Another Day in the HR Field

Guest Post By Kendall Herbert, Emergency Management Specialist Accidents, Emergencies, and Natural Disasters happen every day, and their repercussions can affect everyone. Emergency managers are the experts who assist work centers and businesses to prepare for, respond to, and recover from a wide range of emergencies that could happen. Some insight they offer are: ·         Preparedness : Informing and preparing employees for any type of hazard they could encounter, such as natural or man-made disasters. As the saying goes “Failing to prepare, is preparing to fail” via Benjamin Franklin. ·         Planning : Many plans and procedures can be created to lessen the impact from disasters. Some typical plans include: o    Business Continuity Plan : This will be a guideline for how business will be conducted when an incident or accident occurs. o    Evacuation Plans : When there is a fire or other emergency, employees need to know how to evacuate the work center and rendezvou

The following was originally written in 2011 and posted on the Women of HR site here: http://womenofhr.com/is-the-good-ol%E2%80%99-boy-network-just-a-myth/ As I prepare for a program on harassment and discrimination to be delivered at the Danville Community College later this month, I was reminded of this post and thought I would share again here. From the archives: From Women of HR By Donna Rogers, SPHR, SHRM-SCP The following are a few hypothetical (not really) life stories related to human resources, being a woman in what is still in some circles ‘a man’s world’ and organizational behavior. At the end of each story, I challenge you to put yourself in the position of anyone in this story and comment on whether or not you think the “ good ol’ boy ” network is a myth or has a touch of reality. There are no right or wrong answers. Have fun! Myth or reality? A fully qualified female non-commissioned officer applies for a commissioned officer position within a department for which she

The following was originally written in 2011 and posted on the Women of HR site here:  http://womenofhr.com/bride-to-be-discouraged-employee/ As I prepare for a program on harassment and discrimination to be delivered at the Danville Community College later this month, I was reminded of this post and thought I would share again here.  From the archives (although updated slightly with number of years married, etc. By Donna Rogers, SPHR, SHRM-SCP Last week (in 2011), I was teaching a two-day Certified Public Manager session for a group of association members.  The session was called Human Resources: Productivity and Quality.  During one of our discussions regarding compliance related issues we covered the process of an HR Audit which included as one of many tasks, a review of posters that need to be posted at work sites.  One participant mentioned a poster that drew quite a stir when it first came out, which I personally was not aware of, pictured to the left here.  I aske

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

To continue our focus on Disaster Preparedness this month, I would like to introduce guest author, Kendall Herbert who specializes in Emergency Management and will be in the job market next Spring after graduating with his Bachelors degree in Emergency Management.  Look for other topics along these lines to come. Evacuation and re-entry are important parts of keeping organizations prepared for disasters. It can be the different between a long drawn out process leaving everyone confused, or quicker one which would allow more time to work. Being prepared and taking time in advance can save organizations time and money in the long run. For example, when there is a gas leak within a building what steps are people immediately going to do? ·          Evacuate the building, ·          meet up in the designated location, and ·          wait until told to can re-enter the building. The evacuation part is easy: just pack up and go. The re-entry is more complex, because t

The following is from our local SHRM Chapter.  I thought I would share it as a member to help others who are working on Disaster Plans this month: While we thankfully do not have hurricanes in Illinois, the events along the coast reminds us of the importance of emergency preparation.  This is true of our companies as much as for our employees.  Just as businesses have developed disaster plans to limit down time and loss of productivity, we can help our employees be better prepared as well.  By encouraging their preparation, you are reinforcing that they are a valued employee. Listed below are links for you to share with your employees including GO Bag  instructions.      Also listed are links for businesses to begin or evaluate business disaster plans.  Make - Be Ready!  A part of your company discussions.   For employees https://www.ready.gov/ https://www.illinois.gov/ready/plan/Pages/GoBag.aspx https://www.illinois.gov/ready/Pages/default.aspx                        

I am often contacted about what I speak on and since I rewrite a new paragraph or two every time, I thought I would document it here for those who have interest. I cover any topic related to management and especially as it relates to employees via human resources management.  You can see some topics listed  on my website at www.rogershr.com or blogsite https://donnarogershr.blogspot.com/ .  The most recent topics include: Reasonable Suspicion Empathy in the Workplace Conducting a Workplace Investigation The Bermuda Triangle of HR: FMLA, WC, & ADA Harassment & Discrimination HR Issues or What’s Hot in HR Now Getting What You Want in the Workplace Managing Workplace Conflict I am working on preparing one on Bereavement Leave that I will deliver in February at the 2nd annual OHSHRM HR Cruise.  I have spoken recently for Women Entrepreneurs,  General Federation for Women’s Club and Women in Communications linked above.  I tailor all speaking gigs to the aud

Wow! Now you can see part of why I have not been blogging as much as in the past. The Running an HR Department of One (aka Doing More with Less) was with my speaking partner Mr. Dave Ryan the HRCzar. In addition to the speaking list below, I did HR consulting work for 25 different companies in Springfield, Gibson City, Winchester, Perry, Campaign, Bloomington, Danville, Chicago, Bradley, Henderson, Pontiac, Litchfield, and O'Fallon IL as well as one company with offices in Tennessee, Mississippi, Michigan, Ohio, Nebraska, and Illinois.  Whew! Remember, referrals are always welcome! HR is my passion! Skowronski, D. R. (2016, January). Annual HR Policy Review. Company Confidential. Riggston & Perry, Illinois. Skowronski, D. R. (2016, February). Conducting Your HR Study (aka HR Audit) . Recorded for Online Webinar Deployment for Workology. Springfield, Illinois. Skowronski, D. R. (2016, March). HR Training: The Current Laws & Best Practices in Eight Critical Areas of

This year was one of the slowest blogging years I have had due to growing consulting business, Rogers HR Consulting , on the side while maintaining my full time job.  I appreciate the independent consultants I work with to keep the consulting work going while I teach.  Of course, I review everything that goes out the door which is why my blogging time has reduced significantly over the last few years. So to help the blog stay alive and to educate others I had a couple guest posts by Kevin Epley who shared a great topic called Profanity in the Workplace in November. I wrote a summary of a presentation I did for the Women Entrepreneurs called What's Hot in HR? in September.  I did a post after having several personal conflict related issues in my own family post my mother's passing and did some training on the topic for a client called 10 Tips for Managing Conflict at Work or Home in May.  Also, in May, I posted a quick link to the DOL site related to Overtime Rule Publishe

 SCOOP.IT I’d like to start out with a site that is not on the list SCOOP.IT but would be along the lines of Delicious and Diigo as a social bookmarking site.  I use it for all of my classes and have a link to the appropriate scoop in the appropriate class.  For example, this summer I am teaching Strategic HRM and you can see a scoop for that topic in the picture.  Click on the picture for a link to the site. ·          Describe the primary purposes or functions of the technology and how it is used. Students have to review practitioner posts as part of their blog assignment.  This is a great place to go to find good articles that I have reviewed and deemed appropriate.  They have another list of approved sites as well.  For example, in my HRM course students have to write a sample employee handbook.  As I review the articles posted, I may tag a new article related to the topic in the HRM scoop. ·          Identify strengths and/or benefits of using this technology in a blend