HRs Job is Finding a Way to Say YES

Saying yes to both the employee and the employer is the role in terms of HR when it comes to workplace flexibility. Understanding that flexibility is not just good for the employee is not only HRs job but managements job as well. These are the overall messages I heard over and over again in the sessions at the SHRM #Workplace12 conference in partnership with FWI (Family Work Institute. Which by the way, FWI has been doing this research and encouraging workplace flexibility for over thirty years and is documented in the book just produced (pictured to left) called Workflex The Essential Guide to Effective and Flexible Workplaces.The book is so popular that it is already temporarily sold out. That to me is an impressive statement since it was just released.

The point is employers don't really have a choice to ignore something that has been an issue, concern, career threat for so long. I know personally have been dealing with this issue for over 20 years not only in my own life but also in the lives of the talented employees I have seen quit the traditional workforce just to maintain balance in their life. A couple of years ago I wrote a post on the women of hr blog site about the last 10 years of my career having been "the perfect 10" because I had balance. Unfortunately, like the employees I did exit interviews for I had to start my own business to do so.

The sessions last week provided employers ideas on how to make flexibility possible in light of the tremendous constraints the antiquated employment laws put upon on us. Previously, I never would have advised an employer to try flexibility outside the office with nonexempt employees but after hearing a story at lunch about how one company ran a call center from employees homes successfully and within the constraints of the current laws, I have changed my paradigm. I also agreed previously that it would be difficult to implement flexibility on a manufacturing setting or in the medical field, but after hearing Lisa Horn moderate a panel with two Sloan Award winners, I have again changed my thinking. If you see the pattern here, it's all about awareness. Learning from others what can be done and what has not worked tends to help others think outside the box.

http://whenworkworks.org/boldideas/index.html

The books and toolkit now available which were released at this conference will help a whole new shift and interest increase awareness and make the move towards a more flexible workplace. The benefits will help increase productivity, engagement, retention in organizations because employees will be less worried about what they are not doing at home.

Management and HR now have tools available to make this happen but it really can't happen unless it become part of the culture of the organization. Workflex like diversity is not an event it is a way of life. Competence comes with education.

55 Active Job Search Sites (Updated 7/19)

I had a company encouraging me to update this list over the last couple of months. Since they focus on veteran hiring and I am a veteran supporting other veterans I am happy to add the following to this original posting from 2017. Silent Professionals is a free veteran recruitment service. Their differentiating factor is that they focus on a very specific subset of veteran employment which is the combat arms veteran. Their site is much more than just a job board because they actually provide a service behind it which is all free to the veteran. As combat veterans themselves, with a vast amount of experience in the private security sector, they are able to use that experience and influence within the industry to act as trusted advocates for the veteran candidate. They boast an incredible 84% job placement success rate for candidates that they recommend to employers. One of the reasons they're able to do that is because of their focus on jobs for combat veterans who are seek...

MORE Consolidated List of SHRM Certification Announcement Posts with LINKS (Updated)

UPDATE 5/21: Added one more post and link below from Workforce.com not found last night when I originally wrote this post. On the eve of my attempt to help our local CIC-SHRM members make sense of the news of last week at our bi-monthly meeting tomorrow, I did another search. Again, I will wait to comment fully about my own understanding and opinions until after I get a response from SHRM regarding a question I have that has yet to be addressed and I hear again from our regional MAC rep on a call I am scheduled to participate in on Thursday. However, I do want to rescind and revise a comment I made in my earlier post. Last week I stated the following which is not entirely true: “The fact that the HRCI Executive Director did not receive advance notification leaves me a bit disappointed for a variety of reasons.” The HRCI Executive Director did know about SHRMs plans because she is part of the board where the topic was discussed. However, she did not know the communication would go...

Transgender Drug Testing

Recently, a client asked me if they needed to adjust their drug testing policy so a transgender employee could choose the gender of the person observing them urinate for a test. Obviously, the person wanted the employee to feel comfortable with who was in the room with them. First of all, having another employee watch you urinate can be uncomfortable for anyone, for any reason, but it is a requirement for some drug tests in order to ensure that the testee doesn’t bring in a bag of someone else’s urine to exchange as their own. If the reason is not obvious, it is so they do not test positive when they know they have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol. So, I did some research and thought it would be good to share this information for other employers, managers, small business owners and HR managers who may have similar questions. What are the requirements to be an observer for a direct observed collection? According to the Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing ...

Another Day in the HR Field

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