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T3 – PapirFly

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This week on T3 I’m taking a look at Papirfly an employment branding software just getting started here in the United States. Papirfly is a web based technology that helps you manage and communicate your employer brand around the world, enabling non-specialists to access and edit consistent marketing and communication in-house and in local languages.

Basically, Papirfly ensures that non-marketing/branding folks don’t screw up your consistent brand message!  You know, like us Talent Acquisition and HR pros who need something real quick and aren’t patient enough to wait for something to be delivered to us from marketing. So, we cut and paste a lot!  Marketing folks just love that! HR people cutting and pasting…

Papirfly has eight internal modules, and you can start with as few as you want, but the modules consist of things like print materials, email templates, banner, print ads, presentations, etc.  These modules allow anyone, who is given access, to come in and pick what they need, make changes and the software ensures only the changes approved can be made, to ensure you don’t have rogue HR folks doing their own ‘special’ branding in the field.

5 Things I really like about Papirfly: 

1. Empowers Talent Acquisition and HR to move fast and in a way where they (and owners of the brand) know everything is approved and consistent with the message the corporation wants to share.

2. Super easy to use! If you can use word, you can use Papirfly. The system builds in what can be changed, and what can’t. It also tracks, by individual, who made what changes and what it was used for. This allows the organization to track back when a certain piece was used and who did it.

3. Completely global. You can auto change languages and images, based on your audience. Allows multinational organizations to easily share a consistent branding message, but ensure that message is appropriate for each market.

4. Allows HR and Talent Acquisition to be creative, but also ensures they color within the lines!

5. Auto set safeguards, limits and approvals so that HR doesn’t have to be the brand police, and you don’t have to wait to be number one on a priority list to get things done.

Papirfly isn’t something you’re going to use if you have a 500 employee shop. This is, obviously, something that is for enterprise level HR and Talent Acquisition shops that probably have 5,000+ employees, and are in multiple locations.

If you have ever worked for a Fortune 500 level company you know how much of pain in the butt this can be! Employment branding is exploding across the globe and this has it’s own set of challenges.   Papirfly is on the forefront of how large organizations can handle one major challenge, how do you ensure the consistency of your employment brand, and still move fast.

Check them out, definitely worth a look if you’re responsible for employment branding in your organization.  It’s so simple to use the demo literally takes like 20 minutes!

T3 – Talent Tech Tuesday – is a weekly series here at The Project to educate and inform everyone who stops by on a daily/weekly basis on some great recruiting and sourcing technologies that are on the market.  None of the companies who I highlight are paying me for this promotion.  There are so many really cool things going on in the space and I wanted to educate myself and share what I find.  If you want to be on T3 – send me a note.

7 Things Reviewing HR/Talent Technology has Taught Me

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I’m not going to review a specific company today because I’m on Spring Break (like the High School kids, but I can drink, legally!).  I do want to share some overall bullet points of my initial impressions of my T3 series and some of my overall opinions of HR Tech.  Also, HR/Talent Tech vendors, let’s connect, I would love to see what you’ve got cooking!

This might be a bit disjointed, but I’ve got some nuggets that I wanted to get out:

1. Every HR Technology company believes they are now a “Data Analytics” company.  They aren’t. This is marketing.  If one of them changes next year and decides to be a “Cupcake Bakery” and you love it.  All HR Technology companies will become “Cupcake Bakeries”.   This is a function of so many of the HR Technology companies are young, new startups. Marketing is usually an afterthought, and they call some Bro or Chick they knew from school.  Bad marketing just follows the crowd. It’s easy.

2. There are two types of HR Technology companies: 1. Technology companies that saw a problem with something in the HR/Talent space and designed technology to solve it. 2. HR/Talent companies that know of HR/Talent issues and either tried to buy the technology or are fumbling around on their own trying to design technology to fit their solution.  You can tell which is which, very quickly.  I’m not saying one is better than another.  I’ve seen some great Tech, from folks who have no idea what they’re talking about. I’ve also seen some great HR/Talent companies that get it 100%, but they have no idea how to make it work on the technology side.  I think there is a place in our industry for an eHarmony type broker of great tech companies and great HR/Talent companies.

3. Great HR Technology does not need to cost a lot.  Many companies are virtually giving away their solution to gain users, and build their brand.  Never in the history of HR and Talent has technology been more affordable.  If you are paying a lot for something you are not happy with, you need to change.

4. Changing HR/Talent technology is not 1990’s painful anymore.  HR and Talent Pros hate changing technology because they believe it’s a nightmare to change.  This is no longer the case for most of the HR vendors in the tech space.  Big, expensive HR technology does not want you to know this.

5. Before signing a contract to buy a HR/Talent solution, talk with those folks running the company.  What you’ll find is some of these companies are run by folks who are so passionate about what they are solving it’s almost unbelievable.  You’ll also find some folks who are trying to solve a problem, but also are try to ‘just’ sell their company. I’m a capitalist, I’m all for you selling your company and making a bucket of money.  But I like to buy technology from someone who is so passionate, they wouldn’t want to sell their business because it’s a part of them.  Either way, you’ll learn a lot by having these conversations. Both parties are super smart, usually.

6. Buying HR/Talent technology is still mostly a relationship based sale.  In the end, Mr. and Mrs. HR and Talent Acquisition need to feel like you truly care about helping them with their problems, and you get their daily struggle.  Some companies completely bomb at this.

7. Many HR/Talent technology companies bomb demos because they don’t truly understand how a ‘normal’ HR or Talent pro will use their product on a daily basis.  Thus, the demo, should demonstrate this experience.  Many times I, someone who loves HR and Talent technology, will leave a demo feeling overwhelmed by what I just saw.  If I’m feeling that way, imagine how Mike and Mary in Fargo are feeling.

The T3 series is teaching so much, I love it.  I hope you are liking it as well, and getting to know some of the great HR and Talent technology that is available to you in the marketplace. I encourage everyone to do demos.  I rarely ever feel pressured to buy anything, especially if you let them know up front you are really just looking for the future.  So many of the vendors do great demos and really teach you things during the process.  In a way, doing demos is great personal development for your career.

T3 – Talent Tech Tuesday – is a weekly series here at The Project to educate and inform everyone who stops by on a daily/weekly basis on some great recruiting and sourcing technologies that are on the market.  None of the companies who I highlight are paying me for this promotion.  There are so many really cool things going on in the space and I wanted to educate myself and share what I find.  If you want to be on T3 – send me a note.

Watered Downed Feedback is Killing America

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I said this before, but you don’t want to hear it.  No one cares about what you have to say, unless it’s telling them how good they are.

People can’t handle critical feedback, unless it’s set up in a mechanism where they expect it and desire it.  That’s the crux, hardly anyone has that mechanism and while most people tell you they want critical feedback they don’t have the makeup to handle it.

Here are the types of “critical” feedback people can handle:

“You’re doing a good job, would love it if you could get that big project off the ground. That would really help us out!”

Here’s what you really want to say, critically, but can’t:

“You do good at things I tell you to do, and all basic day to day duties of the job. I need more from this position and from you, and I’m willing to help get you there. I need someone who can take a project from scratch and kill it, without me having to babysit the entire thing. You’re not doing that, and that’s what I really need you to do. Are you willing do that?” 

Same message, right?  You do some stuff good, but one critical aspect of the job is not getting done. The problem is, the first level feedback is given 99.9% of the time, because managers and leaders know if you deliver the second level, that person will be destroyed!

They’ll think you think they suck, and they’ll start looking for a job.  When in reality, you were just trying to give them legitimate feedback. Real feedback. Something that would actually help them reach expectations.

So, how do you get to a point to be able to deliver ‘real’ feedback?

It’s starts with your hiring process. In the interview process you need to set people up to understand that your organization delivers real feedback, and they must be able to accept critical feedback and not crumble.  This is a team, it’s about getting better, not hurt egos.  Half will crumble in the interview, which is a good thing, you don’t want them anyway.

For those that you think have the self-insight enough to handle it, you need to do it before hire. Give them the real feedback from their interview, and see how they reply, how they interact.  This will show you what you can expect from them when they get this level of feedback as an employee.

For the employees already working, you need to start by showing them and giving them examples of what true feedback looks like. You need to coach and train your leaders on how to deliver this, on an ongoing basis.  You then need to have coaches and mentors sit in with all leaders when they begin to deliver this feedback.

Part of your leader training is to show them how to accept feedback from their teams as well. If you want to dish it out, you have to accept it as well. Training and coaching employees on how to ‘manage up’ is key to making this successful. This isn’t about blowing people up. It’s about delivering true feedback to help them get better, and person accepting and receiving this information under that assumption. We want you to be the best you, you can be.

All this takes work and time. The organizations that can do this win the culture war, because all the people working for you will know they won’t get this anywhere else!

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.

 

 

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!

It’s Tim Sackett Day – Celebrating Victorio Milian @Victorio_M

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January 23, 2012 my friends made that day forever be known as Tim Sackett Day!  By January 23, 2013, those same friends thought I couldn’t take another day of celebration and honor, and decided to honor another individual but still call it Tim Sackett Day! Last year on Tim Sackett Day we honored the great Kelly Dingee! So, welcome to the 4th Annual Tim Sackett Day celebration!

Tim Sackett Day is about honoring and giving respect to fellow HR and Talent Pros that we don’t think get enough respect.  They are wicked smart.  Great at their profession.  Helpful towards others.  Really, just good all around people, we think you should know more about.  Yes, everything I’m not!  Laurie’s original goal was to introduce our little HR and Talent social world to people they might not know, but really should.

That’s why I’m excited on this day, January 23, 2015 for Tim Sackett Day, we are honoring Victorio Milian. Victorio is a Sr. HR Consultant for Humareso, writer with HRExaminer and his own blog CreativeChaosHR.Tumblr.com.  You can also check him out at HireVictorio.com.  You can easily find him on Twitter: @Victorio_M, where he is prolific!

I first came to know Victorio years ago when he was in the midst of a job search.  I’m not sure exactly who introduced us, but I could tell immediately he was one of those HR Pros who ‘got it’.  He wasn’t about traditional HR and spending each day just doing administrative work. He wanted to make a difference in the organization he worked for, and he wanted his organization to make a difference in its employees.

He is passionate about his profession and about his family.  He used to be passionate about his signature long dreadlocks, but cut them off and went short.  I loved his long dreads and couldn’t believe he cut them loose. But,  I also love his new look as well!

What I know about Victorio is he has a huge heart and willing to help anyone in need, especially HR pros!  I couldn’t be more happy and excited to share my day with Victorio. Please tell him congratulations today on the social webs, and make sure you connect with him, you’ll be better for it!

The Biggest HR Issue No One Is Talking About for 2015 #EWS2014

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Hey, gang I’m running a sponsored post by the great folks at Spherion regarding their 2014 Emerging Workforce Study which has some really great data, check it out. You can win a $100 American Express gift card by just commenting on this post with your favorite EWS Statistic, sharing this post on Facebook and/or Tweeting this post with the #EWS2014.  That’s easy, go do it! You know you need the extra scratch for the holidays!

I’ve been asked by about dozen people to give my HR and Talent predictions for 2015.  I haven’t done any yet, because there is really one, serious, one that came to mind.  The one prediction that is keeping me up at night, is RETENTION!  More specifically, how do we retain our employees as the options for their talent continue to increase.

Here are some alarming points from the Emerging Workforce Study:

    • 25 percent of all workers are likely to look for a new job in the next 12 months.
    • Companies report they have only put in minimal effort to retain their workers.
    • Companies that do not have retention programs in place have 61 percent more expected turnover in the next 12 months, compared to companies who have retention programs in place (average expected turnover 21 percent vs. 12 percent\

One of the main problems is that employers and employees wholeheartedly disagree on what drives retention. Employers focus more on intangible items, feeling that the management climate (89%), an employee’s relationship with his or her supervisor (85%) and the culture and work environment (81%) are most important when retaining employees.  Not surprisingly, employees focus more on ‘bread and butter’ issues, feeling that financial compensation (78%), benefits (76%) and growth and earnings potential (71%) are most important in retaining employees.

 The reality is Retention in HR use to be a ‘sexy’ topic to talk about and game plan.  The recession hit a decade ago, and retention was no longer an issue. It was virtually forgotten about for 10 years!  No one cared.  Employees were staying because there weren’t any jobs.  That is rapidly changing and we have an entire generation of leadership and HR that doesn’t even really understand how to retain their own talent.

Isn’t there an App for that?  Probably, but it doesn’t really work!

Retention is one of those crazy things that takes a lot of effort by a lot of people to make it work.  Great leadership. Check.  Great compensation and benefits. Check. Great work environment. Check.  Growth potential. Check.  Retention is all about ‘blocking and tackling’.  You have to do all the basic leadership and HR things well.  Let one go, and Bam! You have a retention problem.  You can cover up problems by doing one of these things really well, but it’s a short term solution.  You pay the best! Great, you bought yourself some time. You have horrible leaders? Great pay only works so long before people will leave!

Retaining your best workers will be one of the most talked about issues by the end of 2015.  By then the unemployment numbers will be low enough where bad companies can no longer get good talent, or the good talent they have will be leaving for better companies.  That’s the tipping point.  We are quickly getting there.  Are you ready?

 

Disclosure Language:

Spherion partnered with bloggers such as me for their Emerging Workforce Study program. As part of this program, I received compensation for my time. They did not tell me what to purchase or what to say about any idea mentioned in these posts. Spherion believes that consumers and bloggers are free to form their own opinions and share them in their own words. Spherion’s policies align with WOMMA Ethics Code, FTC guidelines and social media engagement recommendations. 

The Container Store Doesn’t Want to Hire Harvard Grads

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You probably saw this on the web this past week, but in case you didn’t a former Harvard University graduate and Emmy award winning writer got rejected for a job at The Container Store for the holidays.  She was very surprised by this, in a pompous I’m-really-to-good-for-you kind of way, but I’m desperate, so you would be lucky to have me. Here it is in her words:

“The email from The Container Store asking for holiday help arrived a week before my rescheduled MRI. Of course I applied! You would have, too, if you had one kid paying his own way through college, another applying, no health coverage, a bum boob, a broken marriage and an empty bank account. There is no time for shame in a recession. You do what you have to do. There are worse ways to spend your day than greeting visitors at the front of a store run by a company whose products you actually use. A week later, I got an email from the Manhattan Loss Prevention department at The Container Store. Here’s what it said:

Hello Deborah —

Thank you for your interest in employment opportunities at The Container Store.

We carefully review all applications and consider each person for current or future opportunities. At this time, we are moving forward with other candidates for this position.

Again, we thank you for your interest in The Container Store. We wish you much success in your job search.

Sincerely,

The Container Store
Manhattan Loss Prevention

Reader, first I laughed when I read this. Then I cried. Oh, Reader, I cried and I cried, long and deep and mournfully. I cried for me and my kids, then I cried for everyone else in my same boat, then I cried for everyone in far worse boats. Because seriously, if an Emmy Award-winning, New York Times bestselling author and Harvard grad cannot land a job as a greeter at The Container Store — or anywhere else for that matter, hard as I tried — we are all doomed.“

Really?  We are all doomed because someone who has a Harvard degree and can write can’t get a service level holiday job?

Let’s take a look at why she probably didn’t get hired. I’ll give you some possible reasons on why The Container Store decided to go another route:

1. It’s a temporary job for the holidays, where they need someone to greet stressed out holiday shoppers.  Many people work these jobs each year to get extra holiday money, they have experience doing this, they can be counted on, not to quit after the first rude person yells at them. Experience counts. Even in ‘crappy’ jobs.

2.  These jobs are boring and monotonous. Service level companies know that most Harvard educated folks would be bored and not engaged in these positions.

3. Looking at the application of someone with a Harvard education and being a writer, they might have decided the person would work only until they got a better job, and they wanted to ensure the person stayed on through the completion of the assignment.

4. Maybe they had someone who has worked ‘temporarily’ for them in the past apply to come back, that had previously performed well.

5. Maybe they got internal referrals of friends and family from their employees, and decided those hires might ‘fit’ better.

No doubt Deborah is smart and a good writer. That doesn’t mean she would be good for the container store, and it is pompous of her to believe she would be.  She didn’t see this ‘job’ as good, she saw it as a step down, and something she was ‘forced’ to do.  Sounds just like someone you really want working for you, right?  “Well, I don’t have anything else Container Store, I guess I’ll take your crappy job.”

The Container Store rejected a Harvard graduate because a Harvard graduate isn’t the best hire, the best talent, for the position they were hiring for.  I might not be a Harvard graduate, but that seems pretty simple to figure out.

T3 – Talent Techie Tuesday

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I’ve decided I need a new series.  My last series – Rap Lyrics That Shaped My Leadership Style – was hugely popular and on a weekly basis still gets way more reads than it should!

I’m calling it T3 (Talent Techie Tuesday).

My goal is to demo and review the coolest Talent Acquisition and Sourcing technology that is out there, and let you all know what I think.  My goal is to do this for a year, 52 straight weeks.  There are thousands of companies in our space, most you have never heard about, or have no idea what they do.  Some are super inexpensive to use, and have huge ROI.  I want to uncover these companies, and show you what they can do.

As a reader you can expect my normal level of content.  That means I’ll be giving you my real take on what I think of the solution and how you can use it.  You can also expect some snark, and grammatical errors – I refuse to not follow my brand!

As a provider of one of these solutions, you can expect me to be fair and really look for the positive ways end users can best leverage your product/service/solution.  If you want to be a part of this, hit me with an email at timsackett@comcast.net.  I’ll schedule you for a one hour demo/Q&A and then I’ll throw it up the next week on my site.   I won’t be accepting any compensation for these reviews, and you, as a vendor, won’t have any editorial say on what I write.

My friend Steve Boese used to own this space at his HR Technology blog. Then he took on the task of running the HR Technology Conference, and the role has made it harder for him to write about individual companies in the HR and Talent space.  I use to love reading his product reviews, and he introduced me to so many great companies. I’m hoping I can carry on the torch.

I love recruiting technology.   In my view all the great innovation is being done in this space, and it’s moving so fast!  I hope I can show you some really cool tools that will change you recruiting and sourcing life!

Stay tuned.

Baltimore Ravens Failed HR 101

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By now everyone has seen former Baltimore Raven running back, Ray Rice, knock out his wife with two punches to the head in the elevator of an Atlantic City casino.  My question is, why didn’t anyone in the Baltimore Raven’s organization see this before agreeing to bring him back initially, with only a two game suspension?

The Raven’s claim no one in their organization saw the video from inside the elevator until it was leaked to TMZ this week.  Do you buy that?  I don’t.  Twenty years in HR and I would have put a stop to this with one decision.  “Ray, you want to be a part of this organization, we need to see what happened from inside the elevator before that happens.” But, I can’t get the tape, the casino would release it, it’s not mine to get, etc. Bullshit.

Then, I guess you don’t want to play football very badly.  It’s a very simple HR problem.  You have an employee (Mr. Rice) who does something you believe to be really bad, but you can’t fully prove it, but you know he can.  Make him prove he’s innocent.  Make him go get the tape.  An innocent person will do that.  A guilty person will give you excuses about why they can’t.

I truly think that someone on the Ravens knew what was on that tape, but had the casino’s word that it would never get out, and they believed them!

Once it got out, yes, they did the right thing.  But, it never should have gotten this far.  Good organizations get the information they need, or they stay conservative as possible.  The video footage was out there. If TMZ can get it, you better believe the Ravens could have gotten it.  It’s all about money and pressure.  The Ravens have both and decided not to use it to get to the truth.  That’s an example of a poorly run organization.

I’m guessing this guy will never get a chance to play football again in the NFL.  I can’t believe another team would ever take the publicity hit to bring him in, even if he ever gets reinstated by the NFL.

It begs the question: what if this happened to one of your employees?  Yeah, you would fire them, but do you believe they should ever get a chance to work again in their chosen profession?

It’s messy. It’s HR. Ray knocked her out.  She forgave him and married him.  Life is really screwed up.  My guess is eventually he’ll have to work somewhere, or he’ll end up in prison, probably where he should have ended up in the first place.

I know one thing, the NFL pays better than prison.