The HR Cafe

Employee morale: Choosing the right techniques to boost it

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Dear HR Executive,

Some of the morale-boosting tools available to managers and HR are less effective than others in tough environments. 

For instance, an office party may seem like whistling past the graveyard when everyone knows things aren’t going so smoothly.

Here are four morale-building techniques that are particularly appropriate at times of challenge – like right now:

1. Training
Nothing speaks to your belief in the future like helping employees perfect existing skills or acquire new ones. Training does double duty – it improves people’s skill set while assuring them that you’ll want them around in years to come.

2. Service projects
Organize a service project through Habitat for Humanity or a local charity. It will build team spirit and also give employees new perspective through a close-up look at folks who are worse off than themselves.

3. Extra contact
Challenging times call for extra reassurance from HR and line managers. Even if you don’t have an operational need for weekly or bimonthly meetings, consider holding such sessions to regularly address employees’ questions or concerns. You don’t have to do this forever – relax the schedule when the business picture starts to look up or employee concerns lessen.

4. Support in controversy
At some point, almost every employee’s work is challenged – by a customer,  a vendor, or another manager. If employees run into problems despite following proper procedures, their managers should step in and tactfully back them up. People who already feel under the gun because of the economic situation will appreciate this – a lot.

Dave Clemens

Editor-in-Chief

HR Rapid Learning Center

UPCOMING AUDIO CONFERENCE: Don't miss B21’s upcoming audio conference , "Advanced Morale Boosting: How to Keep Employees Up When Things Are Looking Down"  On Thursday, October 29, our speaker, Valerie Grubb, will lay out the five most common mistakes companies make that kill employee morale in difficult financial times. And she will give you a blueprint for how to realign employees and get them back on track to focusing on company goals.

Training: ‘I’m holding the HR director hostage’

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Dear HR Executive,

Unannounced fire drills help employees prepare to evacuate in case of fire. So it’s only logical that an unannounced “safety drill” will help people learn how to respond in case of a hostage crisis. Right?

Um, no.

Instead, the company that held such a drill, in Mount Holly, NJ, got sued for assault and severe emotional distress. Here’s what happened, according to an employee who was the target of the drill: 

Co-worker as 'gunman'
The employee worked in the pharmacy of a behavioral health clinic. Her employer decided to send in a co-worker she didn’t know disguised as a masked gunman demanding narcotics, and claiming to be holding the HR director hostage.

As part of the exercise, the employer cut the phone line so the employee couldn’t summon help. Adding to her alarm, the “gunman” stood 6’, while she was just 4’11”.

You won’t be surprised to hear that the employee, instead of learning anything, was seized with terror so deep that she couldn’t work for a week and then suffered panic attacks for months afterward.

Remember to...

Few HR directors would do something this outrageous, of course, but this incident is a reminder that it’s always a good idea to:

• get a second and even a third opinion on new training ideas, and
• if you're outsourcing the training, make sure you know exactly what's in it. HR people have been unpleasantly surprised by the methods of outside trainers.

Speaking of which, what have your experiences of outside trainers -- both good and bad -- been like? Post a comment to let us know.

Dave Clemens

Editor-in-Chief

The Human Resources Rapid Learning Center

Don't trust HR: They’re softies with no business savvy

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Dear HR Executive:

Professor Richard Beatty of Rutgers University has a message for hard-headed business types: Don’t trust HR people. 

“They don’t think like business people,” the prof told attendees at the CFO Rising conference last spring. “Many of them entered human resources because they wanted to help people, which I’m all for, but I’m also for building winning organizations.”

Which, apparently, HR people are against.

He also said:

• “The language of organizations is numbers, [but] HR isn’t very good at data analytics.”

• “HR wants to treat most employees the same way, and they spend considerable time trying to defend or fix poor performers, taking on the St. Bernard role.”

Beatty thinks the “employer of choice” concept is another example of soft-headed HR think. “If you are the employer of choice, who’s going to be applying for your jobs? Everybody and their dog’s brother.” Employers of choice attract “those who simply want to find a good place to hide out,” he warns.

He's down on training, too, if it's to improve subpar performers. He suggests firing them and moving on. “Low turnover isn’t necessarily a good thing,” he says. “Think about where you want to disinvest."

And he doesn’t believe HR is ready to handle the really grown-up tasks, such as finding and retaining strategic talent. Companies are better off bypassing HR and putting someone else in charge of that task, he suggests.

So guess what Professor Beatty teaches at Rutgers? Finance? Accounting? Nope. He’s the director of the Master in Human Resource Leadership Program.

Thoughts? Comments? Post them below. We’ll forward them to the prof and invite a response.

Here's a link to an article from CFO Magazine, which covered his speech to a crowd of CFOs in March 2009.

Michael Boyette
Editor
HR Café Training Center

Aging workforce: A strategy for improving employee productivity

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Dear HR Executive,

Is your workforce getting older? Not surprising if it is. Lots of data shows that more employees are likely to work into what used to be considered retirement age.

To improve the productivity of an aging workforce Michael Silverstein, professor of occupational health at the University of Washington, suggest you target four key areas:

Work environment.  Consider tools from ergonomics and universal design – like bright task lighting, contrast controls on visual displays, nonskid surfaces, etc. – to improve the safety and efficiency of older workers.

Health promotion and disease prevention.  This is about more than reducing health care costs. It’s about encouraging older workers to do the things they specifically need to stay healthy and productive – like making sure to get flu shots, and regular vision and hearing exams.

Work-life balance within the organization.  Arrangements ranging from job-sharing to telecommuting to phased retirement fall into this category.

Work-life balance outside the organization.  Don’t forget the social support mechanisms in the community that older workers may want to take advantage of, such as public transportation or senior recreation services. You may want to help them leverage these services through focused employee benefits.

You may not be in a position to attack all four of these targets at once. But the more you achieve in at least one or two areas for improving employee productivity, the more your organization will benefit from your older employees’ skills and efforts.

Dave Clemens
Editor-in-Chief
The HR Café Newsletter

Employee development programs: Are they getting enough attention now?

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Dear HR Executive,

It’s all too easy to let an employee development program go by the board when times are tough.

Amid the deep recession, top management is thinking hard about the day-to-day survival of the business. Responding to that executive imperative, HR may slip into reactive mode – focusing on downsizing and all that goes with it: proper documentation of RIFs, unemployment hearings, COBRA issues and the like.

Plus, with a new, employee-friendly administration in Washington, HR has to make sure the organization is ready for any regulatory crackdowns and/or new employment laws.

It all adds up to a lot of putting-out-fires work for you. Any kind of forward planning – like an employee development program – can slip to the bottom of your list of priorities almost without your noticing.

Greater importance
You probably don’t want that to happen. Employee development may be more important – and even more feasible – during periods of organizational stress than at other times.

Why? According to Matthew Street, research and policy officer at Britain’s Management Standards Center, there are at least three reasons:

• Your most talented employees – those who value training and professional development the most – are the most likely to leave. Average employees won’t have the confidence to venture out into a cold job scene, but your best people well might. Making sure these folks can continue to develop their abilities is a great way to keep them around.
• Tough times require change. Strategies for coping with change can be taught and promoted as part of your talent development effort. 
• Senior executives may be more willing to participate in training and mentoring during a recession. Like everybody else, they’re eager to prove their value to the organization, and you may be able to tap their expertise for training that avoids the cost of expensive outside consultants.

How about you?

How are your employee development programs faring?

We at Business 21 would like to hear how you’re approaching training and professional development at this difficult economic time. Post a comment and let us know.

Dave Clemens
Editor-in-Chief
The HR Café Newsletter (www.hrcafe.net)

Free training program -- How to talk to employees about money

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Dear HR Executive:

Business 21 has a new product line we'd like our HR Cafe blog readers to take a look at. It's a training and information resource called the "HR Cafe Training Center" and I guarantee you you've never seen anything like it. We'd love to know what you think of it.

The HR Cafe Training Center combines two services that HR executives will find useful:

1. A fast-read HR newsletter -- nothing too unusual here. Subscribers get a print and online version that keeps you current on employment law, benefits, comp, etc.
2. Fast-paced online training modules -- now these ARE unusual, and the feedback we're getting from early users (see below) suggests they're helping HR executives increase their perceived value in their organizations. Imagine a library of remarkably affordable training modules, all a very watchable five to 10 minutes long, that you can deploy with a click of a mouse when a need arises. You email them to employees; they click on a link and program launches right on their screen.

OPTION 1: See for yourself. Learn more about the product and sign up for a no-risk 60-day trial to test drive the HR Cafe Training Center.

OPTION 2: Click here to view a quick-launching online training module for supervisors who struggle when talking to subordinates about money (that group includes just about ALL supervisors, by the way). It's called: "Don't You Love Me Anymore? How to Drain the Drama and Emotion from Annual Salary Reviews."

We'd love your feedback on both the Quick Take and the HR Cafe Training Center platform. Please feel free to post a "comment."

Stephen Meyer
B21 Publisher

P.S. Here's what HR executives are saying about the Quick Take training modules in the HR Cafe Training Center:

How to Conduct Effective Exit Interviews - 6 mins 32 secs
"This is the first time I have heard your approach to exit interviews, but I intend to use it. The Quick Take format is great for those of us with really busy schedules and limited free time. I can learn something new in only a few minutes. Karen Morton, Town of Ledyard, CT

How to Conduct An Excruciatingly Difficult Conversation With An Employee - 8 mins 43 sec
"Provides a lesson that any level supervisor can understand and use. Very clear and specific. Even helpful for 'HR specialists.' " Marcie Johnson, Virginia Department of Transportation

Memo to employees: 'Training is too expensive; we’ll just hire someone new instead'

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Dear HR Executive:

Here’s the sort of short-term thinking that companies just can’t afford right now: A new survey finds that few firms are willing pay for employee training on emerging-media skills. Yet they’ll pay top dollar to recruit new hires with those same skills.

A survey of HR execs conducted by profs at Ball State University found that 90 percent of firms were willing to pay a premium of 1 to 8 percent for workers with new-media skills. And 94 percent of respondents said it was important for employees to have these skills. Yet 77 percent of the firms said they provided little or no employee training on them.

Yes, new-media skills are in short supply and companies desperately need to develop those capabilities to stay competitive. But it’s almost certainly more cost effective to train current employees than to hire someone new at a higher salary. And it’s likely to be a lot less risky. That new hire may be a technical wizard, but does he or she know your business, your goals and your culture?

Your current employees know all of those things. And you know which ones are capable of growth. When you train and promote from within, you send two powerful messages to the entire workforce: We care about your advancement, and these skills are important to us.

So the next time someone says, “We need to bring in people who know how to do X,” step back and ask whether it wouldn’t make more sense to train someone instead.

Michael Boyette
Editor, HR Café Training Center

Exclusive B21 Survey: Training Budgets

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Dear HR Executive:

In a moment, I want to tell you about a new B21 service that's already saved dozens of customers lots of money on their training budgets, but first let me share the results of a survey we just did about how spending has been affected by the bad economy.

The big surprise: Most people aren't cutting back. Here are the results:

What has the current economic downturn meant for YOUR company's training budget? (n=119)

• We've increased our budget - 12.6%
• We've kept our budget the same - 51.3%
• We've cut our budget slightly - 21%
• We've cut our budget significantly - 10.1%
• We've eliminated our training budget completely - 5%

I don't know about you but when I see these results my brain focuses on the two-thirds of HR execs who say they've held steady or increased spending on training. This means either that

1. Companies recognize there's a talent war out there and that training expenditures -- which average about $1000 per employee per year -- are a very cost-effective retention strategy; or
2. The tight economy hasn't caught up with spending yet.

Those who felt they needed to cut budgets mentioned several strategies for coping with less money -- in-house training, using local outside vendors, online training, etc. My two cents: If you've got to reduce the budget, don't cut back on your best performers. They want training and you'll most likely get a huge return on your investment. Cut back on marginal performers, where the desire for training, and the return on investment, is a lot lower.

Now, let me tell you about B21 discounted credits. The program came about due to customer feedback. The B21 Website has dozens of training products and we conduct over 100 HR audio conferences per year. Last year repeat customers started asking for volume discounts. Sounds easy, right. In fact, it was very hard, as everything to do with Web technology tends to be. I'll spare you the details, but today our most loyal customers (I hope that's you) can stretch their training budgets a little farther by banking "discounted training credits" on our Website and using them whenever a need arises. You can get up to 35% off. Click here to learn more. There's even a 3-minute demo that explains how the program works.

Stephen Meyer
B21 Publisher

You can't teach a kid to ride a bike at a seminar

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Dear HR Executive:

Sales guru David Sandler used to say to salespeople, "You can't teach a kid to ride a bike at a seminar." He encouraged salespeople to learn to sell by... selling.

Same goes for HR. In the real world of business, HR leaders are faced with complex people issues, hard deadlines and deliverables, and making tough, practical decisions every day with no theoretical framework or academic research to support them. There is no formal education in these areas. HR execs simply have to get on the bike! Think about this...

Your organization may be running with staff structures and communication processes left over from years or decades past. Periodically, it's essential to revisit the hierarchy, job descriptions, titles, turf, and processes. Are you having the right kind of meetings? Are the right people in attendance? Should you be having meetings at all? Unless your company and industry and customers are exactly the same as they were in 1985, your internal HR landscape better have evolved considerably since then!

One critical element missing in a lot of companies is a clear system of HR cultural leadership. Simply put, "this is the way we lead around here."

Training, coaching, critiquing and teaching are important leadership duties. Have you designated this as part of the value description of every leader's role? Do managers have the authority, and the time, to do this effectively? If not, explicitly designate a percentage of their work week to perform these tasks. And hold them to it, encourage it, ask about it, and reward it. Create an environment where leaders learn to lead smarter by... leading smarter. Create better coaches by having them coach. Create more career-focused leaders by having them hold regular career conversations with their direct reports.

Otherwise, managers are just plugging holes and bailing water to keep the place afloat. Just as you'd have a sales manager review the work of the sales staff, ask leaders to review the leadership work of their next level of leaders - and not in a "drive-by" quickie meeting, or just once a year for a performance review. Make ongoing leadership effectiveness an overt priority.

So, where do you start? How do you get better if any of the above describes your situation?

Begin with a frank conversation of priorities, and review your staff to see if you have the right players and resources in place.

Is morale low on a particular team? If so, maybe you need to designate a mentor/coach/champion.

Is your company's competitive position slipping in the evolving marketplace? If so, maybe you need to allocate some innovation expertise in that area.

And no, this doesn't always mean bringing in a consultant or guru from the outside. Sometimes, the best "consultants" are already on staff, waiting to be discovered.

Look around.

Listen hard.

You'll find them.

David Newman
VP of Product Development

HR: "Your horse likes to be in front"

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Dear HR Executive:

Last week, I was in Puerto Rico on vacation. It's amazing where you can find relevant business lessons!

On our last day on the island, my wife, son, daughter and I took a horseback ride near the rainforest of El Yunque National Park. And yes, it WAS rainy. Here's the HR lesson my horse taught me...

We were about 10 minutes into the ride with about 15 other people, and my horse was the closest to the guide near the front of the line that we formed along the trail. Our horseback guide turned to me and said casually, "Your horse likes to be in front."

And sure enough, when my horse wasn't in the #1, #2, or #3 position in the line, he got restless and started moving back up towards the front of the line, sometimes even edging past our guide. The guide then said to me, "Some horses like to be in the front; some like to be in the middle; and some like to stay near the back. Your horse - he likes to be in front."

This got me thinking that HR leaders (and even entire organizations) have similar "comfort zones." Some get very restless and if they fall back to #2 or #3, they spur their people on, mobilize resources to improve performance, and rally the troops around regaining their #1 position.

Other are more comfortable in the middle of the pack. Sure, they work to stay ahead of the laggards, but if things start moving too fast - too much growth, too much change, too much turbulence - they ease off the gas pedal until they regain their status in the "middle of the pack" where they are most comfortable.

Finally, there are HR leaders and organizations where they've become accustomed to being the "poor stepchild" - overlooked, under-budgeted, and over-stressed. Their level of "learned helplessness" keeps them at the back of the line - and it keeps them from implementing "big HR ideas" or "bold HR initiatives" because... well, they've just about given up on those goals. If they start to creep up in status or start to work on any real change, they'll just get their ideas and egos thoroughly stomped on. So why bother?

No matter where your "horse" may be right now, see what you can do to marshal the resources and perseverance to move to the front of the line. Who knows? You might like it up there and want to stay!

-- David Newman
VP of Product Development