upstartHR

Tag: Random

  • My New Phone-A Love Story

    I’m sure the rest of you are just biding your time until you’re off for Christmas, so I’m going laid back today and tackling the age-old question: What does an HR person carry in their purse/pocket for a cell phone?  Earlier this month I had to break down and get another phone. My Droid2 was my…

  • The Purpose of Human Resources

    What is the purpose of human resources in an organization? Have you ever wondered about the purpose of human resources? Does the stereotypical HR person represent you? Are we working to make sure everyone is “playing nicely” and that every rule is being followed to the letter of the law? Are we planning picnics and…

  • Lesson Learned-The Easy Way that Wasn’t

    I was rocking right along, knocking out items on my To Do list and feeling pretty good. Then it hit. I thought I had made the right choice. I thought it was going to be the “easy way” to get things accomplished. Apparently not. Despite knowing–knowing–that the quick/easy way is really just a house of…

  • Stupid? Annoying? You’re Fired.

    Recently I was looking through the terms of a web service that I use, and I found this statement buried in there. We can revoke your [company name] account at any time. Sounds harsh, right? We’re unlikely to ever do that, unless you do something truly annoying or stupid. We’re not going to list the…

  • Shirts and Other New Hire Goodies

    Time and time again I am surprised by what pleases our new hires. We do a lot of communicating with our new people before they start, but I still never really get around to telling them about the things like free breakfast Thursdays, free drinks in the fridge, etc. I figure it’s a nice thing…

  • Company Book Club? There’s a Better Way

    Company Book Club vs. Developing an Employee Reading Program In a previous blog post titled hire for attitude, train for everything else, I wrote about the importance of considering a required reading program for your employees (takes it a step further than the corporate library, right?). At the time, it was just an idea spawned from observing…

  • I’m Running (And Other Updates)

    Whew. It has been quite a week. By the time most of you read this I will be a few miles into a 50 mile, 3 day stage race on some gnarly trails in Birmingham, AL. Yes, I have a running problem; however, it beats a drinking problem, and in HR, that’s almost a job…