Instagram As A Human Resources Tool

Instagram is an online photo-sharing and social networking service that lets you take pictures, apply digital filters to them, and share them with your friends, family, employees or customers on a variety of social networks, such as Facebook or Twitter.

Learn how to use Instagram and 4 effective tips for HR professionals to boost awareness and engage with their target audience through this amazing social media platform.

Do or Do Not Let Your Employees Work From Home

New technologies, the proliferation of high speed internet and other wireless access have encouraged employers and employees to embrace flexibility and work-life balance. Nowadays 45% of the US workforce holds a job that is compatible with at least part-time telework. 

The CEO of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer, sparked controversy by announcing that employees of the technology giant may no longer work from home. And now Best Buy is following this initiative by ending it's own flexible work program. Mayer stated that the goal is to achieve greater collaboration, and could be right: A study, led by Isaac Kohane of Harvard Medical School, suggests that the proximity between colleagues is essential for innovation.

However, there is also research that suggests that employees who work from home can be more productive than their office counterparts. The most commonly cited study in the field of work from home vs. productivity comes from Stanford. The results were clear: Telecommuting is nothing to be afraid of. Workers at a Chinese travel agency took fewer breaks and sick-days, answered more calls every minute, and reported improved work satisfaction when they worked from home. Later, the agency allowed the employees in the experiment to choose if they wanted to work from home, and productivity increased by 22%.

Indeed, 21% of all medium/large businesses (100+ employees) in the US support some level of formal or informal telecommuting. This covers 710,000 telecommuters. And many businesses, both small and large, have found that telecommunications can create an environment with "the best of both worlds" generating happier employees more productive and loyal.

So... Should you let your employees work from home? Good question. Very difficult to answer. It definitely depends on the circumstances. The fallowing decision tree created by Mindflash, will help you decide if you should let your employees work remotely, or if they should be required to work in-house.

Bottom line... Letting your employees work from home is not a bad idea. Actually it can be an effective alternative, either full or part time. Just be sure to evaluate the company culture, the job requirements and  the character of the employee when making your decision.

What do you think? Have you ever worked from home? Have you ever let your employees work from home?

Podcasts for Everyone – HR Pros Don’t Miss The Happy Hour

Some Internet users prefer the written word: Twitter, blogs, company websites, and others prefer images: Pinterest, Instagram, Flicker. But we can’t leave out those who enjoy the new “radio” style talk and music shows known as podcasts.

A podcast is a form of audio broadcasting on the Internet. A multimedia digital file made available on the Internet for downloading through web syndication or streamed online to a computer, portable media player or mobile device. The word podcasting is a play on the word broadcast combined with the word iPod. Apple didn’t invent the word, however I'm sure they’re enjoying the free marketing.

Let’s face it. Broadcast radio is getting old. With podcasts you don’t have to wait to hear something that interests you. You choose what you want to listen when you want it. There are now thousands of podcasts and the number is growing rapidly.

For us, HR Professional, "HR Happy Hour" show is a great option. The show focuses on human resources, management, leadership, and HR technology. The host is Steve Boese, the Human Resources Technology Instructor at the Rochester Institute of Technology and a writer and editor for Human Resource Executive Magazine. As stated on their website:

The HR Happy Hour Show is a weekly BlogTalkRadio (the leading service for live-streamed radio shows), show that covers topics in Human Resources, Talent Management, Leadership, HR Technology, HR Conferences and Events, Social Media in the Workplace, Recruiting – essentially anything and everything having to do with people in the workforce. Finding them, hiring them, managing them, leading them, giving them the right tools and technologies to succeed and everything in between.

The show debuted in May 2009, and as of the date of this post, 165 Episodes have been broadcast. It is a fun, lively, energetic, and hopefully informative resource for the HR community and beyond.

The show broadcast day/time is Thursday evenings at 8PM Eastern Time. Don't miss it tonight. Who knows, maybe you're the next HR Happy Hour fan.

Click here to listen to HR Happy Hour.

Mastery Of Google Is Key To HR Success

Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping my neural circuitry, reprogramming my memory. I can’t remember a single phone number or the name of my high school science teacher. I honestly believe my mind is changing. I’m not thinking the way I used to think. Or maybe… just maybe someone is thinking on my behalf.

Yes… I think I know what’s going on. For more than a decade now, I’ve been spending a lot of time online, searching, surfing and simply Googling all! And I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one.

In the era of Google memory doesn’t matter. Google has become the source of wisdom for people all around the world. It is the Encyclopedia of the XXI Century available to Maria in Argentina, Luc in Australia and Kaito in Japan with a single screen in front, some quick clicks and a few relevant keywords. In words of its founder, Sergey Brin, Google is A revolution just like the industrial revolution.

In May 2011, the number of monthly unique visitors to Google surpassed one billion for the first time. Google has become the place where millions of people are searching to find there next big job, the best Italian restaurant in town or a moving company to make that exhausting process a bit less painful.

So… for all those HR professionals out there, I have news for you. Mastery of Google is key to human resources success. Today HR professionals must communicate directly with their employees, prospect employees and other stakeholders, when and where they want to, and needless to say those people are currently in the net Googling their way 24/7 through the endless world of information, products and services.

The world today is how Google defines it. So if you and your company want to be part of this world you should better start learning how to master Google and its various applications NOW... sounds like a difficult, underground, hyperlinked, hyper-complicated, hyper-hi-tech world, but it really isn’t. Today I’ll show you various uses of Google that will make the daily practice of HR a bit less painful and a lot more successful. Just hear me out for a couple of minutes, I promise this wont take long.

Let’s start with the basics: Google Search… I will not bore you with this. We all know the power of this magnificent search engine responsible for 2/3 of all the searches made in the US. Google Search has become a universal medium, the conduit for most of the information that flows through my eyes and ears and into my mind. As HR professionals we have an invaluable tool in our hands that permits us immediate access to an incredibly rich store of information.

Through Google Search we can find out who’s working as brand manager at Colgate-Palmolive, the latest discussion on HR policy that will affect my business, or where we can effectively post a job offer to find the best candidates for the job. In other words, research that once required days can now be done in minutes. I don’t need to have a rich address book of contacts to be hired in a top notch HR department. A few Google searches, some quick clicks and I’ve got it.

Furthermore… I’m sure you have frequently asked yourself: How many people are actually visiting my site? Where did my visitors come from? Twitter? Google? Did people like the stuff on my website? Were they engaged? Well, today you can answer all these questions by just registering to Google Analytics the perfect tool for research addicts, stats lovers and data geeks. With just one click into your report you’ll get your overall site usage numbers. This includes website’s traffic and traffic sources, the average time people spent on your site, number of conversions, percentage of new visitors, among many other metrics.

To make things even better, Google Analytics can also provide you basic demographics, system, and mobile reports. You can easily view visitors by language, country/territory, or city; by browser, operating system, and service provider. What else could you ask? You won’t have to hire any communication firm to tell you who’s your online audience. You can find out by yourself.

Keep in mind that data is no longer the domain of just marketers and analysts.  It is now a requisite skill for all managers. Without a doubt Google Analytics is an application you don’t want to miss.

Another interesting Google application is Google Alerts. In this age of information overload, it is becoming more and more complicated for us to have control over the information generated in the World Wide Web. Additionally, as HR professionals we must be informed of everything that’s being said and not said about our employer brand (or so wishes our boss). Here is when Google Alerts comes to the rescue. This powerful weapon helps us monitor the online presence of terms, brands, organizations and individuals.

Google Alerts is an online content change detection and notification service that will automatically notify us when new content from news, web, blogs, video and/or discussion groups are generated in the web. Notifications can be sent by email, as a web feed, or displayed on the users' iGoogle page. 

Tonight, I strongly encourage you to set up alerts for your company name, stock symbol, executive names, brand or product, and why not… for your competitor’s brand too. You don’t want to be the last one to know that your corporation is at risk thanks to a sloppy customer service, a broken guitar and a creative viral video passing along the Internet... Sorry United but that song is simply catchy. As David Meerman Scott said “Now more then any other time in history, speed and agility are decisive competitive advantages.”

Jumping to the Mad Men world, Google AdWords is an excellent tool to stop buying advertising at absurd prices. Google AdWords is Google’s flagship advertising platform that will allow you to promote your business to Internet users on Google and partner sites. You can start small with AdWords, there’s no minimum purchase size, and so it works for big campaigns as well as small projects.

Today, HR professionals are being asked to post job openings online. Without a doubt AdWords can be an excellent tool to do this. And the best part of it is that you only pay for the number of successful clicks that drive prospective candidates to your site. You’re boss will thank you for this… Be sure to ask for a salary raise.

Ladies and gentlemen the world has changed; today Google defines it and HR professionals must ride the cyber wave. Today we must welcome the new communication strategies that are here to stay. Believe me! Google can become your BFF, the best weapon you can have as a HR professional. Don’t be scared to give them a try.

Oh!... And before I leave I must tell you a little secret. Don’t tell anybody but, for the most part, Google is FREE! Enjoy it!

Human Resources Department – Drop Your Complaint Here

Lets be honest… few supervisors want to hear from employees who complain. Nobody wants to neither hear negative feedback nor listen to an employee who has a beef about something.

And the truth is the majority of companies, big and small, tend to discourage employees from airing complaints. This is for sure an extremely shortsighted policy. It is very important to pay attention to employee grievant, even if you don't think they are valid. If you don't handle them you can create resentment, low morale, low productivity, and increased turnover.

Today I saw a very funny video related to this matter on Youtube. It’s from the well known CBS sitcom “The Big Bang Theory.” Let’s watch it and then I’ll share with you five strategies to clear the air of complaints. 

It’s nice to know that this company is handling complaints. But maybe they’re approaching this matter in the wrong way. Joanna L. Krotz, author of "The Guide to Intelligent Giving" gives us some strategies on the best ways to clear the air of complaints. Fallowing is a summary of them.

1. Watch your tongue. The way you react to a complaint immediately sets a tone. Forget about subtle threats or outright punishment. Employees want to be heard, so open by saying, 'I appreciate, I respect, I understand why you might feel that way.’

2. Recognize the individual. Respond to the specific employee and his particular beef. So when addressing employee issues, it's critical to tune in to those individual needs, not some generic response.

3. Direct traffic. Set up a formal process for submitting grievances that's communicated to everyone. To avoid legal pitfalls, clearly define the process and ensure that it's private and moves toward a resolution.

4. Be consistent. No employee likes secrets or surprises. The way around accusations of favoritism, pleas of ignorance, or similar unrest is by citing the policies of a formal employee handbook or manual. It's all about communication. Companies that respond to a complaint, investigate it, and don't let it go by will stop it from growing.

5. Send the right message. To truly create an atmosphere that rewards employees for coming forward, you need to make it comfortable. Lip service won't do. There are dozens of ways to achieve that, for example "town meetings" get everyone in a room and get employee buy-in. In these meetings the CEO might ask which topics employees want to address and invite them to talk to him later, privately, if something is on their mind. The best companies are places where the chain of communication goes both ways.

Obviously, all complaints aren't created equal. But ignoring them altogether can only cause damage.

What is your company doing to clear the air of complaints?