Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Workforce Management Articles”
Did I miss the memo? When did the venerable Performance Improvement Plan — a managerial non sequitur that often has little to do with performance OR improvement — morph into the more concise but equally Orwellian “Corrective Action?” I bumped into this new terminology for what most managers lovingly refer to as a “PIP” a couple of weeks ago when …
It’s time to discuss improving employee engagement. Or is it employee experience? Who knows anymore? All I know is we continue to work our butts off to find that secret sauce that will ensure employees connect with the company and pledge their eternal soul to you in HR, the department they work in, and the organization as a whole–yet nothing …
I’ve had a lot of jobs so I’ve worked for a lot of different managers — the good, the bad, and the really ugly. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all of them, it’s this: it’s rare when you find one that you would really want to work for again. In fact, when I try to count the good …
I have known that distinct smell of marijuana ever since I was in middle school. The year was 1975, and I was spending the night at my very popular older brother’s house (known for his infamous parties). I happened upon that plate beneath to sofa that contained, among other things, a pack of funny little thin papers, little round seeds, …
Let’s start with a riddle: The poor have it. The rich need it. If you eat it you will die. What is it? I’ll answer it at the end of the post. Trust me, it will connect. While you’re thinking of the answer let’s have a quick chat. I’ve been noticing that the loud and monotonous drumbeat of reward and …
I’m not easily surprised, but I am when I see something like this: According to The Wall Street Journal, companies are now turning to robots to train and coach young managers. *Insert your bad manager joke here* According to The Journal, the training comes in the form of a bot, “a manager-training app powered by the artificial intelligence of IBM …
I learned long ago that you should always be ready to take good advice — no matter where it comes from. This month, it came from a guy named Michael Dermer who touts himself in his blog and newsletter as The Lonely Entrepreneur. His words of wisdom were short, sweet, and spot-on. He said: “Turn off at a respectable time, …
I read a lot of HR stuff about high performers. We all want an entire population of these employees at our companies. Adding more high performers means better overall results, which means better everything, right? Maybe not. Depending on your culture, you could be making it hard for the best performers to stay. As Long As It Helps Me A …
From the world of unicorn employers (Google, Amazon, Facebook, etc.), our next great HR experiment has almost gone undetected. What is it!? The use of Economists to run employee performance management! A recent article talked about a new trend of tech companies (Amazon, Google, etc.) hiring hundreds of PhD Economists for all kinds of roles: For example, Amazon runs a program …
Anarchist: A person who rebels against any authority, established order, or ruling power. Guess what? Anarchists are alive and well in your company. And HR is SICK OF IT. Every time we try to do something good, we get criticism. Why? Because we have the “appearance” of some sort of control – no other reason. It’s like I work for …
