Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Turnover is Turnover: What Churning Employees Says About Your Culture


“You are not going to believe this, but our admin just quit. She just handed in her two weeks’ notice.”
This is the third admin to come in within the past year and within a month all showed signs that their exit is imminent. Working till 10/11 pm three to four nights a week will cause anyone to rethink a job, especially if you are the new person on the block.”
As our discussion continued, I asked what the manager/HR is going to do about this. Her remarkable reply was, “Oh, they just reposted the job.” I almost dropped the phone reacting to that statement.
How could you allow the job to be re-posted after having three people walk out the door?
When this turnover issue first surfaced, I was told that the first person in the job had been there for just a few weeks, went to lunch one day and did not return or call back. The phrase for that is quitting over lunch.

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Doing the “Pope Thing”: Lessons From the Day I Walked in and Quit My Job


 When I got in my car the other morning, the news flash that came through was that Pope Benedict XVI had resigned.
This was big news since apparently a pontiff has not resigned in the past 600 years. That is quite a record since the last resignation was by Gregory XII in 1415.
As I drove along my HR mindset kicked in. Although it was reported that the Pope resigned for health related reasons, I was fixated on the act of resigning. We have all at some times is our career had jobs that we could not wait to resign from.
When I walked in and did the “Pope thing”

Monday, February 18, 2013

The Remote Work Advantage, or Why a Big Storm Wasn’t a Big Problem


Sometimes when we hear weather reports we tend to turn a blind eye or ear depending upon your medium.
This past weekend in the New York City area, we were warned of a big snow storm that was bearing down on the region. By all estimates, it was a giant one.
I thought of this when I read a press release earlier in the week titled Telecommuting Could Save Employees and Employers Time, Money, Grief. This release by outplacement consultants, Challenger Gray & Christmas discussed the big question about whether the nation’s employers should consider making a serious commitment to expanding the use of telecommuting strategies.
Working during the storm

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Are You More Than Just Your Lofty Job Title?


Being powerful is like being a lady; if you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.  Margaret Thatcher
I read an article a few years back about a minister in a wealthy suburb that had been hit severely by layoffs because of the financial hiccups that the country was going through at that time.
He noticed that the demeanor of many once high-flying executives, who had all the swagger that they wore when the world was theirs, had changed and now they were just a shell of themselves. The vision of having that super title vanish took all their perceived power away. They were truly not themselves.
I am Mr. SVP, that is WHO I am