – WH17INF-TSA. 

For what you’ll get for $795 there isn’t a better conference value on the planet for HR! So, here you go, this is how to use up that last little bit of budget money you have left and before finance will take away unless you use it. Plus, we can sit down and share cupcakes!

Check out the conference site and I hope to see you in Phoenix in 2017!

The Sackett Rules for your Annual Holiday Office Party

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Oh, it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, err, office party time! And you know what that means, inappropriate behavior and awkward moments! But don’t fear, Uncle Tim is here to save you with a few simple rules.

Each year at the greatest technical recruiting company on the planet, HRU Technical Resources, we throw an annual holiday party.  They’re kind of legendary and I can neither confirm nor deny that we have our party in a bar next to a strip club. Next to, not in.

As you can imagine, we’ve had to set up some rules over the years. Feel free to use these or adapt them for your own office party:

  • The company will pay for your ride home if you’ve been drinking. Don’t use the force, that only works if you’re a Jedi and no matter how much you drank, you’re not a Jedi.
  • Don’t talk shop, unless there’s money to be made, then talk all the shop you want.
  • If you don’t show up and claim you weren’t feeling well, but you were actually at work that day, we’ll basically make up stories about the real reason you decided not to show up.
  • Attendance isn’t mandatory, please don’t come if you don’t want to come. We want to have fun and if feel you have to be there for some odd reason, you’re not fun.
  • Former employees are welcome to attend unless I hate them, then don’t have them attend.
  • Don’t corner your boss when you’re drunk and ask for a raise, unless they hit on you in an inappropriate manner, then completely ask for a giant raise.
  • Talk the newbies. It sucks bringing your spouse or significant other to a company party and then no one pays attention to you. Go out of your way to involve the new folks into your conversation and get to know them.
  • Don’t be the last to show up, or the first to leave. Wait, what?
  • Drink all you want. Remember, everyone is always watching.
  • Don’t hook up with a co-worker at the party. None of us want to see that, at least wait until you get in your Uber and give the driver a show.
  • The company will pay for your ride home. Don’t be an idiot.

Many HR leaders and pros don’t feel it’s appropriate for a company to have a party and provide alcohol. I get it. I’m good either way, you have to know your culture and what they want and be willing to set limits.

I’ve worked in giant companies and small companies and all of those companies had holiday parties with alcohol. You’ll have issues. Be prepared on how you’ll handle them. Help your employees out before they get themselves in trouble.

I always felt it was my job as an HR leader to take on that role within the business. I didn’t want my leaders being the ‘bad’ guy, so I took on that role when it was time to pull someone aside. They appreciated and they knew I wouldn’t hold a grudge on the employee who maybe went a bit too far.

Have an enjoyable holiday office party season!

 

Notes to HR Vendors #6 – Client Holiday Gift Ideas

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I’ve done a few presentations titled something like, “HR Tech Buyers Guide”, “How to Buy HR Tech”, etc. The presentation is designed for HR and TA practitioners to help them become better buyers of HR Tech. To understand the crap that HR and TA Tech vendors do and say to get you to buy stuff you might not need, want, or will use.

The interesting thing about these presentations is that half the audience turns out to be the actual vendors themselves wanting to hear what it is I’m telling the real HR and TA leaders! It’s smart for the vendors. It helps make the better sellers as well. Well, at least some that actually listen!

Based on these interactions I decided to build a series of what has come out of interactions with the vendors themselves, aptly named “Notes to HR Tech Vendors”. Look I don’t alway have to be creative! Enjoy!

Notes to HR Vendors #6 – Client Holiday Gift Ideas

There two ways this post can go, 1. A post about the gifts you actually give that are awful, 2. A post about gifts you could give that people would actually enjoy. I haven’t figured out which way this one will end up, so here we go…

About this time every year I start receiving gifts in the mail from HR and TA tech vendors. Ironically enough most of the HR and TA companies I’ve highlighted on my widely popular and over-shared weekly tech review, T3, rarely send me anything, even though they share with me constantly how many sales they’ve actually made because someone read about them on this blog. But, I’m not bitter, I did it for me, not you.

The gifts I start receiving are from the vendors I’m actually paying. Makes sense. They want to keep getting paid and figure if they send me of their ‘popular’ desk calendars I’ll for sure sign up again next year to use their product or service!

It’s fashionable in the HR and TA blogging community to post pictures of the gifts we receive from vendors, thanking them for being so nice. This isn’t the real reason we post these pics. The real reason is to shove it in the nose of the other bloggers who didn’t receive the gift in a petty one-ups-manship of who’s someone better because they got a logo mug filled with stale candy and you didn’t.

I personally hate this game, but I didn’t create it, I’m just a player. Hate the game, not the player!

So, what are the best gifts you could give? It really depends on the margin business you’re in. If you’re selling background check services, you’re probably not spending much on client gifts. If you’re selling annual HRIS enterprise level software, you might be handing out Mini-Coopers for all I know.

If I was in charge of gift giving to your clients, here’s what I would suggest:

– Free Consulting Service and/or Product. Here’s the thing, you know what your clients suck at, probably better than they do. Help them fix something, something they would usually pay for, but you have the expertise to solve it with little effort.

– Something Personal to your Main Client Contact. I have a client who loves chocolate. I send her chocolate. I don’t send everyone chocolate, because Ted, another client, doesn’t like chocolate, but he loves craft beer. It takes a little more effort, but it means more. (Side note for HR Vendor Executives – this is also a good test to find out if your sales folks have been building relationships! If they have no clue, they have no clue!)

– Development Opportunity for the individual or their team. I once had a vendor ask me to do a half-day workshop with a corporate recruiting team. It was the vendor’s gift to the client for being a great client. I had this happen with another vendor who had me come and have breakfast with a TA team and share ideas and thoughts on how they could improve. I’ve also had vendors invite me to a leadership conference on their dime.

– Anything sweet that can be shared. No fruit isn’t sweet! I’m talking candy, cookies, etc. That stuff is magical, it disappears almost instantly in an office setting! Fruit get’s thrown away in about two weeks.

– A great bottle of wine or spirits. If your client is a drinker, they’ll appreciate this more than you know! Most of that appreciation will come around 7pm on a Friday night, and they’ll remember you! I can tell you CareerBuilder sent me a great bottle of wine once. Many vendors have sent me bottles of Gin from all over the country. I appreciate those vendors the most!

– A Note to their Boss. What!? It’s simple and cheap. A handwritten note to the executive they report to, or even above them all the way to the CEO, saying how great it is to work with a smart and caring partner, someone who is constantly trying to make your organization better, and I thought you should know.  Explain what makes them better than other peers in their field. That gift will give back in many ways!

– Something they wouldn’t normally buy themselves. High-end Sunglasses, Wireless Beats, Google Home, Amazon Alexa, etc. For a hundred bucks you get a “Wow! OMG! Thanks!” You get remembered. I personally had a vendor give me a Northface jacket with their logo on it. I wear it often!

There you go from free to a few thousand dollars, all will make a statement, all will make people remember you when it comes time to budget more money for your product and services. If you want to know what won’t work, hit me up after the holidays and I’ll tell you the worst gifts I got!