HR Happens

Have you ever received a text or e-mail and wanted to immediately celebrate, but were worried those around you would look at you funny if you started doing a happy dance at your desk? What about bad news that ruined your day, but you didn't have an outlet to talk about it? These types of scenarios are best handled in person. Written messages can be interpreted differently by each individual, and having a conversation face-to-face will allow all parties to get their thoughts across clearly and concisely. As a general rule of thumb in our tech-savvy world, the following types of conversations are best delivered face-to-face: 1. News to be celebrated! This can be anything from a promotion or raise to the company being recognized as the top in the industry. Whatever the news, this should be done in person so that employees feel like a team and can celebrate together! This does not have to be a big production. Grab employees for a quick five minute huddle and announce the news....

Anyone who has found themselves in a supervisor role, has been tasked with helping one or multiple employees with matters that do not relate directly to their work. Handling these topics can become tricky, but it is essential to provide support for "home life" matters in today's office culture. Checking your 'home life' at the door, is ideal to minimize distractions and performance issues among employees. But, when tough situations arise, this is not always possible. Major life changes, such as a partner's job loss, new child, childcare issues, car maintenance issues, moving, (and the list goes on) can be so stressful to an individual that the stress spills over into the workplace. As a supervisor, you must be available to offer support to these employees, without cutting drastically into performance and production. So, how does one go about this? Here are a few ideas to implement in your workplace: 1. Use Third-Party Resources Employees turn to their...

Everyone wants to be able to relax a little and enjoy their time at work. But, what do you do when a teammate takes the 'fun' a little too far, and begins disrupting those around them? Here are a few things to think about, and suggestions to implement a plan of action. 1. Is the team mate just disrupting you, or are others disrupted as well? Newsflash: You will not get along with everyone you work with 100% of the time - and that is ok! If it seems you are the only person who is bothered by your teammate, there are a couple things you can do to help alleviate the distraction and get back to work. One of these is putting a "do not disturb" sign outside your door or cubicle for a two hour time block. This will allow you two hours of uninterrupted work time. Then, you can join in on the conversation and still feel that you have a good handle on your workload. If you do not have a door that can be closed, try bringing headphones. Whether you actually listen to mu...

If you are in a human resource position, you have heard the story. The candidate doesn’t answer the phone for their interview, doesn’t show up for an interview, doesn’t show up for their first day or even leaves at lunch never to be heard from again. This is an increasing trend in the HR industry and it doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. Knowing everyone deals with this issue is comforting, but it doesn’t make up for the lost time and wasted resources trying to recruit a candidate for them to not show up. So how do we, as HR professionals, overcome candidate ghosting? While, I do not have the absolute solution, here are a few tips that have worked for me. Make sure you check to see if the candidate is a chronic applier. Using a site like indeed.com allows the recruiter to see how many other jobs on the company site the candidate has applied for. Do not ignore these, if the candidate has applied before and was passed up or didn’t respond, do not bother with them this time a...

With the national unemployment rate at a record low of 4.0%, many human resource managers are having trouble finding qualified candidates for open positions. In a cut-throat recruiting culture, how do managers stay ahead of the game and attract talent? One thing to keep in mind is that most candidates you interview are leaving one position for another. The pool of candidates has changed, the majority of candidates are not currently without a job. So, you must present your open position, company and office culture as attractive. Candidates looking to change jobs usually have an idea in mind of what type of job and office culture they want to be a part of. It isn’t always about money. Cultivating this culture and making sure it is prevalent through your job listing and interview process is key. If a candidate is coming from a less than desirable culture, they will be attracted by the opportunity to be a part of something more fitting of their attitude of work. Creating eye catch...