The Value of Returning Moms to your Workforce

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I overheard on the radio about this Australian company who is rewarding returning mothers to their workforce by paying them Double their salary when they return to work, for the first 6 weeks.   My first impression was – “Oh hell No – don’t let any of my female employees find out about this!”

For those who don’t know I run a very young company – not young on experience – young on average age of employee.  It comes with the territory – most 3rd party recruiting companies have a fairly young workforce.  Get new recruiters right out of college, train and grow them into your culture – make them part of the “family”.  There’s something else that comes with all the fun and energy of a young workforce – a ton of weddings and a ton of babies!   We have the standard punchlines – “Don’t drink the water here!”, etc.  But the reality is, in the last 10 years – there hasn’t been a time when someone in the office hasn’t been pregnant.  It’s now part of the culture.

The Australian company got me thinking – no, not about paying my returning moms double – that’s crazy talk! It got me thinking about how valuable my returning moms are to my company.   It’s a huge worry I have every time one of my employees comes in to share their awesome news.  “Hey, Tim I’ve got something to tell! I’m pregnant!”  My response – “Awesome! I’m so happy for you!  Who’s the father?”  The “who’s the father” line is joke – I usually the know the father – remember – we’re a family – not much happens that we don’t know about.  I honestly feel so excited for them.  Internally, though, I’m going “Oh, Shit!”, because I know I’ve got a realistic 50/50 shot at getting that person back after they deliver.  That’s nature – I love my job, but once I hold that baby in my arms – I love it more and I’m finding out a way where I don’t have to leave them all day.

So, now I understand why this Australian company is rewarding returning mothers.  Give them a little extra incentive to return – knowing how hard it is to pull them away from their baby and start this new life as a mom and an employee.  Life just got doubly hard – we’ll give you double the pay!  You deserve it.   As HR Pros and Organizations, we tend to struggle to really understand how difficult this transition is.  We welcome the people back, we understand the sleep deprivation and the separation anxiety – but we honestly have no idea how hard it is – unless you’ve gone through it yourself.

I love returning moms for these reasons:

– They get hard work and sacrifice! 

– They can juggle a hundred things at once!

– They have perspective of what is important!

– They work doubly hard to maintain a balance in their life!

So, what is your organization doing to ensure your returning moms are going to return?   I know if I could afford it, I would pay them double, but beyond that what else?  Think of what new Moms need – a transition plan to ease back into their “new” life, flexibility, encouragement, understanding and maybe a big bottle of wine and a sitter every so often!   When we talk about the cost of retention and engagement – this is what we are talking about.  Finding ways to keep your best – in my world – My mommies are my best!

 

Just Make It Better

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If your sitting in your HR office right now reading this, about to create some new HR stuff – stop – your wasting our time (and by “our” I mean all of us employees in the organization).  “Wow – look who woke up on the wrong side of the week!”

It’s not that I don’t think being creative is important – it’s Hugely important.  Being creative in HR just isn’t important.   I know you think it is – that’s because you want to be creative – so you make yourself believe that’s important.  But the reality is – anything you can do – I can do better.  No, not because I’m better than you – I mean I probably am – but that isn’t the point.  I can do it better because – all I’m going to do is take what you’ve already done – and make it better.

In fact I’ll do a few more things while working on improving your thing:

1. I’ll make it cheaper

2. I’ll make it more simple to use

3. I’ll make it fun to do

See – stop being creative – and just start making things better.

From an article in Fast Company:

The line between becoming a pioneer and a “me-too” flop can be unclear when you’re in the weeds of development. Uncertainty is an easier destination to arrive at than confidence, especially when the truth is, there’s no such thing as making anything that’s really new. Everything is an evolution of something else. But you can make something better. When in doubt, ask yourself if you’d use your new product instead of the market leader’s. If the answer is yes, keep going. If it’s no, then stop and rethink.

This obviously talks about products – but services and what we offer in HR are very similar.  Is what you’re doing in HR better than what your competition is doing in HR?  If yes, carry on. If no, make it better.  It isn’t hard – it will take some hard work – but it’s not mentally challenging.  When I see people unwilling to make their HR Shops better – I know one of two things are at play: 1. They’ve given up on the organization, and they need to go, or 2. They are fundamentally lazy, and need to go.  It’s a painful truth most leaders just don’t want to realize.

Just make it better.

#13 Rap Lyric That Shaped My Leadership Style

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For the background of this list – see my original post from 2-10-12.

The #13 Rap Lyric That Shaped My Leadership Style comes from Kanye West.  For those who listen to Kanye – he has some great lyrics, but not many you would consider in terms of shaping your leadership philosophies!   But I persevered, digging day and night through his catalog to find one – for you – HR Rap fans – all 3 of you.   From Kayne’s 2003 The College Dropout album and song “All Falls Down” – here is the #13 Lyric:

“We all self conscious, I’m just the first to admit it”

I believe to be a great leader, you have to have great self insight.   To me the lyric represents this philosophy.   In fact, I’ll go as far to say that is the single most important trait to the individual success of any employee – having strong self insight.   This a primary factor I look at when hiring for my team.

Think about this for a second – the main problem we run into as leaders is understanding how to utilize the strengths and opportunities of those employees we are given to perform a function.   But we must also know our own strengths and opportunities to truly be effective in leading.  Without this understanding, I’m guessing it would be very hard to actually judge this of your team – mainly because if you lack self insight, your team will see through this immediately.  You will have no credibility, and your ability to lead effectively will be greatly diminished.

Am I self conscious?  I don’t think I’m “overly” self conscious, but I can admit, at times I can be self conscious.  I know which times those are, and I’m careful not to let those feelings cloud my judgement.  Great leaders have the ability to understand their own “self-filters” they put on themselves – and adjust their decision making accordingly.  No one is perfect on this and for most it takes years to really understand all your self imposed filters.

So, do you know what your filters are?  Have you asked others – or done a full 360 assessment with subordinates, peers and supervisors all involved in one sample?  Try it – it will scare the hell out of you and at the same time be the greatest personal learning you’ll ever have!

HR Strategy for Dummies

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In HR we have to have a strategy for everything.  What’s your employment brand strategy? What’s your orientation strategy? What’s your open enrollment strategy?  It’s not really strategies for most of these – they’re processes – but we get hit over the head so many times in HR we stopped calling our “processes” – “processes” and started calling our “processes” – “strategies”.  It makes us feel strategic when we have strategies!

Unfortunately, it’s rare that I see a real strategy for an organizations talent – their people.  We strategically have many strategies in HR – our strategic benefits strategy, our compensation strategy, our recruitment strategy, etc.  These really aren’t strategies either – these are more, what I call – HR operational initiatives – it’s the crap we do on a daily basis – it’s our jobs.  It’s not strategy.

What is strategy?  It’s a plan of action designed to achieve a vision.

We do really well on the plan of action!  We usually fail on the last part – achieving a vision – because usually we really don’t have a vision – unless you consider doing the job a vision!?   It’s not.  The vision part of your strategy is by far the most important part – it needs to connect to the heart and minds of your HR group.  They need to truly believe in it – it will shape decision making at all levels in your department – or at least it should!

Your HR Strategy needs to speak to what you truly believe on the people side of your business.  It’s alright if your strategy and your current reality are not yet at the same point – you need to have a vision to be able to reach it.  Very few organizations design their strategy based on their current state – unless they’ve already reached that pinnacle of excellence they desire.  Too often I see HR departments go to design an HR Strategy – and it breaks down because people try and throw reality into the mix – “Wait, this isn’t who “we” are – we aren’t what you are saying…”  I love realist – but they usually aren’t the best ones to draft your HR Strategy!  You obviously need reality in your strategy – but not so much that you just regurgitate your current state.

I can’t tell you what your HR Strategy should be, but I can tell you some elements that better be a part of it:

  • The level of talent you need to achieve your organizational strategy
  • The type of talent you need to achieve your organizational strategy
  • The personality traits your talent will need to be successful in your organization

Not every organization needs high energy, go-getter, experienced individuals to be successful – some do.  Some need calm, mild manner, entry levels to be successful.  Many organizations need a large mix of talent, traits and experiences – heck – most of us do!   In the end – we all need great talent that cares about their personal outcomes, they care about organizational outcomes and they believe both of those things can be accomplished under our roof.

Lastly, make your HR Strategy simple – so simple everyone in the building can spout it off in under 5 seconds.  That will be hard to do – but that will make your strategy lasting and effective.

Nothin’ Human About These Resources

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********GUEST POST ALERT***********

The post is brought to you by John Whitaker from People Results. John calls himself the Texas “Me” – which I’m not sure I would ever admit to, but at least he has enough sales sense to flatter me for a guest post – plus I like his writing style!  Check him out – he’s good people.

Occupational hazards come in all forms … Cops get shot, waiters get stiffed and dentists smell breath that would gag a dog. In human resources, the hazard is learning to hate people. Ironic, yes?

HR Senior Execs are toadies to the “real” leaders of the organization … Generalists are often witness to the most base of human behavior. Specialists in compensation or benefits are collecting hollow-points in the chamber, waiting for one more person to complain about their pay, their coverage, their co-pay, or their 401K compared to what “other” companies offer.

All HR people bear witness to the double standards and favoritism that somehow benefit the worst people. Seriously, do you know how annoying and despicable we are as a species?

Yup, by and large HR folks are a pretty acrimonious bunch. None of these, however, hold a candle to the most jaded of all HR professionals … the Internal Recruiter [Generalus nofriender].

Experience in staffing is invaluable as you move up the HR food chain, but I suggest you begin to encounter diminishing returns after Year Two. Why is this?

Think about it from the perspective of the recruiter:

      •  Volume – after you’ve looked at 10,000 resumes, had phone interviews with 1,000 job seekers and had your head ripped off by 100 hiring managers, you cultivate a certain level of pure exasperation for idiots.
      • Too much inside knowledge – You know what really ticks off the average recruiter? Getting exposure to the offers that other people get when they walk in the door. Even worse, seeing the ridiculous “add-on’s” that candidates (or current employees) demand before assuming a new role – especially when they get the stupid requests.
      • Second-fiddle syndrome – During the initial interview & selection process, the recruiter is the critical person for a candidate. BFF, sounding board, coach, advisor ~ then they get hired and pfffffft. Count on it, once they get the job, the recruiter is a toot in the breeze.
      • The bad hire – If a newbie flames out, it’s the recruiter’s fault. If the newbie goes on to be CEO, nobody cares or remembers who brought them into the company.
      • “Real” HR – Even within their own kind, Recruiters are the whipping post. They don’t do “real” HR work and the internet has reduced a lot of their job to a screen & sort position. Whenever the topic of outsourcing comes up, you can be sure that Staffing is in the crosshairs as a first cut.
      • Career vacuum – Stick around too long in the recruiter role & you’ll be given the career kiss of death, the dreaded “Senior Recruiter” title. You now have zero transferable skills internally and you’ve priced yourself too high for an HR “rotation” assignment. Either suck it up or get your own resume ready, ‘cuz your fate is sealed.

A decidedly grim view, I know, but I speak the truth because I care.

So, what do you do about it?

Top three things to do immediately and often:

1. Make it known that your five-year plan does not include being a phone-jockey for job applicants.

2. Gain the gracious support of your internal clients:

        a. Offer perspective and insight they don’t normally get from their recruiter.

        b. Challenge them on the ranking and selection of candidates.

        c. Remind them of the cost-avoidance (a great ROI in theory, but they may not give a rip) you offer them by providing a service an external recruiter would charge  thousands of dollars to do.

3.  Push those in charge to let you “shadow” or participate in any number of different functions.

 And for Pete’s sake, do it before you get promoted to Senior Recruiter.

Recession Fallout in HR

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I have a feeling I’m about to preach to the choir.  I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with hiring manager lately – that just don’t get it! (I hear you saying “What do you mean “lately” – did hiring manager “ever” get it!)   The Recession has made our job very hard – Today – especially if you are currently trying to hire anyone with technical skills (engineers, designers, IT professionals, Scientist, etc.).   During the Recession we had candidates coming out of our ears!  Today, it seems like, almost overnight, technical jobs across the country have turned on like a fire hose!  Everywhere companies are trying to find technical talent – in all industries – all at the same time.   Remember that baby boomer Tsunami of retirement we were suppose to see?  This feels like the first waves are hitting the shore in terms of technical hiring!

I’ve spoken to engineering schools that 100% graduation hires, plus companies now paying for engineering seniors, senior year of tuition!   I’ve spoken to companies that have had to double their payroll projections – mid-budget year, just to have enough money to hire the same amount of projected hires at the beginning of the year.  In HR and Recruiting we get this – the market moves, sometimes very quickly, and organizations have to be prepared to adjust and move with it – or risk causing some very bad outcomes to our operations.  But, do our hiring managers get this?

I’m hear to say – not enough have gotten the message!

Over the past few months, it seems like we are having daily “conversations” with hiring managers who are still wanting to see the same 20 candidates they saw during the recession, and turning down candidates for minor things like “he seemed a little shy”, “she was from Tech and I like State grads”, “he’s had 2 jobs in the past 10 years!”   I’ve had hiring managers have interviews, come back and say they like both candidates really well, but would like to see some more – when there aren’t any more!   It all sounds familiar doesn’t it!  The Recession did this to them!  It made the greedy – it made them ultra picky – it made them believe there is a never ending pool of great candidates who only want to come work at your company.   Ugh! I hate the Recession!

So what?

In HR/Recruiting this is where we become marketers – we start selling – and what we are selling is an idea.  An idea that the world is different, they sky is falling and there’s only one person left to hire.  That person – is the stupid candidate I just put in front of your face!!! (wouldn’t that be great if we could say that!?)  Look, I understand you and your hiring managers “only want to hire the best talent” – BTW – so does everyone else.  But times are changing – if you want to hire the best – you better be paying the best – or at least offering the best value proposition as compared to your competitors.  Lines of candidates are out their just waiting for calls any longer.  It’s simple addition – more technical job openings than candidates + baby boomers now beginning to feel like they can retire = our job just got a lot tougher!

 

#14 Rap Lyric That Shaped My Leadership Style

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For the background of this list – see my original post from 2-10-12.

The #14 Rap Lyric that Shaped my Leadership Style comes from an artist making his second appearance on the countdown (feels like Casey Kasem doesn’t it! And now our long distance dedication from Kris in Birmingham to his life partner Lance in Seattle) – but his first where he’s the actual rapper (check out #24 – Eminem and Little Wayne’s No Love).  Eminem probably has the most commercially popular rap song of all time from his movie 8 Mile and the song “Lose Yourself” – 2002 Academy Award for Best Original Song, and 23 week consecutive weeks at #1 (a record for a rap song).

So, here’s the lyric – from the opening of the song:

Look, if you had one shot, or one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted in one moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?

Is there a white person alive that doesn’t have this on their iPod and they play it like 17 times while they are working out!?   The baseline alone from this song single-handedly got people to buy crappy Chrysler cars again!    That’s a very powerful song!

I think we don’t do this enough – live on that edge of making it or not making it – too many of us play it safe.  I can’t tell you how many people I know who stay in corporate jobs because they view them as “safe” – that have had opportunities to truly do something amazing, but they don’t.  I lived this life – so I know what I’m talking about.  We are HR Pros – safe is good – not knowing for sure  is scary and bad.  I get it!

I’m envious of those people who can throw caution to the wind and make that Leap.  I do think we (corporate HR drones) can find our balance to reach out for our opportunities inside of our organizations.  I call these “Must Do Moves!”   Everyday in our organization there are things we “have” to do – which means we really don’t have to do them, the doors will open again tomorrow at the corporate headquarters if we don’t – but if we do, just maybe some fantastic change will happen in our organizations.  We need to do more “Must Dos!” It’s good for your soul.  You’ll won’t lose your house. You might find that satisfaction you’ve been searching for in your job.

Enjoy the listen  – it gets me pumped up every time I hear it!

Tell Your Critics To Suck It

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In the corporate world everyone is a critic!  Everyone!  We’ve gotten really good at a learned behavior – no longer can we send out a final product the first time. Why?  Because everyone wants to trash it and change it – so it can be this really nice piece of Vanilla!  Welcome to Corporate America. But you know what – this isn’t new – critics have been around since Jesus – and critics have been wrong since before Jesus!   I wanted to share with you some famous things that critics got wrong:

Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, by Ludwig van Beethoven (1824)

What the critics said in 1825: “We find Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony to be precisely one hour and five minutes long; a frightful period indeed, which puts the muscles and lungs of the band, and the patience of the audience to a severe trial…” –The Harmonicon, London, April 1825

Moby-Dick, by Herman Melville (1851)

And the critics response: When Melville died in 1891, Moby-Dickhad moved a grand total of 3,715 copies…in 40 years! The below was typical at the time of the book’s release:

“…an ill-compounded mixture of romance and matter-of-fact. The idea of a connected and collected story has obviously visited and abandoned its writer again and again in the course of composition…Our author must be henceforth numbered in the company of the incorrigibles who occasionally tantalize us with indications of genius, while they constantly summon us to endure monstrosities, carelessnesses, and other such harassing manifestations of bad taste as daring or disordered ingenuity can devise…” -Henry F. Chorley, London Athenaeum, October 25, 1851

Animal Farm, by George Orwell (1945)

What the critics said about the book we all had to read in high school: “It is impossible to sell animal stories in the USA.” –Publisher’s rejection

Here’s what I know – true creativity in what we do, does not come from running our ideas through everyone and their brother for approval.  If your organization wants your employees to be truly creative and innovative – stop pushing teams.  Teams don’t make masterpieces – they can do some pretty cool stuff – but pure creativity isn’t one of them.  We push “Team” so hard in HR and in most organizations it sometimes makes you think like this the only way everyone in the world must work – but it’s not.  An HR Pro that can determine the proper work structure throughout their organization is truly valuable – “team” isn’t always the answer – and you should have other tools in your toolbox.

 

You hear artist all the time say “I don’t listen to my critics”. This is valuable in that they know listening to a critic will hurt their art.  Unfortunately, in business, we don’t always have the ability/decision to not listen to our critics (who could be bosses, peers, friends, etc.).  In business telling your critics to “Suck It” could be a big career derailer!  So, when do we go all “Suck It – It’s my project” in the workplace?   First, I wouldn’t suggest you approach it, beginning with “Suck It” – although you will get their attention – I think we all have the ability in our work environment to push back appropriately when you truly know you have something that will make a difference.  But, it’s about having the conviction to stand behind it and not let it get changed.  That’s your marker – “am I willing to put my career/credibility/bank of influence on the line for this idea/project/etc.?” If you are – it’s time to pull out the “Suck It” card and push forward.  For most of us, this might never happen in our work lives – maybe once – but it’s rare.

 

I think what we learn over time is that not all of our critics are bad – and some actually might help truly make us better.  The key is to continue to have confidence in what you do – without it – your work critics will make your work life less than artistic.

Look Who Got All Brand New

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Acting Brand New: (definition via Urban Dictionary):

When a person displays that they are better than their friends, or treats their friends indifferently, especially where there has been a relationship of good standing previously; hence the term ‘new’. i.e. without any history with you. Or,
Using it in a sentence:  “Why Jamie acting brand new like he don’t know nobody? Just be cause he got a car don’t mean shit, we practically grew up in the same house and yesterday he said he couldn’t come over my house because it has a garage. I was like, well what about all those other 1000’s of times.”
I was reminded of the concept of “Acting Brand New” this past week when speaking about a client we use to work with.  We don’t work with them now because the value equation just didn’t work out for the two of us (meaning: we weren’t making enough money for the work they were willing to give us!).   The company was tough to recruit for because they had a super bad reputation and nobody locally wanted to go to work there, on top of that, they willing to be pay leaders to make up for their terrible reputation.  I’m not in the business of providing bad talent – it won’t keep me in business long – they could only afford average talent – and average talent doesn’t want to work for horrible companies, unless you pay a premium – so what you’re left with is bad talent.
The reason this past client came up is because they went through some re-branding – new name, new logo, fresh coat of paint, etc.  They still have the same openings and they are trying to “act brand new” – like somehow the people in a local market will forget who they were and want to come work at the “new” company.  They don’t – still have bad culture, bad leadership and bad wages.  BTW – that’s the triple threat of not getting any talent!   You end up with people who couldn’t get jobs anywhere else.
Which leads to the concept of – how do you get “brand new”? If you’re unfortunately at a company like our previous client mentioned above, how do you turn this around?  You can only become “Brand New” by actually being something new.  Name changes and new logos don’t do the trick – you have to have leadership that actually act different, that model the behaviors you want to become, that are willing to cut out some cancer and not allow it to grow back.  It’s tough!  Too many of us want to change our Name and Logo first – I get that – Signs and Symbols.  But that’s completely backwards when getting all brand new – you do that last.  That way when someone comes back to see if you really are all brand new – your exterior matches the interior.

#15 Rap Lyric That Shaped My Leadership Style

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For the background of this list – see my original post from 2-10-12.

This week’s Rap Lyric comes from Eminem protege Curtis James Jackson III, or as he’s more popularly known – 50 Cent (or do you write that as $.50) off his 2005 album The Massacre.  50 Cent became the first artist in Billboard history to have 3 Singles in the Top 5 at one time with this album – but not one of those 3 gave us this weeks Lyric!   From his song – In My Hood, here is the Lyric:

“Now you can be a victim, or you can lock and load.”

The concept of “being a victim” has shaped my leadership perspective in an enormous way.  If you haven’t got a chance to read the book “The Oz Principle” you need to – it’s a heavy read – but I ensure you will not be a victim ever again, in business, after reading it!

So what does “being a victim” mean in business?

Being stuck in the “victim cycle” or “being a victim” really means you’re stuck in the blame game.  “I’m not successful because my boss doesn’t allow me to me.”  “I can’t finish the project because I don’t have enough resources.”  “I can’t do my work because other people don’t do their work.” Etc.   To rise above this victim cycle means to take control of your destiny – you see it, you own it, you solve it, you do it.  No excuses, no blame, no finger-pointing.

In HR it’s so easy on a daily basis to be a “victim”.   “Well, we don’t control that decision” or “They won’t give us the budget to do it the “right” way.”   We are given so many outs each and every day – to make it not be our fault.  But our organizations and our employees need for us to set an example that is different.  One that says – “It doesn’t matter – we’ll make it work anyway” or “I’ve got your back, we can do this!”  It’s not easy and I’m the first to admit I can’t do it every day, every time – but I sure try.

I surround myself with non-victims – it’s who I want on my team.  I don’t want to here – “I can’t” – I want to hear “I can”.  You can do anything in business when you have people who all support each other, want the best for each other and have a belief that no matter what – we’ll get it done.  That’s my team.