upstartHR

Category: General

  • Mistrust and the Disengaged Workforce

    Let’s start off with a story. And just as a heads up, it’s not necessarily a happy one. Since 2009, Interaction Associates, a consulting firm based in Boston that advises on human resources and company leadership, has run a survey that measures how much employees trust the leaders who run their businesses. As of this year, the…

  • 2013 Alabama SHRM State Conference

    One of the greatest ways to get some great content at an affordable price (with regard to both travel and registration fees) is at a state-level HR conference. I’m attending the 2013 Alabama SHRM State Conference, and I can’t wait to see some phenomenal speakers, meet some fantastic people, and take copious notes on ways…

  • 3 Tips for When to Hire An Employee

    I’ve struggled with this for a long time, but knowing when to hire an employee is a key skill to have. We’ve been growing steadily in recent months, and the pressure has continued to increase. In just a few short weeks, I’ll have my first employee (part time, but better than nothing!) to help keep…

  • Phrasing Matters-Inspiration versus Fear

    Just a quick post today. I’m reading a book and I ran across a section where the author is discussing the differences between two phrases that seem pretty similar but have very different meanings.  What’s keeping you up at night? What gets you up in the morning? The idea is that focusing on what keeps you…

  • How to Reduce Impact from Retiring Employees

    One of the topics that sometimes keeps me awake at night is knowledge. The sheer amount of knowledge in the minds of our staff members is staggering. In the past few years we’ve had a few highly competent people attempt to retire, and we’ve had a great strategy in place to reduce the impact. Here’s…

  • 3 “D’s” for Prioritizing Tasks at Work

    Prioritizing tasks at work is something that I constantly struggle with, especially when everything is a fire that needs putting out. These days I’m spending about 55 hours a week recruiting like crazy, and when you’re a one-man HR team, there are some things that just have to be left undone. The hard part? Deciding…

  • HR Competition or Cooperation?

    Today I want to talk about HR competition. And cooperation. It’s something that I stop to consider every so often, and I am curious if I’m the only one who really thinks about it. Here’s my thought process in a nutshell: We as HR professionals are very collaborative. We’re cooperative. But we’re also competitive. Whether…