Day: March 29, 2020

SECRET’S SAFE WITH ME — OR IS IT? WORKPLACE PRIVACY IN THE INTERNET AGE

Human Resource professionals believe in privacy. We don’t share salaries or performance ratings (unless it’s part of our company policy to do so). When someone comes to complain about a perceived injustice, we conduct our investigations with the utmost care. When we coach a manager on how to handle a difficult employee, we do so behind closed doors so that only those that truly need to know, know. Privacy is a hallmark of good HR.
In an effort to be efficient, though, we’ve made everything electronic. Yes, this is convenient and makes it possible to review everything from an employee’s pay history to their performance reviews with one click or toggle. However, it also means that employee privacy has become a lot harder.
In the old days, we did paper — and lots of it. Violating employee privacy was possible in only a few ways — if we left something at the copier, or accidentally set a file down in the office kitchen, for example. Now? Well, take the case of a poor former co-worker who accidentally sent a detailed rejection email to everyone in the building rather than just to the internal candidate. For hours, people were hitting reply-all saying, “Why am I getting this?” and then those responses started to morph into, “For all this embarrassment, you should just give the guy the job anyway.”
The problem with this type of privacy breach is that no policy could stop it. The recruiter made a mistake. Email makes the exchange of information easy, but it also makes quick, inappropriate distribution easy, as well.
Privacy problems aren’t limited to HR departments either. It’s so easy to share information with the world today. What’s more, this sharing of information is a huge part of our current culture. Often people don’t think twice before posting to Twitter. Take for instance the hospital employee who tweeted the name of a celebrity couple’s new baby — before the couple had announced it. While most HR privacy issues are covered by custom and ethics alone, releasing patient information falls under federal law.
The reality is, you need policies and procedures in place for all of your company data and employee social media behavior. The National Labor Relations Board isn’t making social media policies easy, though. In a recent case, the NLRB held that a social media policy which prohibited blogging or sharing “confidential or proprietary information about the Company, or … inappropriate discussions about the company, management, and/or co-workers” in social media was invalid because that implies that employees couldn’t engage in protected activity, such as discussing wages or working conditions.
See how complicated it can be to comply with the law when we’re talking about keeping company information private? Remember to differentiate between company secrets, such as marketing plans and “secrets” like how much money people make and what they think of their bosses. Additionally, don’t think that just because the NLRB was originally founded to deal with unions that it doesn’t apply to your non-union company. They have jurisdiction over just about everyone — your business included.
The biggest mistake a company can make when it comes to privacy issues in the Internet age is to ignore it until something bad happens. Legal hassles can be a nightmare, but a public relations disaster can be worse. For instance, employees at a car dealership in Westport Massachusetts treated a pizza delivery person horribly, thought it was hilarious, and posted the security camera video on YouTube. The rest of the Internet did not find it funny, however, and came out strongly against the company. I doubt anyone ever thought to prohibit posting security camera footage on the Internet — but the backlash can be severe.
You need a good policy. You need to be extra aware of security controls on your internal data. Otherwise, you can have angry employees, an embarrassed company, or lawyers knocking at your door.

CIOS, IT’S TIME TO JOIN FORCES WITH HR

As a CIO, focusing your attention on human resources may not be the first thing on your list of priorities. But as the war for talent rages on, the role of talent management in an organization’s IT strategy is increasingly important.
In the past, IT and HR departments have shared a rocky relationship. HR professionals often lacked technical understanding or awareness of the work performed in IT, which made it difficult to recruit the right candidates. On the other end, the process-oriented thinkers of IT viewed HR as a reactive — rather than a proactive and strategic — department, which diminished the business value of HR in their eyes. Both departments held preconceived notions and misunderstandings about the other.
Thanks to the growing attention to HR technology and people analytics, the divide between the two departments has been narrowing. But it’s time for CIOs to help close the divide for good. As a CIO, you have the unique opportunity to empower businesses with software and data-driven talent insights that not only help employees, but also impact the bottom line.

Close the Skills Gap

At the end of the day, HR and IT share the same goal: move the business forward. And no matter the industry, the amount of progress an organization makes ultimately comes down to its people.
But as HR knows, finding and attracting top talent isn’t easy. The demand for the best people is increasing and the bar for “best” is also being raised. According to PricewaterhouseCooper’s 18th Annual Global CEO Survey, 50 percent of organizations in the survey anticipate increasing headcount this year — and 80 percent of CEOs say they’re “looking for a much broader range of skills than in the past.”
Investing in talent management software that encompasses everything from recruiting to exit interviews will transform HR’s knowledge into hard data that IT can analyze to help make smarter business decisions. By aligning IT’s technical prowess with HR’s data on the employee life cycle, your organization will have insight into what skills and experiences actually predict success, so you can close the skills gap both more efficiently and effectively.

Deliver Higher Value at a Lower Cost

In addition to closing the skills gap, working with the HR department to find the right talent management product for your company can help deliver more value while lowering costs.
The upfront cost of HR software can be returned tenfold in terms of the time and money saved on recruiting, training, turnover prevention and workforce planning. For example, the average cost of replacing a lost employee — including interviewing, hiring, training, reduced productivity, etc. — is up to 50 percent of an annual salary for entry-level workers and up to 400 percent of an annual salary for high-level employees.
However, these high costs of turnover can be avoided with intelligent tracking and analytics. HR software solutions can warn managers of at-risk employees, as well as solve a suite of talent management issues: predicting performance, identifying and solving low productivity areas, measuring retention in L&D and more.

Lead the Way in Analytics

A strong working relationship between your IT team and your CHRO’s team can also help you advance your people analytics program — an area in need of more industry movers and shakers. You’ve heard the statistics before: three in four companies believe using people analytics is important, but a mere 8 percent report that their organization is “strong” in the area.
How can you lead the way? A unified, cloud-based talent management system allows your organization to consider workforce data across the organization, instead of occasionally answering a data request from HR and performing people analytics in a piecemeal fashion.
As Chief Talent Officer Michael Arena emphasized in a recent interview, people analytics is inherently a difficult subject: “We measure people, and that makes this field uniquely challenging because people don’t behave predictably.” Instead of making it harder on your organization to integrate workforce analytics, work with your HR team to find the right solution and process for success.
The old adage “if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it” applies to talent management as it does to any other department. Your HR team understands your organization’s most critical talent challenges better than anyone else — but they need your team’s IT expertise to solve them. By joining forces, you can impact the future of your organization, your people and the work landscape as a whole.

Day of Prayer

Our governor has declared today, March 29, to be a special day of prayer for our state and for our nation, particularly in regard to the current virus pandemic. In response, I offer three timely prayers as written in The Lutheran Hymnal (published in 1941). I considered modernizing the pronouns and verbs, but chose to leave them as written.

Prayer for the sick: “Almighty, everlasting God, the eternal Salvation of them that believe, hear our prayers in behalf of Thy servants who are sick, for whom we implore the aid of Thy mercy, that, being restored to health, they may render thanks to Thee in Thy Church; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord.”

A second prayer for the sick: “O Lord, look down from heaven, behold, visit, and relieve Thy servants for whom we offer our supplications; look upon them with the eyes of Thy mercy; give them comfort and sure confidence in Thee, defend them from the danger of the enemy, and keep them in perpetual peace and safety; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord.”

This third prayer might spark some thought and conversation: In time of great sickness: “Almighty and most merciful God, our heavenly Father, we, Thine erring children, humbly confess unto Thee that we have justly deserved the chastening which for our sins Thou hast sent upon us; but we entreat Thee, of Thy boundless goodness to grant us true repentance, graciously to forgive our sins, to remove from us, or to lighten, our merited punishment, and so to strengthen us by Thy grace that as obedient children we may be subject to Thy will and bear our afflictions in patience; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord.”

I posted these on Facebook an hour ago. It will be interesting to gauge the reactions. J.

6 AT-WORK GIFTS THAT WON’T BREAK THE BANK

With the holiday season just around the corner, people are ready to celebrate — both at home and in the office. Still, many companies are recovering from economic hardships, so throwing elaborate parties and giving employees huge bonuses may be out of the question. 
Just because the budget isn’t overflowing doesn’t mean companies shouldn’t celebrate, says Jay Forte on Human Capitalist. “These celebrations really matter: They connect, unite and engage us,” writes Forte. “They humanize our workplace and help us see the personal side of our teammates and customers.”
Creating a culture of celebration is a good place to start. Here Forte recommends six gifts for a culture of celebration:
  1. Camaraderie. Encourage employees to spend social time together by hosting a departmental potluck party. 
  2. Diversity. Celebrate different cultures by “having employees bring in some ethnic traditional food to share and give them time to explain how they celebrate their important holidays,” writes Forte. 
  3. Experiences. Bring entertainment to the office by hiring a magician or caricature artist — or host holiday bingo or holiday game night. 
  4. Support. “Make a donation for a cause that aligns with beliefs and values of the organization as the holiday gift,” suggests Forte.
  5. Choice. If a monetary gift is a must-have, set a dollar limit and let employees choose from a list of various gift cards.
  6. Time. Meet with each employee to connect on a personal level and learn ways to help him or her develop and improve performance. 
Great celebrations don’t need to break the bank, “they simply need to be personal and genuine,” writes Forte. “Add more humanity to your holidays and your celebrations will be remembered more than the gadgets, tchotchkes or stuff that just gets dusty, packed in a box or put on the shelf.

The Beatles

In April 1973, Apple Records released two double albums (eight sides in all) containing fifty-four songs that had been recorded and released by the Beatles between 1962 and 1970. Officially named The Beatles 1962-1966 and The Beatles 1967-1970, the recordings quickly became known as “The Red Album” and “The Blue Album” because of the color of the album covers. (A double album of new material from the Beatles, released in November 1968, had been named The Beatles but is usually called “The White Album.”)

Other compilations of Beatle music had been released before 1973 and have been released since 1973, but for many Beatles fans the Red Album and Blue Album are the definitive collection of Beatle songs. Fans can easily debate the selections. I, for example, would have included “If I Fell,” “I’ve Just Seen a Face,” “Got To Get You Into My Life,” “Here, There, and Everywhere,” “I Will,” and “Sexy Sadie,” among others.  With the coming and going of compact discs and the current availability of digital recordings, the red and blue albums are likely irrelevant to newer fans of the Beatles. But in the history of Beatle fandom, those albums have an important place.

A few days ago I tested my memory to see if I could recall all fifty-four songs included on the red and blue albums, as well as the order in which they appeared. Some sides I remembered easily; others were dimmer in my memory. Finally I had to pull them out of my collection and fill the gaps. (Yes, I still have my vinyl albums that I bought in the Seventies and Eighties.)  Interestingly (to me if to no one else), the songs I had forgotten were largely from the Rubber Soul and Magical Mystery Tour eras. “In My Life” and “Hello, Good-bye” are both songs that I like, but for some reason I had forgotten that they are included on the Red Album and the Blue Album, respectively.

Last year’s movie Yesterday imagined a world in which the Beatles had never existed and almost no one had ever heard their music. One man could remember and reproduce the songs of the Beatles, and he introduced them into the world. At first he found it difficult to get people to listen, but eventually the songs made a big impact. The first time I saw the movie, I didn’t like how the Beatle music was scrambled together, not showing the development of their musical styles and interests. But I then realized that younger Beatle fans know the music of the Beatles exactly in that fashion—all one package, without context of years and albums and formative influences. My children grew up hearing the Beatles music at home, and they probably remember some songs by album—Abbey Road, for example, or A Hard Day’s Night. But even for them, hearing “And I Love Her” side by side with “Oh, Darling” would probably not strike them as essentially different songs—just two of the many great songs written and recorded by the Beatles. J.

Bryant & Stratton College Allied Health Club Helps Community and Each Other

The most important word in this student groups’ title, is “allied”. Together, they raise money to help local nonprofits. Together, they host blood drives to bring much needed blood to the sick. Together they are students in both medical and non-medical fields driven by a single mission: to help their community. 
“I personally like the enthusiasm our club brings to brain storm ideas on fundraisers and where to donate our fundraising funds to,” said Len Lukasik president of the Allied Health Club, at the Bryant & Stratton College Milwaukee campus. “we work together to help out each other in so many different ways, that we are almost like a big family. it shows how our club members get behind one student who is asking for club participation and then receives a bunch of volunteers to help out in an event,” he said.
every year the club holds a minimum of six fundraisers. each time, the profits are donated to a local organization such as the american red cross, the aids resource center or the milwaukee women’s center, among others. and, each time you see a blood drive on campus, that too is the work of the allied health club as they partner with the blood center of wisconsin. student membership is free. each member is only asked to give “time, treasure or talent,” lukasik said.
what they gain is immeasurable. lukasik said through their volunteer work, the students have an opportunity to build soft skills in teamwork and leadership roles. they are also able to network with executives in each of the local organizations and build connections that will help them in the workplace after graduation. allied health club director, boakai paasewe, md, said this opportunity for students to work in the community gives them a competitive advantage.
“these students learn the importance of giving back to the community which is very important for their chosen field of work,” he said. “in addition, they learn about time management and prioritizing.”
club members not only help the community outside campus walls, but inside their own classrooms as well. students in this club look to each other for guidance when they are struggling with a class assignment. paasewe said since the club is made up of students from various academic levels, it is easy to find a mentor or tutor in the group if you need help.
“a student who is working (and going to school) and finding it difficult to find time to study, will find a student with a similar situation who is succeeding,” he said. and working together, they will both succeed.

How Completing a College Certificate Program Can Boost Your Career

If you are at a point in your career where you are considering additional education, whether it be an associate, bachelor’s or master’s degree, you may be hesitant to commit the time or money. But there may be another option you haven’t considered—a certificate. You can complete a college certificate program in nearly half the amount of time as a bachelor’s degree, and flexible certificate options often allow students to work while they further their education. Plus, career training certificates can be used to demonstrate a person’s expertise in a specialized area to future employers.
Typically the programs are shorter and less expensive than traditional programs, but there are still a number of ways a certificate can boost your career. Here are a few reasons you should consider this path for your professional life.

It allows you to specialize
If you’ve already started a career, you likely have the basics down that allow you to work in the industry in general. However, by completing a career certificate program, you can gain more intimate knowledge of a specialized area. This expertise can give you an edge over others in your field, who may only have a foundational knowledge. Perhaps you have a bachelor’s degree in accounting. Obtaining a certificate in a specialized area of accounting can help you hone certain skills, like tax preparation, which can be an asset to your resume. Even if you don’t have a formal degree, obtaining a certificate demonstrates a certain level of training and understanding that is appealing to employers.
It will give your résumé a boost
Adding a certificate to your résumé automatically gives it a bit of a boost. If you’ve earned a certificate in addition to a bachelor’s degree, not only does the certificate demonstrate your capability, but also your motivation to learn new skills and pursue different avenues. These additions can help your résumé stand out from competitors.
It can launch a new career
The goal of completing a certificate program doesn’t necessarily have to be moving forward on the path you are currently on—it could also help you start an entirely new career. Perhaps you don’t like the industry you are currently working in, find it difficult to get a job in the industry, or maybe you’re just looking for a fresh start. A certificate is a quick, cost-efficient way to launch a new career. There are many fields (web development and software programming included) that do not require a full-fledged bachelor’s degree in the topic. Completing a certificate program (and having examples that can demonstrate your proficiency in the field) are sufficient qualifications for many fields.
It can help you meet new people
Completing the certificate itself isn’t the only way a certificate can boost your career—you may also make some useful connections along the way. Certificate programs are great opportunities for networking. Many of your fellow classmates are likely already working in some sort of profession, and they may prove to be valuable connections. Networking with professors may also be helpful. Make as many connections as you can—networking is still a viable tool for online students. You never know which contact may prove to be useful in the future.
Certificate programs can be a cost-effective and time-efficient way to boost your career—but you have to be willing to put in the time, money, and effort. Consider your personal long-term goals and interests before jumping into a certificate program. A certificate program could be just the opportunity you’ve been looking for to move forward in your career.
Catherine Martin is a contributing writer for UniversityTutor.com, the world’s largest global marketplace for finding independent tutors.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

LEARNING CORNER WITH JEFFREY PFEFFER: LESS IS BETTER THAN MORE WHEN IT COMES TO INCENTIVES

Some years ago, Men\’s Wearhouse founder George Zimmer came to a class I taught to discuss a case study I had written on his company.
Zimmer commented on a bonus program I had written about where each store employee (except the store manager) would receive $20 if the store met its “good\” sales target for the month, and $40 if it met its “excellent\” sales goal. My students thought these amounts were quite small, but Zimmer thought the incentives were perfectly sized. They were large enough to provide some recognition of store achievement, he said, but more importantly, the payouts gave people a chance to celebrate success together without being large enough to distort people\’s behaviors.
Zimmer\’s insight that, in the case of incentives, less is often better than more is too infrequently embraced by leaders who instead seek to use substantial rewards to fundamentally channel behavior.
HR Managers and c-suite executives would do well to learn from Zimmer\’s wisdom. While most employees today assume incentives will be part of their job, how large they are and how they are presented can substantially impact an organization.

Incentives Can Undermine or Crowd Out Intrinsic Motivation

Beginning in the 1970s, studies in psychology found that providing people rewards—extrinsic incentives—could undermine intrinsic motivation for engaging in inherently interesting tasks. One theory suggested that people found incentives controlling, and rebelled against attempts to control their behavior. Another perspective suggested that people interpreted incentives as signaling that a task was inherently unpleasant, reducing their interest in doing it. The takeaway? Incentives have the potential to reduce people\’s motivation and interest in tasks.
Even economists, who have traditionally looked more favorably on incentives, have also argued that incentives can backfire. They argue that providing extrinsic incentives “crowds out\” intrinsic interests in doing something. Consequently, incentives can backfire, and make it less likely that people will do what the incentives want them to do. For instance, one study observed that parents were more often late in picking up their children from a day care center when a fine was imposed, while yet other researchers observed that volunteers who were paid a small amount worked fewer hours than volunteers who were not paid. Here, the evidence suggests that using incentives to drive desired behavior may not work.
Consistent with the idea that smaller is better, smaller incentives will be less likely to crowd out or reduce intrinsic motivation because smaller incentives are less psychologically prominent and salient. For organizations concerned about maintaining intrinsic task motivation—which is probably most workplaces—the crowding out and undermining research provides one more reason to be cautious in the use of incentives.

Incentives Drive Behavior, But in Often Unanticipated—and Counterproductive—Ways

As Bob Sutton and I pointed out in our book on evidence-based management, a huge problem with incentives is that they are too effective at influencing behaviors. And most people and companies aren\’t great at anticipating how behaviors will change in response to incentives. There are enough examples of this to fill a book—or maybe several.
In 2018, William Dudley, CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, noted that “misaligned incentives contributed greatly to the 2008 financial crisis.\” In the scenario that Dudley is referring to, many mortgage brokers were compensated for the number of loans they made—not necessarily for making sound loans that would be repaid. And many of the incentives for mortgage brokers for senior financial industry executives were short-term rewards. Meanwhile, the assets being created (the loans) and the financial results were inherently longer-term. The time horizon on incentives needs to match the time horizon of the results being affective. Simply put, short-term incentives aren\’t going to be very good for creating long-term results.

How to Make Incentives Work

Based on extensive empirical evidence, there are some simple but important implications for implementing incentives in ways that aren\’t likely to cause misbehavior that adversely affects organizations.
First, and most importantly, keep incentives small enough to not overly influence behavior. That may seem counterintuitive—many workplaces implement incentives precisely to influence behavior—but, as noted, people are often quite bad at predicting the ways in which incentives may drive behavior.
Second, spend time trying to anticipate how people could achieve the goals signaled by incentives in ways that are harmful to the organization\’s interests and try to put up various guardrails to detect and deter such behavior. One way to do this, is to monitor how rewards are being received and the behaviors associated with them based on consistent conversations with employees who are benefiting from the rewards program.
And third, if incentives are driving bad behavior, don\’t do what many workplaces do, which is to try and solve an incentive-based problem by implementing even more incentives. Many companies try to use incentives to substitute for leadership (coaching and feedback) or a strong, positive organizational culture. As research going back decades from places like shows, leader behavior matters a lot in motivating performance and reducing turnover. Incentives are a poor substitute.
In the case of incentives, the inescapable conclusion is that less—less reliance, less use, less magnitude—is most often better than more.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

TALENT MANAGEMENT HELPS SUPERMARKET CHAIN LIVE BRAND PROMISE

More retailers are enjoying the advantages that effective talent management processes, supported by technology, can offer.  This includes strategies for attracting, developing and retaining employees, ensuring a pipeline of qualified people, and building a culture of engagement and productivity.  Gallup research shows companies with higher-than-average employee engagement also have 27 percent higher profits, 50 percent higher sales and 50 percent customer loyalty.1
United Supermarkets, a family-owned retail grocery chain in based in Texas, is an example of an organization leveraging talent management to live up to its brand promise, maintain customer loyalty and control costs.  While there may be slight differences among their 50 locations, one element remains consistent: United Supermarkets still embodies the philosophies of its founder.
“United’s mission is to provide ultimate service to our guests, ensure superior employee performance and make a positive impact in the community,” said Tom Weis, director of training and development for United Supermarkets. 
This is especially important during the winter holidays – the busiest shopping season of the year.  With increased store traffic and sales, it presents an opportunity for team members to “wow” first-time shoppers with superior service and fair-priced, high-quality products – and hopefully convert them into return customers. 

Saving Time and Money

In 2007, United Supermarkets decided to invest in Cornerstone OnDemand’s learning and talent management software solution in an effort to streamline training and performance evaluation processes for its 10,000 team members. 
“Our performance review process was paper-based, making it very time-consuming and difficult to track,” said Weis. 
Automating the review process has allowed United to make employee evaluations more streamlined and reportable, so that managers can more easily complete reviews without getting behind on other responsibilities.  Additionally, they now conduct 45-day reviews for new salary and hourly team members, which has helped to increase retention rates. 
United’s training program presented a different set of challenges.  “We needed to figure out how to reach employees across all of our stores with targeted training while also minimizing out-of-store time,” said Weis. 
In previous years, United team members had to travel to one of the chain’s five hubs for training –requiring nearly three hours of driving round-trip for a three-hour class for most employees.  With the new, Web-based learning management system (LMS), branded “United Spirit University,” the company now offers online learning courses that can be accessed anytime, anywhere via computer or in-store kiosks. 
The ability to easily distribute mass training to large groups of people has saved the company an estimated $120,000 in new hire training alone the past year.  The learning portal also makes it easier for United’s learning and HR team to track course completion.  For example, United rolled out a new in-store labeling program, which they communicated to employees via a 13-minute online video accompanied by five questions.  Using the system, administrators were able to monitor employee response and share results with management, which showed an 88 percent course completion rate within the first month. 

Custom Courses Embrace Team Culture

For United, one of the benefits of online training has been the ability to create and share custom courses tailored specifically to support the company’s business objectives and instill United’s philosophies in its employees. 
To emphasize solutional selling in its stores, United created video vignettes featuring real employees in suggestive selling situations for specific departments, such as the bakery or deli.  Employees can view the vignettes through the LMS and then work with their managers to utilize these skills in their respective departments. 
“Being able to customize our training modules to include our own team members has really helped management and senior executives see value in the programs and create more buy-in,” said Weis.  “This was particularly important to our CEO, for which fostering a sales culture is a top priority.”
For the holiday season, United is distributing an online training series featuring the company’s COO to reinforce basic service concepts.  “He’s worked on the front lines and is well respected by our team.  For him to say directly to our team ‘Let’s not forget who we are,’ makes for a much more positive, credible and impactful message to our employees,” said Weis. 

Expanding Initiatives

With positive returns on United’s investment in talent management software to include its learning and performance processes, the company is expanding its use to support succession planning and leadership development initiatives.  The company also is creating a new onboarding curriculum to help new hires embrace United’s history, culture and mission from day one.  Initial use of the new LMS as part of the orientation process has already resulted in increased time-to-productivity of new hires, as well as an over 80 percent employee retention within 90 days of hire. 
“We believe our growth and success are tied to our commitment to service.  By aligning our talent management processes to support this commitment, and using the right technology solution, we’re more capable than ever of living up to our brand promise throughout the organization.” 
1.  Crabtree, S. Engagement Keeps the Doctor Away, Gallup Management Journal. January 13, 2005.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Medical Assisting Grant Now Available to New Students

UPDATE: The Medical Assisting Grant offered for the September 2016 semester is no longer being offered. To determine if you’re eligible to receive grant, scholarship or loan funding to help pay for your education, please contact the financial aid department at Bryant & Stratton College.
Bryant & Stratton College has recently introduced an exciting educational grant program for new Medical Assisting students who begin their degree program in September 2016. Students enrolling in the Medical Assisting associate degree at Bryant & Stratton College, this fall, now have another way to help pay for school.
New students enrolling in the Medical Assisting degree program may be eligible for up to $6,000 in grant funds that will be applied to their tuition cost. This grant provides students valuable savings as students complete some of the most important courses of their 60-credit associate degree in Medical Assisting. The Medical Assisting associate degree program provides a high-quality education designed to propel graduating students into the medical assisting career field.
In addition to academics, Bryant & Stratton College focuses on career-ready education as a cornerstone of this program. Key employer feedback was utilized in determining the courses and career preparation which make up this degree program. A strong mix of classroom and lab work ensures student complete the program with a foundation in the theory and practice necessary to succeed as a Medical Assistant. With the Medical Assisting grant, students will gain a decided financial advantage towards a degree program in an exciting, growing professional field.
Upon applying for the Medical Assisting program, students will work with their personal admissions and financial aid representatives to apply for the grant. If eligible, the grant will be applied to their tuition costs in separate increments as they complete the degree program, ensuring the tuition savings are spread across multiple semesters.
To learn more about this exciting grant program, call 1-888-836-9748 or apply today!

COLLABORATION IS KEY: TIME FOR HR TO TAKE A DOSE OF ITS OWN MEDICINE

Collaboration is a buzzword that\’s thrown around often in the world of HR, and business in general – and for good reason. Getting great minds to work together often produces results greater than the sum of its parts. And often, companies look to HR for advice and guidance on how to get employees to emerge from their own little worlds and collaborate to effect big change.
So why then, is it so difficult for HR pros themselves to embrace the concept of collaboration in their daily work? For starters, according to Carol Anderson, a seasoned HR veteran:   
1. Many skills in HR are highly specialized and not transferable
2. HR pros prize autonomy  
\”HR pros want to run their own show,\” she writes on Human Capitalist. \”I know I certainly did when I was in these roles.\”
But what if HR managers took a dose of their own medicine and worked collaboratively to achieve the greater goals of the company: hiring great people, helping those people to reach their full potential, and doing everything in their power to retain top talent. By making sure the entire HR department is on the same page and continuously working together to achieve these goals, the silos that impede collaboration will come tumbling down. Think of the possibilities. 
If your company\’s HR department is still operating with an every-man-for-himself mentality, maybe it\’s time for an HR performance review?
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Exploring New Horizons: Studying in Uganda

Liz Hoey will never forget playing with children in the Ugandan village of Kamuli, where she studied for three weeks last summer with the UVM Travel Study program.
“The children loved having their photos taken and they would just laugh seeing themselves,” Hoey says. “Because many of the children do not have a mirror at home, they aren’t used to seeing their reflection.”
For Hoey, an Environmental Studies major with a concentration in Environmental Health, studying in Uganda heightened her interest in personal and academic pursuits.
“I wanted to study abroad in a location that was different and more adventurous than going to Europe,” she says. “When I heard about studying with UVM in Uganda, I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do.”

Studying in Uganda with UVM

Studying in Uganda was clearly different from classes on campus. Students spent three weeks immersed in the country’s culture, participating in service projects in the villages, working with a non-governmental organization called the 52 Kids Foundation, visiting schools, and enjoying a three-day safari. Working side by side with community members was one of the most memorable and rewarding aspects of her journey abroad.
UVM students in the Uganda program each took part in job-shadowing with a community member who worked in their area of interest. While some students observed a Caesarian birth at the hospital. Hoey worked with a local botanist, who taught her how to plant coffee crops.
“Everything just really came to life because we were there living it,” she says. “I think I didn’t even realize how much I was learning at the time. It’s difficult for me, even now, to express how much I learned.”
Students stayed in a guest house and worked with the 52 Kids Foundation, which supports youth orphaned by HIV/AIDS. For Hoey, who is interested in public health, the work offered an inside look at community health and advocacy.
Returning from the trip resulted in some culture shock for Hoey, which is common for students returning from non-traditional, study abroad locations. “When I got home, I found everything to be a little less exciting and just normal in comparison to my weeks in Uganda,” she says. “I found myself not caring too much about technology, and I was choosing to ignore my cell phone or social media for more human interactions.”

A New Outlook on Life

The real-world experience of Uganda helped Hoey recognize a new side of herself – just as the young children did when they saw their own reflections in photographs.
“I was that person who was unsure about studying abroad,” Hoey says. “But I’m glad I took this opportunity because it helped me to expand my perspective and gain some experience in a different setting.”
Her advice to other students unsure about studying abroad? “If you don’t explore the opportunities available to you, then you could be missing out on the chance of a lifetime.

HOW TO FUTURE-PROOF YOUR ORGANIZATION IN 2018

What does the future of hiring look like at my organization? Who should we be hiring to set ourselves up for long-term success? How are we helping talent get from where they are now to where they want to be?
As head of talent acquisition at Cornerstone OnDemand, I’ve been thinking about these questions lately as we prepare to ring in a new year. With artificial intelligence and machine learning entering the space at breakneck speed, not only will the role of talent acquisition shift, but the industry as a whole will evolve.
There are a lot of forces of change at work here.
The unemployment rate in the U.S. has dipped to 4.1 percent — the lowest we’ve seen in the last decade –and employers are feeling the impact. According to the 2017 Manpower Talent Shortage Survey, 40 percent of employers currently report talent shortages.
Plus, the gig economy continues to grow. A study by Intuit predicts that by 2020, 40 percent of American workers will be independent contractors. This is a new type of candidate, one who is more interested in having short-term work, a flexible schedule, and the ability to jump between gigs rather than permanent work. Beyond this, influencing everything, is the fact that we are experiencing a technological revolution –not only are job demands evolving, but employees’ skills and work styles are also changing. A talent transformation is inevitable in the next three years, McKinsey research predicts, and we need to be ready.
Here are four ways talent acquisition professionals can future-proof their organizations in 2018.

Be Proactive, Not Reactive With Your Talent Pipeline

Technology is dramatically changing the skills your future hires will need. Just a few years ago, handling accounts payable was a manual task — you needed someone to look at each invoice, evaluate it and pay it. Now, there are systems in place that largely automate the process, and you need someone who understands technology to manage it.
Given this rapid pace of change, it’s critical for talent acquisition to work with leadership and HR to evaluate how they expect the business, as well as specific roles, to transform. Once there’s a clear vision, start planning how to upskill employees to ensure they live up to future role expectations.
Take time to identify critical skills and talent needed for the next three to five years. Determine how prevalent these skills are in the market and in your current workforce. Finding the right candidates could require bringing in university talent and shaping them through learning and internships, or setting up internal training programs for existing employees. Identifying talent and skill gaps early will enable you to build a pipeline and be proactive instead of reactive as your company evolves.

Use Learning to Shape Potential Candidates

Just because you didn’t hire a candidate the first time doesn’t mean you won’t in the future. For promising external candidates that you don’t hire, provide them with specific learning criteria to help them prepare for a future position with your company. Create a tangible path forward with specific competencies and skill sets they can learn. You can also provide them with an internship or apprenticeship and train them directly for potential future opportunities.
With internal candidates, think about how you can create your own “gig economy” within the organization. Creating opportunities for employees to learn new areas of the business, meet others in the organization and retain your talent by engaging them in new ways with new work they love.

Take Charge of Your Story

As always-on technology blurs the line between work and life, it’s becoming more important for candidates to connect with companies on a deeper level and be passionate about their work. Glassdoor found that a candidate looks at 18 sources of influence to learn about a company before applying to a job. Make content readily available across these channels to help candidates connect the dots. Build profiles on sites like The Muse, Glassdoor and BuiltInLA, bolster your employees’ social presence and create articles or listicles that share your company culture and clearly communicate your purpose and values in a genuine way.

Customize Your Interview Process

With competition for talent rising and candidates becoming more selective, recruiters need to personalize the interview process for individuals. Bots, machine learning and automation will help accomplish this by giving recruiters the freedom to become interviewer concierges instead of administrators.
While it’s easy to get caught up in the future talent needs of your organization, don’t forget to take some time to be critical of your own role. Do you have the skills you need to lead your organization into the future of work?

Where to get the Best UVM Food

Whether you’re new to campus or a seasoned senior, you’re bound to want be on the lookout for some comfort food on campus.  If you need a study break or you’re afraid that you’ll run out of points before the semester ends, these on campus eateries will provide you the best of food and service.

UVM Food Choices – The Best of:

Bang for your Buck: The Harvest Café

Looking for a meal after hours?  Within the hours of 5am and 3am, you can fill your tray with healthy, locally harvested options for just a few dollars. The Harvest Café prepares meals worth the walk across campus. Whether you’re stuck on campus when the dining halls are closed or you’re looking to meet a date in scrubs, YELP gives this hospital food 4 stars.

If your parents are visiting: The Waterman Manor

Show off a little at the Waterman Manor, where you can enjoy an a la care menu of local foods served to you by a friendly and knowledgeable wait staff. Rub elbows with University administrators, bring a date, or just enjoy the views of the lake from the back balcony!

For specialty items that meet your dietary needs:  The Marché

Enjoy the specialty items offered in The Marche, from the pizza oven, to smoothie bar, to make your own salad station. There are Vegan / Gluten-Free / Kosher options, including a mini grocery for your convenience!

For a stacked sandwich: Alice’s Café

Whether for breakfast or lunch, the staff at Alice’s make a mean sandwich. With your choice of bread and all the right fixings, a sandwich from Alice’s Café is one of the most satisfying ways to spend your points on campus.  Plus! Bring your own mug for coffee – all vessels charged the same price!

For the International Palate: The Marketplace

Looking for something with cultural flare? Check the menu at the Marketplace, which changes every day of the week. Sample Sukhi’s samosas & pakoras, or enjoy freshly prepared sushi. You’ll find plenty of comfort foods with an international twist.

For the underground music scene: Brennan’s Pub

Enjoy this unique on-campus pub, conveniently located on the ground floor of the Davis Center. Find a cozy lounge chair, where you can snack on complementary popcorn and listen to live music while you wait for your specialty burger and fries to be ready.
Still need some inspiration? Check out these tasty on-campus culinary creations by nom de plume Dude Hubris on Tumblr. You’ll be skipping off to the cafeteria in no time!  There’s food on campus for every palate and if you can’t find it the way it’s cooked at home, you can put your skills to the test and create your favorite flavors in a new way.

Earning Experience to Land your Dream Job

The infinite cycle of needing a job to gain experience but needing work experience to get that job leaves some job seekers dizzy – and perhaps a little panicked too.  This stipulation can seem an especially cruel obstacle if you’re a new graduate or starting a career in a new field. So, when every job posting today seems to require one to two years of experience, how can you meet it before getting the job?
What is work experience?
Work experience is any time spent actually doing a job. It can come from part-time jobs held before or during college or work placement internships or from working experience gained at a previous job or career. Work experience is most valuable for employment opportunities if it is in the same field as the job sought.
Bryant & Stratton College hosted a “Job Ready or Not?,” an Employability Summit featuring HR and hiring experts from several top companies. Below are some thoughts these experts had on gaining experience as a new graduate.
Create a pitch that explains your skills gap
All job seekers should start with an honest assessment of their individual skills and strengths. “Know yourself,” said Carleen Haas, Vice President of Talent Strategies at Humana, Inc. “If you’re not aware of your strengths and your character flaws, if you’re not aware of what you are passionate about and how you like to work, then you’re doing yourself a disservice. You really need to do some internal landscape work to really understand what you’re about.”
Not only is this helpful in creating your professional story and sharing with employers why you would be a good fit, but it can also unearth any gaps in skills and experience you may have in filling the open position. “Really understand where the gaps in your experience may be,” said Heather Tinguely, Program Manager of Global Talent Labs at Microsoft. Ms. Tinguely suggests coming up with a short pitch or sentence about how you would overcome lack of experience or a weak skill in the first six weeks of a job.
Going the unpaid route
One way to get experience for a job is to look for unpaid positions, like internships or volunteer opportunities. Once you’ve identified your experience or skills gaps look for positions that will help you fill them in. “I think that it’s important, first and foremost, when you’re doing anything unpaid or extracurricular, to really go about it in a very strategic way,” said Ms. Tinguely. She recommends job seekers to think about volunteering on two levels, “I’m going to give unpaid time to X organization, one, because I’m a good person and I love the organization, but secondly, because I feel like perhaps that organization has a good reputation, and they’re going to give me in return some skills in a real-world setting that I need, as well as some references.”
How to Find your Dream Job
Holding out for your dream job is understandable. If you’ve put in the hard work to earn a degree, you’re eager to put what you’ve learned to work. But, sometimes getting your foot in the door is just as important as finding the perfect position. By taking a position that isn’t your ideal job you are earning experience that may be transferable in the future. Soft skills are something all employers value and they can be earned in every type of position. Sometimes the path to your dream job is not a direct path.
Additionally, even if you don’t have your dream job that doesn’t mean you can’t take on additional activities that earn you beneficial experience in your desired career field. It may be hard work and require an investment of time but that preparation could pay off. “I think you have to take advantage of every single opportunity to volunteer and do things that I would call extracurricular, outside of your day-to-day work or your day-to-day life as a student, if that’s the situation,” said Jessica Lee, Director of Digital Talent for Marriott International. “It takes a sheer amount of hustle and hard work and a willingness on your own end to really dig deep and say, ‘I’m going to take it a step above, beyond what everyone else is doing.’”
Some ideas Ms. Lee suggested were start a blog, Tweet about professional topics, or reach out to friends and family members to see if they have opportunities available that could help you gain experience.
Whatever you do, don’t lose hope if you are not able to land your dream job right away. Today’s employment landscape can be challenging but with a little persistence and some grit you’ll fully launch your career in no time!
Bryant & Stratton College is dedicated to helping students improve their employability skills and become job ready. Through outcomes-based education and career training, Bryant & Stratton College helps students learn the technical skills as well as the soft skills they’ll need to be successful in a career. If you are interested in learning more about the online degree programs at Bryant & Stratton College, please call 1.888.447.3528 to speak with an admissions representative.