In less than four weeks the Minion and I are bound for The HR Technology Conference in Chicago.  No I don’t have my own discount code; I’m just a lowly practitioner.  So why would a lowly practitioner go to an HR technology conference? If you know me this doesn’t confuse you, but for those that don’t, let me tell you.

I love technology. Any technology that can make the administrative side of my job easier is a blessing. Which means I love HR technology and what it can do for our employees and our HR team.

My first scoop on this conference came during HRevolution in Chicago via the HR Tech session with Bryon Abramowitz, Mike Krupa, and Bill Kutik’s HR tech session. What really captured my attention was the concept of the shootouts.  From the agenda:

Our signature event is now a full track with four sessions, each featuring two vendors demoing their live software to a tough scripted scenario — so they can’t just show you whatever they please. That makes The Shootout very different from the marketing demos you could get in your office or even be asked to pay for at other conferences! 

My company recently implemented a new HRIS. We went through all the traditional string of demos, meetings, and such. But what I would give to see those vendors in a shootout prior to our implementation.

The second draw for me is the great debate between Naomi Bloom and Jim Holincheck.  Naomi Bloom’s blog, and anything she comments on, is full of insightful information and I always learn something new from her.

After looking through the rest of the agenda and talking to some past attendees, I knew I had to see this conference in person. Between the blogger panel, moderated by fellow Alabamian Kris Dunn, the concurrent sessions, and the expo hall, I’m hoping to pick up some new ideas for our HR team and learn a few things….ok, learn a lot of new things.  I already have some ideas on what I’d like to adjust after our implementation; my boss may shoot me when I come back with more.

If you haven’t registered yet, I borrowed a discount code for you to use; BRYON10, all caps. Thanks to the HR Technologist, Bryon Abramowitz, for sharing the discount.  Head on over there and register.

Greetings from a hotel room in St Louis.  Yeah, that’s what my life has come to; travel, lots and lots of travel.

• This weekend, Shauna and I are road tripping to Orlando for a night just to hang out with the HRFlorida crew.
• The following weekend we are Atlanta bound for holiday the weekend.
• The following week I’m in LaPalma California.
• The next week I’m in Orlando again for a center opening
• The next week I’m in St Louis
• The next week the Minion and are descending on Chicago for the HR Technology Conference
• Every other following week I’m in St Louis with some Girls Night Out and weekend trips sprinkled in.

Holy crap. I swear I’m not a consultant, I’m an HR Generalist. So, what is an HR Generalist doing traveling this much? Well, I’m filling in for someone at our corporate office that is out on maternity leave. I’m managing our HR systems, benefits, and back end work on acquisitions through the end of the year.

Can you hear the nerdy giggles in my voice? I’m so looking forward to the work, not so much with the travel, but the work tickles me to no end.

I’m finally, albeit for a few months, doing what I enjoy most.  I expressed an interest to my boss in learning more of the back end work and she’s letting me do it.

I communicated what I wanted. I took control of my own professional development and career.  Does your boss or leadership team know what your goals and interests are? Maybe you should tell them. Worked for me.

Customer Service is not rocket science; it’s really not even slightly difficult.  Yet it never ceases to amaze me at the companies that are doing it horribly wrong.

Take for example my recent experience with Papa Johns. I placed an order online Friday night and within 20 minutes my doorbell was ringing. Twenty minutes on a Friday night is exceptional, and I was excited about the bacon cheese sticks.

As my husband and I sit down to enjoy our pie I start smelling the unmistakable aroma of bell peppers. The all meat pizza I ordered is smorgasbord of vegetables. Yuck.  The bacon cheese sticks were, as they say, slap your momma good.

I called up to the local store to be told by a young woman that they would remake my pizza and get it out to me in about an hour. I asked why the delay given we’d already placed the order and it was not what we received. Her response was they are short handed and “It’s like Friday night”. I politely (honest) asked for a full refund. I’m then told she doesn’t know how to do that since I paid with a Visa so I’ll have to hold.

When she comes back all I’m told is “Ok, thanks bye now”.  Insert me counting down from 10 here.  I called back and get “Hold please”. I hate that.  So I hung up and called back. When she answered I started talking. After arguing with her about how she didn’t really hang up on me, I must have hallucinated that in my hunger, I asked for a manager.

The manager tells me that they are very busy, it’s Friday night and he’s short handed.

Not once did I hear an apology for the mix up. Not once did they ask what they could do to make the experience a better. Not even after I told the manager that his employee had the worst customer service I’ve ever encountered.

Customer service is not hard. We all screw things up, its part of being human. When the customer calls out your screw up, do what ever it takes to make it right; even if it means apologizing for something that isn’t your fault. And for crying out loud, teach your employees to never hang up on customers.

We have a saying around my office, ‘Coworkers are involuntary friends’.   The general premise is simple; you cant pick your coworkers like you can pick your friends. We cover this in new hire orientation during the bit about respect for others and working on a call center type floor.

• Voluntary friends willing spend time with you on the weekends or after work; some even move across the country for you.
• Involuntary friends are nice to you and carry on a conversation with you because you sit beside them or are at the breakroom table with them.

That’s not to say involuntary friends can’t become voluntary, and vice versa. One of my best friends started as an involuntary friend.

As simple as this seems and as often as we cover it with our employees, people get complacent with their surroundings and someone inevitably says something that offends someone else.  Even a harmless comment said on the weekends with other friends can be offending to some. People can get touchy.

Reminding employees that even though they spend 8 plus hours a day with the person beside them doesn’t make them their friend is occasionally an enlightening experience.   We get comfortable with people and let down some of our professional guards.  Employees call their siblings or other friends and talk about their weekend shenanigans while Suzy beside them sits in her conservative pose massively offended by your trip to Buffalo Wild Wings.

The statement is a good way of reminding employees that all though coworkers will laugh and cut up with you, it doesn’t mean they want to hear all the juicy details of your weekend or even discuss the Bible School project with you.

It’s been a busy few weeks for me since the last post. A week after returning home from SHRM10 I hopped on another cross country flight to Las Vegas for the ADP Virtual Edge National Users Group Meeting. I know what you’re thinking, snooze fest right? Well, I attended for three reasons:

1. It was free, who doesn’t love a free conference.
2. There was session titled “Meet The Experts”
3. It was in Las Vegas, need I say more?

The Meet The Experts session was worth the entire trip, just that one hour. If you ever have a chance to sit down with a Product Developer, an Engineer, and a Product Manager of any system you are using, do it.  Within one hour I had all my questions about any issue I was having answered. Questions about issues I’d been struggling to fix for weeks.  I could have talked to them for hours but my lunch plans involved In and Out, I have priorities.

Sadly, I do have to tell you about the social media session I attended. It seems every conference these days has an ‘expert’ session on social media.  While I’m sure the usage of social media is working well for this particular company, I would by no means classify the speaker as an ‘expert’. When referring to any social media tool ‘The’ was used to preface it. For example, the company uses “The You Tube” in onboarding, and is looking at rolling out “The Tweeters”. Yes, tweeters. The session lasted 25 mins. The speaker did speak of the benefits of Google Alerts to learn what’s being said about your company. Kudos for that, just that.

The overall users group meeting was great. I enjoyed listening to best practices by site admins that use the system on a daily basis.  The closing session highlighted the new functions rolling out with the next release. The nerd in me loved it.  Candidate comparison is going to be an interesting tool. Two things seemed to be hot topics among the attendees, a more robust reporting tool and more control. While I understand you cannot release control of everything, I should be able to create my own user groups.  I also respect ADP for admitting they are having trouble working with their own reporting platform and saying if they can’t get it right and set it as a priority, VE will look outside of ADP. That may have been fluff for us, who knows.

I’m looking forward to the conference next year and having a list of questions and hopefully some best practice advice of my own.

I’ve started this post, both in my head and on the computer, more times than I can count.  Each time it takes a different direction. I guess I’m conflicted on my thoughts for SHRM10.

First, a million thanks to SHRM for letting me participate on the first Blog Squad! If you’d like to check out the blog, and I know you will, here’s a link.

My purpose for attending the annual conferences is not to learn. I don’t go for a legislative update or to learn about OFCCP. I have a local chapter for that provides that information cheaply and regularly.

I go to these conferences to be challenged with new and innovative ideas from companies that are doing it right. I want to hear what Fortune 50 companies are measuring now so I can take it back to my head of HR. SHRM did hit this point, once, with a panel discussion but I needed more.

As a generalist, I want to be able to take notes back to my office with points of interest greater than the sights and sounds. I want to hear what other generalists are thinking; I want to know what real Trench HR people are doing to make their companies great. Yes I attended the ‘Greatest Places to Work’ session; see my post on how obvious I found it. #snarky

What did I actually take away from SHRM10? A few things.

• The Monster crew was on point, with everything. Their execution and use of social media during this conference was something to be marveled. They hit every session and just so you could follow it, each session had its own hashtag. There are countless videos and posts to be read on their blog, I’ll never catch up. Bravo Monster.
• SHRM is headed in the right direction. They have staff on board that are engaged, aware, and passionate about making these conferences the best they can be. Curtis Midkiff, Manager of PR and Social Media for SHRM, has an endless supply of great ideas that if implemented could make SHRM11 the best conference we’ve seen to date. I don’t know the big guys (or woman) at SHRM, though I did meet Lon at dinner. What I would say to them is this; get out of the way. The people in the ranks have the right stuff, step aside and let them rock it.
• Dear exhibitors: lay off the booze in the expo hall. Its bad enough I have to watch grown men and women push and shove to get a hat but adding liquor to that mix is just fuel for a fire that doesn’t need to be flamed.
• Some of the session leaders get it; for example Gerry Crispins’ session on mystery shopping your recruiting process.  When I attend a session and don’t tweet, that should say something. Gerry started the session by interrupting the SHRM presenter when she told us to cut off our phones. It only got better from there. Gerry’s session was current, he provided solid data to back up his statements, and he held a dialogue with the audience.

What did I find lacking from SHRM10? Full engagement, don’t fear social media SHRM. I can’t complain too much about this because I know SHRM tried and know next year will be better. I always feel this after one of these conferences. Maybe it’s the sheer size of the conference. I told Shauna, a first time attendee herself, how I love to watch first time attendees walk through the expo hall with their mouth gapping and their eyes wide open. I said last year that social media made the conference better for me and this year was no exception. The networking events were bigger and had more attendees. The addition of the social media room, all though it was in a far away spot, was a great place to unwind and run into friends.   Share these things with all of those engaged in social media, and invite them over; we don’t bite, much.

What I’d like to see for SHRM11? I hope to see a SHRM fully engaged in social media next year. I don’t want to see it censored (aside from the vulgarity).  I’d like to see some sessions on how to utilize social media in the workplace. I’d also like to see some sessions on next practices from HR practitioners. And could we get a few sessions on technology, please?

The SHRM10 closing general session was led by Marcus Buckingham. Buckingham is an excellent speaker; witty and wicked smart….. and not to mention easy on the eyes.

There were so many quotes and stories from his session that I really don’t know where to begin.  Sometimes it’s the one liners that stick with me and kick off the thought processes. With Buckingham, I particularly liked how he would tell a story of something a leader would do and follow it with “Was it the right thing to do, well no but it was vivid.”  I love that!

There have been discussions in the blogosphere about passion and whether or not we should have a passion for our work.  You spend most of your time at work; you should have a passion for what you do. According to Buckingham workers in the US feel like they are playing their strengths 14% of the time. That’s sad.

While I don’t expect everyone to do what strengthens them all the time, they call it work for a reason; it should be higher than 14%.  As a leader, do you know what makes your employees tick? What makes them strong and invigorated? Do you know those same answers about yourself even?

As a generalist I’ll admit that I don’t always do the things that make me invigorated. Who likes filing anyway? But I know what does invigorate me; I know what makes an hour go by in 5 minutes. And my boss lets me do those things because she knows how productive it makes me and how passionate I am about those things.

Take the time to talk to your employees, really talk to them about what they’re vivid about. Put your employees to work in the areas that make them strong, not the areas that weaken them (even if they’re good at it).  Your business and your employees will be better for it.

I’m seeing a running theme with some of the session I’ve attended at this years SHRM conference.  Obvious.

So maybe I didn’t attend the right sessions, I don’t know.  The last session I attended was about bridging cultures together during an acquisition. Sounds exciting right? J

I think a lot of this material is obvious; is it just that we have to keep being told?

The speaker told several stories, most from personal experience.  One that stuck out to me was about an acquisition in which the acquiring company decided they weren’t going to integrate the new company into theirs for three years.  No integrated payroll, vacation policies, benefits; none of that.

My company does a lot of acquisitions and the first thing we start talking about is what systems are they using, what do their benefits look like, what policies do they have and how do they differ from ours.  We look at their overall business processes and begin the integration immediately.   Waiting three years seems detrimental to both sets of employees.

Acquisitions can go smoothly, or they can go horribly wrong. In the example I mentioned above, the speaker stated the employees from the acquiring company were not fully integrated for 15 years. That’s too long and I’m sure it affected the bottom line of the acquiring company.

These all come down to doing what makes good business sense.  When acquiring companies look at your culture, look at theirs. See what fits and what doesn’t and start that integration immediately.  By the time the dotted line is signed HR should have already been fully entrenched in the due diligence. It just makes good business sense.

For real time updates on the sights, sounds, and apparently the smells of SHRM10, follow the #SHRM10 hashtag on twitter.

SHRM Day one recap

There are a few things that stuck out today that, for me, have made this conference better than any of the others I’ve attended.  And I know you are just itching to know what those things are right? Ok, fine, just humor me.

1. Bacon Stuffed Waffles.  If you are ever in San Diego, even for an hour, Richard Walkers Pancake House is where you need to go for breakfast.  Amazing.
2. Conferences are better with friends. There’s something about being able to share with someone, immediately and in person, all the random thoughts and odd things that happen.
3. Expecting a room of 4000ish people to cut off their cell phones and cameras is just too much for SHRM to ask.  For those that didn’t see those tweets, SHRM asked all attendees to cut off their phones and cameras as no recording or flash photography was allowed for the key note. Yeah, that didn’t happen. The flashmob tweeting and flipcam action was hysterical.
4. The Monday night SHRM/Monster Social got a shout out from the SHRM CEO Lon O’Neil. The reaction was…interesting. Fellow blog squadder (totally made that word up) Jessica Miller-Merrill represented with a loud shout! Go Jessica!
5. Speaking of the opening general session; wifi, the convention center needs it.
6. Ray Jefferson, military veteran and head of the Department of the Labor, should have been a keynote speaker.  He delivered a very moving speech about the HR profession. My favorite quote was “The death of a dream sometimes leads to the beginning of a destiny”.  I know people whose dreams have been crushed by twisted turns of fate but, like Jefferson, have found a destiny in that loss and are much better for it.
7. Steve Forbes was interesting. He started off very strong with some witty comments that got many chuckles but his flamed died quickly.  One quote that I found thought provoking was something along the lines of “The economy wont improve without a strong dollar”. Much like a business, if your core is down and broken, you wont succeed. There are some really great comments using the #forb hashtag, check it out.
8. The exhibit hall was packed with people, swag, free booze, and free food.  I scored a nice sombrero from the Yahoo Hot Jobs booth. We also got the VIP tour of the Monster booth, very nice.

Tomorrow brings more SHRM10 goodness with concurrent sessions and mega sessions. We also have the SHRM/Monster Tweetup.

For real time updates on the sights, sounds, and apparently the smells of SHRM10, follow the #SHRM10 hashtag on twitter.