Tag: Education

SHIFT THE PARADIGM: CAROL ANDERSON'S WISH FOR HR IN 2015

What does 2015 hold for human resources? Honestly, I don’t know. I worry a bit about our future: will it bring more of the same or will we step up and make a change in order to create real value?
We need a shift. We are under fire and often seen as a necessary evil. We function as an overhead department and are pressured to reduce expenses. We devise programs that are dreaded and implement technology that is clunky. If we were a business, would our customers be buying?
Rather than make a prediction for 2015, I want to make a wish. I wish that human resources would use this next year to make a dramatic change in their approach to work — moving from an overhead department mentality, to that of a business provider.
I have a lot of years invested in this profession, and I truly believe that HR professionals have the ability to add tremendous value to organizations. But what does it mean to “add value”?
When I became an independent consultant and started reading and talking with others in the field, one message was consistent: we must create products and services that satisfy a need and provide value. This means doing a very good needs assessment, reporting back about what you hear and confirming the validity, and then devising a plan to fill the need. Once you implement the plan, you begin the process of evaluating effectiveness — gaining candid feedback from users about whether it addresses the need, and whether it is a feasible and workable solution. If it is not, then you tweak the solution until the need is met.
We don’t do that in HR. Instead, we tell the client (aka employee) what they must do, but rarely do we ever ask them for feedback. I know this for a fact because I have been one of those HR people who really didn’t want to hear any negative feedback because I felt powerless to do anything to fix it.
What if we used 2015 to do a really good needs assessment on one or two of our products or services?
Let’s take “talent management” as an example. What does talent management mean to your organization? Can you answer that question? Would your answer mirror that of your executive team? You probably have a talent management program in place. If you can’t answer the questions about what it is supposed to do, how do you know if it is the right solution?
Make 2015 the year that you commit to adding value to your organization, find out what value means, and assess your current programs for their value.
That’s a lot to do, all while keeping the wheels turning at the same time. However, just asking the questions of your executives and leaders shifts the paradigm. It says, “HR really wants to work with the business to make a difference to the business.” Once you turn that corner, I predict that you will gain significant credibility.

WHY CLEAN DATA IS THE BEST DATA

In today’s HR landscape, data is having a moment. But I’d like to suggest that not all analytics are created equal.
HR data is essentially HR business intelligence. This should be the basis on which decisions are made about the people of the organization. All of the cool technology in the world cannot override bad data, which is why the accuracy of HR data is a highly strategic function.

First, let me provide some perspective.

In 1980, I was responsible for a department that included personnel records. There was a supervisor who had been in the organization for years. Her staff had been with her for almost the same amount of time. I was used to the impeccable (and regularly audited) records from my prior position with the Marine Corps, and this department maintained similarly accurate and credible personnel information.

Next I went into banking, and while “records” were not part of my responsibility, I relied on the data for my compensation analysis. When I got there in 1989, I found another amazing records overseer who kept our data clean by checking and rechecking all of the personnel forms that arrived on his desk. Our job codes, EEO codes, departmental hierarchy — everything needed for good analysis — was clean.
Then came automation.

Technology as a Data Keeper

The records-keeper job was eliminated because our HRIS was going to take over. We worked hard reviewing, auditing and cleaning data so that the “go live” would contain good data. That lasted about a week.
The good news: We could access, sort and analyze data quickly and easily. The bad news: The data got progressively worse.
Why? Because we shifted the job of keeping the HRIS up-to-date from an individual who knew the importance of the data to managers who couldn’t care less. I haven’t seen an organization with good data since. The promise of technology, which could have been such help, fell prey to a system that didn’t review, audit, analyze or even really see the importance of clean data.

Why is Accurate Data so Important?

Today, organizations not only have an HRIS, but many also have add-on human capital management systems which provide applicant tracking, learning management, compensation planning and other specialty modules. If they are smart, however, the HRIS is the “system of record” meaning that all core data is entered in one place and is fed to other modules. This is a critical first step of having accurate data.

How to Fix Jumbled Data

You must take the accuracy of your data seriously. Here are a few ways:
  1. Every data field should have a business owner. It is the business owner’s responsibility to audit the data in that field. As an example, the compensation department “owns” job codes. They should be the only one allowed to update the job code table, but should also audit the use of job codes regularly to ensure that managers are assigning them properly. Job codes are a critical element of HR analysis, in everything from compensation to employee relations. One wrong job code can throw a job’s comp-ratio way off.
  2. Organizational hierarchies should be deliberately established by a collaborative group of HR sub-disciplines. This should happen with the understanding of the implications of each structure on data reporting. For one sub-discipline to change a hierarchy without informing others can do damage to the reporting credibility.
  3. Reports should be produced by a single source within the HR team, regardless of the “owner” of the data. HRIS and human capital systems are too complicated, and a novice analyst can pull the wrong data too easily. One source for reporting should help to catch discrepancies before reports are distributed.

SHIFT THE PARADIGM: CAROL ANDERSON'S WISH FOR HR IN 2015

What does 2015 hold for human resources? Honestly, I don’t know. I worry a bit about our future: will it bring more of the same or will we step up and make a change in order to create real value?
We need a shift. We are under fire and often seen as a necessary evil. We function as an overhead department and are pressured to reduce expenses. We devise programs that are dreaded and implement technology that is clunky. If we were a business, would our customers be buying?
Rather than make a prediction for 2015, I want to make a wish. I wish that human resources would use this next year to make a dramatic change in their approach to work — moving from an overhead department mentality, to that of a business provider.
I have a lot of years invested in this profession, and I truly believe that HR professionals have the ability to add tremendous value to organizations. But what does it mean to “add value”?
When I became an independent consultant and started reading and talking with others in the field, one message was consistent: we must create products and services that satisfy a need and provide value. This means doing a very good needs assessment, reporting back about what you hear and confirming the validity, and then devising a plan to fill the need. Once you implement the plan, you begin the process of evaluating effectiveness — gaining candid feedback from users about whether it addresses the need, and whether it is a feasible and workable solution. If it is not, then you tweak the solution until the need is met.
We don’t do that in HR. Instead, we tell the client (aka employee) what they must do, but rarely do we ever ask them for feedback. I know this for a fact because I have been one of those HR people who really didn’t want to hear any negative feedback because I felt powerless to do anything to fix it.
What if we used 2015 to do a really good needs assessment on one or two of our products or services?
Let’s take “talent management” as an example. What does talent management mean to your organization? Can you answer that question? Would your answer mirror that of your executive team? You probably have a talent management program in place. If you can’t answer the questions about what it is supposed to do, how do you know if it is the right solution?
Make 2015 the year that you commit to adding value to your organization, find out what value means, and assess your current programs for their value.
That’s a lot to do, all while keeping the wheels turning at the same time. However, just asking the questions of your executives and leaders shifts the paradigm. It says, “HR really wants to work with the business to make a difference to the business.” Once you turn that corner, I predict that you will gain significant credibility.

TECHNOLOGY OPENS THE DOOR TO BUSINESS INTELLIGENCE, BUT IT’S NOT THE KEY

So your company is investing in a new talent management system and you think you’ll get all kinds of great data from it, right? Well…maybe.
Just because you buy the latest HR technology product doesn’t mean you’ll get good business intelligence. Technology is not the key here. Solid business processes that result in accurate and timely information are the key.
Human resource data is particularly vulnerable to poor maintenance because the people entering the data are managers and employees that tend to approach the task with resentment (i.e. “doing HR’s work for them”). Not only is the data poorly maintained, but also the same data is reinvented many times over by different branches of HR that use the data for different purposes. What’s more, most HR teams don’t run quality audits on their data to ensure that data entry is accurate or that data is updated as necessary.
Here are some steps a company can take to trust their data and utilize technology tools.

Step 1: Find the Root Cause of the Inaccuracy

We often dump raw data and manipulate it with spreadsheets to make it look pretty. If the data provided to clients is wrong, find the root cause and fix it. It’s often a simple fix, but you need to dig for it.
Use the five whys to find the root cause.
A termination code is wrong on a report.
  1. Why? Because the manager entered an incorrect code.
  2. Why? Because the manager was using an outdated code listing on the intranet.
  3. Why? Because the code listing had not been updated.
  4. Why? Because the HR representative who was responsible for updating the code listing on the intranet had been out for an extended leave and no one knew to make the change.
  5. Why? Because all the responsibility is on one person to remember to update the codes.
If you simply changed the code in the system to the correct code, it would still be wrong the next time a manager refers to the code listing on the intranet. If however, you find the root cause, you not only fix the error, but also the systemic problem that led to the error — the process was too dependent on one person.

Step 2: Make Sure Your Hierarchy is Designed to Distribute Employee Data to Managers Correctly

Many HR systems are fed from payroll that is organized around the accounting department. In our increasingly complex organizations, however, hierarchies aren’t that simple. Employees may be paid by one department, yet may report to a leader in a different department. The unit leader may be part of a specific department for accounting purposes, but in distribution performance and talent reports and processes, they should actually show under their direct manager, not their leader.
This is a great opportunity to think collectively across HR silos, identify different organizational structure needs, and design a structure that works for each need.

Step 3: Get Your Job Data Straight

An HR system is, at its core, a matching system that contains both employee data and job data to be matched depending upon the purpose.  Compensation? The employee is assigned to a job code. Recruiting? The vacancy is assigned a job code. Learning and development? The competencies and learning paths are linked to a job code.
Job codes are both the most powerful and most misused elements of HR data. If an employee is assigned to the wrong job code, their salary grade, their EEO code, their bonus structure and possibly their benefits will be wrong. Companies must think collectively across HR silos and create job codes and job data that works across all HR functions.

Step 4: Make Sure Your Systems Talk to Each Other

One system for recruiting, another for learning, and yet another for the HRIS, may be nicely customized for the HR function using it, but it doesn’t translate across functions. HR needs to talk the same language for the sake of their customers, meaning that a job code to a recruiter should mean the same to a compensation representative.

Step 5: Audit Your Data

It takes work and it takes time, but your credibility is worth it.
Before you open the door to HR technology, be sure you have the ke

BOOKMARKED: GET TO KNOW JEFFREY PFEFFER, ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOR EXPERT AND PROFESSOR AT STANFORD’S GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS

Jeffrey Pfeffer, a professor at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business may be an organizational behavior expert today, but for some time, he envisioned himself becoming a corporate executive, such as a CEO. So what inspired him to study organizations instead of leading them?
Pfeffer answers that question in his Q&A below, discusses what enables him to continue learning well into his career and shares who inspires him.
Get to know him below.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Top 5 Jobs You Can Get with a Business Management Degree

If you are trying to find your place in the job market, business management jobs are a good place to look for opportunities. The umbrella of “Business Management” covers a broad spectrum of career opportunities which means there is bound to be one which suits your interests and needs. In order to help kindle your inspiration, here is a list of jobs and careers in business management which require an Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree in business administration. There is a little something for everyone.
Top Five Business Management Degree Jobs
The statistics for the following job titles are based on those provided by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics via their Occupational Outlook Handbook.
  1. Sales Manager. If you love sales, but are ready to take your job in a slightly different direction, a degree in business management will provide an exciting fork in the road. Business managers know how to set goals. They inspire their team to create a successful plan and then implement it. Sales management jobs are expected to increase by 12% and have top median salaries of as much as $98,000.
  2. Industrial Production manager. Have you been working in the same plant since high school? Do you watch your manager and think, “I have great management ideas that would work even better?” It’s time to get your online business administration degree and start dreaming. Industrial Production Managers will experience an increase in demand by about 9% over the next few years. Their median salary is almost three times the national average.
  3. Accounting Manager or Auditor. The accounting title can be misleading because many accounting managers and/or auditors have degrees in business administration with an emphasis in accounting. As a leader, both skills are imperative for financial departments to run efficiently, legally, and smoothly. By setting your sights on a management position with an accounting firm, payroll service, or other potential career settings, you can work full-time while completing your degree in business management. It’s that simple. Then you get to be the boss.
  4. Executive Assistant. A top level administrative assistant can make significantly more than his/her administrative assistant counterparts. Most of the time, an executive assistant will have an Associate’s or Bachelor’s degree in business or business administration. S/he often has to be one step ahead of the boss and make critical decisions when the boss isn’t available. Job outlooks are predicted to increase by 12% and the median income for an executive assistant is $43,500.
  5. Administrative Services Manager. Once upon a time, office managers were able to rise through the ranks with little to no additional education. Nowadays, a degree is necessary, especially if you want to work in a larger company or corporation. You will need to be a jack-of-all-office-trades, as well as an effective manager. A business administration degree will provide a foundation of skill sets, business, accounting, software, and more, to make sure you can do your job effectively.
If you feel like you are at a stalemate in your professional life, business management degree jobs are the perfect way to rekindle your inner fire and allow you to move forward and upward. Apply today for an online business management degree program at Bryant & Stratton and watch your career dreams come true.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

WORKPLACE DRESS CODES: DO YOU REALLY NEED ONE?

I was a brand new manager when I hired a temporary employee to do a specific project at a very conservative company. While we didn\’t have to wear suits, we definitely dressed on the formal side of business casual. One Friday a year, however, you could make a $5 donation to a company sponsored charity and wear jeans. Unfortunately, the temp started the same week as this once-a-year jeans day. Being new, and unaware that this was a once a year thing, she noted everyone wearing jeans on Friday and assumed our office had casual Fridays.
As her manager, and having never encountered this before, I had to confront her—which I did, but handled it very poorly. She offered to go home and change, I said it wasn\’t necessary, and we felt both awkward and ridiculous.
But it could have been prevented. If I\’d explained the company dress code when she was hired, then none of the awkwardness would have occurred.

Company Dress Codes Make People More Comfortable

Lots of people, especially in small businesses or startups, don\’t want to have a dress code because it seems stuffy, old fashioned, and uncomfortable. Plus, we\’re all wearing jeans everyday anyway, right? Not quite. In reality, a dress code is quite the opposite: it can make everyone feel a lot more comfortable.
A dress code isn\’t synonymous with suit coats and nylons. It can be pretty much anything at all. It can state that jeans are okay, but shorts are not, or that this is a business casual office and while button down shirts are okay, a full-on suit would be considered inappropriate.
What you want your dress code to do is make everyone clear and comfortable about what they should and should not be wearing. Then there\’s no awkward misunderstanding or uncomfortable conversations when someone shows up in something that would be better suited for a night on the town or a black-tie wedding.

How to Make a Dress Code

If your company doesn\’t have a dress code, it may be time to sit down and write one. Samples are easily available on the internet. And remember, you need to make it equal between genders. You can\’t require women to wear nylons and let men wear jeans, or vice versa, but you can have different general requirements. Men may be required to wear a necktie, while a woman can wear any dressy blouse.
If you work for a company without a dress code and you\’re concerned about what is (or isn\’t) appropriate for work, simply look at the leadership of your company and follow their lead. If they\’re wearing jeans, you can wear jeans. If they wear shorts and flip flops most days, but don suits when they meet with clients, that\’s what you should do too. And if you ever have any concerns, ask! You could even offer to help write up a dress code, because knowing what the rules are makes everything less awkward.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

LEARNING CORNER WITH JEFFREY PFEFFER: WHY IT’S IMPORTANT TO INCLUDE AGE IN DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION EFFORTS

At Stanford University, during the 2018-2019 academic year, virtually every meeting of the faculty senate included a report—or two—on the university’s diversity efforts. Yet ageism was never addressed—and continues to go unnoticed. According to a faculty colleague, the former dean of the School of Engineering, who is now the Provost, appointed a strategy committee packed with young faculty members simply because, to use her highly inopportune phrase, “they are the future.”
Clearly, diversity and inclusion are becoming a priority for all types of organizations. As of February 2018, diversity and inclusion roles, as a share of all job postings, were up by 35% from two years prior, according to Indeed. Meanwhile, PwC’s 18th Annual Global Survey noted that talent diversity and inclusiveness were now core components of competitiveness, and 77 percent of CEOs already had or intended to adopt a strategy that promotes D&I. Technology companies like eBay have even gone the extra step to regularly report their diversity statistics.
But, like with Stanford, virtually absent from most of these D&I conversations and action items is any mention of age. The arguments for valuing older employees are identical to the logic for emphasizing diversity and inclusion for other groups: In addition to being a matter of human rights (all people deserve equal opportunities and equal treatment), companies actually benefit from having a diverse workforce—and that includes diversity in age. After all, different perspectives often lead to more creative solutions and practices. Still, ageism in the workplace is a common and almost socially acceptable practice. It’s time for that to change.

Ageism Is Real

Ageism is a substantial workplace issue we need to address—especially because by 2022, more than one-third of the U.S. workforce will be over the age of 50. 
In an AARP survey of adults over 45, 61% of respondents said that they had seen or personally experienced age discrimination. A review of academic studies of age bias in hiring and promotion concluded that “study after study has shown how employers… may not objectively evaluate job candidates’ potential productivity.”
But it’s more than being passed over for career opportunities. A study by the Urban Institute found that of adults aged 51 to 54 who were employed full-time, some 56 percent subsequently experienced an employer-initiated involuntary job separation, with typically devastating financial consequences (not to mention psychological repercussions).
Much like racism and sexism, ageism not only harms its victims, but it also infects a company’s culture, creates a less inclusive workplace and deprives organizations of the talent they need to compete and innovate. And it’s why companies need to include age as they work on broader D&I initiatives.

Many Myths About Older Employees Are False

So what exactly is driving this discriminatory behavior? Stereotypes about older workers that are as pervasive—and harmful—as those about other demographic groups. But, as is often the case, these beliefs are inconsistent with the evidence.
Contrary to popular mythology, youth is not a key attribute for founding a successful business. One study found that the average age of entrepreneurs was 42. Even considering just the top 0.1% of startups based on revenue growth during the first five years, founders started their companies, on average, at age 45.
There’s also no evidence to suggest that age is related to productivity. Stephen Cole, a sociologist at SUNY Stony Brook, reported decades ago that mathematicians, who, it was assumed, did their best work while young, experienced “no decline in the quality of work… as they progressed through their careers.” And another review of studies found that productivity was constant as scientists aged.
Such evidence suggests that companies can and do benefit from encouraging the hiring and retention of older workers, just as they can benefit from hiring and retaining women and people of color. In all of these instances, companies access a broader and better pool of talent.

Companies Should Expand Their D&I Efforts to Include Age

So how should we attack the problem? Fundamentally, research shows that measurement is important in influencing behavior. What gets measured gets managed. As companies increasingly report their D&I statistics for women, people of color and other groups, they should also report the data for the age distribution of their workforce.
There are other things companies can do as well. We know that language matters—that we see things, in part, by the way we refer to them—and that words can hurt. Many companies have banned racist, misogynist language and call out those who use terms that inflict psychological distress on others. A similar sensitivity to ageist language (even the use of more subtle terms like “energetic and fresh” or “digital natives” to describe a company’s ideal employees)—would be a nice step in the right direction. Stereotypes about older workers and disparaging comments about them remain too common, as numerous surveys attest. 
When symphony orchestras wanted to hire more women, they did blind auditions where people could not see the gender of the person performing. When companies sought to build more inclusive workplaces, they focused on eliminating interview questions or signals that would not only harm someone’s chance of gaining employment, but also their likelihood of accepting an offer because the questions made them feel unwelcome. Consider taking dates off of resumes and banish questions that call into doubt someone’s energy or commitment just because of their age.
The parallels with other diversity and inclusion initiatives are many and direct. When companies do for age what they have already begun to do for race and gender, they will be well on their way to building a more diverse and welcoming workplace.
Until workplaces take ageism seriously, it will continue, depriving employers of wisdom, experience and talent, and inflicting unjust behavior on people simply because they have “too many birthdays.”
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Five Common Financial Aid Pitfalls to Avoid

Preparing for college requires a lot of decision-making – from choosing a major, to deciding between traditional and online colleges. But for most students, deciding whether to apply for financial assistance is a no-brainer, as student financial aid is often a necessary step in paying for higher education.
In order to receive federal or state financial aid, you need to fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The application might seem intimidating, but as long as you are aware of the common pitfalls, tackling the application process should be a breeze. Here are five questions to consider in order to be sure that you receive the best financial aid package possible.  
1. Are deadlines important?
Absolutely! First and foremost, be aware of deadlines – if you don’t apply for financial aid in time, you might miss out entirely. If you’re enrolling in college for the 2017-2018 school year, the FAFSA deadline is June 30, 2017. Deadlines for state funding will vary, so make sure to verify the deadline for your state at https://fafsa.ed.gov/deadlines.htm. You also need to check with your college for their financial aid program deadlines.
2. Can I wait until the last minute?
It\’s not a good idea. Schools generally distribute financial aid funds on a first-come, first-served basis. Apply early to make sure you get as much financial aid as possible. Once their annual funds are gone, they’re gone, so don’t wait until the last minute.
3. Does it matter which form I use?
This may seem like common sense, but many people make the simple error of selecting the wrong FAFSA form. If you are applying to receive student financial aid in order to start school in the fall of 2017, you need to complete the 2017-2018 form, not the 2016-2017 form.
4. If I don\’t know the answer to a question can I skip it?
Be sure to fill out your application with care and accuracy. Errors and skipped questions on your application will delay its approval. Additionally, if you receive financial aid due to incorrect information on your FAFSA form, you are legally required to pay it back. It is important to pay attention to detail so that you do not make a costly error.
5. Will someone help me?
Don\’t be afraid to ask for help. If you have questions about the FAFSA or run into a problem while filling out your application, call the financial aid office at your college of interest. Financial Aid office employees are knowledgeable about the FAFSA process and are more than willing to help you with your application.
At Bryant & Stratton College you will have access to several types of student financial aid programs. Financial advisors are available to help all students in identifying what types of financial aid they may qualify for and filling out applications. To get more information about the degree programs offered at Bryant & Stratton College, or to speak with a financial aid advisor, call 1.888.447.3528.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

ARE YOU A LEADER OR A TEACHER? (OR BOTH?)

Do you think of yourself as a leader, a mentor, a boss or a teacher? People who work outside of education don\’t generally identify themselves as teachers. After all, teachers stand up in front of classrooms and give pop quizzes. What\’s that got to do with the world of work?
A lot, actually. Leadership is important, but there is also a case to be made for teaching in the workplace—and I\’m not talking about training. Managers and leaders who are also teachers focus not only on getting the information out there, but also ensuring that their students (employees) truly understand it.

The Difference Between a Leader and a Teacher

Lots of managers want to hire people who can jump in and get to work with little or no training. They expect to say, \”We need to accomplish X,\” and that their staff can figure out how to do that on their own. They provide overall guidance and make suggestions from time to time, but their focus is on the big picture. CEOs often fall into this category.
In a larger company, the CEO doesn\’t have the time, nor the skills, to teach each employee how to do their job. She hires, sets the goals, makes the big decisions and leaves others to get on with it.
But what if you\’re not a CEO? Or maybe you are, but your business is small and young? If you\’re a first-line manager, there\’s a good chance you have employees that don\’t know how to get from A to Z by themselves. That\’s where teaching comes in.

Teach the Journey—and the Destination

A teaching manager will sit with an employee and go over a process or procedure until the employee can do it on their own. They will explain not only the end goal, but also steps A, B, C and D and so forth.
This might sound a little bit like a micro-manager. It\’s not! No good teacher hovers over a third grader doing multiplication tables once the child has mastered them. Likewise, while a teaching manager will give detailed instruction and support to an employee, the manager moves on once the employee has mastered the skill.

Celebrate Success

A teaching manager also cares deeply about the success of her employees. She rejoices when one of them gets promoted, because she wants what\’s best for her team and for the individual—even if that means she has to hire a replacement.
If you want to become a teaching manager, you need to realize that you\’ll be devoting a lot more of your time to hands-on teaching and training. Figure out what your staff needs to learn, and create a plan for them to learn it. Depending on your staff, this can be a different plan for each employee. Take the time to sit one-on-one, answer questions, give feedback and push the employee a little bit forward every week—just like your favorite high school teacher did for you (hopefully).
If you\’re a manager who can teach by stepping back and leading once your team knows how to operate, then give yourself a pat on the back. That\’s the entire goal of management: To help people get to a point where you\’re no longer needed, so they can find the next challenge (and teacher).
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

LEARNING CORNER WITH JEFFREY PFEFFER: EMPLOYERS CAN—AND SHOULD—MAKE EVERY DAY PAY DAY

When a former participant in a Stanford executive program invited me to join the advisory board of PayActiv, a company providing employees access to their earned wages between pay periods, I had no idea about the pressing need for what has become a growing industry and movement. Yet giving people access to their money more quickly represents one small but important step to reducing an epidemic of employee financial stress.
Like all forms of stress, financial stress negatively impacts people’s psychological and physical health, an issue very much on my research agenda. Moreover, it adversely affects employee turnover, absenteeism and presenteeism. In fact, one in three employees say that personal finance issues are a distraction at work.
Here’s why human resources departments should embrace the movement to make every day a payday.

Let’s Look at the Problem

Unless you are a day laborer or a participant in the “gig” economy—in other words, if you are a regular employee—odds are extremely high that you are going to be paid for your work some time after you did it. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, only nine states require weekly pay, and some of those states have exceptions. In other states, employers can pay people every two weeks, semi-monthly (like my employer, Stanford) or even monthly.
Consider the fact that in the second quarter of 2019, median weekly earnings were $911 for full-time wage and salary workers. With seven days in a week, that means the median worker is earning $130.14 per day. If someone is paid every two weeks, they will have accrued but not been paid earnings of around $1,301 (minus tax withholdings and deductions) after 10 days.
The fact that people are paid what they have earned some time after earning it may not seem like a big problem, but data shows many people in the U.S. are in a financially precarious position. The annual survey conducted by the American Psychological Association consistently finds that money and work are the two leading sources of stress, with these levels only rising. Even among employees earning more than $100,000 annually, PwC’s 2017 Employee Financial Wellness survey shows that 28 percent found it difficult to meet household expenses each month, and 58 percent consistently carried credit card balances.

The Current “Payday” Industry Is Enormous—and Wildly Expensive

The payday lending and “check cashing” industry arose in response to people’s needs for small, presumably short-term loans to tide them over until they receive their next paycheck. And business is booming. There are now more payday lenders in the U.S than McDonald’s or Starbucks. A study by the Consumer Financial Protection Board found that almost half of the borrowers had done 10 transactions, and the median fee was equivalent to an annual percentage interest rate of 322 percent. 
Meanwhile, Flexwage estimates that people are paying $32 billion in bank overdraft and insufficient funds fees and $6 billion in lending fees at U.S. pawn shops. Along with the $9 billion in estimated payday lending fees and high interest rates, that’s close to $50 billion being paid each year by some of the poorest and most financially stressed Americans. And it turns out this is something that should concern HR managers, too.

Financial Stress is a Giant Problem—for Employers

PwC’s survey reported that employees who were worried about their finances were five times more likely to be distracted at work and nearly twice as likely to spend three hours or more at work dealing with financial matters. Stressed employees were also twice as likely to miss work and more inclined to cite health issues caused by financial stress, the survey showed.
This massive productivity and engagement cost is one reason that a 2019 Bank of America survey found more than 50 percent of employers are now offering financial wellness programs as an employee benefit, a doubling in just four years. Such programs can include education about budgeting, direct deposit of wages to a bank to avoid check cashing fees, retirement savings plans (which less than half of employers offer in any form), income smoothing for people in jobs where pay varies significantly over time and programs to have employees automatically deposit a set amount or percentage of their pay into a savings vehicle.

One Simple Step Toward a Solution

These are all helpful options, but there’s a better solution: Simply offering employees quicker and easy access to their money will go a long way toward increasing productivity, improving retention and even attracting more applicants (who won’t need to deal with the unnecessary added financial stress that comes from dealing with predatory lenders).
Most earned wage providers, such as Flexwage, Instant, and PayActiv, sign up employers—who, in many cases, pay the nominal fees (which vary by vendor and specific customer but are typically on the order of 3 percent) on behalf of their employees. Employers then offer the option, which often includes a debit card and no-fee access to ATMs, to workers.
To be clear, this will not solve all of your employees’ financial problems. For instance, if people aren’t earning enough money, providing better and quicker access to an inadequate wage won’t eliminate their financial stress. If people are doing a poor job of financial planning and budgeting, accessing their wages more readily won’t suddenly make them better financial managers.
But it just might reduce at least some of the overdraft fees and high interest costs that make their precarious financial situation and resulting stress even worse. And reducing financial stress, by any amount, can only benefit workers and their employers. 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Get Rid of That Boring Resume

Stuck in a resume rut? If you’re using the same resume over and over and over blank resume template and only updating your most current job, your resume is probably boring! Here are three ways to breathe new life into it right now.
1. Walk in the resume reviewer’s shoes.
It’s very possible that the person reading your resume is not someone who is an expert at it and may not even want to be the one reading it at all. He or she may be a department manager who has a vacancy and wants to hire someone fast so he can get back to managing a sales team or leading an IT project. Faced with a stack of hundreds of resumes for one position, he may only review each one for 15-30 seconds. So, boring isn’t going to fly.
“The ones that are easy to read and stick out from the others are usually the ones that get a call or inquiry,” said Danyelle Little, editor-in-chief of TheCubicleChick.com.
2. Start with a professional profile.
Personal branding is critical. As a job searcher you must be aware of, and more importantly communicate to employers, who you are and what you have to offer that is unique to you and relevant to them. A well-written and focused resume can do just that. Rather than starting with an objective statement that says Here’s what I want, consider starting with a professional profile that answers the question Why should I hire you?
Summarize in 3-5 bullets why YOU are THE person for THIS job. Include how much experience you have in the field, what job-specific knowledge or skills you bring to the table, and industry-specific awards, certifications and professional memberships. Remember it’s only a few lines, make them count!
3. Focus on your own unique results.
Once the personal brand is established, present clear and consistent evidence of being who you say you are and having delivered to past employers what this employer needs most. You don’t necessarily have to start all over creating content. Give your current content the once over, one sentence at a time.
Ask yourself, besides key words for the job, have I mentioned the challenges I faced based on my experience and work environments? Does every sentence begin with an action verb? Have I specified how much, how many, how often, and other quantifiers that make my accomplishments unique and not something that will be read in any generic job description or in the next three resumes? Instead of listing the usual skills to put on a resume like this list below, include examples of how you use these skills:
  • Analytical/Research Skills
  • Interpersonal Abilities
  • Communications Skills
  • Leadership/Management Skills
  • Planning/Organizing
A better list would be more like:
  • Analyzed and researched top ways to …
  • Coordinated with co-workers to create …
  • Communicated with clients on …
  • Lead a team of …
  • Planned and organized the…
“Don’t pad your resume with buzzwords and fillers. HR and hiring managers read right through that. Instead, stick with meaty content that keeps the reader interested in learning more about you,” said Little, who has worked as a brand ambassador with Toyota, Build-A-Bear Workshop, Verizon and T-mobile. “It’s the results and accomplishments that get their attention.”
Bryant & Stratton College offers career resources to students as well as professional development courses. Contact the Admissions office or, if you are already a student, check out the Career Resources section of our website.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

DEAR REWORKER: MY COWORKER THINKS HE IS THE VOICE OF HR

Dear ReWorker,
We are a small company. We have no HR department, but we do have a jerk. A jerk who is a director and has decided that he is the voice of HR. Nobody appointed him to this role.
He frequently dips snuff at his desk, which is a shared table with eight coworkers. He throws temper tantrums exactly like a three year old, ranting and cursing at employees and vendors alike. He\’s a serious liability to the team.
His behavior needs to be curtailed ASAP. He does not report to me, so my hands are tied. He is wise enough to change his tune when senior management is in the office. Do you have any helpful suggestions? If only we could hire an HR person!
Sincerely,
Had Enough
___________________________________________________________________________________
Dear Had Enough,
While it\’s true that a great HR person—who can leap tall buildings with a single bound and enforce the dress code on the way up—could handle this guy pretty easily, that great HR person is pretty mythical. Someone who is good at bamboozling senior management is likely to be pretty talented at hiding his bad behavior from HR as well.
While you don\’t have an HR person, you do have yourself—and sometimes that is enough. Let\’s start with the snuff dipping. First, go to him privately and ask him to stop doing it at the table. If he refuses, every time after that, just say, \”John, you need to do that outside. It\’s disruptive and unsanitary.\”
When he points out that it isn\’t cigarette smoke, and you shouldn\’t be offended by it, just calmly repeat that it isn\’t appropriate for the office setting. Your co-workers will likely join in. The fear people often face, when attempting to call out co-workers for inappropriate behavior is that the tables will be turned and they\’ll get in trouble for nagging—or worse, bullying. But if the behavior is truly inappropriate, your actions can be clearly explained to senior management as valid requests.
The temper tantrums should be reported to senior management. You\’re right—they are damaging, not only to employee morale but to your vendor relationships. So, first report the problem. Second, walk away when he starts his temper tantrums and ask your co-workers to come with you.
Big picture: Don\’t let a toxic employee ruin your job, but more importantly, don\’t let it ruin your business. Involve senior management if having a crucial conversation with the employee himself doesn\’t work. A healthy work environment should be one of their foremost concerns.
Your ReWorker,
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1