A Small Business HR Case Study

My husband has had a tough week. He's launching a product at CES next week, and to make the deadline, the factory in China shipped 50 prototypes early. Unassembled. To him, and not to the finishing guy in LA. So he needs assembly help - and he needs it fast. He posted an ad for technical assemblers on Craigslist, and thus started a quick HR challenge.

First: there was the volume issue. 100 responses in a little over 2 hours on a holiday week is an unfortunate comment about the unemployment situation in the Bay Area. Or maybe he set the hourly rate too high. In any case, he needed a quick way to sort. So we had a chat about hiring criteria and goals. Since this was a short term project, he gave priority to skills, work history, time of response, and location.

Second: there were SO MANY errors and issues with the resumes. With such a high volume, if the resume didn't meet a quick scan test, it was quickly moved to the 'pass' pile. Even within the initial 'consider' pile, there were a lot of resume basics that hadn't been met, and that became an additional screening criteria. A few reminders, if you are job-hunting:

1. Name your resume something other than "resume.doc". Name it "gretchenalarcon2009resume.doc" or "Alarcon_resume.doc". Give the recruiter/manager an easy way to find it if they download to a file.
2. Contact info goes at the top. This should be obvious, but there were several resumes that had the contact info in the email and only the name in the doc. Don't assume the cover letter and resume will always be together.
3. If you have a 2-page resume, add your name and contact info to the header/footer on each page. Again, don't assume multiple pages will stay together.
4. Make sure the contact information is for a phone/email that you will check frequently. If I can't reach you, I can't hire you.
5. Spell check. Seriously.

Third: How do you pay these people? As an independent contractor, he usually works with other independents. Could he treat these people the same? Would they need a 1099? Would they have to be w-2 employees? The IRS site didn't have anything obvious on this, and it took over an hour of searching to confirm that he had the right forms.

Here's a hiring manager who wants to do right thing, and has a former HR manager to help him, and it still required research and planning, both of which he didn't really have time to do. There's a reason why we have employment laws, but without an easy way to find them or review them, I suspect many businesses are unknowingly out of compliance. This was a one-off, and I don't think he'll be hiring again any time soon. However, it's a wake up call for me to look into some small company HR options. Any recommendations out there for the small business owner? Specifically for sole-proprietorships that don't have staff on an ongoing basis?

[img: Whatknot]

You're Right-sized?!

Meg's latest post reminded me that I have some old posts on my personal blog, that might fit better here. So I'm reposting, from June '05.

I’m told all the time that I speak in bullet points. And it’s true. I don’t like to spend a lot of time elaborating, or mincing words. It’s not that I don’t care about people’s feelings, and I’m certainly not taciturn. It’s just that when there’s a point to be made, I don’t see why you don’t just make it and move on. I think a lot of my brevity is a reaction to my time working in HR.

When you think about an HR job, lots of nice words and phrases come to mind. Outsourcing. Rightsizing. Downsizing. HR has many different words for a basic statement: you’re fired. Of course, now Trump has made this the cool phrase, but in general, firing someone is one of the most emotionally charged things you can do in the workplace. Firing comes in 3 forms:

1. The worker isn’t performing. This is the easiest for a manager, and often a relief for the worker. They both know it isn’t working out, and with the right counselling, the break-up is fairly painless.
2. The worker is performing, but there’s a personality issue. This is hard for the worker, less hard for the manager. Usually, the manager has decided that the situation isn’t going to work out, and is ok with the news. For the employee, this firing often comes as a shock.
3. The layoff. This is the most difficult for both sides of the relationship. The manager doesn’t want to deliver the news, but has to because they have to put the company needs first. The employee doesn’t understand why they were the one laid off, and there is often an emotional confrontation.

In each of these cases, it’s easier for the manager and the HR person to rely on rote phrases. The phrases are not as charged as saying “fired”. They also are used in the planning process – while meeting to discuss the issues, HR and the manager get comfortable with rightsizing or downsizing, it feels more humane than "mass firing". So when the discussion with the employee happens, the manager uses the language he is familiar with. The problem is that those phrases mean nothing to the person being let go. They haven’t discussed the issue multiple times with HR, agonized over the decision, and made the call to fire. They are hearing the news for the first time, and don't understand the words being chosen.

One of the worst firing situations I’ve ever been in was layoff round one at the dot-com gig. Steve, the manager I was working with, had never laid anyone off before, and the first meeting went something like this:
[Steve] Bob, as you know we’ve had some financial decisions to make lately. Due to our changes in the revenue model and the goal of raising additional financing, we have decided that this is the time to rightsize the company.
[Bob] Oh…?
[Steve] So, since the new business model doesn’t support having multiple revenue streams coming from the support organization, we’ve decided to restructure your group. I will be refocusing on the development organization and they will pick up a number of new assignments. Gretchen will help you with the transition details. Meanwhile, I want to let you know that you have my full support and I’m more than willing to help you with whatever you need as you go through this time of change.
[Bob]…time of change?
[Gretchen] Bob, you are being laid-off.

Then Bob got it. Then Bob lost it, and we spent the next 60 minutes with Steve reiterating that yes, Bob really was being laid off, and no, there was nothing he could do to change the decision, and yes, he was really sorry, and on and on.

Fortunately after this meeting, Steve was open to some feedback. He realized that he had defaulted to manager-speak because he was nervous and didn’t know what to say. As a result, the employee had been confused, and the interview was much more painful than it had to be. I rescheduled the rest of Steve’s layoff interviews and we did some role-playing. Over the next hour, he fired me about a dozen times. He practiced until he felt confortable delivering the news in a concise, compassionate way, and was prepared for the employee’s emotional responses. We structured the interview so he could see it simply:

• Deliver the news – get to the point, don’t expand.
• Pause, to let it sink in. Let the employee speak next.
• Provide more detail, but keep it focused on the employee. Start directing the conversation away from the firing and into the next steps. Think short sentences, and simple concepts.
• Refer the employee to HR or other resources for the questions that will come up once the shock wears off.

The next exit interview went something like this:
[Steve] Mary, as you know we’ve had to make some tough decisions lately, and I’m sorry to have to tell you that you have been let go.
[Mary] Why?
[Steve] We had to reduce our headcount by 5%, and I made the decision to eliminate your position.
[Mary] But what about the rest of my team?
[Steve] Right now, I’d rather focus on making sure you have the information you need as you leave Old Company. Gretchen is here to talk about your benefits and last paycheck. Then, she’ll take you to our outplacement counsellors to talk about next steps. If you have additional questions, we’ll have a meeting Thursday to discuss them.
[Gretchen] So let’s talk about the content of your letter...

Asking someone to leave is never easy. It takes you back to elementary school when someone said “You’re not my friend anymore.” After running 6 layoffs over the last few years, I can tell you each one is equally painful. But it’s a part of business, just as hiring is. Learning to do it humanely is an important management skill. The key is to get the bad news over with. The longer you draw it out, and the more you try to use euphemisms or management-speak, the harder it is for both sides. So, say it. Don’t confuse it, or hide the facts. Make your point, let them respond and move on. While you won’t feel better at the time, you will later.

Giving Thanks

How much time do you spend at work? Or thinking about work? Or annoying your spouse as you rehash everything that happened at work? A lot, right? Why are you invested in your work? The project? The recognition? For me, it’s always been about the people I’m working with. However, years as an HR person taught me to be careful of making friends at work. I never wanted to have to sit across the table and lay-off a good friend.

There’s value to work friendships that goes beyond having a lunch buddy. As reported in the New York Times last year, researchers have found that having close friends at work leads to decreases in job-related stress. One of the researchers commented that because your co-workers are in the same environment, they “get where you are coming from”. Certainly my co-workers are much more interested in talking about the latest work challenges than my family, who roll their eyes every time I try to tell a work story. But I’ve also realized in the last month how much I’ve come to rely on my friendships at work.

It’s easy to do the surface friendship things: ask about the family, share funny vacation stories, etc. But in times of crisis – family illnesses or loss – you see those friendships take another step. Last month one of my co-workers lost her husband, and her work friends banded together to support her, and assist in any way possible. This wasn’t just signing names on a card or covering meetings. This was a group of friends helping each other through a life event. Last week, when my husband was hospitalized, my work friends jumped in to offer help and to make sure I was supported – far and above the normal call of work colleagues. It’s these kinds of relationships, the give and take, the sharing and the support, that make you value your job a little more. It’s not just about the work, or the profits, or the customer success. It’s about the people.

Thank you to my work friends (and customer friends!) for your support and friendship. You’ve helped me more than you know, and I’m very thankful.


[img: klmontgomery]

Remembering...

There are moments that become touchstones in your life. Getting married. The birth of a child. Losing a parent. Whether the event is positive or negative, it’s a moment when you look around and realize that life as you know it has changed. I’m fortunate enough not to have lost anyone in the events of September 11th. But that day, and the days following had a major impact on me. Although I’ve talked with people about that time, I’ve not written about it before. But today, on the 7th anniversary, I think it’s time to articulate some of what I took away from that experience. These lessons are my keys for dealing with a crisis.

Lesson #1. Focus on the immediate problem.
When I went to bed on 9/10, my largest problem was the impending layoffs at our company. I’d spent the evening on the phone with my boss talking through options, and then updated my resume just in case. The next morning, the layoff problem took a backseat. Now we had to ensure our team was accounted for (thankfully, yes) and then figure out what was going on, and what we were going to do. The layoffs would still happen, but they could hold off for a few days as we dealt with the more immediate concerns.

Lesson #2. Find a plan, even if it’s just for the next 2 hours.
In a crisis situation, no one really knows what to do – stay inside? Are the hotels safe? Is it better to be outside? We needed to do something, but didn’t know what it should be. So, someone brilliant said “let’s go to lunch”. It seemed so mundane, but it was the best answer for the moment. Raise the blood sugar; take a break from the news; and over lunch we planned out what to do next: figure out the best options and timing for getting home.

Lesson #3. Do the right thing.
So, how were we going to get home? The next day, the rental car agencies stepped in saying people could rent cars and drive to wherever they needed to go. No fees, no restrictions. Hello, solution: roadtrip. We rented 4 large cars and started on our way. Seven years later, I can still feel the overwhelming sense of relief I experienced when I realized we had a way to get home. Hertz, Avis et al did the right thing, and to this day, I think of that moment when I rent a car.

Lesson #4. Remember that people react in different ways.
In crisis, I’m a do-er. I need to keep moving, so we can find our way through the problem. When the immediate need is over, I fall apart. But others react differently: they need more time upfront to assess and decide what to do. I had to remember to slow down and acknowledge my team members’ needs, so we could make good decisions. I also needed the team to understand me, when I broke down 2 days later. We were half-way home and the airports were going to re-open, so we decided to stop driving and fly home from St Louis. As soon as we stopped moving, the enormity of the situation sank in. I can remember sitting at the Arch, sobbing, wondering how we were ever going to make it through this. Marie checked in that afternoon to see how I was coping – she knew it was time for me to lean on someone.

Lesson #5. Focus on the principles: we are all in this together
It’s easy to become jaded, and focus only on the business side of work, keeping people at arms length. The thing 9/11 burned deep into me, is that there will always be personal connections at work, and people will rise to the occasion. Our company was in a tight spot financially, and we had to get the layoffs done if the company was going to stay solvent. And yet, in every call during that week, our CFO reiterated our primary goal: to get everyone safely home. Nothing was more important. She didn’t care about the cost, she cared about the people.

You never know when you’re going to have an experience that leads to life lessons. And hopefully, we’ll never have to learn from something like 9/11 again. But having touchstones, and recognizing what you’ve learned from those moments is part of what growing as a person and as a professional is all about. So today, when we remember our heroes, and mourn our losses, I want to say thank you to the Icarian team. September 11th was horrible. But when I think of the days following, I think of how we banded together, and the faith I had that even though the world would never be the same, with our team, we would find a way to carry on.

[Image Source: http://spencesmith.typepad.com/spence/images/2007/09/11/twin_towers_tribute_of_light.jpg]

What's Your Type?

Why do we feel a need to classify ourselves? Every team building class I've ever taken had started with a Myers-Briggs or a Disc assessment. The intent makes sense. People are wired differently, and as a result, act differently, and the class is focused on how to build a stronger team. But the tools have always seemed flawed to me. Is there a right answer? Meg says she's looking for one. What happens if the result from the test doesn't fit with your personal perception? In what context do you take the assessment? For example, my Myers-Briggs type ends in J when I take the assessment in a work situation, but if I take the test at home, or in a social context, that J always turns to a P. What does that say about me?

My favorite class on types was one I took in the early 90s called Human Dynamics. What worked about this process was that it was a week-long self identification class. We watched videos of people who were of certain dynamics, and thought about which we identified with. We heard speakers talk about how they approached groups, how they thought, where they carried their stress, what challenges they felt when interacting with others, and based on their comments, self-identified our dynamic. In this class, there wasn't so much a focus on the "right" answer, but on what group felt most like you. As a result, each dynamic was perceived as valuable. The learning process was focused on how your dynamic could best interact with people from other dynamics, by asking for what you need to be effective. 10+ years later, I still have the book and materials in my office, and pull them out when I'm having interaction challenges with someone.

In the end, the goal is learning how to interact effectively with the people around you - at work, or in society in general. But please don't put labels on me or on yourself...talk to me about what makes you tick. When are you most energized? What turns you off? How can we work together to be most effective? Whether you're a Driver, INFP, Influencer, Analyst, Physical-Mental, or any other label you choose, you are a valuable human being. Let's find a way to interact that makes us all happy and successful (insert sunshine and rainbows here!).

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Ok, now that I've explained why I don't like these tests, I will say that the PICTURE part of this quiz result is exactly me. Almost all the pictures I've have up at home and at work are of nature, and very colorful. However I think a key part of the description below is wrong. Solitude is good for me to recharge, but I wouldn't say that I'm comforted in subdued settings....have you seen where I work? Take the test for yourself, and let me know how it fits for you. Good for fun, or in 10 years will we be describing ourselves as Daydreamers, Viisioinaries, Humanitarians, etc?

Your result for The Perception Personality Image Test...

NBPC - The Daydreamer

Nature, Background, Big Picture, and Color

You perceive the world with particular attention to nature. You focus on the hidden treasures of life (the background) and how that fits into the larger picture. You are also particularly drawn towards the colors around you. Because of the value you place on nature, you tend to find comfort in more subdued settings and find energy in solitude. You like to ponder ideas and imagine the many possibilities of your life without worrying about the details or specifics. You are in tune with all that is around you and understand your life as part of a larger whole. You are a down-to-earth person who enjoys going with the flow.

Take your own quiz at HelloQuizzy

Accelerating Slowly

March, 1993. Day Two at my first real, honest-to-goodness career job. I’d survived Day One with the requisite paperwork, video from the CEO, and rah-rah pitch from HR. Now I was ready to really experience work. My boss met me at the HR building.

“Congratulations,” he said. “And, you are already behind. I’ve arranged for you to get a crash course in the HR concepts you will need to know. You’ve got 1:1s with each of the recent college grads hired in HR in the last 2 years, and with the leader of every HR area. I’ve arranged for you to have 2 days with the compensation manager since you’ll be running the focal in about 6 weeks and I want you to be ready. I’ve set you up with a temporary office over here; so that you will closer to the people you are meeting with. Also, I ordered all the most current literature on HR.” He pointed to a stack of 15 books in the corner of the desk. “I’m heading to Bangkok for 2 weeks. When I get back, your cube in our business unit will be ready, and we can start getting you oriented to the line.”

Wow. I remember feeling overwhelmed and strangely let down at the same time. I just finished 4 years of college, and you just handed me enough reading material for a typical semester class? I won’t meet my client group for another 2 weeks? I’m stuck hanging out in a different work group? Wait, you’re going where? For how long? Huh?

Looking back, my manager did me a great favor. Yes, it was awkward to not have my boss around. It was also strange to be working in a temporary office instead of where I would eventually be. But, this two week period let me build relationships with the people I would need to rely on in my job as a generalist. Meeting the HR leaders when I didn’t have a specific agenda, and when I wasn’t interviewing for the job, let us get to know each other in an easier environment. They also were looking out for me, since they knew my boss was out of town. I met my peers (other college hires) who had similar jobs, and could advise me informally. As for the literature, I read most of the books in the 2 weeks, since I didn’t have any other deliverables. Several of them were key to the work I was asked to do in the first 6 months of my job. I still have some of those books on my desk today. Most importantly, not being with my client group meant I had time to learn the company practices before being asked to interpret them. When I was introduced 2 weeks later, I wasn’t in Orientation Overload, and could immediately show some small wins within the group.

Onboarding is not a science. Balancing the need for learning with the need for execution is tough – especially when a position has been held open for a long period of time. Dedicating extra time for new hires to meet people, to learn from those interactions, and to get a sense of how things are done leads to a more informed employee, and potentially a more engaged one as well. Especially in groups where the new hire will be a service provider with internal constituents, it helps to have them start out with this grounding in company practices. The deliverables will still be there in 2 weeks, and the new employee will be better able to achieve them with a network of contacts and foundation of knowledge.

What other suggestions would you offer for Onboarding?

[Photo credit: davidking]

Let Us Now Praise HR Generalists

Dan McCarthy’s post last week, on the things he learned while working in HR, was a breath of fresh air. Most articles on the HR profession focus on weaknesses. They start from a position that HR is not useful, or not strategic. While that may be true for individuals, it is not true for the profession as a whole. In my opinion, HR is one of the least understood or appreciated roles in the modern organization. It is a role that emerged with very few codified responsibilities or practices and over the years has evolved from a back office function focused on legs and regs to a collaborative advisory role with substantive impact on the organization.

It’s been 15 years since I started my career in HR (thank you, Hugo!) and was fortunate enough to participate in the redesign of Human Resources as one of my first assignments (thank you Eric and Dave!) One of the key parts of that process was a social analysis of the role of HR – trying to see what made our team tick. Dan defines many of the concepts that came up in the analysis – being “always on”, throwing away your schedule every morning as you reacted to the crisis du jour, crunching a lot of information, and wondering if anyone really understood what you do. There are 3 key skills though, that I would add as critical for a successful generalist: compartmentalization, helicopter thinking and judgment.

Compartmentalization: I can’t think of many roles where you have as many different topics to cover in a short period of time. A generalist might have to go from a team planning meeting to an employee grievance procedure, to a 1:1 with a manager, to a termination meeting – all before lunch. The best generalists can flow from one meeting to the next without giving any indication of the topics they just covered or the emotional impact of the session. One of my mentors referred to this as “the code”. After each meeting, you take what you just covered, put it in a mental box, close the lid and put it away until you are focused on that topic again. You might vent to someone else in HR if you are having a bad day, but what you cover in an HR meeting stays between the people in the room at that time and does not impact any other meetings. This is not easy to do, but this separation is crucial to being effective (and to being sane at the end of a busy day!).

Helicopter thinking is about being able to zoom from the abstract into the specific, or vice versa. For example, a discussion about challenges in a product line might trigger a thought about career opportunity for the employee you counseled earlier in the day. Similarly, thinking about a series of events (meetings, 1:1s, etc) might lead to an idea for a new management strategy – solving a larger problem instead of the individual symptoms. Knowing when to pull up to look at a broader situation, or when to drill in from a high level idea to a specific example is important in a role like this where your role is to influence decisions both for individuals and for the organization.

Finally, there’s the question of judgment. As a generalist, you are exposed to a lot of information, with varying degrees of confidentiality. How do you manage that knowledge, and when do you share what you know? Do you lean toward sharing with management, or do you keep employee information locked up? For example, your marketing manager is looking for someone to head up a new project, and you know that someone in another team is looking for a new challenge. Do you as the HR generalist make the connection for them, or do you strongly hint to one or both that they should have a conversation? Is this decision situational, or do you have a communicated practice for these sorts of situations?

I left the generalist world about 8 years ago. I wanted to explore other areas of business, and try some new challenges. But I have very high regard for people who choose this profession. Those who have made their career in this field are often battle scarred, but they are also the first people I would look to in a tough situation. Their combination of empathy and strength can help you realize a good solution. The HR profession may not get a lot of respect, but HR Generalists deserve a round of applause for their commitment to employees, managers and their organization’s success.

[photo credit: voxphoto]

Second Life for HR

At every conference, there should be 1 session that blows your mind. Most conference sessions are geared toward providing new information on something you already know. You already know that there's a shortage of nurses, but you didn't know that the constraint is in college classes. Interesting, you've just added to your body of knowledge. But the session that blows your mind, that introduces new technology, or shows you a completely new way to work, is the session you'll be talking about in 6 months. It's the session that justifies your attendance at the conference.

The mind-blowing session at HRPS was the plenary session: Second Life: The Business Case for HR in the Virtual World. The abstract included a well-constucted audience tease.

You will be transported into the virtual world of Second Life, where the future is now. Explore the impact of the new economy, the emerging virtual workforce and the workplace of the not so distant future. Your Avatar moderator and tour guide will show you what millions of people and dozens of leading companies are doing NOW in a virtual world and economy.

Hmm.... there's an Avatar moderator? How's that going to work? Will there be someone live as well? Are they actually going to present in Second Life? I was intrigued.

The presenter (in person, standing behind the podium, bummer!) started by asking how many in the audience had an avatar, in any application. (maybe 5-10% of the audience.) He then offered a definition of Second Life as "the unholy offspring of The Matrix, MySpace and eBay". That was followed by some suprising demographic stats. 43% of Second Life users are female. Average age: 32. 55% of users are outside North America. He was also very careful to distinguish Second Life from World of Warcraft. (WoW: it's a game, and you live within its rules and narrative. Second Life: focus on commerce and creativity.)

And then the fun started. The moderator brought up his Second Life instance, and in the guise of his Avatar ("Ace Carson") proceeded to give a guided tour, including interacting with 2 other avatars who co-presented. The demo paid particular attention to how IBM has invested in Second Life as a way to better interact with their workforce. Chuck Hamilton, from IBM @ Play walked through their Onboarding Island, complete with detailed documentation for IBM's processes and services. They also are using Second Life for virtual conference participation, saying that the Avatars give more of a presence indicator than just participating in web conferences. The IBM team has built out spaces to support this stronger presences as well. For example, when Sam Palmisano was speaking in China earlier this year, he was also speaking in "China" in Second Life. Another area when they have found Second Life useful is in mentoring. The use of Avatars helps employees feel more comfortable asking questions, or interacting than they might in real life, and they don't have to rely purely on text, or audio communication. After moving their onboarding and mentoring to Second Life, they have found that employees are building more connections, faster. One reason given is that the Avatar-based relationships feel more "real" than pure instant messaging or email-mediated communication. The results, according to Chuck are better relationships, less travel, and a very active virtual world. There are currently 15,000 IBM Avatars.

The audience reaction was just what you would hope. Lots of questions, lots of interest, lots of people thinking about how to apply the technology. There was a fair amount of skepticism as well. ("It's all well and good for IBM with the resources they have. How would this work in a company of less than 5,000 employees? Who has the time or money to invest in this?") But most importantly, this was a topic that reached out well beyond the time allocated for the session. At lunch on Day 3, people were still talking about Second Life, drawing connections between other tools, and thinking about how this might change the game. Will it happen overnight? No. But this is exactly what you hope to take away from a conference: new ideas, new conversations, and new solutions that you want to go explore.