It’s Time to Go Old School in HR
[Photo credit: Library of Congress]
We’re still waiting here in Philadelphia for the Phillies to clinch the World Series. (In typical Philly luck, we’re having a Nor’easter and there’s a no joy in Mudville.) All that extra time on my hands meant that I could look through hundreds of pictures in the Library of Congress’s archive. Lo and behold, I found this picture of a Fred Lauder, who played baseball for Philadelphia in 1912. That’s right, it was 96 years ago. In fact, professional baseball has been around since 1869.
The remarkable thing about that is that baseball is still pretty much the same game for nearly 140 years. Imagine that, rules that work for more than a century. Compare that to some of our HR programs, pay approaches, and performance management “systems” that come and go with the seasons. It doesn’t have to be that way.
I say it’s time to go old school in HR. How about getting back to basics? Things that work?
Wouldn’t it be great if you were the one who stood up for doing the right thing in HR and your ideas stood the test of time? Here’s my contribution: Great businesses don’t need performance reviews. Albert Einstein wouldn’t have done better work if his performance had been reviewed. Ditto Isaac Newton, Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, Dr. Martin Luther King, Eleanor Roosevelt, FDR, Teddy Roosevelt, Marie Curie, Ernest Hemingway, Bill Gates, Christopher Columbus, Louis Pasteur, Galileo, the Wright Brothers, Harriet Tubman, Beethoven, Katherine Hepburn, Lao Tzu, and Michelangelo.
I say go old school and start working with adults. Why don’t you be the one to make the leap, start managing and quit “managing performance”? In the old school, people know what to do and how to do it. A crummy performance management “system” will never be a proxy for that.
MrTed Launches Free Applicant Tracking System
This is a pretty cool application for HR. And the price is top-notch in this tough economic environment. I got this info from MrTed:
Seizing on the opportunity to help cash- and credit-strapped small and midsized businesses, MrTed Ltd., a recognized leader in talent acquisition solutions, today announced the beta availability of SmartRecruiters, a 100% free applicant tracking system (ATS) for corporate recruiters and hiring managers. Designed for businesses with as many as 2,500 employees, SmartRecruiters is easy to use, works in two minutes, and runs every facet of a recruiter’s business.
SmartRecruiters meets the needs of a new generation of Web savvy SMB recruiters. Unlike their predecessors, SMB recruiters in 2008 are very comfortable using online tools to find and recruit employee talent. SmartRecruiters fits this mold—and breaks the mold of conventional ATS products—by combining powerful functionality with ease-of-use.
Everything You Need From an ATS – Except the Invoice
SmartRecruiters is free, limitless and easy to use, with an open architecture that connects users to other recruiters and essential pay-per-use services such as job posts and background checks. A solid set of features allow recruiters to tailor the look-and-feel of corporate career Web sites, front office and online application forms. Recruiters can edit job ads in real-time, rate candidates, screen candidates and track history of actions and interactions with candidates—all for free from within the application. Users never pay for application hosting, installation, maintenance, upgrades, additional users or storage, and the system is so easy, zero training is necessary. SmartRecruiters is EEOC and OFCCP compliant.
Time for Some Joy in Mudville
[Photo credit: The Philadelphia Inquirer]
Sure, the economy is being described in apocalyptic terms, bonuses are a bygone memory, and we’re preparing in HR for rafts of RIFs. But every once in a while you have to stand back and think about the joyful things…like the Phillies being on the verge of clinching the World Series tonight in Philadelphia. Call us what you want — Killadelphia, Filthadelphia. We don’t care. It takes a lot to get 1.5 million Philadelphians together on something. Well, we’re together on this one. And for one day, at least, we can stand back and just be happy. That’s not a bad start to a Monday.
Silence Is Not Golden When the Economy is Crumbling
You know how flight attendants and pilots never seem to shut up when the plane is on the ground or in clear air, but then as soon as there’s turbulence, nothing? Silence. You sit there in your seat, nervous and wondering what’s going on, and they don’t tell you a thing?
That’s what’s going on in a lot of businesses right now. Here’s a little communication hint: Silence is not golden when the economy is crumbling and people are scared. And here’s a little hint to employees: Your bosses are scared too.
So, it’s time for HR to step and be the calm in a storm. You know that your people can read. And what they’re reading right now is that there are lots of layoffs, unemployment is high and getting higher, the stock market is spinning like a whirligig, and their pay and benefits are affected. They’re sitting in their seats, nervous and wondering what’s going on. It’s time to tell them. ‘Silence is golden” is great for 3-year-olds. It doesn’t work for 30-year-olds.
RIFs have Started: Yahoo is First
Well, this is going to get all too familiar over the coming year. Yesterday, Yahoo led the way to RIFville with an announcement that they would be laying off 10% of their staff before year’s end. Sure, all the trouble isn’t from the recent stock market collapse, but that’s a big factor.
Jerry Yang’s letter to what he calls “yahoos” can be found here. He did an honest and credible job to tell the whole story. And he showed that the business cares about people…and about business. Here’s a snippet from Yang’s letter to employees, which was titled “update”:
affected employees will be notified of layoffs in the next several weeks. we understand that hearing this news now creates uncertainty, but we are moving ahead in a way that balances speed with a clear focus on accomplishing what is necessary to set the organization up for long term success. going forward it will continue to be important for us to make the right decisions to keep our business efficient and strong.
having layoffs is very difficult, particularly in light of all we’ve experienced this year. but we don’t take these decisions lightly, and are committed to treating affected employees fairly, offering severance and outplacement services.
the steps we are taking are not easy for us as a company, but as we become more fit as an organization, decision-making will be faster and it will be easier for us all to get more done and stay focused on our strategy. these changes will also prepare us to better deal with the macroeconomic downturn. as with previous downturns, yahoo! continues to be a place where consumers turn for information and communications, and is an integral part of their internet day. as the global economy improves in the future, i certainly believe that we will be stronger and benefit from the actions we are taking now.
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