Category Archives: Trench HR

Double Your Chances for Promotion in Two Easy Steps

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I had a kid reach out to me last week and ask how he could get promoted at his current company.  I call him a kid, because he was probably 20 years younger than I, so I’ve reached that point in my life I can start calling adult professionals, ‘kids’.

Laurie Ruettimann and I had this talk just a couple weeks ago, right after she turned 40. I told her, “I’ve finally reached that point in my life where I have 20 years of solid work experience, but I feel bad about telling people that number!” 20 years of experience sounds old!  I remember when I had five years of work experience and I would try and stretch it to 7 or 8 years of experience by adding in college jobs!

Now, I have the legit experience and I want to make it sound like it’s ten years!

So, this kid wants to get promoted.  He’s got just under 5 years of experience and he’s itching for more.  We’ve all been there. Here’s what I told him:

“You need to do two things in this order: 

1st – Put together a self-development plan with activities and goals and a timeline. Show that you’re working on your ‘opportunity’ areas. (Opportunity areas are weaknesses for the GenXers reading this) 

2nd – You need to make your direct supervisor keenly aware of this plan, and (the most important part) you need to ask that supervisor for help in accomplishing your plan.  Have very specific things your boss can do to help you complete your development plan.” 

We then talked about what some of those things would look like based on what he told me he thought his ‘opportunity’ areas were.

Bosses love to promote people they believe they’ve helped and mentored.  It’s a great ego stroke, and they get bonus points from the organization because they are ‘developing’ talent.  Bosses don’t get credit for hiring great talent.  They get credit for promoting great talent.

It’s Organizational Behavior 101 at it’s finest.

It doesn’t have to be very sophisticated.  Bosses like to promote people that they believe are engaged in their job and the company.  By you taking the initiative to have your own development plan, and not wait for them to offer it up to you, and by you asking them for help, you just doubled your chances of getting promoted.

There are a lot of moving factors in anything like this, but if you are working for someone who is respected in the organization, and you have an above average performance as compared to others in your work group, this will almost always play out well for you.

Want to get promoted?  It only takes two steps.

7 Things You Should Never Say When Asking for a Raise!

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There are certain conversations in our work lives that cause people the most anxiety and having to go in and ask for money is, on my list, the next most anxious work conversation most people will face.  I can think of many times that I wanted more money, thought I was deserving to get more money, and heck even our good old Comp people said the market should be paying me more money, and still, it is a difficult conversation to have with my superior (at least for me).

Like many people, I think I do a good job, give my best effort, produce great results, and after all that, should I really need to ask? Shouldn’t my boss ‘get it’ and just want to write me a blank check?!

With all this in mind, most people will screw this conversation up by saying things they really want to say, but shouldn’t, if they’re trying to get a raise.  Here are the top things you probably shouldn’t say when asking for a raise:

1. “If you pay 10% more, I will really put in some extra effort!” – So what you’re saying is you’re not putting in extra effort now…

2. “I looked in our HRIS system and I know Sheila on the 5th floor is making $5000 more than I am – and she’s an idiot!” – Not the best strategy to look at others’ private comp information, even if you have access, then call them an idiot – at least in my experience…

3. “If you don’t pay me more money, I’ll be forced to find another job that will pay me what I worth” – Be careful, I’ve tried this one, and they might call your bluff!

4. “I’ve done the math and if you fire Mike, I can do his job and mine, you save $50K, after giving me $25K of his $75K salary” – This actually might be a really good idea, But Mike might be the last one standing with the $25K raise, not you!

5. “I really don’t understand how you can be worth $50K more than me, I do all your work – and deserve more money” – Bosses just love to hear they are overpaid, don’t do anything, and you can do their job – NOT!

6. “I saved the company $1 million in reducing recruiting fees, by implementing a social media strategy successfully, I should at least get a fraction of those savings” – Why, yes you should – if you were in sales, but you’re in HR, and this was part of your job description. Sorry for the wakeup call – all employees aren’t treated equally – put on a helmet.

7. “I know times are tough, so I was thinking instead of more money you could give me an extra week’s vacation or pay for my health insurance or something else like that.” – Okay, Einstein, stop thinking – it’s all money. Vacation, health insurance, paid parking, lunch money – it all hits the bottom line on the income statement. You just showed how expendable you really are.

I’ve learned over the years, through trial and error (okay, mostly error) that many, if not all, of the above statements just don’t seem to have the impact that I was hoping for with my supervisor.  I have seen peers, who performed well, were loyal, dedicated to doing their best for themselves, their co-workers and the company, that got the raise they wanted by just being patient.

Supervisors are as uncomfortable as you are to have the compensation conversation. If you are as good as you profess to be, then they really do want to give you more, but probably can’t due to budget, market, others performing even better than you, etc.   It may be the hardest thing to do, but being patient, usually works out the best of all!

Career Advice #137 – There Will Be Haters

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Adidas just came out with some brilliant marketing for their new football (soccer) boots (cleats). Check it out:

This can also be used as just plain good advice for everyday professionals in the work world.

You are going to have haters in your life.  You can’t do anything about it.  It’s not your problem, it’s their problem.

All you can do is be the best version of you that you can be.  Some days that might not be very good, and some days you’ll be brilliant. That’s life.

You’ll be hated for being too nice. Too smart. Not smart enough. Because others like you. Because you were born pretty. Because you were born fat. Because you talk too much, or not enough.  Some folks just find life more enjoyable when they’re hating.

Regardless, there will be haters.

 

 

When Should You Suspend an Employee?

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This week it was announced that the NFL would suspend Cleveland Brown’s wide receiver, Josh Gordon, for one year for violating its substance abuse policy. This wasn’t Gordon’s first offense, in fact he has been on under discipline by the league this full season for prior violations.  He has previously gotten a DWI and tested positive for marijuana use, which cost him playing the first ten games of this past season. He also missed the last regular season game for breaking team rules.

This most recent offense came after the teams final game of the season on the plane ride home, he had four alcoholic drinks with his teammates. He was tested upon landing, and that broke his discipline of not drinking until the season was over.  His season was over, but the NFL season still had the playoffs.  He claims, he thought his discipline only ran until his season was over. The NFL didn’t budge and suspended him for at least one full year.

Josh Gordon has had a history of trouble, he failed three drug tests in college. He had a trouble and hard childhood, raised in near poverty and having to fight against the constant influence of bad things you come in contact with growing up in bad neighborhoods.  He’s highly talented.

What do you think?  Did the NFL go too far in their discipline? Would you have done the same thing in your work environment?

Here’s my feelings:

1. I don’t suspend this kid. I get him highly supervised treatment, that includes still being apart of football, but not playing in games. Take away the big money, give him enough to live on, but enforce treatment, practice, increased testing, all for that same year.  You don’t help Josh Gordon by telling him to go away for a year.

2. Does he deserve this? No.  But, from a business perspective, it is in my best interest to fix him and use his talent.  I would also lock him into a long term deal that is advantageous to my organization and allows me out without payment.  I turn this into a win-win for my organization. I’ll help get you better, but I need something in return. Welcome to capitalism.

3. At a certain point, your talent will not outweigh my need to protect my organization. This means you can’t keep screwing up and believe we are going to keep trying to help you.  No matter how talented you are. This means that less talented people in my organization would not get the same treatment.

Most HR people will not be comfortable with #3. The fact is, I’ll jump through more hoops to help my best salesperson than I will for an entry level salesperson.  My investment is different. thus my threshold of help is different.

I suspend someone in my organization when their value to my organization is no longer greater than the cost to my organization. Until that point, I work with them to correct whatever actions we need to correct. I don’t look for an equal equation.  I’m not in the business of equal. I’m in the business of generating greater value.  My employees have to add value.

 

 

Stories from the D: How Loyal are your Employees?

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By now almost the entire world has heard the James Robertson story. He is the Detroiter who walked 21 miles to work, one-way.  It sounds like a story your grandparents told you about how they had to walk to 2 miles to school, in the snow, uphill, both ways!  The difference is, this story is true:

“James Robertson, 56, of Detroit, walks toward Woodward Ave. in Detroit to catch his morning bus to Somerset Collection in Troy before walking to his job at Schain Mold & Engineering in Rochester Hills on Thursday January 29, 2015. James walks 21 miles daily round trip to his job.Robertson’s round trip commute requires a bus ride each direction as well as nearly 21-miles of walking consuming 22 hours of his day before beginning again throughout the work week.”

He leaves his home in downtown Detroit at 8am to make sure he makes it on time for his 2pm shift, and he’s always on time.

“I set our attendance standard by this man,” says Todd Wilson, plant manager at Schain Mold & Engineering. “I say, if this man can get here, walking all those miles through snow and rain, well I’ll tell you, I have people in Pontiac 10 minutes away and they say they can’t get here — bull!”

walking man

 

Why does he do this?  For a job that pays $10.53 per hour.  Why does he have to walk?  First, his 1988 Honda Accord broke down and he couldn’t afford to fix it, he also struggled with the high cost of car insurance. Second, Detroit might have the worst large city public transportation in the nation! Why doesn’t he just move closer?  The house he lives in, with his girlfriend, was inherited and they own it outright.  Why doesn’t he just find a job closer to home? There aren’t many, that are good, and he’s loyal.

More loyal than 99.9% of your employees!

This story will have a happy ending. A local university student heard read this story and started a GoFundMe account to help get James a car to drive to work.  As of today, that account has raised over $275,000 and both Honda and General Motors have come forward to offer him a free car!  People love to give to someone who isn’t asking for it, but deserves it.

For all the bad stories we hear about of lazy employees, people who don’t want to work and live off welfare, we forget that there are more people who get up every single day and just want to work.  You have more loyal employees than you have disloyal.  We should be celebrating those people.

You know I love the fact this story came out of the D.  Detroit got hit hard during the recession, but we are bouncing back.  We are doing that because of people like James Robertson.  He’s someone you should tell your kids about!

 

Sometimes You Just Need to ‘Burn’ a Hire

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I love baseball. There is a concept in baseball where a pitcher will ‘burn’ a pitch, here and there.  Basically, it means that the pitcher isn’t actually trying to throw a strike, they are using this pitch to set up another pitch.  For intensive purposes, the pitcher is wasting that pitch for the greater good.

Have you ever done that in HR and hiring?  Have you ever burned a hire?

I have.

In large organizations you sometimes have to burn hires to prove points and/or get hiring managers on your side.  I remember a time when we first started using a very complex pre-employment assessment.  The hiring managers hated it.  They didn’t believe in the science.  They didn’t believe what the assessment was telling us.

That’s the funny thing about really good assessments.  They only work if you, and your organization, are bought in to the belief that using this assessment, in the long run, is going to give us better hires overall.

In this instance I’ve allowed hiring managers to hire individuals who the hiring managers love, but the assessment told us was going to fail, knowing I was probably right.  I was willing to burn a hire, to prove a point about the greater good of the tools we were using. I wouldn’t continue doing this, but sometimes you have to be willing to prove out your beliefs.  This sets up the assessment for future success, and ultimately better hires.

I’m also willing to burn hires on executive referrals.  Too many times in my career I’ve been contacted by high level executives and board members of the companies that have ‘requested’ I get a job for their kids, or their sister’s kid, or some other family member.  For the most part, on average, these hires are horrible.  But, I’ve learned that fighting this is never a good career move, so you burn a hire.

When I talk to HR people about doing this, many a very much against burning hires, or at the very least, willing to admit they burn hires!  Rarely, will you find a HR or Talent Pro willing to state publicly they burn hires, but behind closed doors we know this happens often. Sometimes the battle isn’t as important as the war your fighting internally, so you let hires go through the process you would normally stop.

This doesn’t make you bad at HR or Recruiting, this makes you strategic. Like the pitcher, you’re just setting yourself and your organization for success. To do that sometimes you just have to burn a hire here and there.

HR and Snow Days

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Based upon the ‘historic’ snow storm on the east coast this past week, I pulled one from the archives on my feelings about how HR should handle snow days. Enjoy.

Look I get it.  I have 3 sons and Snow Days are a big deal…if you’re 10!   So, if you’re an HR Pro, right about this time tomorrow, you’re going to feel like you have an entire organization full of 10 year olds,  as we begin to see the first signs of Snowmagedon!

I understand people freaking out, that is, if you live in some place south of the Mason-Dixon line, and you’ve never seen snow before. But, I live in Michigan and it snows here. The snow starts around Halloween and ends around Easter.  What I don’t understand is anyone that lives north of, let’s say, Chicago, is even blinking an eye at a snow storm coming.  Let it snow, clear your driveway and get your butt to work.

It’s not a difficult concept! No, I don’t want you to drive to a client if the roads are dangerous, and, no, I don’t want you to drive to work if the roads are dangerous, and, no, I don’t want you to run around the office with scissors and your shoes untied!  But I do expect, we’ll all be adults.

If it looks like there’s going to be a lot of snow tomorrow, you need to make a plan. How about packing some work to do from home, or just plan on watching Lifetime all day, because I completely understand you missing the 3 days’ of warning that the snow was coming! (he screamed to himself in a mocking voice…)

Snow Days are the kind of crap that drives HR and Leadership completely insane!

Why is it, the CEO finds his way into the office, driving his Lexus sedan, but Perry in IT just can’t seem to get his 4X4Chevy Tahoe out of the garage?   If you want a day off that damn bad, take a day off,  but don’t insult the intelligence of all those who found a way to come in.

Be sensible, give your local snow plows some time to clear roads, give yourself extra time to get to work, but at the very least give it a shot. Then, when you get stuck, take a picture with your phone and send it to your boss, they’ll appreciate the effort!

HR Can Learn From Target’s Failure in Canada

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If you haven’t heard, America’s darling department store chain Target, failed miserably in Canada and will soon close all of it’s locations in Canada.  I like Target.  I like Target way more than I like Walmart.  Target is more expensive, but I think they offer a better product selection, with higher quality, in an environment I like shopping in.  Walmart sometimes scares me.

For those who don’t know, I spent a little over three years of my HR life working in mass retail (not for Target or Walmart). I find it interesting that a store I like so much could fail in an area I consider not much different than my own environment. I’m sure my Canadian friends and readers will have fun with that statement, but when I go to Canada I don’t feel like I’m necessarily in a different country from where I live in the U.S. in Michigan. It’s cold. People like donuts, beer and hockey. I mean, we’re almost Canadian!

Target’s failures in Canada parallel many of our own failures in HR:

1. Target bought out a failing chain in Canada and many of those locations were in bad, or not convenient, areas.  We do this in organizations.  I had a client who was in the most awful area to try and attract talent. I said, why do we just open up an offsite office in the bigger city near by. They lost their minds I would even suggest that. Two years later, after losing out on so much business, they finally did just that.  Location. Location. Location.  How is this an HR issue?  Lack of talent is an HR issue, even if it means part of the strategy is to open new locations or move. Don’t think that’s only a leader issue.

2. Target charged more in Canada, then the U.S.  Nothing pisses off someone more than to find out they’re getting taken.  Canadians that lived close to the U.S. border would go to U.S. Target locations and see lower prices. This kills your brand.  We do this with employees salaries. Once people find out you pay differently based on some silly reason, you’re done.  Well, Tim makes more because when we hired him he asked for more. Okay, why didn’t you raise up Mary’s salary at that point as well? Well, Mary didn’t ask. Dumb!

3. Target wasn’t prepared for growth in Canada and couldn’t keep its store’s shelves full.  No one is impressed by a half empty store, and they won’t come back.  You only get one chance to impress that first-time customer. You also only get one chance to impress that first-time candidate.  Blow it, and they won’t come back, and blow enough of those, and it gets around.  Soon, you are known in your market as the place no one wants to go to work for.

It didn’t help that Walmart had a two decade head start over Target in Canada as well.  Entering a market, you better have full understanding who is on top, and why are they on top.  Target didn’t give Walmart the respect they deserved and the learning they endured breaking into Canada.  They tried to do what was successful in the U.S. I’m sure my Canadian friends will be quick to point out, unlike me, they know Canada isn’t the U.S.!

Talent Isn’t Fair

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We have a big problem with this concept in HR.

We want everything to be fair. At the core of what we do, though, is the most unfair dilemma that we can do nothing about. Our people come to us with talent.  It is never equal.  We can try to help our employees leverage the talents they have, but in the end it’s their talent, their desire.

I work my butt off, but Mary makes more sales than me, and she doesn’t put in half the effort I do!  Yep, she has more talent.

I am loyal to this company, and Bill hates this place, but he got promoted! Yep, he has more talent.

I just can’t seem to find a solution to our problem, then Sue finds it after working on it for ten minutes. Talent.

Everything we do in HR and Talent Acquisition comes down to us managing the inequalities of talent in our organizations.

Turns out, talent isn’t fair.

 

 

5 Reasons I Got My SHRM-SCP

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I’ve been known to rail against the man (SHRM) once in a while.  I only do it, because I care.  If I didn’t care about my professional organization, I could really care less how bad they come off, or the bad decisions they make.  When they decided to ditch HRCI and bring HR certification in house, I thought they butchered the communication.  Maybe one of the worst rollouts I’ve ever seen by a professional organization.

I also thought, though, that it was a smart business decision.  Why let HRCI rake in all the dough, when you can do it just as well yourself.  In fact, I wish they would have just come out and said that, originally. We don’t see any reason why as stewards of our business, we should give all this cash to some other organization. I would have loved that!

So, at the time of that announcement, in May 2014, SHRM was going to force all HRCI certified members to pay and take the new SHRM certification. This made complete sense if SHRM was doing what they said they were doing, which was to create a ‘new’ assessment of HR based on competency, because that’s what was really needed for the profession.  I was cool with that, but I wasn’t going to pay and take another test.  I’ve reached a point in my career where I don’t need letters after my name to prove my proficiency.  So, I was riding the HRCI train until it ended.

‘Surprisingly’ SHRM changed direction last week and created a new pathway for already certified HRCI members to gain the new SHRM certification by following a simple process that takes about an hour, and costs nothing. Again, brilliant, now no one really has any reason not to get the new SHRM certification, and convert over.  It’s what they should have done originally, but they couldn’t because they were trying to keep up the illusion they needed a new and improved certification, not just a money grab. Thankfully, someone came to their senses, and grabbed the money!

All of that being said, here are the 5 reasons I decided to get my SHRM Sr. Certified Professional certification:

1. We all hate conflict, and I wasn’t picking sides in some fight over money. SHRM is my professional organization.  HRCI is basically a testing center. I’ll stick with SHRM.

2. No one knows HRCI. Everyone knows SHRM. Let’s get real for a second, up until May most people thought HRCI was a department within SHRM. No one had any idea they were a separate company, unless you were deeply involved in SHRM.  Outside our industry, no one knows HRCI. SHRM is a brand for HR.

3. Ultimately, SHRM is right. Competencies assessments are better than knowledge based assessments.  Anyone can memorize answers. It takes critical thinking to answer competency based assessments correctly.

4. It was free! I wasn’t going to pay a dime to get SHRM certified and tested.  Well, maybe a dime, but not a quarter.

5. It’s hard being a pimp. Running a professional organization like SHRM and getting everyone to move in one direction, is tough! I want HR to move forward. SHRM has an advantage because of its size and scope to make this happen. Ultimately, I love the career I chose and want to see the function move forward and not fractured.

Does Hank and the crew still need to get their shit together? Yes.  A first year communications student could have launched the new SHRM cert better.  It’s a common issue that crops up for SHRM continually, and obviously is a blind spot.  They need to fix that.  You don’t need more opinions on how it should be communicated, and more input. You just need to get the right input.

Not getting this right, the first time, made our industry look like a bunch of idiots, “same old HR”.  SHRM has to do better moving forward.

Now, go get your SHRM certification, you would be silly not to.