Ed tor’s Note ‘Deskbound sitting is the new smoking’ by Kelly Starrett and Glen Cordoza examines how rapidly inactivity can cause harm. Being sedentary for nine hours is bad whether your employee is marathon-runner fit or morbidly obese. In the quest for better physical and mental health, U.S. employers are integrating corporate wellness strategies to provide a health and productivity boosting culture. The numbers tell us this wide-movement against the chair-based lifestyle that leads to loss of productivity over abseentism and various other factors. The U.S. corporate health and wellness market in the U.S. is expected to reach $8 billion by 2018. The pursuit for innovate ways to keep employees engaged in wellness programs is becoming more important than ever before. Our Cover Story, ‘The Fruits of Corporate Wellness’ runs from page 66-75.
maximum efficiency, are you settling gloom over employee happiness? Alex Kjerulf shares an intoxicating view on employee happiness. Plunge in, page 100-111!
Further, in this issue, we have Chief Happiness Officer, Alex Kjerulf sharing an enormously influential idea – happiness at work. Too often, workplaces become monotonous with every process routinized to its core. And this raises a deeper question: In the face of such routinization and overemphasis on
Like always, we welcome your comments. You may reach us at editor@thehrdigest.com or Editor The HR Digest, The Fastest Media, 3651Lindell Road, Suite 320D, Las Vegas, NV 89103.
Workplace Culture, page 112-123, delves into the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen, meaning ‘small, incremental, continuous improvement,’ where companies call for never-ending efforts for improvement to create a highimpact learning culture. Among other things, we have, Legal Hub, page 76-80, covering companies guilty of child labor and its legal implications, Q&A with Jane, page 30-40, your official canon for brutally honest, straightforward answers to HR related queries, and concerns answered by Jane Harper. Happy Reading!
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THE TEAM Editorial Anna Domanska, Editor-in-Chief
Christy Gren, Sub-Editor
Priyansha Mistry, Sub-Editor
Aubrey Chang, Associate Editor
Riana Petanjek, Sub-Editor
Design Kevin Paul Sr. Graphic Designer
Project Management Tony Raval Project Director
Marketing Jason Miller Sr. Project Director
Jay Raol Project Director
Advertising Richard Dean, Advertising Manager
Technology John Hancock Head-Web Department
Le Manh Coung, Sr Software Coordinator
Finance Control R R Baratiya
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Julia Hunt, Magazine Production
CONTENT FEATURES 10
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President Obama introduces $19 Billion Cybersecurity Plan The significance of enhancing governmental cybersecurity has been a heated topic of discussion, especially with President Obama being the prominent supporter of the issue. Two massive data breaches accounted in the last two years at the Office of Personnel Management has added more fuel to the fire. On this note, an Executive Order has been issued by the American President to establish a ‘Federal Privacy Council’, which is charged with ensuring that federal government’s entire agencies strive to sustain the best standards for receiving, handling, and utilizing personal data. The new council is basically a support structure for interagency, which will offer assistance and expertise, enhance the current agency’s privacy programs management, promote collaboration between privacy professionals of the agency, and ensure privacy policy’s effective implementation. At present, only a few federal agencies have commissioned privacy officers and the positions and roles of these privacy officers are different for every agency.
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This council for privacy is designed to reinforce the work, which present privacy officials of the agency will undertake. It is also intended to coordinate with the exchange of best practices and information. The privacy council will also be in charge of privacy professionals’ development. The Federal Privacy Council is a crucial part of the Cybersecurity National Action Plan, an initiative led by President Obama that also includes funds to improve and modernize the IT infrastructure of federal government and needs a Commission on improving National Cybersecurity to bring private sector leaders and lawmakers together in order to make recommendations concerning government cybersecurity. There are various questions that arise concerning the president’s cybersecurity agenda and the Privacy council. The first among these is whether the council proposals will amass cooperation and support of Congress. In the annual budget proposal for the purpose of cybersecurity, President Obama has granted $19 billion, but Republican lawmakers seem hostile toward various other areas of this budget proposal. The second question points out the fact whether the cybersecurityrelated initiatives and Privacy Council are structured and staffed to strive for success. These concerns are mainly because the processes for enforcement remain unspecified and the Privacy Council Chair along with the positions of the senior privacy officials of the agency has not been appointed so far. Given the other challenges along with limited period left in the presidency of Obama, it seems unlikely that this council will make some significant impact in the near term.
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Resist the Urge for Good, Ol’ Fashioned Ethnic Jokes at Workplace Even though you happen to have no disrespect towards a specific ethnicity or you do not promote racism, you’re advised to resist the urge to make fun of your fellow employees based on their nationality. Cracking jokes and throwing insults based on ethnicity in the workplace can get you slapped with a hefty, class-action employment discrimination lawsuit. According to a lawsuit filed by the EEOC in the federal court, Michael Jagodzinski, a mine foreman working in West Virginia at Rhino Energy, was treated with derogatory insults during his course of employment about his Polish nationality. On the other hand, Oregon-based True Form Collision Repair’s former employee filed a similar lawsuit, which claimed that he had been harassed at his workplace due to his Russian heritage. These two instances paint the perfect examples of how innocent teasing may end up with something so expensive. You have no rights to discriminate any employee based on their racial epithets or national origin. Employers need to constantly enforce their policies, which prohibits such conduct and in the case of any allegations, they should take an immediate action starting with the investigation before an expensive lawsuit enters the way. In the eyes of the law, there is no difference, despite the nationality and race, everyone will be treated equally. Your workforce should be trained not to conduct and tolerate such behavior at the workplace. In case, if such cases occur, supervisors must report the events to the HR Department. Workplace policies should be clear and comprehensive, prohibiting all actions, which takes aim at individuals due to ethnicity or national origin. So, cracking a good, Ol’ Polish joke will no longer be served as a medium for fun at workplace.
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The Perks of Overtime’s Getting Better With Time The White House Office of Management and Budget has taken new rules regarding overtime under review. The latest regulations by the U.S. Department of Labor will exponentially increase the number of employees eligible for an overtime shift. The decision for review taken by the White House Office of Management and Budget suggests that new rules related to overtime may take its course sooner than anticipated, which means in April or May 2016 by the latest. Previously, the course of action was expected to take place in July 2016. In 2015, President Barack Obama announced a fresh proposal to hike the minimum weekly wage from $455 to $970 for overtime exempt workers. In other words, for an exempt employee, the minimum annual salary will be incremented from $23,660 to $50,440. The minimum hike in the annual salary of employees will only take place if the Department of Labor accepts the proposed rule and revises the current regulations for minimum salary under the federal law, Fair Labor Standards Act. Among the few other changes introduced under the new rule, workers who at present work for one of more professional, executive, administrative, or any other exemptions, yet whose annual salaries are less than $50,400 will be reinstated from exempt to non-exempt from the FLSA’s overtime provisions. Employers will have to maintain the track of time records for such workers and pay the overtime rate, which would be 1.5 times the regular pay rate of an employee for each hour.
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TIME IS MONEY
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And So, the Trend of Hike in Minimum Wage Continues Santa Monica will carry forward the legacy of the newest trend across the country in corporate market, ‘hike in minimum wages’. The Santa Monica City Council has voted to sanction the ordinance for minimum wage, which will arrive in effect from July 1, 2016. The wage ordinance is equivalent to the one passed by Los Angeles and comprehends phased hike in minimum salary for workers within the Santa Monica city through 2020. For employers with 25 or less employees and qualifying non-profits it will be delayed by one year, i.e., 2021, in order to reach the peak rate of minimum wage. From July 1, 2016, Santa Monica employees will receive hike in their salary to $10.50 per hour, in the same manner as that of Los Angeles. Also, the minimum wage will be increasing in five segments for upcoming years respectively, which is 2017- $12.00, 2018- $13.25, 2019- $14.25, and finally, 2020- $15. For hotel workers in Santa Monica, the ordinance offers even higher amount for minimum wage. The ordinance will arrive in effect on July 1, 2016 with the minimum wage amount beginning at $13.25 followed by another increase on July 1, 2017 with $15.37. This provision will be applicable to all motels and hotels in Santa Monica, no matter what their size is, and it is also applicable to all the workers also including the one working at on-site diners or restaurants. The latest provision will also include an exception for first timers, allowing employers to offer 85% of the imperative minimum salary for the first six months or 480 hours of work. The city council of Santa Monica has also included sick leave provisions, which states that individuals working for companies with 26 or more workers will receive 9 paid sick leave days and those working for companies with less than 26 workers will receive 5 paid sick leave days.
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Collective Bargaining Rights May Shake the Entire Gig Economy Workers in the gig economy would receive the right to bargain collectively for wages and benefits collectively under latest legislative amendments introduced by Lorena Gonzalez, Assembly Member in California. The proposed legislation in California will offer independent contractors, mainly individuals involved in the gig economy for livelihood, to organize and bargain collectively in the same manner as unionized workers do. Presently acknowledged as “The California 1099 Self-Organizing Act”, the Assembly Bill 1727 would offer independent contractors and workers who perform their work via online platforms, for instance, mobile applications, to organize and bargain as a team, boycott or criticize unauthentic business practices, establish communications with the public and customers directly, and report practices, which they believe are violating the law or affecting clients and co-workers adversely. The assembly bill would also offer a collective negotiating relationship for “members” where the workers would merely need ten or more people working on the online platform to announce their wish to negotiate as a team with the organization. The proposed legislation by Assembly Member Lorena Gonzalez is believed to be the first legislative attempt done on a statewide level in the nation. It will offer collective bargaining rights along with various workplace protections meant for unionized employees to workers in gig economy. The Seattle City Council in December 2015 approved an ordinance, which allowed transportation sector’s independent contractors to organize and negotiate collectively. Recently, a lawsuit was filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to encourage the Seattle ordinance of enforcements and to declare the ordinance in violation of labor law and federal antitrust.
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This legislative proposal knocks the door at a time period when companies involved in gig economy are facing numerous class action lawsuits claiming that workers in this economy are also entitled to the same hour and wage benefits as normal employees. Gig companies and their business model of independent contractors are also facing growing scrutiny from state and federal regulators, which includes the Hour Division and Labors Wage Department of the United States. The HR Digest Magazine / April 2016
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Employers, Beware of Negative Reviews Employers must beware of producing negative review as it is protected under the U.S. Employment law. Yelp, Inc., which is accustomed to offering a bad review rather than receiving one, has learnt its lesson fairly well. Recently, Talia Ben-Ora, a customer service employee at Yelp posted an open letter addressed to the CEO on her blog, expressing her daily struggles due to low pay. Most parts of her letter included her remarks discussing benefits, salary, and financial challenges faced by her and her co-workers. Shortly after this letter was posted, the company terminated her. The reason for termination stated by Yelp CEO was that due to her online post the company wasn’t receiving positive reviews. The National Relations Labor Board has become quite aggressive when it comes to protecting the rights of an employee to discuss working conditions and wages in a public forum. This is also applied if the discussion involves making derogatory remarks for the employer. Under the National Labor Relations Act- Section 7, protesting labor policies of employers or the way an employer treats its employee is contemplated as protected activity and this section of protection extends to employees who are non-unionized as well. This incident, perhaps, the most brutal reminder of the heavy consequences that employers might have to face, both from a legal as well as public perspective, when it comes to terminating an employee protesting wages on online platforms.
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LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS
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Cut Two Ways Gone are the days when corporate America believed in “if you don’t measure it, it doesn’t exist.” Today, KPI has gone past a holistic view of performance to a mindless chase of quantified indicators. What can leaders do to end the debacle?
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LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS
An organization’s cultural values and employer brand can sometimes mean nothing to its customer brand and financial performance. Even so, people have never enjoyed as much choice regarding where and how they can function. Therefore, an employer brand has never been as critical if organizations need to pull in the best talent with the best social fit to incorporate with their existing team. Gone are the days when people stayed at an organization forever. Today, they want to understand what their company can accomplish for them in a professional as well as personal way, because if isn’t the right fit, they will basically leave for something better or, more awful still, few will need to work there in any case. As indicated by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 91% of millennials between the ages of 18 and 38 hope to stay at their job for under three years, and will most likely embrace 15 to 20 employments in their lifetime. An employer brand supports an organization’s stature and believability in the jobs marketplace. It is about showcasing an organization to potential hopefuls. It is about telling individuals why an organization is distinctive and why the experience of working there will be a remunerating one. It is also about reaffirming to people within the organization that it is determined to putting resources into their improvement and also that of new staff. Having a solid employer brand is totally essential. The most critical piece of creating it is to address employees, ask them what it’s like to work here and have an open door policy. On a very basic level, you must be offering what the reality is when individuals join the organization.
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So how do you build an employer brand?
So, what are the benefits of having a solid employer brand? Research led by Johns Hopkins University notes that 95% of job candidates believe that culture in an organization is more critical than pay. If you have the right employer brand and social qualities to back it up, then you’ll be sparing time by replacing fewer individuals, and hence spending less on re-contracting and re-preparing those new increments. In particular, you will have an engaged and enthusiastic workforce that is willing to go the extra mile for the customer. Culture is something that goes beyond people; it can encourage team spirit among individuals. If you’re not living it, individuals won’t become tied up with it. The leadership team, particularly, must show their qualities so we treat employee engagement and culture the same as some other business KPI. The HR Digest Magazine / April 2016
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LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS An organization’s interest in professional and personal development is another key foundation of a solid employer brand. If the organizations put resources into workers, the outcome will be increased loyalty and commitment, and this could even help attract potential candidates. Nowadays, employees and applicants want to know what you can do for them. However, the greatest challenge is to keep individuals culturally motivated. When we attract the right individuals, we do all that we can to ensure they get the recognition, the surroundings and the career advancement they deserve. It might sound clear, however, regardless of how huge or little your organization is, we trust that individuals need to feel like they are being dealt with like humans, not robots. They have to realize that their boss cares. That is the mystery of making society work, and building a high performance workforce. Now, simply imagine you put some KPIs set up and instead of measuring and improving performance, they lead to the opposite, i.e. they become a mindless chase of numbers, bringing reduced performance into the organization. KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) should be the most imperative measure used by organizations, business units or project groups to keep tabs on their development against key objectives. A well-designed arrangement of KPIs should give the basic tools that give everybody an understanding of current levels of performance. Even so, practically speaking, these all around planned KPIs can turn virulent.
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The biggest reason why things turn out badly with KPIs is that they once in a while turn from a measure into an objective. For example, a police force introduced KPIs to measure its performance. The government then turned some crime insights into targets and measured each police force against these objectives. A lot of rigging took place to improve these numbers. One police force was advised by their boss to prioritize thefts of multiple-occupancy households because the system would count each occupant as a separate solved crime. KPI should help organizations measure how well they are delivering on their key objectives and strategic needs. The information produced from the KPI should then assist with decision-making and lead to actions. This implies, the purpose for a KPI is to educate, or provide objective information. It is truly essential to understand that no measure is perfect or complete. KPI fails to provide a complete picture on the performance. It will only focus on the spotlight instead of providing insights on different aspects of performance. If an organization uses this flawed measure as an objective it implies that people can deliver extraordinary results on the aspect the company cares more about, yet overlook the remaining aspects that are left oblivious. This is somewhat like advising kids to clean their room and afterward saying that you will just check this one corner of the room, and if that is clean then they will get a treat. We, as an adult know what will happen, the one corner will be spotless, yet every one of the toys will be slided under the bed. If companies use KPIs as targets, then we get what we measure, and that’s it. However, if we use KPIs as indicators used and owned by everybody to recognize areas of improvement, then they turn out to be catalysts empowering fundamental improvement. There is one added complication – every indicator must have an objective or clear benchmark. The HR Digest Magazine / April 2016
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DID I DEBUT AS AN OVERSTEPPING UPSTART? A Reader Writes Last week, I interviewed with a large company for a position that is notably senior to my current position. I currently work for a company that is a close competitor to this company. I met the minimum qualification criteria that were advertised by the company, along with several management hiring preferences. To be honest, I was really surprised to be called for an interview in the first place as working at the offered position would be a significant upgrade from my current role. But at the same time, I was really overjoyed because it would provide a vanguard to my career. I got the invitation to the interview by the direct supervisor, who was not on the interview panel. I had my interview with a panel of the highest level executives, which kind of intimidated me. But, the panel reviewed that I answered some of the questions very well.
end of the interview, one of the executives asked me, “Do you think that you are truly qualified for this position due to your young age and your experience in this particular field?” The position required experience in different fields while I had experience in only one of them. I had to admit that I was not the perfect candidate for the job, but then tried to recover by explaining how my experience and current position can help me to learn more about other aspects. They did not provide any feedback on my answer, and I left the place, feeling totally nauseated. Was it a mistake on my part? Do you think that I came off as an overstepping upstart? I don’t want to lose any chances of being employed by this company in the future. Shall I ask them to withdraw my name from consideration?
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Answer No, don’t even think of asking them to withdraw your name! Give it a chance, if they don’t hire you, then so be it, but don’t let yourself out of the running unless you are not interested in the position anymore. You wouldn’t have been invited for the interview if they didn’t think that you were potentially the right person for the job. It was not your mistake or you were not overreaching by going for the interview. They invited you to be there. And as far as that question from the executive is taken into consideration, it can be just to assess if you have what it takes to excel in the offered
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position. Chances are they just wanted to know if you can take the responsibilities, despite the obstacles. So don’t consider it as a trap or something. Don’t get intimated by how senior the executives on the interview panel were. Their position shouldn’t bother you, so just treat them like ordinary people. It seems that you found the position of the executives as intimidating, and that is changing your perception towards the whole experience. Nothing atrocious happened, so there is no reason to feel nauseated about it.
WHAT TO DO IF THE EMPLOYER REJECTED ME BECAUSE MY CURRENT SALARY IS REALLY HIGH? A Reader Writes
Recently, I was rejected by an employer even when I was one of their top candidates just because my current salary was much higher than what they were offering. I revealed my current salary in a phone interview, after which I went for an in-person interview, which went quite well. They mentioned that my salary is too high and that was the only concern that came in the way of hiring me right away. I was okay with the salary and I emailed thank-you notes to let them know that I am interested in the position. After a few days, the HR manager informed me that the company was really impressed with me. And then there was no response from their side, so I sent a follow-up email. Later, I was told that the company has hired another candidate for this position, but they also mentioned that I was the perfect candidate for the job and that the company tried to work something out. And somehow I feel that they tried to
increase the salary, but it didn’t work out. I am not sure why this happened. I was okay with a lower pay as the company was providing many other perks along the pay, such as flexible work hours, travel, and an option to work from home. What can be the reason that the company didn’t even bother to offer me the job? Is it just because they thought the pay they offered was comparatively low? They could have offered me the job, and could have moved to the next candidate if I declined the offer. Why did they skip directly to the next candidate? Should I have been clear that I was ready to accept a lower pay? I didn’t do that because I wanted to take my chances and didn’t want to “shut in” that salary if there was a room for negotiation. Would it be better if I explicitly told them that I was ready to take a pay cut? What can I do better if such situation arises again? The HR Digest Magazine / April 2016
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Answer Such situation arises to many of the job seekers and this is the reason why job seekers hate to discuss salary matters. Many job seekers miss the chance of getting hired just by giving a high number for their expected salary and end up seeming overpriced. Even if they are willing to take a pay cut, they do not mention it beforehand, as they do not want to miss the chance to negotiate. In your case, the employers would have thought that you earn much more than what they are offering so even if offered the job, you would reject it. You didn’t clarify that you are ready to work for a lower pay, assuming that they would get the hint from your thank-you notes and follow-up emails. However, many candidates do that in the hope of negotiating the salary, once the job is offered.
Probably the employers should have offered you the job if you were their first choice. But why would you rely on employers to decide if the salary would be enough to keep you satisfied? It can be tricky for employers too, as they don’t want to hire a candidate who is not happy with the salary and keeps looking for other opportunities even after joining the company. It is really fiddly to handle such situation because on one hand you need to make sure that they know that you are willing to take a pay cut while on the other hand, you don’t want to leave any money on the table if they would increase the pay if you negotiate. This is the reason why job seekers find salary discussions as nerve-wracking and confusing.
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A Reader Writes I work in a small office, comprising of only 5 people. My boss is constantly advising me on how I can handle my personal life in a better way. Sometimes she even makes some negative comments about my family and friends if I plan to hang out with them, instead of doing something that she suggests me to. Yesterday, we had an endless discussion about my car, which needs some repairing before it will be harmless to drive again. She suggests me to use my sister’s car (that I paid for) until my car gets repaired. Note that I haven’t
compromised any work due to this car issue and have completed all of my tasks on or before time. I’ve been taking Uber to commute to and from the office. But, my boss thinks that I am insubordinate just because I am not taking my sister’s car as she suggests. This is not the first time that she is interfering in my personal matters. Also, I have told her a lot of times to stop snooping, as I don’t want to merge my work and personal life. I feel really helpless and restless. It is affecting my work and my personal life as well. Help!
Answer Your boss has crossed the boundaries. She is not your mother, who treats you as a minor child, she’s your boss. You already have told her to stop snooping, but apparently it hasn’t changed her in any manner. So, I think it might be quite difficult to change her. You can stop discussing your personal life with her. Don’t reveal any information linked to your personal life, so she won’t get anything to work with. She can’t suggest something until she has some information. For example, if you didn’t tell her about the car issue, she won’t have told you to let your sister suffer by snatching away her car. This might reduce all the suggestions that she comes up with. Or, if she comes up with something
that she already knows about, don’t involve in the discussion and change the subject. For example, she asks you about your car, you can simply answer it, saying “I have that issue under control. Can we discuss some strategies to work on Project X with Client Y?” Maybe this will stop her from coming up with more suggestions. And if she points the finger at you for being insubordinate, you can tell her that you will always welcome workrelated suggestions, but you don’t want your personal life to be discussed in the workplace. If she doesn’t stop prying, you either have to accept it as a part of your job package or start looking for a better opportunity. The HR Digest Magazine / April 2016
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I WANT TO LEAVE MY CURRENT JOB WITHOUT NOTICE BUT I FEEL GUILTY ABOUT MY CO-WORKERS A Reader Writes I work in an office of only 12 people, with 6 more people working at the same position as mine. Many people have left this position within a year of joining since the new management took over. I went for an interview before few days and they have offered me the job, which provides me a great opportunity for career growth. I want to leave my current job without notice because I know that they won’t be able to find a replacement within two weeks, which is the standard notice period. I am really least concerned about “burning bridges” as I don’t want to return to this company, all I am concerned 036
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about is my co-workers as they are really good friends of mine. If I leave, they would have more workload as my work would be distributed among them. I think they will understand my situation as they are also searching for a decent job elsewhere. The question is: I don’t feel dutybound to provide any notice period and I’m willing to tell my new employer that I am ready to join immediately. But that makes me feel guilty of burdening my colleagues with my work. My new employer might want me to provide a date by when I can start working with them. What should I do?
Answer Whatever the reason might be, you should provide two weeks’ notice to your current employer because that is how professionals handle it. Even when you are least concerned about the company, you should be really concerned about your reputation and leaving without notice will only ruin your reputation. You never know when a colleague from your company might pop up as a hiring manager or an employee of a company that you want to work with in the near future. Or maybe someone from your company can come up as an informal reference that you never even thought about. You don’t want them to refer you as the one who left a previous company with zero notice, do you? Once your colleagues know that you left without any notice, it is more likely that they would avoid referring you for any job.
Your new employer might also speculate why a person who is currently working will join us immediately, making it clear that you are leaving your current job without notice. Do you think they want to hire a person who will do that? On the other hand, two weeks is not such a long period of time as compared to the larger scheme of things, especially if they cost you your reputation. I would suggest that you give a standard notice to the company. Also, keep in mind that two weeks’ notice is not so that your employer can get a replacement; it is so that you can handover your work to your colleagues smoothly and efficiently. You will really enjoy those two weeks as everyone knows that you are leaving and you too will be satisfied that finally you are leaving your crappy job.
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WHY HAVEN’T I HEARD BACK FROM THE HIRING MANAGER EVEN WHEN I SENT HER CHOCOLATES? A Reader Writes Recently I applied for a job that I dreadfully want to have. In order to stand out from the pool of candidates that have applied for the same position, I sent some chocolates to the hiring manager, along with my well-crafted resume. I have referred some blogs and articles that mentioned some of the creative ways to apply for a job. I also considered sending my resume in a bottle like a “message in a bottle”, but then I sent chocolates instead. Even my career advisor suggested me to send
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those chocolates, especially because the hiring manager was a woman and every woman appreciates some chocolates. After a few days, I sent my resume with the cover letter, without mentioning the chocolates. It’s been four weeks, but I haven’t heard anything from the company. I tried to contact HR but did not get any response from them. So, can I do anything else or just wait for their response?
Answer I would say that don’t wait for the call, as the hiring managers are unlikely to call you after almost a month. This would be my general advice to anyone who doesn’t hear from the company for such a long time, but this is particularly true in this situation. I’m sorry to say, but your career advisor has steered you in the wrong direction. Many blogs and articles suggest job seekers to do such gimmicks to stand out, but they never work, they just reduce your chances of getting the job. Think about this whole thing from a hiring manager’s perspective: Receiving chocolates or flowers from a candidate only makes them think that the candidate is not capable enough to stand out on his qualifications and scores, and is trying to bribe the hiring manager to get the job. You will find it a little cheesy, won’t you? Also, just because the hiring manager is a woman, doesn’t mean
that she will be flattered with all those gifts. The hiring process has nothing to do with the gender of the hiring manager. Suppose that a company responds to gimmicks, what kind of company would that be? Would you like to work with a company where flash wins over merit? What will be the situation when it comes to career advancement and promotion? The one, who is boss’ favorite, gets the promotion! That will be so unfair to people who actually deserve that promotion. Look, I understand that it is difficult to stand out when the competition is too high. But the only way to stand out is either by being highly qualified for the job or by having a very impressive resume and a cover letter. In short, the path to standing out doesn’t run through the Hershey’s counter.
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I GOT PROMOTED, BUT I HAVE NO CLUE ABOUT MY SALARY A Reader Writes I recently got promoted at my company, thanks to some of your career advice. Now, the issue is that I have no clue what my salary is. I am assuming that the promotion comes with a higher pay (not to mention the higher workload), but I haven’t discussed it with my boss. I got a call from my boss saying that I was promoted to the manager position, to which I just said yes and left it at that. At that time, I was stuck with some
work and I thought that we would have some more time to discuss the pay. But it’s almost a week and I haven’t heard anything regarding the pay or any additional training that I might require for the new role. How can I bring this up with my boss without coming across like someone who is only concerned about the money (which is somewhat true)?
Answer This is for all the job seekers out there: Stop accepting job offers without discussing the salary, not just promotions. Once you give a nod to that offer, you don’t have any room for negotiation. Everyone works for money, so don’t feel embarrassed when it comes to discussing the salary part. Well, past is past. Now you can just 040
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go back to your boss and tell her that you were really grateful and excited about the new role and wanted to discuss more details about it including the salary. When you discuss this, make sure to play it off as if you assumed that this discussion was planned and no deal is complete without mentioning the salary.
EMPLOYEE
BENEFITS
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Benefits - The New Salary? You obviously want top talent to join your team, but what if you don’t have a juicy paycheck to offer? Simply compensate lower salary with better benefits
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BENEFITS Supposedly it’s been a few years since you joined your company, and as a hiring manager, you need to increase the headcount, now that the company is growing in size. The size of the company might be relatively small if you considered the business scenario before few years. But, with time, the company has developed some brand value that has established some traction in the market and has got some of the vital projects that could advance the company’s growth to a whole new level. If your company is in a good shape, the cash flow is adequate; it is a great time for bringing new hires. The business is burgeoning, and there cannot be a better time to recruit great talent, which will distribute the workload. Either you start involving in the hiring process or you reach out to some of the recruitment agencies to fill the positions. Within a few days, you will have a pool of candidates to shortlist from. You can conduct a telephoning interview with the potential candidates and shortlist some who you think are good enough to appear for the face-to-face interview. You just give them a brief idea about your company and the salary range that you can offer. But on the day of the in-house interview, you come to know that a significant number of candidates dropped out after the telephonic session. When you inquire about the reason, recruiters inform you that the salary range mentioned in the offer is falling short of candidates’ expectations.
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Such a disappointment! Quite a few applicants were a good fit for the job and even said that they are willing to work for a dynamic and growing company as yours, but they didn’t turn up for the interview. You are in a catch-22 situation; there is no chance that you can increase the pay as it would be unfair to the existing employees who are working at the same position. Also, increasing the budget would not be fine when your company is still growing.
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What to do when you are in such a tight spot? As hiring managers, they have faced such situation plenty of times: Applicants show that they are willing to work for a smaller and innovative company, but end up working for larger organizations after analyzing the salary offered by smaller firms. So where do we go from here? Shall we accept the defeat, thinking that’s the way cookie crumbles? Shall we mend the vacancy with a lesser experienced candidate who is willing to accept the offered pay? Or shall we try to seize those most impressive candidates by putting our best foot forward? Well, we know you will choose to give it a try.
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BENEFITS Let’s talk about the benefits of the benefits No company can provide a perfect position, perfect location, and the perfect salary to the applicants. (Unless the company’s name starts with G, ends with E and has OOGL in between!) So what can your company do to make it stand out in order to hire the top talent of the market? You can provide better benefits to recompense for a lower salary. Let us consider a hypothetical situation: You are earning $50,000 annually, and your boss offers you a deal in which you can earn $15,000 extra annually, but you have to give up your benefits. What would you choose? To help you with the decision, let’s make this even clearer. You will be given benefits such as sick leave or vacation time, childcare allowance, gas or car allowance, and employee discounts. But you have to give up any retirement benefit options or any personal insurance coverage.
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At the end of the month, everyone goes home with a pay envelope; in any case, the bills need to be paid. Money matters. And, there are candidates who prefer higher pay over better benefits and get big green dollar eyes when they hear about higher salary packages. But believe it or not, benefits contribute more towards employee happiness than the cold hard cash. If you want your company to attract better talent, in spite of the lower pay, employee benefits are something that you should be providing to attract and retain top employees. Benefits also adjoin an added value to the whole compensation package, which results in more engaged, healthier and happier workforce. You can even give personalized benefits to each of the interviewees after analyzing what matters to them the most. This might help them decide whether to stick to their current position or grab an opportunity to work with the company that really provides them with great benefits. When provided with such customized benefits, they have that intangible feeling about your company, which will be displayed in your pros list, whenever the applicant compares your offer with some other job offer that he has received. Along with the primary benefits such as health insurance, dental and vision insurance, wellness programs, and time off, you could add some of the benefits to the overall compensation package, which could do wonders for recruiting and retaining talent.
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Free lunches at work? What are you talking about? Providing free lunches at work can be a gamer-changer benefit that has the ability to sway candidates. Some of the smaller companies have genuinely benefited by paying for their employees’ commuting cost and providing free lunch to each one of them. This makes your employees feel that the company really cares and is nurturing of your needs and this feeling will equate those extra couple of thousand that you didn’t add in the salary. Some of the companies who already provide free lunches to their employees fail to mention it as a part of the benefit package, and the candidate is informed about the free meal only after he/she joins the company. You need to say it loud during the interview process itself as this perk, which may seem to you as something basic (as you are accustomed to it), may prove to be a game changer.
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Freedom to be able to work in pAjamas once in a while Another benefit that employees really appreciate is the flexibility to telecommute, especially when the marketplace is full of Millennials and their fresh ideas. Flexibility in work hours is something that is always welcomed by young minds and if your company allows them to work from home once in a week (probably Friday), it will make you stand out from other rigid organizations.
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Also, make sure that you inform about the whole ‘telecommuting’ thing to the interviewee and turn it into a point that can be added to your pros list. Employees will be really pleased with the feeling of mutual trust, besides no one likes to be micromanaged, right? This benefit will allow employees to spend more time with their family even when accomplishing tasks and meeting deadlines.
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Work hard, play hard Team building opportunities are one of the most significant perk that smaller companies can provide due to lesser number of employees. It does not have to be all formal and professional. You can allow employees to carry out some team building activities that are fun. It can be going to movies, trips, skiing, paintballing, team dinner, and so on. If company encourages such activities, it will surely make some positive impacts on employees’ minds, as they feel that company is investing in their wellbeing and happiness. This can help you to get a candidate who is ready to accept a lower salary and join a workplace that is fun, instead of taking a higher pay at some typically rigid company. 054
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The Bottom Line Make sure that you inform your interviewees about all the additional benefits that your company provides. You can also tailor some of the benefits, according to candidate’s convenience. Higher salary can never beat the feelgood factor that employees experience while receiving those wonderful benefits. The HR Digest Magazine / April 2016
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Why is it that some people spend more time inadvertently blocking interruptions than managing it efficiently? This advice on time management from The HR Digest experts will help you subdue your towering To Do list.
EAD OF ME The HR Digest Magazine / April 2016
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The Race Against Time When Work Piles Up...
In any case, while work has changed, the training we get about how to deal with our time has pretty much remained the same. Traditional time management shows us to begin each morning making a list of things to do that day. But once you check your email, that list is already obsolete. Time management teaches how to prioritize task A, B, C. But nowadays, everything appears to be pressing and vies for the highest priority. Time management shows us to “close the door” to accomplish important work, yet it doesn’t address our wavering brains and the abuse of the internet during working hours. Whatever “schedule” we thought of is commonly out the window by 8:01 AM. The issue’s not only that we’re getting diverted from work; it’s that we’re getting occupied from essential work by other work. How many times have you sat down to accomplish more thoughtful tasks, just to be baited away by incoming messages from customers or partners? These incoming messages can be so overwhelming that employees invest quite a bit of their energy “playing defense,” working without a reasonable objective of their responsibilities. Work comes at them from about six places at the same time, so they get immediately overpowered attempting to remember it all. The pace is frantic, with newer interruptions like clockwork, so it feels like there is no opportunity to stop and compose it all. The “time management” strategies they learned in the past are coming up short them: there are excesses of sticky notes, the paper trails are much too long and there’s constantly more to add to them, and flagged email messages rapidly fall underneath the never-ending scroll and get covered. Many organizations and a large number of employees, spend their days in a condition of constant diversion and multi-tasking. The outcomes are interminable stress, and being occupied as opposed to being beneficial. More than half the time somebody switches tasks, it’s two hours or more before they resume what they were doing. The HR Digest Magazine / April 2016
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This kind of constant diversion takes a toll on the nature and productivity of work. Workers who deal with their attention inadequately are always in reactive mode. That leaves them no opportunity to reflect and attentively apply their insight and experience to offer an edge in the business - the very reasons they are hired in first place. Truly, we need to work differently now. We need a new kind of training program that proves to be really powerful. Organizations need to offer training on productivity skills that enable employees to overcome obstacles. This training should have three components:
Clarity around role needs instead of particular task needs. Attention management skills rather than “time management” skills. A comprehensive workflow management system in place for increased efficiency. With all kinds of requests originating from all levels inside and outside the organization, it’s simple for managers to become involved with being overly reactive throughout the day. However, when they are clear about the most critical parts of their role and the direction of the organization, they pick up clarity over what to prioritize and execute. Managers should be sure about how everyday practices align to different job roles, and how every role identifies with the goal of the firm. When employees are taught to focus on their most important job role, it’s less demanding to channel the insignificant disturbance and bring effective results. The ability to distinguish and stay concentrated on the 10,000 foot view (the organization mission and how their occupation serves it) gives a reference point to workers that enlightens the essential over the (apparently) dire. For instance, as an HR leader, how regularly do you feel that you are investing an excess of energy working in the business as opposed to simply working on the business? This is a common regret that we see every day in people around us. A restored focus on the role of the managers can lessen the temptation to invest a lot of energy in email and other everyday activities that make little sense.
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Time management training teaches employees the ability to control distractions, single-tasks for far more efficient results, and engage in sustained attention for almost every day. Education and awareness play a vital role in this kind of training. For example, you could show a team in a particular department that while it might appear that multitasking offers us some assistance with getting more done, the studies show otherwise. Furthermore, pointing out ineffective practices, for example, being always reactive as opposed to insightfully proactive, offers employees some help with introspection and improve a little bit. A situation that is set up to support focus and value single-tasking also keeps these habits from thriving. These habits, particularly when displayed by leaders, protect an organization, and its employees, against an unhealthy and distracted corporate culture. Ultimately, workflow management skills are not taught in business school and, as a result, employees are often left to their own devices (sticky notes, flags in email, productivity apps, and so on.), with mixed results. This is leaving organization productivity to risk. The truth is that the chances that people will think of the most effective solution to productivity woes are very thin. Making calendar appointments with yourself to complete your most important tasks and keeping paper records with “A, B, C” (prioritization of tasks) might have been sufficient in the past, however, such gimmicks aren’t up to the demands of today’s workplace.
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Time and Multi-Tasking Statistics
THE #1 TIME-WASTER AT THE OFFICE IS "TOO MANY MEETINGS, UP FROM NO 3 IN 2008." ACCORDING TO 47% OF THE SURVEYED. (SALARY.COM, 2012)
ABOUT 2.5% OF SUBJECTS CAN MULTITASK WITHOUT PERFORMING WORSE AT EITHER TASK, IN CONTROLLED STUDIES. THESE ARE BEING DUBBED "SUPERTASKERS." (PSYCHONOMIC BULLETIN AND REVIEW, 5/2010)
MOST PEOPLE ACTUALLY USE 60% OR LESS OF AVAILABLE WORK TIME. (MICROSOFT SURVEY, MARCH 15, 2005)
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Time and Multi-Tasking Statistics A STUDY BY A NEW YORK RESEARCH FIRM, FOUND THAT OFFICE DISTRACTIONS ATE UP 2.1 HOURS A DAY FOR THE AVERAGE WORKER. (BETTY LIN-FISHER, FOR KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS, HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 2/27/2006)
THE COST OF INTERRUPTIONS TO THE U.S. ECONOMY IS ESTIMATED AT $588 BILLION A YEAR. (JONATHAN B. SPIRA, "THE COST OF NOT PAYING ATTENTION," BASEX RESEARCH, 2005)
MORE THAN 90% OF MANAGERS SQUANDER THEIR TIME IN ALL SORTS OF INEFFECTIVE ACTIVITIES. (DR. HELKE BRUCH AND DR. SUMANTRA GHOSHAL, HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW, 2/2002)
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The complexity of work today requires a workflow process that allows us to be intentional, proactive, and thoughtful. The basis of a useful workflow management philosophy is the ability to make tasks and responsibilities simple to sort out, track, and follow up on. Most employees do keep their workload (or, mostly important tasks) in their mind. However, employees can simply manage what they can see, and they can just see what is outside their head, where it gets to be substantial, brought together, significant, and trackable. A workflow process allows people to regain control, feel less scattered, and experience less stress. In addition, when staff utilizes a comprehensive workflow management system, it offers these advantages to the company:
Ease in evaluating workloads, which helps source allocation. Proper resource allocation gives meaningful insight into turnover issues. Accurate sets of responsibilities, leading to better hiring. Accurate project timelines. Ability to clearly track progress, which maintains motivation. Being our most effective and productive in today’s information rich, ever-evolving workplace isn’t environment isn’t unmediated. Although, it can be learned if obsolete ideas like time management are overruled for more modern concepts on effectiveness and productivity that bridge attention management and help teams regain control. Studies show that control makes us happy and loyal, and happy people are productive employees, a much needed competitive advantage in today’s economic landscape.
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COVER STORY
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THE FRUITS OF CORPORATE WELLNESS We find that workplace wellness programs have emerged as a common employer-sponsored benefit that is now available at about 50 percent of U.S. companies. In spite of growing popularity among companies, the impact of corporate wellness are rarely evaluated.
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COVER STORY
Over the last few decade, the epidemic of lifestyle diseases is soaring in the U.S. Frequent alcohol consumption, poor nutrition, sedentary lifestyle are some of the common causes attributable to the prevalence of chronic illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, heart conditions. These has perturbed corporate America as they lead to a waned quality of life, disability, and premature death. Moreover, this illnesses once associated with older age groups, has shifted towards the working age, adding up to the economic burden due to absenteeism, reduced performance while still at work (presenteeism), and illness-related productivity loss. Out of concern about the impact of health related problems, today, more than 80% of American workers who work for organizations with 50 or more employees have access to a wellness program. Commonly referred to as corporate wellness programs or workplace wellness programs, they aim to prevent the onset of diseases, or to diagnose or treat them at an early stage. Early stage prevention of these illnesses addresses health-related behaviors and risk factors – for example, by encouraging an obese employee a diet of lower caloric food. Secondary stage prevention is aimed to improve disease control by providing medication adherence to avoid symptoms exacerbations. 068
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A range of benefits are offered under the workplace wellness programs, from multi-component programs to benefits offered through a vendor. According to a RAND employer survey, more than 50% of employers in the U.S. offer wellness promotion programs. The survey noted that more than 80% of employers with an employee wellbeing program screen employees for their health risks, and use the results for wellness program planning and for directing employees to preventive intervention that address this risks. In addition to the preventive intervention that employers provide, they also offer health promotion activities (86%), such as health food options, vaccinations, and other benefits, such as Employee Assistance Plans as well as on-site medical check-ups (61%).
Companies have instituted workplace wellness programs as a way to reduce healthcare costs. Even so, numerous studies show that nurturing employee health and wellness has a significant impact on productivity, which, directly impacts company profitability. A recent paper by Harvard researchers who reviewed 36 studies of corporate wellness programs, noted that for every dollar spent on wellness programs, the company medical costs fell about $3.27. The study also found that absenteeismrelated costs fell about $2.73 leading to greater productivity.
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COVER STORY HIGH MORALE Most studies of workplace wellness programs focus on monetary returns, i.e. every dollar invested versus dollar saved.
However, often overlooked factor is the potential to unify a company’s culture to build employee trust, commitment, and pride. The innate way of workplace wellness – a bond between employee and employer, requires trust. Since personal wellbeing is such a private issue, investment in health can, when executed properly, make profound bonds. 070
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Health care is a stupendous issue for managers, and an excess of is in question to be reactive. It’s the ideal time for organizations to play offense as opposed to defense. An evident payback isn’t sure, and the journey can be strenuous. But then again, what is the option?
GREATER PRODUCTIVITY Corporate wellness programs positively impact employee productivity. Companies with worksite wellness programs experience an 8% increase in employee productivity. Healthy people take fewer sick days. As noted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an obese or overweight employee approximately misses five days of work for illness or injury each year, while a healthy employee misses about three days of work.
In theory, a wellness program could help companies reduce absenteeism. A 2007 research from the Duke University Medical Center found that overweight employees filed twice the number of workers’ compensation claims, lost 13 times more days of work from work illness or work injury than other employees, and had seven times higher medical costs from the claims.
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COVER STORY According to statistics from the American Psychological Association, companies that meet the criterion of a “psychologically healthy workplace� benefit from improved work quality and productivity, presenteeism, better customer service ratings, and less turnover. Illness-related absenteeism is an undeniable factor in productivity loss. But, even more noteworthy factor is presenteeism, i.e. when employees come to work yet fail to meet expectations due to illness or stress. Studies consistently show that the costs to companies from healthrelated productivity loss shadows those of medical coverage. A recent report by Dr. Ronald Loeppke and colleagues of absenteeism and presenteeism among 50,000 employees at 10 businesses noted that lost productivity costs are 2.3 times higher than medicinal and pharmacy costs. In a pioneering Dow Chemical study from 2002, of the average annual healthcare costs for a Dow employee an estimated $6,721 were resulting from presenteeism, $2,278 to direct healthcare, and $661 to abseenteism. Numerous studies show the healthcare conditions that contribute most to productivity loss: anxiety, migraines, depression, diabetes, arthritis, respiratory illnesses, and backache and neck pain. Employees with various chronic health conditions are particularly vulnerable against productivity loss.
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LOWER COSTS A six-year study of more than 67,000 PepsiCo employees, found that its healthcare program helped generate $3.78 in health plan savings for every dollar invested in the effort. PepsiCo’s program has several parts, including health-risk assessments, helping employees manage chronic illness like diabetes and heart disease, fitness-and-diet programs. Disease management accounted for 87% of PepsiCo’s total cost saving, even though only about 13% of employees participated. A study by H-E-B shows that yearly annual healthcare claims are about $1,500 higher among nonparticipants in its workplace wellness program than among those with a highrisk health status. The company estimates that moving 10% of its employees from high and medium risk to a low-risk status gives a ROI of 6 to 1. For each dollar SAS spent to work its on-site healthcare center in 2009, it yield $1.41 in health plan savings, for a sum of $6.6 million in 2009 alone. SAS’s team-based delivery of health care is less expensive than external care. Instead of taking a half-day leave for a healthcare appointment, employees can go in and out receiving on-campus care. A research study by the Milken Institute, an economic think tank noted that good health plays a noteworthy role in employee productivity. The research concluded that common chronic illnesses (diabetes, cancer, and heart disease) are responsible for $1 trillion in lost productivity annually in the U.S. economy. Abseenteism and Presenteeism are attributable to these losses. Despite what critics say, executives at Corporate America’s largest companies believe that in investing in the health and wellbeing of their employees is the right thing to do. Moreover, HR leaders are under even greater pressure to suppress health care costs and see wellness programs as a feasible means to achieve that. Employers look at every competitive advantage they can harness and that is what health employees represent. Most companies now make it a point to establish a culture of health, recognizing employee wellbeing as a business issue that can affect business success. The HR Digest Magazine / April 2016
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LEGAL HUB The Highly Exploited Slaves of Modern Age
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Willful Ignorance as Coping Mechanism to Be Blamed for Child Slavery
Eleven years ago, three individuals from Global Exchange (organization for human rights) and Mali filed a class action lawsuit in federal court of California under pseudonyms against Cargill, Nestlé, and Archer Daniels Midland. The individuals reportedly alleged they had been trafficked as child slaves from Mali and forced to work in Côte d’Ivoire for cultivating and harvesting cocoa beans. The plaintiffs reported that they were compelled to work longer hours without a wage, suffered physical abuse by employers, and were kept caged in rooms after longer and exhausting working hours. The plaintiffs alleged that the organizations supported, encouraged, and neglected to restrain torture, which they had to go through being the victim of child slavery. The lawsuit claimed violations of the US Constitution and California State Law’s Torture Victim Protection Act and Alien Tort Claims Act. Further, the plaintiffs went on record claiming
IMAGE: Child Slavery in Pakistan
that the organizations’ economy reaps benefits from the child labor violations Customary International Law, International Labor Conventions, and the Law Of Nations. NestlÊ, one of the world’s largest food companies by revenue, filed a motion in August 2005, to coerce the real names of plaintiffs who served as a child labor, which was immediately opposed by the individuals who filed the case. Additionally, the defendants filed a motion seeking the lawsuit dismissal, which alleged they abetted and aided child slavery. Further details were ordered to be filed by the Federal Court on 27
July 2006 regarding abetting and aiding child labor standards. The court dismissed the lawsuit on 8 September 2010 concluding that it could not be claimed under the Alien Tort Claims Act. The Federal Court claimed that current authorities did not manifest that corporate liability was well established and universally sufficient to satisfy prerogative under the Alien Tort Claims Act. The plaintiffs solicited the dismissal. A Federal Appeals Court repealed the ruling in December 2013, which was passed in 2010, allowing plaintiffs to re-file the class action lawsuit. The HR Digest Magazine / April 2016
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LEGAL HUB Overturning and abandoning the dismissal of the lawsuit by the lower court, the Federal Appeals Court alternated its opinion of December 2013 with an expanded version. The fresh sets of expanded opinion were established for offering the plaintiffs to rectify their complaint to demonstrate the link their allegations have to the U.S. to address the holding of the US Supreme Court in Kiobel v. Shell case. The court established that the plaintiffs can bring their claim under the case of Alien Tort because of the prohibition against child slavery universally. The defendants filed a motion to Supreme Court seeking dismissal of ruling given by the Federal Appeals Court and want it to decide if organizations were liable to be subjected under the Alien Tort Claims Act. In January 2016, placing a temporary halt over the nagging issue, the Supreme Court declined to consider the appeal made by three giant defendants seeking the lawsuit dismissal, which was alleging they abetted and aided child slavery in Africa for cocoa plantations.
Nestlé’s Worst Irony: Fairy God Father to Some, Dreadful Giant to Another Modern Slavery, as people quote the concept of child labor, has taken the worst turn anyone could’ve ever envisaged. 078
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It’s tough to think of an issue, which you would less prefer your organization to be associated with rather than child slavery in the modern age. Yet, Nestlé, the largest foodmaker and one of the most recognized brands in the world is found guilty of encouraging forced child labor in its Thailand-based supply chains. The products, which we’ve been consuming probably since ages is tainted with the miserable, poor, malnourished, abused, and unpaid migrant child slaves’ blood and sweat. How does that sound to you? Minors under the age of 15 are forced to work for Nestlé’s cocoa farms, more than a decade after the giant food manufacturer promised to put an end to child slavery in its supply chain. Ivory Coast is the largest producer of cocoa in the world and the industry is evaluated to be approximately of worth £60 billion per year. It is sad to know that it is also one of the major hubs for child slavery. Nestlé announced it was transforming itself into a new era, which would lead to selfpolicing of company’s personal supply chain. The company independently disclosed that customers were unwittingly buying Nestlé products that were contaminated with the cases of worst labor abuses.
The company’s brief investigation, which continued for a year confirmed the reports by media that Thailandbased seafood industry is riddled with human trafficking and forced child slavery. Researchers from the Fair Labor Association, which was commissioned to investigate rights of the workers in West African farms by Nestlé in 2013, found 7% child labor at the total farms visited on Ivory Coast. Though FLA researchers discovered Nestlé making substantial efforts to educate farmers about its company’s code of conduct, code awareness was found significantly in a low amount with farmers being unable to attend the sessions due to lack of time and interest. Researchers also found that farms belonging to Nestlé lacked any type of system for age verification
for labors to prohibit the use of child slavery. Allegations of workers’ rights exploitation and child labor continue to hound Nestlé since years. HarkinEngel Protocol was signed by Nestlé in 2001, which was a voluntary arrangement by politicians and members of the cocoa industry to work towards bringing an end to child labor. Much to everyone’s surprise, exactly four years later, Terry Collingsworth, a prominent human rights lawyer filed a class action lawsuit against the Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, and Nestlé, alleging that these giants offered substantial assistance to cocoa plantation owners who practiced child slavery.
IMAGE: Child Labor
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LEGAL HUB Offset The Convenience of Willful Ignorance The legal imperative for numerous multinational giants to start seriously dealing with labor abuses in the field of their business operations is growing. Legislation in the United States and the United Kingdom requires bigger organizations to publish yearly reports addressing their efforts to maintain their business model free of child labor and any kind of the slavery practiced in the corporation. California Transparency in Supply Chains Act’s success has been uneven, but it certainly has spawned a string of civil litigation suits, with workers and consumers using the legislation to hurl legal actions against organizations they accuse of formulating misguiding public statements on anti-slavery initiatives taken by them. Apparently, Nestlé approving media reports on its Thailand-based supply chain has been considered as groundbreaking disclosure by many. Nick Grono, who happens to be the chief executive of Freedom Fund, an NGO that has heavily invested in initiatives concerning anti-trafficking in Thailand, believes admission of Nestlé could act as a considerable drive in adjusting the parameters of business expectations when 080
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it arrives at the accountability of supply chains. Introducing diligence when it comes to maintaining transparency within supply chains is very important. In the modern age, the task of working out whether the human rights exploitations are involved in the child slavery, product sourcing, or human trafficking on the other end of the world is not difficult at all. The world is relatively shrinking and organizations have a fair share of responsibilities to assure that any form of human rights exploitation isn’t taking place. The issue revolving around child slavery, human trafficking, etc., is certainly considered by companies. While companies do care about their operations’ ethics and know the whereabouts, the major setback occurs when they avoid active investigation of their supply chains. Willful ignorance is a concept, which companies should prefer getting rid of.
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OUT TO WIN
Getting To Know Significant Business Outcomes By Bridging Predictive Workforce Analytics Business leaders today are increasingly applying pressure to their Human Resources departments to use predictive workforce analytics (PAW). The same business leaders want Human Resources to uncover predictive analytics projects that somehow affect the bottom line, i.e. increase customers, increase revenue, decreases errors, et al. Human Resources face a different and somewhat unique challenge in this line of business. Unless the unique challenge is understood, it can rescind an HR team for quite a while, cause them to lose valuable analytics project resources as well as funding, and keep them confused for as long as they don’t have a clue on how they missed the objective so badly.
Workforce Analytics’ experience has been that (like every single other line of business) when Human Resources focuses on prescient analytics projects, they look around for more interesting HR issues to solve; that is, issues within the Human Resources divisions. They’d like to know whether employee engagement predicts anything, or if they can utilize revelatory work some way or another with their assorted qualities and challenges, or foresee a flight risk score that is tied to the amount of training or promotions somebody has, or check the type of onboarding somebody has, relates with to what extent they last in a role. In spite of the fact that these undertakings have speculative ties to different lines of business, these tasks are driven from an HR need or interest.
HR Needs to Change the Approach towards Predictive Analytics A lot of companies often focus on exploring the data in the HR systems to see if they find anything useful. What HR professionals need to do is simply avoid this approach. While exploring HR data (or any information), what you’ll discover are tidbits that will be intriguing however, not noteworthy. The best approach is to start with a question to solve. The HR Digest Magazine / April 2016
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Articulate a goal for why the organization is adopting PWA as a business approach.
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Select PWA projects in response
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Ensure there are enough resources to carry out organizational short-term PWA plan.
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Create initiatives to address factors revealed by the predictive models and take the necessary action steps.
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Train and support managers in how to use these solutions
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Operationalize the approaches so that they are integrated into workows and dashboards.
Predictive Workforce Analytics Workflow Process
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Like every other Line of Business, HR is eager to show results of their HR centered predictive activities. HR indicates results that are significant to HR as it were. Maybe there is a forecast that ties a certain number of training and development courses to attrition, or relates performance survey evaluations with to what extent somebody would last in their role. This is intriguing data to HR however not to the business. HR divisions can learn from the Marketing Department who preceded them on the predictive analytics venture. Today’s Marketing Departments, that are utilizing predictive analytics effectively, are seemingly one of the most robust and most vital departments of the entire organization. Today’s Marketing leaders predict customers who will generate the most income (have high client lifetime esteem). Advertising Departments did not increase any footing with predictive analytics
when they were foreseeing what number of prospects would “click”. They were expected to anticipate what number of clients would purchase. Early predictive analytics in the Marketing Department used predictive analytics to predict what number of online courses they’ll have to direct to get 1,000 new prospects in their prospect database. Or, the amount they’d have to spend on showcasing effort to motivate prospects to click on a coupon. (Adding new prospect names to a prospect database is an advertising objective not a business objective. Tapping on a coupon is an advertising objective not a business objective). Or, they could foresee that client engagement would go up if they gave a discount on a Friday (once more, this is a marketing objective not a business objective). The business couldn’t care less about any of these “center measures” unless they can be demonstrated and followed to the end business outcome.
Business needs to reliably predict what number of individuals would purchase (not click) utilizing this coupon versus that one. When marketing predicted real business results, assets, visibility and financing rapidly got to be accessible. When Marketing could demonstrate a predictive project that could recognize what offer to make so that a client purchased and sales revenue went up – business leaders took notice. They took such close notice that they highlighted what Marketing could do, they gave Marketing more resources and funding. The HR Digest Magazine / April 2016
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PERSONAL SAFETY ATTRIBUTES Knowledge & Motivation
THE ACTUAL MODEL
Linkage and Predictive HR Analytics
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Best Approach for Successful Predictive Workforce Analytics Many people get tangled up in definitions. Is it workforce analytics, people analytics, talent analytics, or something else entirely? It doesn’t make a difference what you call it – the fact of the matter is that predictive workforce analytics need to address and predict business outcomes not HR results. Like Marketing learned over time, when Human Resources starts predictive analytics projects, they have to approach the various units they support and solicit them what sorts from challenges they are having that may be influenced by the workforce. There are 2 basic categories for strategic predictive workforce projects: Quantifiably reducing employee turnover in a specific office department
Quantifiably expanding specific employee performance in a specific department (i.e. more sales, less errors, etc.) Once an employee is hired, the business starts pouring out significant cost into the employee regularly made up of a) their compensation and advantages b) preparing time while they increase to speed and deliver next to zero quality. Analytics work measuring true replacement costs show that even for entry level roles a conservative replacement estimate for a single employee. A good example, is to consider the credit industry. Imagine them giving out credit to somebody for a home loan – and afterward applying analytics after the home loan has been reached out to foresee which contract holders are a good credit risk.
Now, this would be ludicrous. They just think the bank can do after the relationship has started is to attempt to mentor, train, support, change the installment arrangement and so forth. It’s past the point of no return after the relationship has started. Predicting credit risk (who will pay their bills) – is predicting human behavior. Predicting who will make their sales quota, who will make happy customers, who will commit errors, who will drive their truck proficiently – is foreseeing human behavior. HR needs to understand that predicting human behavior is a complicated arena with many years of experience and time to sharpen approaches, algorithms and sensitivity to private data. The HR Digest Magazine / April 2016
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What is Human Resources’ Role in PAW? The good news is that typically the Human Resources Department will already be aware of both of these business challenges. They simply hadn’t considered that Human Resources could be a part of solving these challenges using predictive analytics. Many articles explore how Human Resources should be an analytics culture, society, and that every single Human Resource professional needs to learn analytics. Here’s the truth: not everyone needs to know how to perform predictive analytics. There are numerous HR functions that need to be accomplished. Using a best practice approach of identifying who does have the mindset and interest in the analytics domain is an effective approach. For the professionals who know they
are not ready to be the individual doing the predictive analytics there are still numerous roles where they can be inconceivably helpful in the predictive analytics process. Somebody to identify high turnover roles in the lines of business, or identify where there are a lot of employees not performing well in their jobs Someone to present the HR predictive analytics team to the lines of business with turnover or business performance challenges Somebody who makes a final business report to show the results of the work A project manager to keep the project moving forward The business and HR leaders that see how things function and should be consulted along the way
These roles can in some cases all be the same individual, and here and there they can be various individuals relying upon the complexity of the project, the size of the predictive workforce team, the number of lines of business that are included in the project and/or the numerous territories where information should be accessed. The critical thing to acknowledge is that there are a few non analytics roles within predictive projects. Not every role in a predictive workforce analytics project requires a predictive analytics pro. When Human Resources uses predictive workforce analytics to solve real business challenges that are driven by the workforce, HR turns into a corporate legend. These Human Resources Departments are given more resources, their projects are funded, they get more headcount for their analytics projects ventures – and like Marketing, they will transform into a standout amongst the most key departments of the whole organization. The HR Digest Magazine / April 2016
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RECRUITMENT
Social Enterprises: Recruiting from the Disparate Background
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RECRUITMENT Have you ever bought the Big Issue, reading it over a bar of Divine chocolate or maybe a cup of hot coffee from Café Direct? Been to Jamie Oliver’s Fifteen? Shopped at the Coop? Or visited the Eden Project? If your answer is yes to any of these questions, then you are somewhat aware of the term ‘Social Enterprise’.
WHAT ARE SOCIAL ENTERPRISES? Social enterprises are those businesses that trade to deal with social problems, improve people’s life chances, communities, or the environment. They earn from selling goods or services in the open market and whatever profit they gain is reinvested back into the business or the local community. Thus, when social enterprises profit, the society profits. They are changing the world for the better. Social enterprises are everywhere in our communities as well as our high streets – from cinemas and coffee shops, leisure places and pubs, to banks and bus companies… and also in recruitment agencies. At times, both recruiters and clients are acquainted with a candidate’s potential, but somehow the candidate fails at the interview just because he/she does not have a sectorrelevant experience. So where do we go from here? The answer is to establish a social enterprise that fits in the world of recruitment. But, how is it possible? Many social enterprises have addressed this problem in the recruitment sector; have a look at them to know how you can unravel this issue. 092
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Prime Candidate Prime Candidate is a Social Enterprise organization that works across the United Kingdom, helping more mature workers to get their desirable jobs. It is aiming to wipe out the inequity that older workers face in the employment market. The organization offers recruitment service for the more mature workers and is leading provider of support for business prosperity and growth, as well as hope and ambition to the candidates. Prime Candidate partners with some of the employers, who require employees with higher experience and skills to enrich their business. Also, it provides guidance and jobs to the candidate in the field of their expertise. The organization is linked with all sizes of employers, from micro-companies with 1-10 employees to corporate giants. The organization applies a straightforward process of advertising new roles to match the right candidates to the right role. The HR Digest Magazine / April 2016
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Task Squad Task Squad started in 2013 with a motive to shake up the recruitment industry. The organization observed that young volunteers who had many skills and talents were struggling to find a paid job. Also, companies were not willing to employ people who lacked any paid experience in the relevant sector. To address this issue, Task Squad decided to help skilled volunteers by matching them with employers who were searching for talented candidates to fill some entry-level positions. With the help of Task Squad, young job seekers get an opportunity to enhance their CVs with experience and take steps further towards career advancement while employers get reliable and enthused candidates to fill their vacancies. Every young candidate who gets a temporary job through this social enterprise is paid on an hourly basis. ‘vInspired’ receives a nominal amount for each hour the candidate works for the company. This earning is reinvested in the charity’s work.
Blue Sky Blue Sky is a social enterprise that only employs ex-offenders. Yes, you heard me right! By providing a right job with a proper company, the organization is aspiring to break the re-offending cycle and change society’s perception about ex-offenders and as a result achieving long-term benefits for the society.
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The enterprise applies a unique model of offender rehabilitation that involves getting commercial contracts from private companies and local authorities and then accomplishing the work by employing ex-offenders. The organization also provides supervision, resettlement support and mentoring to the ex-offenders along with a full-time fully-paid job. The organization has successfully employed more than 1,000 ex-offenders, among which only 15% have re-offended. (This count is a quarter less as compared to the national average) Once the contract between Blue Sky and ex-offender is over, they can be easily employed by other employers across various industry sectors. David Cameron mentioned Blue Sky as the only company in the country where you require a criminal record to work there.
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RECRUITMENT
Adopt an Intern Adopt an Intern Ltd. is a social enterprise company, which advertises paid jobs across Scotland and the United Kingdom for university graduates. This organization manages to benefit both – the graduates as well as the employers. It provides a pool of opportunity to recently graduated job seekers such as improving their skills, enhancing their CVs, getting paid jobs, and get the first-hand experience of the relevant sector. Graduates can join some paid internships with the help of Adopt an Intern, before committing to a fulltime job. Newbies who don’t have any experience will be given a chance to work on real-life projects, which will prove to be a great achievement in their CV. Graduates can also get exposure to great networks and connection, which can be really helpful in the future. The organization also provides jobs to experienced workers. While employers can benefit by getting skilled candidates who can handle urgent projects and help them meet company goals. They can also save time and money by getting assistance in their recruitment process. Also, employers never face a shortage of young talents, once they have partnered with Adopt an Intern. Employers can get simple, affordable and personal service from this social enterprise. 096
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Fifteen Jamie Oliver founded Fifteen as a social enterprise in 2002, which uses the magic of food to offer unemployed young people a chance to lead a better future.
It all started in the early 90s when Jamie was struck with an idea about how cooking can be chosen as a potential career path by unemployed young people, particularly those who had fallen out of mainstream education and were looking for a fresh start in life. His idea was simply to establish a London-based restaurant that would allow young and unemployed people to experience and learn how to work in a restaurant business. They’re trained to love and respect food, and are taught many cooking skills including traditional bakery, butchery and the finest pastry skills. When he first established ‘Fifteen’, he employed 15 young apprentices to guide together with a team of 25 professional chefs. He also started a charity, which would collect all the earnings from the restaurant and use it for funding the apprentice programme. Even after these many years, the apprentice programme remains at the core of Fifteen, regardless of its busy restaurant operations. This enterprise is internationally recognized as a point of reference for renovating the lives of young and unemployed people.
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Social Enterprise Model is not bound by sector barriers If you have a keen look at each of the abovementioned organizations, you could tell that each one of them addresses different industry sectors.
What all of them are looking for are some candidates who aren’t gifted with sustainable employment and on the other side, they are partnering with clients who are willing to employ some of the skilled workers. Even the society profits, as equal opportunities are provided to everyone. It’s a win-win situation. Furthermore, the candidates will never forget someone who provided them with the opportunity to get a paid job and relevant experience, and are more likely to get in touch with the organization when finding their next job.
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IMAGE: Alexander Kjerullf, Founder of Woohoo Inc., one of the world’s leading experts on happiness at work.
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Happiness Is Contagious, So Why Not Pass It On?
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he hefty term, “Happy WorkplaceHappy Employees” may reflect the pictures of tech companies located in Bay Area with fat paychecks, refrigerators stocked with macaroons and craft beers, sleeping area, open workspaces, countless vacation days, and light workloads. In order to last in the burnout, absenteeism, and emotional competence companies have discovered that ensuring the grass is greener on their fence’s side is paramount and often it means comprising a few outrageous perks. But as it calls out, these factors don’t necessarily bring forth employee happiness. In fact, higher employee incentive programs, career advancement programs, excellent workplace relationships, great work-life balance, ample benefits, authenticity among employee as well as clients, and chances of employee growth are regarded as the potential factors responsible for boosting the employee happiness. The companies who have started considering these aspects in their workplace culture have remarkably noted the soaring rate of employee happiness. So, why ensuring the employee happiness at workplace is so important? Can we promote more
of happiness in our organizations and teams? Are we unconsciously promoting employee unhappiness? Recently, we posed few questions to Alexander Kjerulf, the founder of Woohoo inc., one of the leading experts on workplace happiness in the world. He is the author of ‘Happy Hour is 9 to 5’, an international bestseller, and four other books. Kjerulf tells us about his career, his experiences, how to bring happiness into a company, and much more.
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Give us some introduction about yourself, let us know your interests other than this profession. When I’m not making people happy at work I watch a LOT of movies and read a TON of books – pretty much any genre of both. I’m also a beer aficionado, a CrossFit fanatic and possibly the only person in the world who does not like chocolate.
How did you choose this career? I have a masters degree in computer science and have been a consultant and entrepreneur in IT for almost 10 years. Loving my job has always been a personal value for me. I’ve always felt that life is too short to work at a job you hate and that work AND life are more fun when you love your job. In 1997 I cofounded an IT consultancy called Enterprise Systems with the primary goal of making it a very happy workplace. It was! We sold it in 2002 and at that point I realized that my true passion in life was not IT, but happiness at work.
So in 2003 I cofounded Woohoo Inc. and since then I’ve been doing speeches, workshops and management trainings for clients like IKEA, LEGO, Pfizer, IBM, Hilton and many others in over 30 countries.
You’ve been working in this industry for a very long time and you’ve worked for some prominent names in the industry. What has been your best experience so far and why? I always love working with clients where the top leadership gets it and has a genuine interest in the wellbeing of their people. Some of my favorite examples are LEGO and IKEA. But I also love going to areas of the world where happiness at work is a fairly new idea. My first visit to India was amazing because few people there think in terms of creating happy workplaces, but once they were introduced to the idea, they loved it.
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Do you think a happy employee can be different than a satisfied employee?
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bsolutely – the two concepts are obviously related but also quite different. Job satisfaction is a rational evaluation of your current job situation, i.e. it’s what you think about your job. Happiness at work is a positive emotional state, so it’s how you feel about your job. It’s entirely possible to be satisfied about your job without being happy. The main difference is that many of the characteristics workplaces seek in employees, e.g. engagement, motivation, creativity and productivity do not come from job satisfaction – they come from positive emotions at work – i.e. happiness.
What are the three most important things a company can do to encourage a happier work culture? 1) Start with top management. If you want to create a happy workplace, the top brass need to genuinely support it. 2) Select and train managers at all levels for happiness. Also, stop bad managers. The number one factor that makes
employees happy or unhappy at work is their immediate manager. So companies need to promote people to management positions who understand how to lead others AND train managers to do so. 3) Understand what really makes us happy at work: 1. Results 2. Relationships Let’s take a closer look at these two. First, results. We all want to get results. We all want to make a difference, know that our work is important, get appreciation and do work that we can be proud of. One of our deepest psychological needs is the need to control our environment. If we’re placed in a situation where we have no control, where nothing we do matters, we feel terrible. On the other hand, we love to make a difference. Accomplishment feels great. As Franklin D. Roosevelt put it: “Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.” The HR Digest Magazine / April 2016
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Some managers don’t realize this about their people. They think employees must be pressured into performing. That when we’re left alone, we choose to do nothing. In fact, the reverse is true and when given half a chance, we will work our hearts out to accomplish great results. Especially, meaningful results. And secondly, there are relationships at work. We all need to feel valued as human beings and have a good relationship with co-workers and managers or even to customers, suppliers, shareholders, and the company’s wider community. Relationships at work matter so much because we will be spending a lot of time with people at work. When you think about it, you’ll be spending more of your waking hours with them, than with your friends and family. So this is the secret to happiness at work: Results and relationships - doing great work together with great people. This is what we must give our employees every single day.
We do that in many small ways. By treating employees with respect and dignity. By praising and recognizing people who do good work. By simple acts like saying “good morning” to employees and “thank you” whenever possible. We also do it by eliminating factors that cause unhappiness at work, like bullying, stress or permanent overwork.
What is the weirdest way you tried to bring happiness to a company? IKEA introduced a happiness relay, where teams took it in turns to come up with ideas for making each other happy at work. Ideas included: A wall of praise, where coworkers gave each other positive feedback Job swapping between departments A baking competition A Travolta Zone, where employees could disco dance
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One big mistake companies often make that adds to worker unhappiness. How to avoid it? Busyness. Many organizations give their employees more and more and more work, creating a sense of constant stress. It also undermines our feeling of results and hurts workplace relationships because people are too busy to interact with each other.
When companies try to achieve the goal to have “happy employees,� does it mean that all the employees are not already happy? Not necessarily. Many of our clients are already great workplaces, who just want tools to get even better. But we also work with many companies who are facing crises of some sort and where people are decidedly not happy.
Happiness doesn’t necessarily lead to increased productivity.
There might be a negative correlation between job satisfaction and corporate productivity: A study conducted in a British supermarket found that the more miserable the employees are, the better the profits reaped by the company. Do you agree with this? If yes, till what extent? One study may have shown a negative correlation but the vast majority of studies show that happy workplaces make more money. Happy employees are not simply in a better mood, they also do a much better job. Studies from psychology and neurology have shown that people who experience positive emotions have a number of benefits at work, including these:
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They are more productive and work faster and more efficiently They get sick less often and have much lower absenteeism rates They are more creative and have more and better ideas They give much better service and make customers happy They stay at the company longer saving huge efforts in recruiting new people They sell more when in sales roles They are more motivated and energetic They are more resilient in the face of setbacks They work better together in teams They are more optimistic and engaged And indeed, studies show that happy companies: Make more money Have happier and more loyal customers Have higher quality and less waste Have better safety records Have better sales Have higher stock prices
Traditional job ensures better employee satisfaction as compared to gig economy? What’s your take? That depends on the person. We are all different and some people thrive in a more predictable setting with welldefined tasks and roles. Others prefer to
create their own jobs and thrive on the inherent unpredictability of free-lance work. The trick is to know yourself well enough to figure out which is right for you.
One thing you’d like to change in current Human Resource management trend? HR is ideally placed to be the champion of workplace happiness. This puts two requirements on HR professionals. First, it requires a mental shift from merely focusing on processes to realizing that these processes are essential to employees’ well-being. Simply put, the reason all of these HR processes must be in place is not so that the company won’t get sued – it’s to make sure that employees feel valued, cared for and are happy at work. This focus on happiness should infuse every aspect of HR. You can hire for happiness, where you make sure to hire not just the best qualified employee, but the one who will be truly happy in that job. You can train for happiness, where you teach employees what they can do themselves to be happy at work. You can select and train managers for happiness, so that you don’t just promote the most highly-skilled employee to management, but instead select managers based on their ability to create results AND relationships. You can even fire for happiness – when employees absolutely don’t fit in and let their misery infect everyone around them. The HR Digest Magazine / April 2016
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WORKPLACE CULTURE
Building an Agile Squad The HR Digest brings to you the best practices to create a high-impact learning organization
Kai
(change)
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zen (good)
PERFECTION
Kaizen (continuous improvement)
Kaikaku (radical improvement)
TIME
K
aizen, Japanese for ‘small, incremental, continuous improvement’, in its contemporary form is used to improve and streamline corporate processes. Kaizen refers to activities that continuously improve all functions and involve all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers. According to Masaaki Imai, the father of Kaizen strategy, it is the single most important factor contributing to Japanese business success. The Kaizen philosophy lies in a simple and clear underlying axiom: what you need to do is improve the processes around to make things more efficient. The main difference between Japanese and Western management is in its focus on all improvement of all components of
production and business processes. The Kaizen business strategy has been one of the key components of the competitive advantage of Japanese industry in the world markets (manufacturing through high quality and low costs). Admittedly, in the1980s, with the globalization of Japanese businesses, Kaizen became globally known. Kaizen was originally developed in Toyota and spread among other Japanese manufacturers as they gained fame in the world markets for higher quality products. Following their expansion worldwide, even the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) began to rely on the Kaizen management style to transform the industrial activities of a number of developing countries.
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WORKPLACE CULTURE
Understanding the approach
O
rganizations that follow the principle of Kaizen are better at things involving skill development and talent development. No highimpact learning organization is built overnight, it requires a commitment to learning. Success comes from carefully cultivated attitudes, commitments, and management processes that accrue slowly and
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steadily. According to a study by Bersin & Associates, titled “HighImpact Learning Culture: The Best 40 Practices for Creating an Empowered Enterprise”, HILOs that have a strong foundation of learning in their culture tend to outperform their peers in several areas:
They are
32%
more likely to be rst to market.
They have
37%
greater employee productivity.
They have
34%
They have
26%
They are
58%
They are
17% more likely to be the market share leader.
better response to customer needs. greater ability to deliver quality products. more likely to have skills to meet future demand.
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Peter Senge, who popularized learning organizations in his book ‘The Fifth Discipline’, described them as places
where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together.
IMAGE: Peter Senge is the founding chairperson of SoL and a senior lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Companies use metaphors and organization redundancy to focus thinking and encourage dialogues. In absence of learning, companies and individuals simply repeat old practices. Change remains on a superficial level,
and improvements are either shortlived or fortuitous. In rapidly changing industries such as technology, these ideas are fast-taking hold.
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WORKPLACE CULTURE
Problem solving
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sing the scientific method, rather than guesswork diagnosing problems. Using data, rather than assumptions, for decision making.
Using simple statistical tools, i.e. histograms, Pareto charts, correlations, cause-and-effect diagrams to organize data and draw inferences.
XEROX PROBLEM-SOLVING PROCESS STEP
QUESTION TO BE ANSWERED
EXPANSION/ DIVERGENCE
1
Identify and select problem
What do we want to change?
Lots of problems for consideration
2
Analyse problem
What’s preventing us from reaching the “desired state”?
Lots of potential causes identied
3
Generate potential solutions
How could we make the change?
Lots of ideas on how to solve the problem
4
Select and plan the solution
What’s the best why to do it?
Lots of criteria for evaluating potential solutions Lots of ideas on how to implement and evaluate the selected solution
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5
Implement the solution
Are we following the plan?
6
Evaluate the solution
How well did it work?
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In 1983, senior managers launched a companywide Leadership Through Quality initiative, which has since become institutionalized over the years. The result of this process has been a consistent company-wide approach to decision-making. Once the
employees have been trained in the six-step problem-solving process, they are expected to use the approach at all meetings. (The diagram below explains the steps and the associated activities that need to be undertaken.)
CONTRACTION/ CONVERGENCE
WHAT’S NEEDED TO GO TO THE NEXT STEP
One problem statement, one “desired state” agreed upon
Identication of the gap “Desired state”described in observable terms
Key causes(s) identied and veried
Key causes(s) documented and ranked
Potential solutions claried
Solution list
Criteria to use for evaluating solution agreed upon
Plan for making and monitoring the change
Implementation and evaluation plans agreed upon
Measurement criteria to evaluate solution effectiveness
Implementation of agreed on contingency plans (if necessary)
Solution in place
Effectiveness of solution agreed upon
Verication that the problem is solved, or Agreement to address continuing problems
Continuing problems (if any) identied
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WORKPLACE CULTURE
Experimentation
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xperimentation involves a systematic searching for and testing of new knowledge. Unlike problem-solving, experimentation is motivated by the opportunity and expanding horizons, not by present hitches. This activity takes two main forms: on-going programs and oneof-a-kind demonstration projects. On-going programs involve a continuing series of small experiments, designed to give incremental knowledge gains. Successful on-going programs share several characteristics: They require a steady flow of new ideas.
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They ensure managers and employees who are trained in the skills to perform and evaluate experiments. These experiments cover a broad range of experiments, including statistical methods (e.g. design of experiment), graphical techniques (e.g. process analysis), and creativity techniques (e.g. storytelling that keeps innovative ideas flowing). Demonstration projects involve rather large and complex on-going experiments. These are undertaken with the objective of developing new organizational capabilities. Successful demonstration projects, share several characteristics:
They embody axioms and approaches that organization hopes to adopt later on a larger scale. They subliminally establish policy guidelines and decision rules for later projects. They are developed by strong multifunctional teams reporting to higher level executives. These characteristics appeared during a demonstration project launched by Copeland Corporation in the mid-70s. Matt Diggs, then CEO of Copeland, wanted to transform the company’s approach to manufacturing. Previously, the company had machined and assembled all
products in a single facility, resulting in high costs and marginal quality. In order to remove the complexity, Diggs assigned a multifunctional team the task of designing a focused factory for narrow product line. An investment of $30 million yielded significant breakthroughs in automatic tool adjustment, reliability testing, and programmable control. Moreover, the first focused factory yielded 25% of the market in the first two years and held its ground on reliability while Copeland went on to build more factories in quick succession.
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WORKPLACE CULTURE
Learning from the past experience
C
ompanies must review their successes and failures, assess them systematically, and record the lessons in a format that employees follow. Unfortunately, too many managers today are ignorant of the past, by failing to introspect on it. Take for example, IBM’s 360 computer series, one of the most profitable pieces of technology ever build. It was based on the technology of the failed Stretch computer that preceded it. Very few companies establish processes that require their managers to think about the past and learn from their mistakes.
British Petroleum has established a post-project appraisal unit to review major investment projects, derive lessons for future projects, and write-up case studies. A fiveperson unit reports to the board of directors and reviews projects annually. The review is conducted regularly at a project level, and at the heart of this process is a mindset that allows the company to recognize the value of productive failure instead of unproductive success.
IMAGE: This image of the System/360 Model 91 operator’s console, was taken by NASA sometime in the late 1960s. 120
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Learning from others
L
earning from others requires contemplation and self-analysis. The most efficient managers know that even companies in completely different businesses can be rich sources of ideas and motivation for creative thinking. At these organizations, benchmarking is an ongoing investigation and learning experience that helps companies make sure that best industry practices are covered, analyzed, adopted, and implemented. This helps organizations benefit from studying the way their work gets done, rather than results, and involving line
managers in the process. This is because benchmarking is a great way of gaining an outside perspective, especially from a fertile source such as customers. Conversations with customers stimulate learning. Customers can provide competitive comparisons, up-todate product information, immediate feedback on service, and insights into changing preferences. Companies using such insights, at all levels (from the CEO to the shop floor) can put them to good use by developing ideas for further improvement.
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Transferring knowledge
L
earning must spread quickly and efficiently throughout the organization. Ideas and insights that carry maximum impact, when shared, can help with problem solving, improvement, and even peer review.
In the 1980s, when Xerox introduced the problem-solving technique to its employees, each group (small departmental to divisional) applied what they learned from real-life work experiences.
IMAGE: 1980 Deming Award-Fuji Xerox 122
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Similarly, AT&T developed a unique approach that combined information sharing with strong incentives. AT&T called this the Chairman’s Quality Award (CQA), an internal quality competition similar to the Baldrige prize, where awards are given not just for performance but also for improving scores. Gold, silver, and bronze Improvement Awards are given to groups that have improved their scores by 200, 150, and 100 points respectively. Pockets of Excellence,
an accompanying program, invites groups that have scored at least 60% of the points in each category and then publicizes the names of these groups in company reports. The ultimate goal of high-impact learning is to promote a strong dialogue, not critique. Organizational learning is not a report card, but a diagnostic tool that leads to substantial achievements, allowing workplaces to be more convivial and innovative.
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2016 Texas Diversity and Leadership Conference
13-15 April, 2016
The company of the future must be skilled at bringing together people from different backgrounds and ethnicity with the hope of incorporating diverse thoughts and ideas into the challenges of innovation and survival in the 21st century. How do we build upon the foundation of domestic diversity and make a business case for Global Diversity? Join this conference to know. Venue: The Westin Houston, Memorial City Houston, TX
Workforce- Live
14 April, 2016
Get your brain buzzing on ideas besides coffee. Workforce Live is our speaker series that provides human resource professionals a strong shot of thought leadership, practical tips, inspiring stories and industry specific research from our Business Intelligence Board — all before lunchtime. The live events begin bright and early and feature a total of eight speakers who deliver their remarks in a fast-moving, TEDtalk style. The 18-minute presentations are given by local experts, practitioners and scholars. And the format of the morning event allows for professional networking with peers in your region. Venue: Westin Copley Place, Boston
HRMA Tradeshow
26-27 April, 2016
Western Canada’s largest HR tradeshow features more than 100 exhibitors of leading resources, services and technologies for the human resources profession. Exhibit booths have sold out again this year, so don’t miss this opportunity to find exactly what your business needs. Also, join us for activities such as celebrity meet & greet, book signing, free massage, networking games, bookstore, plus more! Venue: Vancouver Convention Centre West, 1055 Canada Place, Vancouver, BC Canada
2016 Strategic Talent Acquisition Conference
2–4 May, 2016
In this year’s Strategic Talent Acquisition conference, our in-house experts will share how they created the best frameworks, teams, and practices to compress the hiring cycle, improve outcomes and deliver high performing employees. Topics to be addressed include how to revolutionize the talent acquisition function, ways to create a candidate-focused talent acquisition strategy, and how to elevate the interviewing, selection and onboarding processes. Venue: Boston Seaport, MA 124
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HRSummit 2016
17-18 May, 2016
Featuring over 75 speakers, HR Summit 2016 brings you unparalleled coverage of your most pressing workforce management issues and challenges. Offering you an experience you can truly customize to fit your learning objectives, you can gain access to 70 concurrent sessions in 6 rooms over 2 days. Navigate the complexities of increasingly disruptive workplaces by joining us at Asia’s BIGGEST and most EMPOWERING workforce management event of the year. Venue: Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre
600Minutes Leadership and HR
19 May, 2016
The event offers you a great opportunity to expand your personal network, hear about the latest business trends and evaluate the potential partners in a structured way. The event is fully complimentary to invited guests. The event will focus on Leadership development - focusing on the individual and the business, Strategic succession planning - how do we secure future leaders, Diversity and cultural change as a foundation for innovation and profitability, Leadership and talent sourcing in the global arena, and HR’s role in the digital transformation. Venue: Quality Hotel Friends Stockholm, Sweden
Indeed Interactive
25-27 May, 2016
Join the Indeed Interactive to explore inspiring examples of organizational transformation and the key hires who drove it. You’ll discover how you can use the hiring data at your disposal to build repeatable processes for attracting high performers to your organization. Venue: Hilton Austin Hotel, Austin, Texas
600Minutes Human Resources
01 June, 2016
The event offers you a great opportunity to expand your personal network, hear about the latest business trends and evaluate the potential partners in a structured way. The event is fully complimentary to invited guests. The event will focus on Building the backbone for an organization to execute corporate strategy, Employee branding and the new wave of talent attraction, Big Data - Leveraging opportunities of data to create measurable HR, New legislation - Use the new legislation to be CSR, and Employability - Work has become a sport by the fast developments. Venue: Spant Bussum, The Netherlands The HR Digest Magazine / April 2016
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17th International Conference on HRD Research and Practice across Europe
8-10 June, 2016
UFHRD 2016 is pleased to announce the Call for Papers for the 17th International Conference on Human Resource Development Research and Practice across Europe at Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK. Venue: UFHRD Manchester
2016 Performance Management Innovation Conference
27–28 June, 2016
Join leading organizations that are scrapping their annual evaluation cycle and replacing it with this new way of looking at performance. Venue: New York City
2016 Employee Engagement Conference
18-20 July, 2016
Join this conference in Denver and learn through proven case studies, tools, and valuable resources how to develop engaged leaders and hold them accountable to sincerely connect to the workforce. Venue: Denver, CO
2016 Learning and Leadership Development Conference
19-21 Sep, 2016
The 2016 HCI Learning & Leadership Development event will demonstrate how you can directly contribute to the bottom line. Learn the conditions needed for businesscentric learning and leadership to take hold and transform your culture. Join this exciting conference and understand how this shift to solving continuously changing business needs will be the determining factor in whether your organization can reach its ultimate goal. Venue: Boston, MA
London HR Summit
26-27 Sep, 2016
A powerful platform for peer to peer collaboration for HR Managers and Directors who want to find solution providers to help better equip them with the tools they need to face the challenges of daily professional life. The London HR Summit is a unique event, designed to maximize your opportunities 126
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to make lasting business relationships with an audience of qualified HR professionals. This Summit offers you an efficient and stress-free way to see what’s new in the industry and make profitable connections and partnerships.
2016 HR Tech Expo
04-07 Oct, 2016
More than 8,500 attendees made their way to the 18th Annual HR Technology® Expo for what was once again the world’s largest HR technology and services exposition, with more than 300 exhibiting companies and over 75 new product announcements! The HR Technology® Expo provides a vital source of knowledge and information on HR issues. Even better, many CEO’s from the exhibiting companies are on hand to answer your most challenging issues. Venue: MCCORMICK Place, Chicago
2016 Global Talent Management Conference 17–19 Oct, 2016 This conference will share these best practices by focusing on these 3 Global Talent Pipeline drivers. It will focus on Developing Global Leaders (Leadership Development), Engaging and Retaining the Global Pipeline (Employee Engagement/Retention), and Succession and Global People Planning (Succession Planning/WFP). Join this 2016 Global Talent Management event where leading practitioners and thought-leaders will share their proven strategies for success. Venue: New York City
Human Capital Management in Mining
09-11 Nov, 2016
The Human Capital Management in Mining, organized by the Gecamin will take place from 9th November to the 11th November 2016 at the Grand Hyatt Santiago Hotel in Santiago, Chile. It will ponder over every factors associated with the efficient management of human as a resource in the mining industry over the world. Numerous human resource department professionals, economists and chairpersons from the management boards of mining sector shall merge under this platform and divest their course of discussion on the ways of promising better working conditions, improve the quality of labor force, maintain a ratio between work force and rate of production related to micro and macro economy of mining. Moreover, Human Capital Management in Mining will call for debates and abstract sessions in order to analyze how to overcome the shortage of human capital in the industry. Venue: New York City
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