Robots Running HR: Weird News Prompts Weird Thought

Found on the Associated Press news feed today... they following quote... "A New Jersey company says it has developed 'the world's first sex robot,' a life-size rubber doll that's designed to engage the owner with conversation rather than lifelike movement. At a demonstration at the Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas on Saturday, the dark-haired, negligee-clad robot said 'I love holding hands with you' when it sensed that its creator touched its hand."

Yep, you read right. A speaking love doll that you can have a human connection with because it talks back to you. Well having the slightly bent mind that I do, this got me thinking that this device would be good for HR as well. NOOOO... NOT the the love doll part.... the ROBOT that talks to you is what I was talking about. You could conceivably program the robot with all the applicable employment related laws and all of your company's policies. Using either a keyboard, or voice recognition, you could sit down in front of RobotHR and ask your question. The robot could compare databases and give you the answers you were looking for and then possible steps to follow to deal with the issue. You could program it to be "tough as nails" or a softer HR approach of finding a way to say "yes", as Kris Dunn called for in The HR Capitialist post entitled The Secret to HR That Matters... (BTW, I like Kris' approach.)

Many managers may not even recognize that RobotHR has replaced the incumbent, or, if they do, they may like them better. Well, the technology is probably not really there yet, so we really don't have to worry for the moment. But if you are currently offering no more value to your management than what a robot would offer then you need to be concerned. The robot will work without a salary.
As a closing note, I don't think the Love Robot is going to be a big hit. Many men don't want to talk and cuddle with a real woman let alone a Robot one.

The Carnival of HR: The New Year Edition

Melissa Prusher at the Devon Group is the host of the first edition of The Carnival of HR for 2010. Happy New Year! This one is filled with several posts about predictions and top 10s. There is also several posts about learning, such as Trish McFarlane, at HR Ringleader’s Blog, sharing some favorite quotes in What Dr. Seuss Taught Me about Succeeding in Business and how many of his quotes can be applied to the business world. My good friend Cathy Missildine-Martin, at Profitability Through Human Capital, presents A New Year’s Resolution for HR Volume 2, a collection of thoughtful resolutions aimed at reducing costs, improving performance and increasing profitability. There is a thought-provoking piece on why people should NOT be promoted on merit and much, much more.

So set aside sometime and start the new year off right by reading this great collection of blog posts. In fact, make that a resolution! Resolve to read every Carninval of HR through the coming year. Talk about self-improvement!

Consumer Trends and HR

In HR we frequently talk about the "customer" of HR. I have written about this before. In my opinion the ultimate customer of HR is the actual consumer of your company's product or service. As a result as an HR professional you should be aware of consumer trends and understand how your customers wants and desires may change how your employees deal with them. It is also true that the company's employees are also HR's customers. They are often driven by same wants and desires and for that reason you should also be aware of consumer trends.

To that end I recommend that your pay attention to "trend watchers" such as trendwatching.com or Faith Popcorn. Trendwatching.com just published a report called "10 Crucial Consumer Trends for 2010" that I think is "must" reading. Here are the top ten trends:

1. Business as Unusual
2. Urbany
3. Real-time reviews
4. (F)luxury
5. Mass Mingling
6. Eco-Easy
7. Tracking and Alerting
8. Embedded Generosity
9. Profile Myning
10. Maturalism

All of them are pretty interesting. But you will have to click the link to read more. All of them can be applied in some way shape or form to the workplace. But one that got me thinking as I was listening to the weather report. That is Tracking and Alerting.

Tracking and Alerting is the movement to consumers seeking information. It started as simply package tracking, something we all did at Christmas time. Now, as Trendwatch.com says "TRACKING and ALERTING is something that consumers actually need and want, that delights them, that they crave. They are quite literally asking for relevant information, even giving you permission to provide them with more." 

How does this apply to employees and the weather you ask? Here in Atlanta this week the weather forecasters are mentioning the "S" word. SNOW! A word that translates to grocery stores being emptied of bread and milk and employees anxiously awaiting to see if they get a day off of work. Well traditionally we tell employees to call in, or be called or listen to the radio or TV to find out if work has been closed. But what if you had a company Facebook page or a Twitter presence that all employees could follow? You could make that announcement of "No Work" via Twitter or Facebook and simplify the process for everyone. Or you could do like many universities do with safety alerts and broadcast a message via text message.

I wonder how many of you already do something similar? Anyone? If so please share how you do it and whether or not it works.

After reading the consumer trends listed above, how can you apply this knowledge to your "consumers"? I will be exploring these trends in terms of employment over the next week or so and I would like your input.

New Year, Bad Way to Start: A Management Mistake

Over the holidays I was going to be a good blogger and do what many others were doing and come up with my TOP 10 list (or TOP 5) or make predictions of what to watch out for in 2010. But I spent most of that time sick in bed with cold/flu/food poisoning (pick on of the above.) So I was not really motivated to write on anything, needless to say. (Hmmmm if it was needless to say, why did I say it?) I am still a bit fuzzy brained and I may yet write on some of those topics, but I did want to relate a story that shows a management team starting off on the wrong foot and setting a bad example and a bad precedent.

Fortunately this is not a business example. It is a local county government. I will not name the county, it is really irrelevant to the story. Some of you may recognize this story. In this story we have a police chief with whom the Board of County Commissioners is unhappy. They accuse him of insubordination, mishandling sexual harassment investigations, poor monetary management, poor evidence storage, missing firearms, mismanagement of police chases and just poor management in general. They hold a public hearing (open government I suppose), make public the charges and do not allow him to make any statement defending himself. (He makes his statement anyway, to the press.) Then they announce their job action.

Now any business oriented human resources reader might come to the conclusion that their job action was termination. Most businesses I know probably would have made this decision. However, in this case they demote him and put him in charge of (get this) THE TRAINING ACADEMY! Yes, the Training Academy where all new officers are prepared for their jobs. Unbelievable! Whether or not the accusations are true or not is irrelevant. If they truly believed he was guilty of even half of the accusations why would they put him in charge of the training of incoming officers. What does this say to those officers? What does it say about their view of ethics? What does it say about their view of management? I was flabbergasted! (Click on the word for definition.)      

I would hope that business would not make this type of mistake, but I have a sneaking suspiscion I would be disappointed. I have seen some poor decisionmaking when it comes to employees who are protected by policy, or relationships, or have a stronger will than the management or HR representative. How about you? Have you ever seen anything as outrageous as this? Tell us your story.

And Happy New Year and best wishes for a profitable, successful 2010 to all my readers.

Christmas Gifts for Everyone: The Carnival of HR

Getting great gifts at Christmas time is always fun. Well here is your Christmas gift from HR bloggers. April Dowling at Pseudo HR, hosted this early Christmas version of HR Carnival – ‘Twas the night before.

Read about Twitter, laughter, company parties, eggnog, jobs, bonuses, hiring clowns and several Top 10 lists. So sit down and rip off the paper and take some pleasure in this gift of knowledge.

If you celebrate Christmas then MERRY CHRISTMAS! And even if you don't celebrate Christmas then Merry Christmas spirit to you anyway.

(BTW, the picture is me dressed as Santa.)

Are Growing Waistlines a Sign of Diminishing Employee Attitudes?

Yesterday I heard a radio commentary by Clark Howard. He was talking about his post Recession enabling Americans to make unhealthy food choices. He was discussing a piece of research that said that Americans are saying that the recession is making it more difficult for people to buy healthy food. The premise was that healthy food is more expensive than unhealthy food. Thus there is an increase in the size of waistlines of Americans.

Clark, however, rejects this premise, noting that there are many cheap, yet healthy, choices in the grocery store. He feels that the trend toward unhealthy foods is not one of cost but one of comfort. The recession is causing people to be stressed. And time after time research has found that when we are stressed we seek "comfort" food. These are things that taste good and that are generally not nutrionally good for you. I think of my own example. Several years ago, as my mother was declining in health and eventually dying I was at her bedside. Each night as I left the hospital to get something to eat I returned to a restaurant that I had found that served "home cooked" meals. I ate chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes and gravy each night. I was seeking comfort food during that very stressful time. Today I have a tendency to  grab a bag of peanut M&Ms (a big bag) when I get stressed. I think many of you are the same way.

So I agree with Clark. I think this tendency to growing waistlines is a signal of stress. So look at your employees. If they are getting heavier you may have some morale problems. People may be ill at ease with what is happening at work. It may be a signal that you have to do some damage control with employee attitudes.

A side note: This is my only post this week. I am heading on a short vacation to celebrate my wedding anniversary. Even though this our 38th, I still do not want to take any time or attention away from my beautiful wife, so I will not be posting until mid-week next week.

End of the Week Reading: Great Stuff from Great Blogs

I missed the Carnival of HR this time. (Need to do something about that darn calendar.) There are some very good posts there. Here is the link Carnival of HR. This is one is hosted by Rowan Manahan.

Additionally, here are several posts that I recommend you read.

1. Fran Melmed wrote an excellent piece called "We Don't Need No Stinking Diversity Training." It is so good it got picked up by NPR. She prompted me to write my piece on Removing the Ethnicity from your name.
2. Kris Dunn wrote some required reading for anyone considering committees called Are Committees in Your Company Ever a Good Idea? If this one does not make you think twice, then reread it.
3. Becky Regan, compensation pro extrodinaire, offers her 2010 predictions in The Compensation Cafe. "Top 4" Total Rewards Predictions for 2010  See if you agree.
4. Wally Bock, of Three Star Leadership, blasts Notre Dame and Brian Kelly for the very poor example of leadership they exhibited in Values, schmalues, there is money at stake.
5. And Ann Bares of Compensation Force writes on Throwing in the Towel: Are Employers Resigned to Impending Departures?

That is probably enough reading for the end of the week. But believe me, you will be better off for it. Have a great weekend.

Getting a Job by Hiding Your Ethnic Name

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." So says William Shakespeare in Romeo and Juliet. But many people today would disagree. In the New York Times Michael Lou writes about "Whitening the Resume" (Free registration required to read) In this article he talks about African American job candidates taking the "blackness" out of their names, schools, experience and references in order to get a foot in the door for an interview. Although regrettable, it is not a new phenomenon. A couple of decades ago women were taking the "femaleness" out of their names by using intials. Asians and Middle Easterners were "Americanizing" their names. Even earlier many Italians and Germans were doing the same thing. Hispanics were/are reducing the size of their names by dropping the several family names in their complete names. People will do what they perceive will give them an edge, especially in these "downturn days." In the 80's even young white men were changing their names by initializing their first name and going by their middle name because that "appeared more executive." People even do it regardless of age, sex, race, etc. just because they have a name they don't like. Agnes Susan Smith may is not going to feel her name says youthful and vibrant, so she drops the Agnes and becomes Susan. (Apologies to all Agnes out there.)

Is it right that they feel compelled to do this? Not really. Is it reality, perhaps, the research says so, anyway. Names are very powerful. What we hang on our children can boost or scar them. They can be trendy for the time but become dated with the passage of time. My contempories, many of whom were hippies, named their children Bridge, River, Summer, Spring, Flower, Dweezil, MoonChild, Chastity, etc. I am surprised I have never met "Oh Wow Man". So you parents out there think about what you are going to do to that little child who will someday be an 80 year old with that moniker.

Back to the potential discriminatory decision made on the basis of someone's name. I would hope that recruiters would look beyond that. Perhaps we should have a universal process for just calling someone "Candidate #_____". ( I do seem to recall something like this in the past.) But let's face it, discrimination, though somewhat diminished from three decades ago, does still exist. (See my post on The Big ISM: Racism.) But not all recruiters are lillywhite males. Many are female, many are "of color." So my question to them is "How do you react when you get a resume with an obvious ethnic name?" "Do you screen for 'whiteness'?" The same holds true for managers. Not all are white. Not all are males. Will a black female manager with a name like Mary Wilson have a negative reaction to a black female candidate named Eboni?

I don't know the answer to this. I would like some guidance. Someone tell me that ethnicity is totally ignored in their organization and people are only hired on the basis of their qualification. Make us feel good that progress is being made.

Who Is HR's Customer? The Correct Answer Will Improve Your Performance

In any HR class I have taught I have always asked this question. "Who is HR's customer?" The answers given vary, but usually include the CEO, the employees, the supervisors, the managers, or some combination of these. Occassionally, but not often enough, someone comes up with what I think is the right answer. To me the ultimate customer of HR is the customer who actually spends money to buy your company's product or service. And if you are not paying attention to them, and understand their needs, wants and desires then you cannot fully understand what kind of employee your organization needs to have. If you do not have this information you are guessing who will make a good employee or you are making the assumption that the hiring manager knows. And that is not a sure thing!

To my way of thinking you need to spend time with these customers to be a better HR professional. Work in a retail environment? Ever worked the floor? Work in a hospital? Ever spent time with a patient? Work in a plant that makes wrenches? Ever talked to a buyer or user of the wrench? If the answer is "NO" then you are not doing your best job. "But I don't have time to do that, I  have to do my job." My response is that is an excuse and not a reason. Spending time with those customers is part of your job. And one of the most important parts. So get it on your calendar. Get out from behind your desk and learn what customers want in a good employee that interacts with them, their process or their product.

I am not quite sure if where he learned it, but Dave Ulrich agrees with me. LOL So resolve to follow Dave and Mike's advice in 2010 and get out and meet your "real" customer. It may open your eyes and it will definately make you a better HR professional.

Have a VOICE in HR and Use It: Being a Credible Activist

I had the very good fortune to spend a day, yesterday, with professor, author, consultant, and HR thought guru, Dave Ulrich. (Of course there were another 200 people there as well). He had a long "conversation" with us about the field of HR and what it takes to be an HR professional today. He talked about how HR can transform organinzations and what competencies it takes to do so. Much of this is detailed in his book HR Competencies (shown at the right). If you are serious about your career in HR and you feel you need to take it to the next step then you need to read this book and internalize what you learn.

I could write a very long post on these competencies, but I won't. But I do want to mention the NUMBER ONE competency that Ulrich et al. have determined to be most important in the 21st century. That is the competency of CREDIBLE ACTIVIST. Credible is believable, credible is knowing what you are talking about, credible is knowing about business and your business in particular. Alot of HR people consider themselves credible. The jury is still out on whether their CEOs consider them credible. (Mostly because of the business knowledge requirement.) One of the reasons the CEO does not consider HR credible is HR has NO VOICE. Many HR people "speak when spoken to" and do not offer opinions on the business. 

This is where the second word in this competency comes into play. ACTIVIST. This does not mean that you have to be a rabble-rouser (click the link for the definition). It means that you have to stand up and offer opinions and points of view. And you don't  wait to be asked. Offer your points of view BEFORE anyone asks you what you think. And have opinions and points of view on more than just HR topics. If you know your business (another competency) then you should be able to talk about operations, marketing, branding, finance, etc. Being an activist means you are not afraid to be contrarian. Your management "partners" may not listen to what you have to say, particularly at first, but you need to use your voice regardless.

Some of the people sitting at my table indicated they were afraid to do that. They were afraid to speak up, even when they knew things being done were wrong. One person said she "picked her battles carefully." Another said she did not speak up because she did not really know the business because she had NEVER spent any field time with employees. She was "too busy" doing her work. (I probably rolled my eyes big time at this.) I know many HR people are not activists because they naturally are "conflict avoiders". And speaking up can lead to a confrontation. But if you know you are right you need to have that confrontation and you don't need to, and should not, back down. I used to work for an HR manager that had so little back bone I was surprised he was able to stand up. Well I don't need to get off on that rant.

Many of the credible activists I know are also bloggers. Two of my favorite (among many) are Laurie Ruettimann of PunkRockHR and Kris Dunn of The HR Capitalist. I call Laurie a "beast sticker". She is not afraid to take a sharp stick and poke the "beast of HR". She can be profane, and I don't always agree with her, but she is fun to read because she riles people. She has been accused of not being "credible" because she does not currently hold a "real" HR position. HOGWASH, this lady knows her stuff. Kris is also a beast sticker. He is in my opinion as close to being the ultimate HR pro there is. He is what I want to be when I grow up, despite the fact that I am 20 years older than he is. In fact he beat me to this same topic. As I was driving home to Atlanta from Birmingham last night and thinking about this topic he had already beat me to the punch. You can read his very well written take on CREDIBLE ACTIVIST by clicking on his name above.

BTW, Dave Ulrich says that one of the first steps in being credible in the 21st century is certification. So think a second time about getting that PHR or SPHR.

Closing thought- Become a pro, find your voice and exercise it frequently. Learn from Laurie, Kris, and a myriad of other bloggers on what to say, how to say it, and in the words of Nike, "JUST DO IT."