Another Day in the HR Field

Earlier tonight I was reminded of an incident that occurred just yesterday on my own front porch. This flashback came as a reflection-having just finished listening to author, Howard Ross (@HowardJRoss) and SHRMs VP of D&I (Diversity & Inclusion), Shirley Davis (@SDavisSHRM) have a conversation primarily surrounding his new book. The book is titled ReInventing Diversity: Transforming Organizational Community to Strengthen People, Purpose, and Performance. The focus of his talk is based on the idea that we as a community of Diversity minded individuals have pushed the envelope over and over again to encourage people, business, authorities, etc. not to do or say things that is inappropriate, against the law (now that there are laws), and other related "dont's". He provides lists of statistics and metrics in the books to continue to foster diversity and inclusion in his book but the bottom line is we need to look at ourselves. We need to look in the mirror. We need...

Cheaper, faster, and more succinct is the goal in this HR Tuesday Lunch-N-Learn program. In November I will embark on a new experience. I have been teaching HR for years in organizations and at universities and now I am going to be teaching via the World Wide Web! I admit I have been teaching online via UIS since 2008 but this will very different. My office doors will be open to any interested HR professional who wants to learn more without taking a full 17 week course. The courses are designed to sit at your desk with your lunch and learn on Tuesday’s in November through mid-December. As an HRCI pre-approved provider I have submitted all of these programs for 2 hours of recertification credit. The programs are co-sponsored by Rogers HR Consulting and University of Illinois at Springfield. Affirmative Action Plan: Where do I start? 11/29/11 11am-1pm (2hr) If you have been told by a vendor, a consultant, a department of labor specialist that your company is required to prepare and...

Check out this post: http://ilshrm.blogspot.com/2011/10/birds-flysupervisors-die.html?m=1 From Illinois SHRM blog site. This article is the last of a series of three posts covering the 2011 #SHRM Strategy Conference. This article has links to the first two articles.

Key components of a thorough Strategic HR plan consists of many theories, concepts, and tasks that I have both had the pleasure of implementing in companies I have worked for or consulted with as well as teach in my HR Management courses. Most of these components have been covered over the last two days during the annual SHRM Strategy Conference at the Chicago Fairmont. The following is a list in no particular order of comments, phrases, and ideas that I heard or reheard that is important for all organizations to sit up, take notice, & incorporate into management philosophy, style and policy in a very strategic way. Without top down support it just won't work. To put it simply THINK DIFFERENT! -Put People Before Numbers -Drive Systemic Change -Encourage Criticism to Spark Innovation -Engage Employees -Employees First Customers Second -Focus on Talent Management -Create a Marketplace for Talent -Seek to be an Employer of Choice -Embrace Social Media -Encourage R...

Over the last four years, human resource professionals have sought ways to stay with “the curve” for dealing with social media. Social media sites, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter have began to take center stage for firms of all sizes. As firms race to have a presence out there, they also must find ways to use social media as a tool to increase brand awareness, manage customer image, promote products and services, and to attract people to the firm. While those tasks are not new, what is new and changing is the means by which it is done. Whereas print, radio, television, and face-to-face networking may have been the means twenty years ago, today social media is beginning to take over. So how do human resource (HR) professionals utilize the tools of social media, specifically Twitter? One of the most significant ways is though recruitment. Despite the risks perceived by utilizing social media, including Twitter, firms have determined that the risk is worth it to reach young recrui...

I am taking my last official class, an elective, ( Encouraging Communication in Online Courses ) before my practicum this semester towards my Master of Online Teaching certificate. I thought I would share my findings on a technology I explored as a follow-up to the series I posted throughout the summer. After watching: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWfvqkkk0yM My instructor asked if I thought Second Life could be an "Exciting & Dynamic Opportunity to enhance communication" -Perhaps. I am still exploring in my mind how I could use it in my HR, OB, & OD classes. I spent the evening last Friday exploring Second Life with my 10 year old son. Since I was a first timer, I thought his experience might be helpful to me as I attempted to learn how to get around and such. He has played in many similar venues over the last few years such as Wizard 101, Lord of the Rings Online, Animal Crossing, and Roblox, etc. I did not pay the extra money to get the advanced vers...

The title of this blog post is dedicated to a new twitter user/Peep and #ILSHRM11 attendee that in my eyes posted the most enlightening and relevant conference ending tweet out there. Follow her @ChristieHR . Let me tell you why this particular tweet caught my eye! As we ended the conference it was raining and at one point I had to "borrow" the umbrella from our SHRM Foundation gift basket to get a computer out of my trunk for a speaker who did not bring one. Unfortunately, as a result of this wet excursion, the basket winner gained a "gently used" SHRM umbrella. The sky was truly sad as it was "crying rain" fairly heavily between mid to late morning just before the last session. The point is, the emotion, enthusiasm, and energy within the walls of the Drury Inn was so high that I truly think some were sad to see the two day event end. Although my feet were crying for a break! Attendees were getting so much knowledge from the fantastic line up of...