Employee participation in outside investigations

I was talking with one of our employees recently and was quite surprised to learn that they did not realize the importance of reporting participation in an outside investigation. Many of our staff members are located on customer sites, geographically remote from the corporate office. Therefore, if they don’t notify us of an investigation, we have no way of knowing about it. I can remember two instances of this coming up in the past year or two–once handled poorly and once handled well.

Oh, I forgot…

One day I was speaking with an employee about some minute detail (address changes or something equally innocuous) and they casually mentioned responding to someone’s questions about a fellow coworker. After doing some digging, I realized that the employee had been a witness in an investigation by an outside entity to determine if another person in the workplace had done something illegal/unethical. I asked if they had considered reporting that to corporate or the HR office, and the response was fairly typical.

“Oh, I was going to, but I forgot.” 

Sigh. Oh, well. It is what it is, right? So I told them the following story as a reminder for how to handle it next time.

Let me check…

On another customer site, our staff works side by side with other companies supplying contractors for the customer. One day a contractor in the office blew his top. It was the usual yelling, cursing, and general mayhem that accompanies someone under too much pressure. The employee was sent home for the day, and the following day brought with it an investigatory team to determine what had occurred. Being in the office, our employee was naturally asked about the incident. Before he responded or gave a statement, he dropped the golden phrase:

“Let me check with my HR guys first just to make sure it’s okay.” 

Couldn’t have said it better myself. Now, HR doesn’t need to be consulted every time you have to sneeze (that’s a great way to waste time at work), but for something like this that could affect someone’s employment status, it doesn’t hurt to let us in on what’s going on. If there is a possibility that an angry person could come back and cause some level of workplace violence, then it definitely needs to be on our radar.

Just remember: When in doubt, let HR check it out. 

Ever had an employee participate in an outside investigation and have it backfire on you? I’d like to hear how you handled it. 

Treating your Candidates Like Customers

Can HR learn something from marketing about treating candidates like customers?

When I was at the Hire Minds event this past fall (more Hire Minds Summit coverage), the moderator asked me if I thought the Marketing department should work closely with the HR/Recruiting department at any time. My response was one I’d considered before, and I think it still applies now:

Of course HR/Recruiting should work with the Marketing department if they can. HR is trying to sell ideas internally. Recruiters are trying to “sell” open positions to candidates. Marketing is trying to sell products/services to the public. Why not work together when the opportunity arises?

Since then I’ve started thinking of candidates as customers. Most HR and recruiting pros don’t have a chance to meet customers of the business on a daily basis. They don’t get a chance to make a good impression for the company, provide great service, and do it all with a smile on their face. But they do interact with people looking to get a job with the organization.

What if they started treating those candidates like customers? There would be a little difference in that these customers are not always “right.” They can’t get whatever they want.

But you can offer them a sympathetic ear. You can treat them with respect. You can give them a clear, concise picture of what the hiring process looks like so they are not stuck wondering if their resume disappeared into a black hole.

I’ve learned that even if they are not chosen, candidates sincerely appreciate knowing the disposition of their application. It’s just a small touch that means so much to someone who has been out of work or looking for a meaningful job.

If you’d like to learn more about my philosophy on “high touch” recruiting and what it’s like being the solo recruiter for a small business, click here to hear about small business hiring on my DriveThruHR appearance from HR Florida.

Ten most popular posts of 2011

I have a lot of fun digging into the statistics on this blog to find out what everyone enjoys reading about. That, in turn, helps to influence what I write about! I have spent some time looking through the pageview counts and visitor stats, and I have developed a top ten list of most popular posts this year. One point I found interesting was that some of these posts that were viewed the most often were actually written in 2010 or before. If you missed one of them, feel free to check it out. Everyone else is. :-)

  1. HR Careers-How to Get a Job in HR – This post focuses on the transition I experienced as I moved into HR for the first time.
  2. Onboarding and New Hire Orientation eBook – This collaborative eBook brings together some of the smartest HR pros of the day to share their take on onboarding.
  3. I don’t believe in social responsibility, but… – This short post discusses a different type of “social responsibility” in the business world.
  4. How to Establish Credibility – I do some Q&A with people I highly respect to find out how they established their own credibility. Great lessons here.
  5. How to Ask Questions During an Investigation – If you’re in HR, you will eventually run into an investigation. Here’s how to ask questions to find out what you need to know.
  6. How to run a one person HR department – If you’ve ever worked in a small HR department, this one is for you.
  7. Policy on working through lunch – Do we need a policy banning working at your desk during lunch? Do we need a policy for anything?
  8. Employee Engagement eBook  – This collaborative eBook brings together some of the smartest HR pros of the day to share their take on engagement.
  9. The Cost of Disengaged Employees – Looking at how disengaged employees can impact your business and culture (and not for the better).
  10. Men in HR-A National Geographic Exclusive – This was a fun post to write, because I am definitely in the minority as a male in the HR field. Good stuff here.

Just wanted to say a quick “Thanks” to everyone who reads the blog. I am so appreciative of it. If you ever want to reach out via email, feel free!

HR Internal Audit-Finish the year with a bang

HR Internal Audit Planning

At the end of the year, there’s nothing quite like a rousing HR internal audit to make you love your job, right?
:-)

Okay, now that the insincerity is finished, we can be realistic about the often-discussed (yet rarely used) human resource audit. :-) Let’s get the facts straight:

  • Most HR pros have limited time to complete this sort of task.
  • Doing some sort of HR internal audit is a good way to get a grip on what has been accomplished and what has yet to be completed. Sort of like a quick and dirty SWOT analysis.
  • Something most HR pros don’t HR Internal Audit Planningeven consider is doing a physical “audit” of their workspace as well.

My annual catch up plan

I rarely take much, if any, time off at the end of the year. It’s always been my plan to catch up on the activities that have been piling up and to take care of some of the other activities mentioned below. Yes, I take some time off to be with my family, but I also use the time wisely to catch up with lingering actions that won’t get done when everyone else is at work. It’s the week when you get the least email and work-related requests, so take advantage of that!

What you should cover in an HR internal audit

If you decide to audit your HR department, there are some great resources on what to look into. Again, this can be as in depth as you like, but it’s a good idea to do at least some measure of looking into your current HR/recruiting practices. For a few ideas, here are some starting points for what you should focus on with an audit.

Getting your house in order

Make some time to get your desk, office/cube, and (most importantly) your email inbox in working order. Toss, file, or scan/save those stacks of paper that have been on your desk for the past several months. Get your email inbox cleaned out. Whether you’re a “clean desk, clean mind” kind of person or my kind of “if I move it off my desk, I’ll lose it” person, get things cleaned up however you need to in order to stay focused and get your work accomplished with a minimum of wasted effort.

What’s your plan?

Finally, it’s really a chance to look at what you want to do for the coming year. Last year I was in a panic when the year turned over to 2011. It was the first time I actually had to consider what “big” things I wanted to make happen in the new year. This year I’m being more purposeful about the big picture activities the HR function is going to accomplish.

For instance, I’m going to be selecting (after holding off for a long while) a new performance management tool for us to run our appraisals over the web. I’m looking at ways to streamline the recruiting process to save costs and reduce the number of poor hires (the number’s already low, but it doesn’t hurt to improve!). We are looking at partnering with a benefits broker to negotiate lower rates and bundled services.

But these things will never happen if there isn’t a plan and a set of precise steps in place to reach these goals.

Sit down with a yellow legal pad and a pen and think about what your top 2-3 things will be for the coming year. Put down your ideas and start looking at how you can take incremental steps to achieve those goals by the end of the year. It’s all about being purposeful with your planning and actions!

Those are a few steps you can take for a successful end of year HR internal audit. Do you have audits you perform in your job?

Work anniversary-Is the honeymoon over?

I saw a great post by my good friend Krista Francis recently on honeymoons at work, and it came just as I was crossing my first “work anniversary” at my current employer. If you haven’t read it yet, it will cause you to stop and think when you realize how important the first interactions new hires have with your company (hint: the “honeymoon” stage should last more than one hour!).

I rarely celebrate or dwell on anniversaries at work. I’m one of those people who will work at a place until it’s no longer interesting or challenging and then move on to another employer, so I measure my work in experiences and relationships, not years. Some people care about how many years they’ve been with an employer, but there are plenty who do not.

On a related note, I have never been a fan of seniority-based awards. However, when I was listening to Dave Ramsey the other day I heard him say something interesting. I don’t remember the exact quote, but paraphrasing: We don’t believe in paying people according to how many years they’ve been here. But I realized recently that we are very tough on people to produce results. If you aren’t producing results, you go work somewhere else. If that’s the case across the board, then we really do pay people somewhat according to their seniority level. If you’re still working here you must be doing something right. 

That one idea twisted my head around in a circle. While I still think celebrating years of service just for the sake of it is fairly useless, I do like the idea of recognizing that people who are still engaged in their work and producing solid results after a long term track record has been established. Of course, many companies hold onto poor performers for a number of reasons, but for those with a strong performance appraisal system, it’s an interesting way to look at longevity in a position.

I’ve been with my company for over a year now. People still come up and ask me, “Do you still like your job?”

I must still be in the honeymoon phase, because my response never deviates: I love it.

Ever had a “honeymoon” at work turn sour? Or maybe you still feel like you’re in that stage despite a long tenure? I’d love to hear about it!

Rock Your Corporate Culture Guide is live!

Just a heads up that the Rock Your Corporate Culture guide is now live. It took a lot of hard work (post coming soon on the crazy life of writing an eBook while working full time and making time for family as well!), but it’s finally paid off. This thing is going to help some people rock the culture at their own organizations, and I can’t wait for the testimonials to start pouring in. If you are a fan of workplace culture and how to do it right, this is the tool for you.

Click here to learn more and get your own copy!

Note to self: Don’t insult a hand-to-hand combat instructor

Warning: This post is supposed to be humorous. If you are not experienced with humor, you might not get it. If that is the case, here’s the IRS website. Feel free to read some of that really exciting stuff over there. Why humor? Because we’re HR professionals, darn it. If we don’t get some measure of humor our souls wither and die.

Today I’ll tell the story of when I accidentally insulted someone during new hire orientation.

And not just any someone.

This guy’s dream (as he’d already told me several times) was to own his own firearms and hand-to-hand combat training business, so he was a pretty tough dude.

So, I’d been recruiting this guy for a few weeks, but we hadn’t been able to talk very much since he was overseas at the time. He was taking a remote position with us, and the group he was working with was actually in town on the day he started, so he came to the home office for his new hire orientation. Simple enough, right?

Well, we are sitting in the orientation session and I pause to talk about the different pieces of the company and what all we do. I mentioned a recent proposal we had submitted to do some work for the government, and his temper went from zero to sixty in a heartbeat. He was on his feet, pacing back and forth, and growling about how dumb the decision was. I’ve never actually seen someone “gnashing their teeth,” but I’m willing to bet that was about as close as you can get.

They make you take psychology classes in college when you get an HR degree. You also take things like communications, public speaking, etc. Basically, you should know how to talk to someone. Heh. At the time that was the furthest thing from my mind.

This guy is a trained killer, and I just made him angry. If he smashes the computer and chairs, I’m the next biggest thing in the room for him to take his frustrations out on. Unless he used the computer and chairs to smash me. That seems pretty efficient, and I haven’t seen anything inefficient about the guy since I met him. Crap.I’d rather go out in a blaze of glory. Beaten to death with a faux leather office chair was not in my top five ways to die. 

Agh. Why didn’t I sit closer to the door? I could at least get it halfway open before he snaps my neck like a twig. I wonder if I could distract him. Too bad I don’t have a red cape to wave in his face or something. Or a bazooka. That would probably be intimidating, except for the fact that I have no idea how to use one. Sigh. College was such a poor way to spend my time. 

At this point he’s started to calm down a little after circling the room a few times. I’d like to say it was at that point that I took control of the situation and moved on with the orientation.

But I didn’t.

Wow. His hands look really big. I wonder if he could wrap them all the way around my neck. I wonder where he’d hide the body. It’s a small room. But he’s probably inventive. He could stuff me in the ceiling tiles and be out of the building before anyone realized I was missing. Why didn’t I take the extra optional life insurance package? Darn. Wait a minute, what if I play dead? Will he still attack? Oh, wait, that’s for bears, not people. Stupid Discovery Channel. Why don’t you tell us how to survive people? I have yet to see a bear from three feet away, but I’ve been that close to plenty of crazy people… Wait a minute, he’s looking at me again.

By this point he was sitting in his chair, staring at me as if I was the one who had nearly just blew his top. I stumbled and stuttered through the rest of the slides, made an excuse to leave the room, and breathed deeply of the fresh air that filled my lungs.

I had survived.

I’d like to say there’s a grandiose lesson here, but I can’t think of one. Just make sure you sit near the door if you are ever alone in a room with a former special-forces-trained-killer and there’s a chance you could make them angry at you.

Anyone else have a crazy new hire orientation story?