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Archive for the ‘Diversity’ Category
Do You Need to Know How Much Your Employees Weigh?
Aug 6A librarian in Urbandale, Iowa was fired because she refused to tell her employer her weight. Seriously.
Her employer, the City of Urbandale, is printing employees’ weights on their ID cards. The crazy part….wait…wait…wait…they can ask and get away with it.
Here’s my take: Step up HR in Urbandale. What are you thinking? Who thought that asking employees how much they weigh was a good idea? What kind of meeting where you in where you thought that would make sense? And what good can you get from that?
What will the City of Urbandale ask for next? Identifying birthmarks? Scars? Tattoos? How about stretch marks?
Just because you are LEGALLY allowed to get information doesn’t mean you should.
Be HR that steps up; not HR that makes employees step on a scale.
When You Use Bad Stock Photography You Make Baby Jesus Cry
Jun 9I got a product announcement from an HR software vendor this morning and this picture was in the header:
You lost me at “grey-haired man in a suit with hand resting on chin flashing a smile at a woman of uncertain age dressed in a 1980s power suit and rocking a Dippity-Do haircut” stock photo. I felt a little piece of my soul being sucked away.
Don’t use bad stock photography. And don’t make Baby Jesus cry.
Where Are the Old People in Your Diversity Program?
Jan 21My son, Matt, has a 98-year-old statistics professor this semester. Professor Ernest Kurnow has been teaching in NYU’s business school since 1948. Matt’s delighted to have him as a teacher. We should all be so lucky.
Where do old people fit in your diversity program? Do you even talk about them? In the next two decades, 80 million Baby Boomers — those born from 1946 to 1964 — will move out of the workplace. Sure, some want to go. But should all of them? In our youth-obsessed culture, what do we miss by not having older people around as teachers, mentors and friends?
I know that Ralph Roberts, founder and Chairman Emeritus of Comcast, still goes to work every day in his signature bow tie. He’ll be 90 years old this March. Are there others out there in companies? If not, why not? (Being around older people makes you live longer, by the way.)
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Here’s a video of Professor Kurnow from a couple of years ago talking about teaching and mentoring.
I Wish I Had Written This #11: Gay Marriage and Civil Rights
Jan 19Steve Crescenzo wrote “Trying to answer the civil rights question of our time.” I wish I had written this.
Here is a short list of people who ARE allowed to marry:
Wife beaters, pedophiles, child molesters, husband beaters, rapists, child beaters, pornography peddlers, pornography addicts, pornography stars, Pat Robertson (who probably falls into several of the categories already mentioned).
Men who are wanted by the law for not paying child support, convicted felons, Dr. Phil, the Goeslings, White Sox fans, Tiger Woods, serial killers, retarded people, Sarah Palin (who falls into at least the previous category), asshole yuppies, Timothy Geithner, terrorists, bank robbers, Peeping Toms, serial masturbators, drunks, drug dealers, drug addicts, repeat DUI offenders, tax cheats, cross dressers, bullies, frat boys, and Oprah.
And here is the list of people who can NOT marry:
Gay people.
Something is seriously wrong with this picture.
You know, I mentioned a few writers that I read all the time. Steve’s Corporate Hallucinations is one of those. Now you know why.
Women Make Less Than Men Because They Want To
Mar 11Okay, that’s a purposely provocative title. I don’t believe it for one second. But one of KnowHR’s commenters does. Steven R. said this in response to an article I wrote titled Women Make Less Than Men: 5 Things HR Needs to Do Right Now to End Pay Inequality:
Do some research and then come back and write something as dumb as this. Young men do make more money then young women. The stats are these for every $.92 cents a woman makes a man makes $1.
Instead of looking at the superficial level. Take a look at the actual facts. For example take a look at young doctors on average a young male doctor works 500 more hours, yes I repeat 500 more hours than young woman doctor.
Why because the fact is men work for longer hours and stay at jobs longer. So, if it starts an a young age for men and women are getting off to a slow start it’s no wonder why men make more money.
Most importantly women are happy with the money they are making. They feel like they earned that money and a majority stated they were fine with their salary. The question that needs to be asked is why is what someone makes so importnat? When it’s a fact that money does not equal happiness?
Are women happy with the money they make if it’s not fair? Should women just be happy that they’re getting paid, as Steven suggests? And isn’t it great to show, once again, that 93 percent of statistics are made up on the spot? (Where did that number come from that says male doctors work 500 more hours — per year? per week? per day? — than women doctors?)
What do you think?
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