Another Day in the HR Field

Some would say the title above was a misnomer. Basically how can one possibly vacation while they are working. Years ago I use to define vacation to my management team as rest and relaxation. At the time I was trying to make the point that employees should be planning their vacation time and not be using it for unexpected absences such as sick days. While I still agree vacation should be for rest and relaxation there are times working on vacation is either required or a choice. The required is and should be very rare in the case of an emergency only. It's definitely not something that is preferred. The choice for me is the same as my day to day working habits. I balance the needs of my family with the needs of my work. I realize I have more flexibility than someone with a typical 8-5 schedule. However, I think that many of us chose to do some work on vacation regardless of our typical work schedule in order to minimize the horrendous backload of work that we would return to i...

On February 18 th 2012 a group of four UIS students traveled toIllinois State University in Bloomington for the 2 nd annual SHRM HRCompetition.  This was the first one thatUIS has ever participated in.  Wereviewed a couple of Human Resource cases about a month before the competitionin preparation, but we had no idea what to expect.   When we got to ISU we weretreated very professionally.  We wentthrough a couple of presentations in the regards to Human Resources and whycompanies need them.  Our team was then escortedto our room where we would be spending the next four hours.   The idea behind thesecompetitions is that a group is given a case to review.  No one except the person handing out thecases knew what they were. The cases could be about companies with law, harassmentor personnel issues.  After given thecase we then had four hours to deliberate and come up with a solution to theproblem that would inevitably better the company.  We ...

Illinois State Council of SHRM: SHRMLead from Students Perspective : Guest Post  by McKenzie Cunningham, UIS HR Student Last weekend was SHRM’s Leadership Regional Summit in Dallas, Texas.   My prof...

I have had the pleasure of knowing, Joe & Jason, from  Talent Anarchy for almost a year now.  They are unique, talented and genuine.  They keynoted at our conference last year and the reviews were so magnificent that we are proud to bring them back again by way of "popular demand".  Take a couple minutes to watch the following videos and I know you will agree!!! http://youtu.be/7wcqprMCAS4 http://youtu.be/2OIzXwolyWs The ILSHRM conference will be August 6 & 7 in Oakbrook, Illinois.  I hope you will consider joining us and flying your "HR Freak Flag with us!"

Over the last couple weeks I have been compiling my required annual faculty performance review which summarizes teaching, scholarly work (which is not required for my professionally qualified (PQ) position as opposed to AQ for those with PhDs) and service to the university, community and the profession.  Since I had to compile the following information as part of my blogging contribution (service to the profession), I thought I would share the links here especially as it relates to the two sites I have contributed to in addition to my own.  I have not shared on this site in the past that I have blog posts elsewhere.  So the following is exert from my performance review: “While I do not write scholarly works, I do write for my students, clients, and the HR community via blogging which I started in 2010.  In addition, I am a contributing author for two other blogs called Women of HR and Illinois State Council SHRM).  In 2011, I wrote a total of 41 posts betwe...

Next Thursday I will be on my way to Grapevine, Texas to spend a couple days with #SHRM staff and all my state council director counterparts from all over the country. It will be my third Regional Summit to attend and while my directorship will be coming to an end this December I am sure my volunteer positions for SHRM will not end. I am happy to meet our state director elect Cathy aka @MarathonHR there to do some planning so her transition into this position is smooth. However, she is not the only special person I will be spending time with on this trip besides those attending and hosting the conference. As I began to think about this trip and the idea that my best friend from grade school is accompanying me on this trip, I thought to myself "how fitting". It is fitting because I feel I have come along way over the last 21 years in this HR career and she was the person who started it all. Heck, she was an HR professional long before me. She is also the one that introduc...

Seriously! I have been trying to find time to write this post for some time now. Over the years I have been hearing time after time about companies who have serious communication issues. I have worked for and consulted for companies like this. As hard as one works to improve the problem, the reality is bad communication in organizations is like smoking, overeating, & cussing. Sometimes its just a hard habit to break. Communication problems are not new but what seems to be a commonality in companies in more recent years is they seem to rely too heavily on EMail rather than picking up the phone or walking 10 feet across the hall to talk "in person" to their coworker, supervisor, or owner. Personally I think hours of employee labor could be saved if folks would consider the good old fashion way of communicating. Don't get me wrong, I too have been known to rely on it too heavily at times as well. I'm not perfect by any means but I can recognize that at some p...