I attended an awards luncheon where the nominees were asked the question, “What would you have expected to have given up by now?” Answers involved a lot of childhood sweets, biting nails and imaginary dogs (that was not mine). Slap that question on the HR profession and I have a few ideas around the answers. Some are common sense and …
A Man’s DIY Guide to Rid Your Company of Gender-Related Harassment
Ready for some mansplaining? Good, because I’m a guy, and damn, it seems like companies are having a hard time avoiding gender-related harassment. So I’m here to help. I’m referring to s*x**l harassment, but I have to call it gender-related harassment because a lot of you have email filters at the corporate level that won’t allow content in with the …
Workplace Bullying, the New Normal?
At age thirteen I was led to an epiphany. The year was 1976, and this is my story – – I was an eighth grader, rocking a pair of light blue converse all-stars, the perfect afro, and living large at Canterbury Jr. High School. That was the year of my (to this day) most infamous encounter with Clifford, a classmate and neighbor, who by that time …
HR Girl Power in 2019
Ariana Grande proclaimed “God is a Woman,” Keith Urban sang about “Female,” and Jesse J begged girls to feel elevated and say “I am a Queen.” Fearless Girl is on the move to the NY Stock Exchange; Sheryl Sandberg focused headlines read “Fall from Grace” for her part in Facebook’s mishaps, and a new study shows a 51% wage gap …
Walk This Way: What the #GoogleWalkout Means for HR Leaders
The irony of the Aerosmith reference in my title is not lost on me in the wake of the #GoogleWalkout over sexual harassment, gender and pay equality, and transparency in reporting. Check the lyrics if you were born in the ’90’s. What struck me as I was reading about this protest wasn’t necessarily the fact that Google paid executives to …
The Golden Rule of the Workplace? It’s the No. 1 Way to Avoid Employment Lawsuits.
Maybe it’s me, but it seems like legal issues — or the potential for legal issues — have become a bigger and bigger concern for talent managers and Human Resource leaders today. That’s saying a lot, because “keeping my company from getting sued” has popped up at or very near the top of just about every survey that asks HR …
A Management Truism: The Very Best Lessons Usually Come From Very Bad Managers
Here’s a management truism to remember: You learn a lot more from a bad boss than you do from a good one. I was struck by this when I came across an old “Corner Office” column in The New York Times. It was a Q&A with Dawn Lepore, the now-former chairwoman and CEO of Drugstore.com, and she had a lot to …
Did I Hear Someone Say EEO?
I exited the elevator, right into… “Oh, there you are. Do you have some time later today? I’m totally unsupported. This is a hostile work environment I need to take a medical because of this place…I’m still waiting on my manager to get back to me on that. I’m a Jewish female over 40 with a disability, and I’m being …
Office Bullying is Driving Your Talent Away, Right Under Your Nose
While harassment and more egregious workplace behaviors finally received the attention they deserve thanks to the #MeToo movement last year, another crucial issue plaguing the office continues to go unnoticed. Bullying in the workplace is turning out to be a bigger concern than many would think. Without clear legal or office policies, oftentimes workers aren’t even sure what constitutes bullying, …
3 Talent Trends HR Shares with The Winter Olympics
Ahhh. The Olympics. The beauty. The drama. The similarities to our work world. The 2018 Winter Olympics are just beginning, but the anticipation of great competition and hyper-sports analogies are in full blast. And all the Tonya and Nancy memories. Seems like just yesterday. Therefore, it’s only fitting to highlight the talent trends between our HR lives and the Olympic …