Buckle Up, We’re Taking A New Road
By Ron | November 5, 2008
Yes, America, we have a new driver and we’re taking a new road in a new car and it’s not your grandfather’s Oldsmobile either. And just as America’s President-Elect promised - there is going to be change.
We in Human Resources know that change is difficult even when the change appears to be a good one. Like a sociologist, I watched companies in Silicon Valley change hands. Memorex was a prime example. I remember when they brought in a new CEO who promised change and he quickly implemented it by bringing in his own team at the top. They had worked with him at his prior company and were able to swiftly implement the new changes.
I bet you good HR folks out there can predict what happened next and you would be right. The new regime at Memorex swung into action and the old timers nodded their heads yes, but quietly sabotaged the new initiatives. Top mangement retaliated by incentivizing middle management to achieve the new goals. Although the middle managers didn’t buy into the changes, they enforced them because they were bribed to do so. They even made it mandatory for their people to come in on Saturdays without additional remuneration to get the changes through faster.
I know that you can guess what happened… the troops knew that their bosses were getting bonuses at their expense and, of course, rebelled. Most of these employees were the ones that I could easily hire away since my company was in competition with Memorex.
The real life lesson for me was about implementing change. Real and lasting change is a result of a lot of hard work. The top management at Memorex bought the hands of the people, but could not buy their hearts. Hearts aren’t for sale.
Topics: HR | 1 Comment »
Alfred E. Neuman For President
By Ron | November 4, 2008
Alfred E. Neuman has been running for president for over 40 years and I’m thinking that it is about time we got serious about this tenacious candidate. When Mad Magazine first discovered Alfred, his slogan was, “What, Me Worry?” I always liked this sentiment since I grew up as an extreme worrier. I’ve learned over the years that worry is not a productive trait to have.
As a Human Resource person, I always had endless things to worry about. Worry interfered with my ability to have fun on the job. After years of hand-wringing concerns about everything, I adopted Alfred E. Neuman’s motto and started planning, instead of worrying, accepting things as they were instead of worrying about them and having zero expectations about the future instead of fearing the worst.
“What, me worry?” doesn’t mean I don’t care, because I care a lot. As long as I do the right things in life, the consequences are just what they are going to be. There is also another slogan in life that helps me - “It is how I take it, not how I make it.” So, if I plan and do (and old Deming thing) to the best of my ability, then… whatever happens, happens. By accepting of “what is,” then I don’t have to fret about it.
No, I’m not writing in Alfred E. Neuman’s name on the ballot today, but in the spirit of Alfred, I will remember not to worry about this country. The USA is stronger than whoever is in the White House. It will survive and so will we.
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A Cool Tool For This HR Fool
By Ron | November 3, 2008
Last time I told you that I would provide a simple tool which helps getting closer to Paying for Performance. Note, this tool is just part of a Performance Management System. It is so basic and so obvious, you may be wondering why I am even bringing it up. Well, Tom Peters said one time, we tend to overlook the obvious, so here goes…
When I devised this simple process (I’m sure I plagiarized it from somewhere!), I selected my best manager, Al, (who also happened to be a good friend of mine) and tried it out with him.
Let’s say that Al had 4 employees in a particular job category of “Production Operator.” The job category spanned 3 job classifications (Associate Operator, Intermediate Operator and Senior Operator) which had 3 salary ranges. The beginning of the first salary range is $10.00 an hour and the top of the 3rd salary range is $50.00 an hour. I asked Al to chart his employees on a basic line graph with the title on the vertical axis = “Dollars/EE Level” with the values ranging from 0-60. The title on the horizontal axis was “Employee.” I told Al to rank his employees 1 through 4. He did so and placed his lowest ranked employee as Employee A on the chart, as shown below, by salary rate (first red dot), the next highest as Employee B and so on. Al had his four employees on the chart shown on the red line. We created the yellow line on the chart as a salary comparison point of reference. The yellow line was a guide as to what the employees should be paid as compared to each other’s performance within the job category.
Al then had a Salary Administration Plan, or, better said, a “Pay for Performance Plan.” Over time, he slowed down on granting Employee A salary increases and accelerated Employee D’s salary so that eventually, his four employees came closer to the yellow line.
As you know, the reason individual salaries tend to deviate from the yellow line is because of miscalculated new hire rates (we really don’t know how our new employees are going to perform) and/or poor salary administration by prior managers.
Again, this tool could be just one part of your Pay for Performance process. The managers I have worked with generally liked it because it made sense and it was easy to keep up.
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3 Reasons Why We Don’t Pay For Performance
By Ron | October 31, 2008
Note: I’m talking about those of us who manage merit pay systems.
Some of us might get close to paying for performance, but no cigar. Why not? A lot of the time it is because of Ron’s 3 Laws of Compensation:
1. Managers are afraid not to give salary increases to those employees who don’t deserve them. They just don’t want to tell one of their people that he doesn’t get a raise and they assume that inflation is around 3%, so they don’t want to grant any one of them a salary increase below 3%. If the salary increase budget is 4%, then the salary differential between the star and the mediocre performer won’t be that much.
2. Every manager has a different perception of performance. Let’s face it, we human beings have a hard time being objective. It never ceased to amaze me that when a group of employees got a new boss, that the new supervisor could have a totally different take on who was performing and who wasn’t. No matter how many times I redesigned the Appraisal Form or the Process, I just couldn’t get around manager subjectivity.
3. It’s never enough. Managers don’t usually believe that the employees in their group are getting paid enough. “Acme Manufacturing down the street pays their people more and my people are all above average in performance.”
Next time I’ll discuss a method that I used to counteract Ron’s 3 Laws of Compensation, so stay tuned…
Topics: HR | 1 Comment »
Herzberg Is Turning Over In His Grave
By Ron | October 30, 2008
I just read interesting comments on a blog about the unintended consequences of a certain bonus program. My experience has been that there is always unintended consequences. When people chase the proverbial carrot, the motivation for the real work gets sidelined. The carrot becomes the goal, not the job itself.
I told someone recently that Herzberg, the great guru on motivation, has never let me down. When management uses material things (money, prizes, perks) as motivators, motivation doesn’t happen. Movement may happen, but not motivation. The task may get completed, but the quality usually suffers or other tasks go undone while the person is obsessed with completing the incentivized project. I believe that people are more noble than performing like trained monkeys. They aspire to higher things in life, like the simple joy of accomplishment or just enjoying doing the task at hand. Don’t get me wrong, I think that they should still get paid an equitable salary.
I am not naive. I know that this theory is a hard sell to many managers. Using money or other incentives is easier than managing using intrinsic methods. And, people may even appear to be motivated by the external things. Once they are potty-trained to chase salary increases, higher salary grades, executive perks and the like, they, themselves even believe that tangible rewards motivate them. However, as Frederick Herzberg, himself, said, “When you are feeding jelly beans to a bear at Yellowstone Park, you better not run out.”
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Don’t Forget Your Manners
By Ron | October 29, 2008
Today, I want to play Miss Manners (in the old days, she was a real person named Emily Post). Anyway… I witnessed a class act yesterday. A Human Resource person called one of his candidates and told him that he wasn’t selected for the final rounds of interviews. “So what,” you say?
Well, I’m saying that we in HR should not forget our manners. Our applicants deserve to know their status during the staffing process. Applicants are our customers. Many of them take the time to submit their resume on-line and possibly go through a consuming ordeal of completing an application on our web site. To hear nothing is rude.
As a Staffing Manager in my prior life, I always made sure that we returned all calls and let applicants know where they stood. When having over 300 open reqs at the time, this was difficult, but not impossible. Our philosophy was that if we treat applicants like we do our customers and our employees, the word will get out that we are a good place to work. In Silicon Valley, our reputation was a powerful recruiting tool.
Topics: HR | 1 Comment »
HR Comes In All Flavors
By Ron | October 28, 2008
I heard an audio clip on another blog recently describing four types of HR people. It was satirical, but I do believe that the author was trying to make a valid point. The four types were: Cold and Analytical (Comp and Benefits folks), Amiable (likes people and works on building company culture), Expressive (Drama Queens who conduct team building sessions like swinging from trees) and, Driven (tough guys who work at keeping salaries down).
In a more serious vein, I would tweak this list as follows:
Analytical/Detail Oriented: Person enjoys numbers, spread sheets and preparing reports. Their focus is on Compensation, Benefits, HRIS and Employment Law.
Helper/Counselor: Person likes to counsel employees. Their focus is on Employee Relations.
Extrovert/Socializer: Person enjoys heavy interaction with people. Their focus is on Recruiting and Employee Relations.
Teacher/Trainer: Person likes training others. Their focus is on Training and Organizational Development.
I think that this analysis is important for a couple of reasons. Let’s say you are a CEO of a small company and you are ready to add a Human Resource organization to your operation. You came to this conclusion because of a pending EEO problem and the need to formalize the Staffingprocess. You interview several candidates and really like Melvina Jones who is very outgoing and personable. So, you end up hiring the Extrovert/Socializer when you really needed an Analytical/Detail Oriented candidate.
The reverse is also true. If you fall in the Helper/Counselor category, you don’t want to work for a company who thinks they need an Analytical/Detail Oriented HR department.
If you are the Human Resources Manager and your bent is towards Teaching/Training, your organization will probably be heavily weighted towards the OD arena and so on.
All parties need to know what flavor of HR they want.
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Keep The Romance Alive
By Ron | October 27, 2008
Hiring someone is a lot like getting married. The recruiting phase is all romance and lust. The recruiter is chasing the new candidate like a smitten teenager. Sometimes, the applicant plays hard to get or sometimes she is calling the recruiter incessantly. As a determined staffing professional, I used a technique that, many times, worked - I sent flowers to the house - what’s more romantic than that? I would continue to “woo” candidates until I got them agree to marriage, oops, I mean, got them to accept my offers. As a good recruiter, I would still keep up my ardent approach until I saw them march down the aisle, oops, I mean, until they showed up for work.
I have heard the initial phase of employment referred to as the “honeymoon period.” I used to have a friend that told me that his love affairs always lasted about six months, then the romance would wear off and reality would set in…. the “warts” would start showing up. Isn’t this what happens after we hire someone? After a few months, employees become “old hat.” They become like that annoying spouse who no longer is as attractive. We stop recruiting. We have forgotten why that person was so attractive to us in the first place.
I have talked to countless managers, who when the times get rough, start blaming their employees for everything. They sounded like bitter spouses who shed any responsibility for hiring them in the first place (marrying them) or coaching along the way (marriage counseling). As a Human Resource person, I used to remind my managers that divorce, oops, I mean…termination should be the last resort. Working on any relationship is hard work no matter whether on the home front or at work. It is important to ”keep the romance alive.”
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Wonder If We Only Hired Adults?
By Ron | October 25, 2008
Wonder if we hired only adults? I mean people that acted like adults. Just think about it - we could throw away our Employee Handbook, our Policies and our Procedures. Adults don’t need these rule books.
We in Human Resources spend a lot of time focusing on trying to control the “kids” that sometimes slip through our hiring screens. We have a whole list of “Don’ts” in our Handbook and an elaborate disciplinary procedure if “they” get out of control.
There are other upsides to not having this bureaucracy. I had one of my HR Policies put up on a projection screen in a courtroom to use against my company in a wrongful discharge case. We all have heard about discrimination suits that claimed companies did not follow their stated hiring qualifications. But, the main upside is that we get to focus on our winners (our “adults”).
I talked to a very successful company’s HR Manager the other day who told me that they don’t have job descriptions or job categories. I instantly smiled and congratulated him because I knew the value in it. He said that he uses market driven salary data to ensure that his employees are paid competitively and he is able to avoid all of the traps associated with a hierarchical job classification system.
I am aware of the benefits of having rules, structure and handbooks (providing information and expectations), I just like to fantasize about hiring adults and getting on with running a business. I guess my message today is - “Less is More.”
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RIF’s: The Non-Fun Part of HR
By Ron | October 24, 2008
I’ve assisted in laying off 100’s, maybe 1000’s of employees in my past life. I actually shut a plant of 300+ people down. It is definitely not the fun part of HR and it was never easy.
3 Ways to soften the blow for the employees scheduled for a layoff:
1. Keep everything low key. Keep the employee’s dignity in tact. Be very respectful and empathetic.
2. Help them realize that good usually comes out of difficulty (almost all people I’ve known in this situation came out the other side in a better state eventually).
3. Provide the best outplacement services possible.
By the way, I just talked to a company which has been around for over 100 years and never had a layoff and still probably won’t even in these troubled times. I offer this bit of information, because I believe that prevention is always better than having the problem in the first place. How did they get to this privileged place? From the outside looking in, I would say good management with a caring attitude. I’ve also mentioned HP before who did everything else possible before considering a RIF including the two founders taking salary cuts. Now, that’s putting your money where your mouth is.
Topics: HR | 1 Comment »
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