Carnival of HR: The Hangover Edition
Posted by Lexi Ruben in General on March 4th, 2010
The latest HR Carnival is up over Talented Apps. Check it out!
And don’t forget – the March 31st HR Carnival will be right here, at this very blog, and we have something very special planned. You won’t want to miss it, so mark your calendars now!
What HR Can Learn from the Olympics
Posted by Lexi Ruben in HR Management on March 2nd, 2010
The 2010 Olympics are over, and you can’t help but feel just a little bit of a loss. The pride and patriotism that comes with rooting for Team USA – even if you have no idea what curling is or why it’s so darn popular in Canada – fills us up for 17 days every two years. Now that they’re over, though, we can look back and see what lessons can be learned.
- Follow through on new projects is very important – NBC’s inexplicable decision to cut away from the closing ceremony abruptly to air a new show would lead one to think that NBC didn’t feel the closing ceremony for the Olympics – the world’s chance to get closure on an extremely emotional event – was important. If you are implementing a big project or process, and you put a lot of time and effort into the launch, you need to keep up the momentum. If you abruptly move on to the next thing, employees are going to perceive it as insignificant, and all the hard work you put into it will have been for naught. Or, even worse, make you look bad.
- It really is all about your people. As Dan Wetzel points out, the Olympics weren’t great because of the logistics; they were great because the Canadian people embraced these Olympics like they had never embraced the Olympics before. You can market your brand or your project all you want, but at the end of the day, your people have to embrace it to really make it successful.
- Forget Employee of the Month programs. Recognize amazing employees when they do amazing things. Joannie Rochette won the bronze medal in figure skating just days after her mother passed away suddenly. Petra Majdic won a bronze model in cross-country skiing with four broken ribs and a punctured lung. Bill Demong became the first American ever to win a gold medal in the Nordic combined. Shaun White and Torah Bright pushed snowboarding to new limits. The list goes on and on. You know you have employees who are amazing and go above and beyond every day, but never get the recognition they deserve. Remember, these are the employees who make your company great, and you want them to go on keeping your company great.
- Treat everyone equally. Jacques Rogge, IOC president, shows favoritism to athletes from the powerhouse countries. So when Evgeni Plushenko showed poor sportsmanship after Evan Lysacek won the gold medal in men’s figure skating, Rogge stood up for Plushenko. However, when Usain Bolt showed poor sportsmanship when he won a gold medal in Beijing, Rogge verbally flogged him for it. Employees know when you play favorites, and it creates poor morale in the office. You should always make sure that all policies are applied equally and fairly.
Sure, I won’t miss the continuing saga of Lindsay Vonn vs. Julia Mancuso, or the antics of Evgeni Plushenko. But at least by remembering all of the great things that took place during the last few weeks and trying to keep that spirit alive until London in 2012, we can hold onto a little piece of the awesomeness that is the Olympics.
What Did You Think About the Bipartisan Health Reform Summit?
Posted by Lexi Ruben in General on February 25th, 2010
Did you watch today’s marathon health reform summit? What did you think? Vote below and then head to the comments to give us your thoughts.
Bipartisan Summit on Health Reform Thursday, February 25
Posted by Lexi Ruben in General on February 24th, 2010
Reminder – President Obama’s bipartisan summit on health reform will be held tomorrow, February 25, 2010, starting at 10:00am EST/7:00am PST. You can watch it live at whitehouse.gov/live (link is also on the Precept website). Check back here afterwards, as we should have lots of great thoughts and we will most definitely want to hear your thoughts on what went down.
HR Carnival – Undercover Boss Edition
Posted by Lexi Ruben in General on February 24th, 2010
Checked out that show Undercover Boss yet? I know lots of people have, and the HR Technologist put together a whole HR Carnival just for that show! So go check it out!
Reminder: Mark your calendars now – the March 31st HR Carnival will be right here, at this very blog! Can’t you just feel the excitement in the air?
HR Carnival, Mardi Gras Style
Posted by Lexi Ruben in General on February 19th, 2010
Sorry for the late notice, the latest HR Carnival is up over at the Infobox blog. For all of us who can’t be in New Orleans celebrating, this edition of HR Carnival may ease the sadness of not getting to party it up Bourbon Street-style! (Ok, probably not, but there are a bunch of great posts to read there, anyway.)
Also, a quick note – the March 31st HR Carnival will be hosted by us, so mark your calendars now!
HR Carnival – Super Bowl Edition
Posted by Lexi Ruben in General on February 8th, 2010
Did you know it’s estimated that over 1.5 million people call in sick the Monday after the Super Bowl? There is even an online petition to turn Super Bowl Monday into a national holiday. Well, if you did make it into the office – bravo! If you didn’t, well, you can try to feel a little bit productive by reading the latest HR Carnival – Super Bowl Edition! Hosted by Steve Boese, it’s just the thing to get you over your depression (sorry, Colts fans) or extend the celebration (way to go, Saints fans)!
HR Carnival
Posted by Lexi Ruben in HR Management on January 22nd, 2010
The latest HR Carnival is up over at the Simply Lisa blog! Get your winter coat and mittens on, because this carnival is in Minnesota! Brrr!
Seeing Isn’t Believing – Believing is Seeing
Posted by Lexi Ruben in General on December 23rd, 2009
Source: Newseum.org
Happy Holidays everyone. Whether you’ve recently celebrated Chanukah, or are getting ready to leave milk and cookies out for Santa, this is the time of year when (hopefully) you’ve completed Open Enrollment, the potential HR nightmare – the annual office holiday party – is said and done, and you can just take a few moments to sit back and actually enjoy your co-workers, friends, and family. With any luck at all, you’ll get a few days off to relax and celebrate, abandon thoughts of work and responsibility in favor of egg nog and days filled with football games. So, in the spirit of the season, I offer up two gifts to you: one old and one new.
The old gift is the most reprinted editorial in history, originally printed in 1897 in the New York Sun: a letter from little Virginia O’Hanlon, and answered unsigned by Francis Pharcellus Church, who assures Virginia that yes, indeed, there is a Santa Claus.
“DEAR EDITOR: I am 8 years old.
“Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
“Papa says, ‘If you see it in THE SUN it’s so.’
“Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?“VIRGINIA O’HANLON.
“115 WEST NINETY-FIFTH STREET.”VIRGINIA, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except [what] they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men’s or children’s, are little. In this great universe of ours man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect, as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge…”
The new gift is given to us by Stanley Bing at the Bing Blog, who assures Santa Claus that yes, 112 years later, there are still Virginias in the world.
“DEAR BLOGGER: I am very old and live at the North Pole. All of my little friends up here say that there is no Virginia any more. Mrs. Claus says that if I see it on the your website, it’s so. Please tell me the truth: Is there a Virginia? Signed, Chris (Santa) Claus, 115 Workshop Way, North Pole.
CHRIS, your little friends are wrong. They have been consuming too much media, and have been infected by the material that gains the most attention there. They do not believe that which doesn’t rise to the top of the search stack or get the highest ratings 18-49. They think that nothing exists but that which is measured by hits, twitters and chatter, or makes its way by other means to the top of our collective mind…”
Thank you, Mr. Church and Mr. Bing, for reminding us that with all the chaos and stress in the world, seeing isn’t believing – believing is seeing.
Happy Holidays everyone, and from all of us here at the Precept Employee Benefits Blog, we wish you a happy, safe, healthy, and prosperous New Year.
‘Twas the Night Before the HR Carnival
Posted by Lexi Ruben in HR Management on December 23rd, 2009
An early Christmas present (or belated Chanukah present) for all you HR folks – not only is the latest HR Carnival now up over at PseudoHR, but April Dowling, the PseudoHR leader, has turned it into a festive HR version of the Night Before Christmas! So go grab a cup of egg nog or some hot apple cider and settle in for some great holiday cheer from your favorite HR bloggers! Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
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