Workplace Tribes

What Makes a Good Retirement Plan? [infographic]

TribeHR Staff — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:06:00 GMT

It's top-of-mind for almost everyone in the workforce—how can I save enough money to retire?

Businesses in different countries have different obligations to assist their employees with retirement savings. In many places, employers contribute to government-mandated pension plans. In others, retirement savings plans are lucrative benefits that employees appreciate dearly.

Do your employees even need a retirement plan? How strong is the government support? This infographic from Mercer investigates.

How do you find out what your employees want? You ask them in a safe environment. TribeHR lets you solicit anonymous feedback from your team. Get started today.

How to Make the Day Last Longer

TribeHR Staff — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:37:00 GMT

Mike and Raymond worked as copywriters at the same Chicago-based media company, teaming up on the same projects, and reporting to the same supervisor. Mike worked 40 to 45 hours per week. Raymond worked about 55 hours a week.

One day a senior executive complained that Mike always seemed to be leaving work early. Mike's supervisor came to his defense, saying he got as much work done in 40 hours as any of the other copywriters, including Raymond.

How did Mike do it?

Here are some tips on how you can use your time more wisely, so you can work faster, smarter, and better—and impress everyone around you:

Put in your eight hours a day. Are you working hard or hardly working? Too many employees today are hardly working. The average worker privately admits to working only five hours a day, wasting time on the Internet, socializing with co-workers, and “spacing out.”

Why aren’t they giving their employers eight hours a day? About one out of four feel underpaid. One out of three say they don’t have enough work to do. About one out of five blame co-workers for distracting them. Imagine how much more efficient we would be if we actually worked eight hours a day.

Take breaks. Work the eight hours you’re getting paid to work, but make sure you take a short break in the morning, and another in the afternoon. These breaks—even if you’re just stretching your legs or grabbing some coffee in the lunch room—help relieve stress and sluggishness, and make you more productive by giving you an energy boost.

Don’t try to multitask. It’s a waste of time because virtually no one can do it well (even though lots of us think we can). When you’re trying to do more than one thing at a time, one task is always distracting you from the other one, so you end up doing a bad job of both. Once you realize this, you have to start all over—one task at a time.

Set priorities. Before you leave work for the day, make a list of all the things you must get done the next day, and make a second list of the things you’d like to get done. When you come to work in the morning, start on the first list. After you’ve checked off everything on your first list, start on your second list if you have enough time.

Twenty-four hours of sunlight while working in the far North? On a planet with two suns? You can still be wasting time. Flickr/Andreas Schreyer

Figure out the best way to communicate. Email can be a very time-efficient way to communicate, but that doesn’t mean it’s always the best way. Do you need an answer right away? Make a phone call or knock on an office door. Waiting around for someone to reply to an email can be a huge time waster, not to mention that it can really stress you out. Plus, if you’re talking with someone in person, you don’t have to worry about having your tone misconstrued.

Organize. Know where you can find everything you need to get your work done—whether it’s on your desk, in a filing cabinet, or in your computer. That doesn’t mean you have to be a neat freak. You can be a slob, but you need to know where everything is if you want to use your time wisely.

Don’t procrastinate. The workplace isn’t high school or college. You probably can't get away with waiting until the last minute to do a project. More likely, your boss will review your work and know that you procrastinated, and you very well may have to redo it. Talk about a time waster. One of the worst things about procrastination is that it not only hurts you, but it also might hurt your entire work team.

Use technology to your advantage. Can you use videoconferencing or Skype to meet with colleagues or clients in another city? Do you have a smart phone or laptop that will let you work when you’re not at your desk? Can you attend a webinar rather than travel to an out-of-town conference? Take advantage of all the wonderful ways that technology can save you time.

These tips are all so simple that you might be thinking, “these are nothing but common sense.” You’re right. They are common sense. So why don’t you follow them?

Easy-to-use HR technology can make your whole team more productive. Get started with TribeHR.

Carnival of HR by the Numbers

Joseph Fung — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Today’s Carnival of HR came up to visit us at the TribeHR offices in Canada, and it's got some doozies.

Here at TribeHR we’re really big on numbers (for example, see our infographic on social recruiting from back in November). To summarize the Carnival for you, we pulled together some data on the posts:

The blog posts in this Carnival add up to 12,467 words
The posts average 623 words long (only 40% of the "ideal" length)
100% of the submissions were in on time
The word “centre” was spelled the Canadian way 25% of the time

Because we're such data junkies, the first post that jumped out was Change & Communications: Implications for Asia Pacific by Abhishek Mittal. As a service to companies that operate in the Asia-Pacific region, he summarizes some of the most important findings of a recent Towers Watson study.

Similarly, we learned how Bias Charges are at an All-Time High from Anne Freedman of HREOnline’s The Leader Board (sneak-peak: 99,947 is a daunting number).

We love HR technology, so it was awesome that Naomi Bloom of In Full Bloom sent us An Open Letter to HR Executives, outlining some great key points to keep in mind when choosing an HR platform.

At TribeHR we do our best to support legislative requirements and compliance issues from all around the world, and a number of today's posts take a compliance and legal tone. We start off with a commentary on the Fair Labor Standards Act in FLSA Pitfalls by Rachael Peterson, and continue with a fascinating read from Mike at Omega HR Solutions. He talks about the implications of a recent supreme court ruling which dealt with what constitutes a “complaint” from an employee. Along similar lines, Mike McCarty at Safe Hiring Solutions asks Is Your Employment Background Checks Policy Discriminatory?

While reflecting on the personal side of things, and the often very real and very difficult situations we encounter, Paul Smith at Welcome to the Occupation shares his thoughts on how HR Takes The Bitterest Pill, while Lynn Dessert at Elephants at Work shares her insights in 16 helpful questions to crack open a stalled career.

If you're in the mood for some reflection on your role and your profession, Wally Bock at Three Star Leadership offers some interesting thoughts on what a world without bosses might look like, while Ian Welsh brings one of the most engaging posts in today's Carnival, "And That’s When HR Met Its Waterloo."

All bias aside (TribeHR has a soft spot for our hometown of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada), Ian’s post includes some excellent examples of being stuck in difficult situations—I think we could all stand to do a little more sharing.

Along with Wally and Ian on the reflection side of things, Prasad Kurian at Simplicity @ The Other Side of Complexity muses on the Political Paradox for OD & HR. Ben Eubanks continues the personal learning and sharing thread with his post Ten Rules to Work (and Live) By.

With management in mind, Dan McCarthy shares with us How to Get the Most Benefit from an Executive Development Program. There’s also a fantastic Summary of HR Directors Business Summit from John Ingham.

A newcomer to the Carnival is Joyce Akiko at Go HR for Startups. In her post Managing Job Openings: Do You Need an Applicant Tracking System? she gives an ATS intro to startups, and also offers some great advice on selecting a startup-friendly ATS.

Thinking about personal technology? Jennifer Miller at The People Equation talks cells phones and managing mobile devices in Stack Your Phones at the Next Company Meeting. Meanwhile, Trish McFarlane at HR Ringleader asks Can Music Impact Employee Performance?

Things get personal again as we wrap up today’s Carnival. Doug Shaw reminds everyone to treat workers like human beings in Liveable Lives — Humanising the Workplace. Meanwhile, Ben Martinez begs us to promote retention through communication in Strategic HR Wishes For Retention, and John Hunter cautions that thorough processes shouldn’t be confused with mistrust in Trust But Verify.

Next week’s Carnival of HR is hosted by the always-sharp Laurie Ruettiman over at The Cynical Girl. We’ll see you then!

In the meantime, subscribe to the Workplace Tribes mailing list and RSS feed. And don’t forget to Like TribeHR on Facebook, Follow TribeHR on Twitter, and sign up for the TribeHR newsletter.

Unconventional Job Postings and Recruiting Ads

TribeHR Staff — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:11:00 GMT

It used to be that the classifieds of the Sunday newspaper were the best place to find a job.

Then, as the digital era began, online job boards like Monster and CareerBuilder began to slowly exert their dominance. Today, however, companies are expanding their recruiting strategies to include some unique and out-of-the–box venues.

Many companies have begun using social media sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter as their recruiting platforms. Twitter postings are limited to the 140 characters, but a quick hash-tag relevant ad can make it easy to find a great candidate.

Enterprise video hosting service Vidyard promotes their recruiting efforts with branded T-shirts that feature QR codes.

Recruitment videos can provide much more emotionally detailed descriptions of the positions you’re recruiting for. Companies like Google have long been using video recruitment tools to solicit some of the world’s most brilliant employees.

Tech Savvy Recruitment Campaigns

With technology advancing and mobile campaigns taking off, there are unending possibilities for utilizing digital media in recruitment campaigns. Text messaging campaigns are becoming increasingly popular, but it’s just the tip of the mobile iceberg.

Location-based marketing will continue to evolve and will be a great place to recruit local candidates. This technology pings people as they approach a certain geographical distance from your business.

For example, you can have a text message that reads: "Need a job, stop inside XYZ to fill out an app and get a free cup of coffee." Not only might you find a great employee, but you may land a new customer as well.

Companies can utilize QR Codes (those little black boxes that are scanned via mobile devices) to place recruitment ads nearly anywhere. These little codes can link back to a video or website which can provide an applicant with detailed information on the positions available and how to apply for the job.

In-Your-Face Recruitment Campaigns

Perhaps technology-based recruitment isn’t quite what you’re looking for. There are plenty of other unconventional ways to post open positions.

Looking for a truck or school bus driver? Why not utilize the very tool of trade for the advertisement, like the side of the bus, the cab of the truck or any other noticeable unused blank spot. Ads of the World

Consider atypical locales. They take a little ingenuity and creativity to determine, but any unused space that is seen by your target demographic can potentially be used as a recruitment platform. You may need to get a little resourceful to pull off some of these tactics, but just think about the response you will get.

Need a new bartender or server at a swanky club? How about a great flyer located at eye level in the ladies room? Looking for a new barista? Place your ad on the bottom of your coffee cups, with instructions on where to apply for the job.

Are you thinking of stealing your tech-savvy competitors' finest? Consider placing a billboard just outside of their headquarters written in code only they will understand.

Whether you post your ad in the most unconventional of places or the most traditional, your ultimate goal is always to have it seen. You need to make it stand out from among the crowd of other recruitment postings, and attract the best candidate for the position.

Find your candidates unconventionally. Hire them innovatively. Save time and money with a powerful custom TribeHR job board. Applicant tracking and employee engagement software from as little as $19/month. Get started with a free 60-day trial.

Should I Hire my Best Friend?

TribeHR Staff — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 14:15:00 GMT

Hire your best friend? Or your brother? Or your aunt? You must be crazy. Or maybe you’re a genius.

There are pros and cons to every business decision, and this one is no exception.

Why You Should Do It

You love your friend, and you want to help him out. Nothing wrong with that.
Your brother is someone you can trust, and you can’t have enough employees who will show you loyalty.
Is your friend that guy? Be careful about hiring that guy.
Flickr/Meghan Dougherty

You’ve known your aunt for 40 years, and you know her strengths and weaknesses. There will be very few (negative) surprises if you hire her.
Your good friend knows you well. He knows when to give you some space and when you need some words of encouragement.
In some areas, there can be tax advantages to it. In the United States, businesses that employ family members can get tax deductions for “reasonable compensation,” which in certain situations can redirect income from higher business rates to lower personal rates. (Fair warning: the IRS has the right to question whether compensation is in fact reasonable.)

Why You Shouldn’t Do It

Your friend takes advantage of the fact that he’s your friend. He arrives late, leaves early and takes more sick days than anyone else.
Your sister is a great person, but she just doesn’t have an aptitude for your business.
Your uncle has a lot of experience in your business, but he can’t stop treating you like you're 10 years old, and he doesn’t give you the respect you’ve earned, especially around other employees.
Your buddy is smart and ambitious—a little too ambitious because he acts like he’s the boss. Maybe he’s the Alpha Dog within your group of friends, but he’s acting the same way at work.
Your cousin is convinced he should earn more than the guy who’s doing the same job “because blood is thicker than water.”
Hiring your friend is the easy part. Promoting him is difficult because other employees may assume it happened only because of his relationship with you. Demoting or even firing him can be even harder, because of the impact it will have on your personal relationship with him.

If You Do It

You can see that there are a plenty of pros and cons to hiring a friend or family member. If you do it, here are some rules:

Always act professionally in the workplace.
Create a clear job description for your friend or family member.
Make sure your friend is governed by the same policies and procedures as every other employee, and that the entire team knows this.
Establish specific hours for your friend, even if he’s a part-time employee.
If you do decide to pay a friend or family member "more than they're worth," keep that private. Make sure that both he and HR know the importance of not communicating that with anyone.

Find the best person for the job. Build the best team with TribeHR's applicant tracking system.

HR in Popular Culture

TribeHR Staff — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:30:00 GMT

Popular culture has a long tradition of bashing management and human resources. Whether portrayed as ineffectual, incompetent, or downright evil, HR seems to be cast either as the heavy or the punchline. Hopefully that trend will change soon—but in the meantime, here are the top five examples of human resources in popular culture.

The Top 5 List: HR in popular culture

Dilbert — Scott Adams’ long-running comic strip (first published in 1989) is probably the most well known example of human resources in popular culture. Dilbert appears in 2000 newspapers worldwide in 65 countries and 25 languages, in addition to spawning a TV series, video game, merchandise, and books.

Catbert is Dilbert’s company's evil feline Human Resources director. He's buddy-buddy with the Pointy Haired Boss, and loves to watch employees worry about their jobs and potential layoffs.
Office Space — Peter Gibbons reports to eight different bosses and is sick of hearing about cover sheets and TPS reports. So when two management consultants are brought in to cut expenses by downsizing, hilarity ensues. Mike Judge’s 1999 directorial debut has achieved cult status over the years. In 2008, Entertainment Weekly named Office Space one of "The 100 best films from 1983 to 2008."
The Office (U.S. version) —This Emmy award-winning TV show continues the tradition of bashing human resources in popular culture, with Toby Flenderson as the human resources representative for the Scranton branch of paper distributor Dunder Mifflin/Sabre. Michael Scott, played by Steve Carell, probably shows the most disrespect for Toby and the HR function, constantly telling everyone in the office that HR’s job is to make the office ‘lame’.

Typical comments include, "Toby is in HR, which technically means he works for corporate, so he's really not a part of our family. Also, he's divorced, so he's really not a part of his family."

The British version is equally funny.
Horrible Bosses — This black comedy, which stars Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell, Kevin Spacey and Jamie Foxx, is about three friends who (instead of just quitting their jobs) decide to murder their bosses. Contrary to Office Space, in this film the employees hire a consultant—a murder consultant.

To promote the movie, Warner Bros. set up a 12-foot Voodoo doll resembling a corporate boss in downtown Montreal. People were given the chance to vent their frustrations on the doll by stabbing and hitting it with large needles.
Human Resources — This movie, actually titled Ressources Humaines, premiered at the 1999 San Sebastian Film Festival, where director Laurent Cantet won the New Directors Award. It's a drama about a recent college graduate who lands an internship at the plant where his father has worked for years.

A government-mandated 35-hour work week was introduced in France in 1998 to allow more people into the workplace, by reducing the time each employee worked by 4 hours each week.

The young man is the liaison between management and labor as the plant switches to a 35-hour workweek. But when the company uses the intern’s data to recommend the firing of many long-time employees, including his father, things really get interesting.

HR can be so much better! See how TribeHR can keep your team energized, and follow us on Twitter for awesome HR content.

Attracting Staff to Rural Businesses

TribeHR Staff — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:45:00 GMT

How to get star candidates to move to smaller towns

You’ve got a nice little business, but it’s not in New York City, Los Angeles or Chicago. It’s also not in Milwaukee, Sacramento or Tampa. Heck, it’s not even in Akron, Albany or Anchorage.

You’re in rural America—exactly where you want to be, and you’re not alone. About one out of five non-farm businesses are located outside of metropolitan areas, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But even though you’ve chosen to be off the beaten path, that doesn’t mean you don’t want to employ the best of the best. So how do you recruit great employees to work and live in Mayberry?

Here are six steps to help you find and hire employees who will thrive at your small-town business:

1. Know what your employees like.
What attracted your existing employees to your company in the first place, and what has caused your long-time employees to stay? Those attributes, whatever they may be, are likely to be the same things that will attract and retain others.

Pepper graders at a 50+ employee food packaging plant in Pilot Mountain, North Carolina. flickr/USDA

2. Find the right types of people.
Who are they? They might be locals who grew up where your business is located and don’t need anyone to convince them that your town is a good place to be. They might be people who went to small colleges in small towns and love that atmosphere. Or they might just be the kind of people who like to be a big fish in a small pond, and see your company as a great opportunity to be that big fish.

3. Accentuate the positive.
What does your company have going for it? Flexible work schedules? Great salaries? Lots of vacation? Company cars? Profit sharing? Job security? Whatever it is, play it up.

That goes for the city where you’re located, too. Is it a beautiful place to live with friendly people? Does it have good public schools and very little crime? How about the cost of living? Very often workers can earn a smaller salary in a small town and come out ahead.

Median household income in rural places is about 78 percent of income in metro areas, though the lower cost of living in non-metro areas usually narrows or closes the gap, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service. Be sure to make that case convincingly to job candidates who mention that they’re being offered more money elsewhere.

4. Highlight cultural opportunities.
Employees who like big cities very often like them because of the cultural opportunities they offer. Play up your area’s cultural offerings, whatever they may be. Rural areas often have excellent regional museums, great summer-stock theater, and unique festivals.

5. Court the most coveted job candidates.
Make candidates feel like they're the girlfriend or boyfriend who you want to be with for a long time. If you find out during their interview that they like wine, send them a gift basket with a couple of bottles of wine. If you know they like going to movies, mail them movie tickets. Do whatever it takes. And, yes, flattery often works, especially with younger people. Just make sure your flattery is honest and sincere.

6. Be patient.
Don’t hire good people who won't be a good fit for your company. Your employees cost you a lot of money—an average of $20.91/hour for wages and $9.21/hour for benefits, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics—so you don’t want to make hiring mistakes.

Companies in rural areas may have to work harder to find and keep good employees, but that hard work often pays off with a loyal and stable workforce. Whatever you do, don’t try to avoid that hard work. If you do, you may have to install the only revolving door in town.

TribeHR's tools make it easy for smaller businesses to recruit and retain star employees. Get started today.

Alternative Performance Rating Systems

TribeHR Staff — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 13:06:00 GMT

Nearly every aspect of business has a “gold standard”—a practice that’s considered the best of the best. But, all too often, those same standards become outdated or simply irrelevant for the times.

In HR, the “behavioral anchored rating system” (BARS), which works by assigning a numerical value to specific behaviors needed for individual job duties, is often considered king. BARS helps ensure that both the general and specific duties of an employee are assessed in a quantitative and qualitative way.

Although BARS is an industry-leading appraisal tool, the system has some significant drawbacks. BARS demands a time and financial commitment that many smaller organizations simply can’t meet. Supervisors sometimes find rating certain aspects of an employee’s performance difficult, since the listed behaviors do not always include the required actions of the employee—and re-development is challenging.

BARS may be deemed the best by many, but there are several alternatives to the traditional performance rating systems that may better fit your company:

Mentoring/Coaching Sessions

Some companies have scrapped performance reviews all together. In their place, the company works to match its employees with a career coach who can help solve problems one-on-one, and offer advice about best practices within the job. These coaches also try to target and fix an employee’s deficiencies. Often the coach is a respected leader within the organization, or a manager from another department.

The coach system works best when it’s an ongoing practice, optimizing both contiguous (ie. constant) and continuous (ie. with breaks between sessions) evaluations. Coaches may report back to the employee’s direct supervisor with evaluations and recommendations.

360-Degree Feedback Appraisals

Success! flickr/Lucy Kimbell

Teamwork is a critical aspect in every organization, so utilizing the members of the team is considered an accurate and credible technique for conducting appraisals. Although not a new strategy, the 360-degree feedback appraisals allow the entire team, including peers, subordinate and superiors, to weigh in on the performance evaluations. Since these evaluations come from several different sources, employees often feel they are more accurate and credible.

According to a study by the National Fire Academy that examined the functionality of 360-degree feedback, employees are more likely to change their work habits in order to gain respect from their colleagues than they are from their supervisors.

Self-Appraisals

We all know that you are your harshest critic. That’s why self-appraisals work. Performance evaluations conducted by the employee can provide honest and constructive feedback to managers. Employees know where they have succeeded, and where they have run into obstacles (both internally and externally).

Utilizing self-appraisals often helps employees define clear and realistic goals for progress and improvement. But beware: employees have to be motivated to take the exercise seriously, and some overly confident employees may miss the mark completely, giving themselves much higher rankings than they deserve.

Peer Evaluations

Some organizations have moved to 100% peer-based evaluations. Taskforces of six to eight employees are selected to develop and implement the evaluation process. Peer reviews have a high level of acceptance within the working environment, and are viewed as stable, task-relevant and accurate.

Many systems also allow for open communications between task force members and employees. This creates a more worker-friendly environment by providing a safe and non-threatening forum to discuss grievances and other organizational concerns. Most peer review evaluations, however, do not affect pay raises or incentive bonuses.

Regardless of the evaluation system that your company implements, it's essential that employee feedback be taken seriously. Workers want to know if they are meeting expectations. They want to know where they can improve, and where they excel. They want to know what skills they need to develop or enhance. They want to know if, quite simply, they're doing a good job or not.

Clearly communicating employees' strengths and weaknesses creates a more productive and more efficient working environment.

Have you adopted a unique evaluation system that works for your company? We want to hear about it. Leave a comment or send us a message.

TribeHR's online performance rating software can be customized to do almost anything. Get started today with a free trial.

How to Develop a Solid Affirmative Action Program

TribeHR Staff — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:42:00 GMT

Governments often require employers to develop programs that promote diversity in the workplace. Employers must understand the specifics of the requirements in order to avoid any legal problems when they create these plans.

In the United States, satisfying the Affirmative Action Program (AAP) laws can be tricky. Employers need to know whether the organization is required to have an affirmative action plan, know how to set the plan up, and how to ensure that it's enforced.

The following tips apply to fulfilling the needs of an AAP plan in the United States, but are good tips for developing a diversity strategy in most other countries as well. (But always remember: legal requirements change depending on where and when you live!)

Assessing Need for an AAP Plan

Setting up an affirmative action plan is necessary for any business covered by the affirmative action requirements. If your company has 50 or more employees and meet any of the following conditions, then an affirmative action plan is probably necessary:

Hold a federal contract paying $50,000 or more per year.
Your business is overseen by a federal agency such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (as in the case of a financial institution) or the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs.
Serves as a depository of federal funds.

In addition to U.S. federal requirements, many states have their own requirements detailing when employers must set up an affirmative action plan. You need to check the laws in your state or country before you make a decision.

AAP Requirements

If a program falls under the federal AAP requirements, there are a number of standards that employers must meet. These components include an analysis of the organization, its job groups, and its placement goals.

Also, employers must have plans in place to keep all information related to the plan confidential. They must also maintain personnel and employment records and track applicants. Finally, they need a system for enforcing these requirements.

Companies should conduct regular audits to avoid employment discrimination. You should do an audit every time an employee is hired, promoted, or a group of employees are laid off.

Regular audits help the organization see how employees are doing in an organization. This helps to ensure that vulnerable groups aren't being given less desirable positions in the workplace. Audits help identify how personnel decisions are implemented in your company. You want to know if gender, race, culture, or disability have unfair influences on HR decisions.

Self-audits mean looking at employees in different job groups (i.e. employees that shares similar employment characteristics, like pay and opportunities). Within each of these job groups, make sure you identify who holds the position. You'll need to keep records in case you the government decides to conduct an audit of its own.

Companies and legally required to uphold the requirements of the AAP, or whatever regulator you report to in your own jurisdiction. But implementing AAPs and promoting diversity aren't just about meeting legal requirements—they're about making your business better.

Store your files in the cloud, manage your recruiting, protect employee privacy, and solicit anonymous feedback with TribeHR's comprehensive HR system.

The Glass Office: Pros and Cons

TribeHR Staff — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 14:17:00 GMT

The Pros and Cons of Working in a Glass Office

One of the most heart-pumping scenes in the movie The Social Network occurred when Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin stormed out of a glass-enclosed conference room, confronted Mark Zuckerberg and angrily accused Zuckerberg of cheating him out of millions of dollars of Facebook stock. Saverin—or the actor who played him—then grabbed Zuckerberg’s laptop and smashed it into many little pieces of plastic and metal, as dozens of co-workers watched, mouths wide open.

This scene was for all to see because Zuckerberg was hard at work at a little desk, which was pushed up against other little desks in a wide open space, where there was no privacy to be found.

The fact is that the office depicted in the movie looks like a lot of workplaces today. Nearly 70 percent of all offices in the U.S. have an open floor plan, with glass-walled conference rooms and desks separated by no or low walls, according to a report by the International Facilities Management Association.

So many companies use this “open seating design” because the benefits are pretty obvious:

Communication between co-workers is easier and quicker—and better because it’s eye to eye.
Better communication leads to better collaboration, which leads to higher levels of productivity.
More natural light in the workplace improves employees’ moods.
Fewer offices and cubicle walls reduce build-out, maintenance, and energy costs.
An open floor plan also gives more employees views of the outside, making them feel less confined and putting them in a better frame of mind.
Employees will use their time more wisely if they know it’s more likely they're being watched.

But there are downsides, as The Social Network suggests:

Employees sometimes need privacy that their work stations don’t provide, so they need to get up and borrow a vacant office, or go to a conference room, which takes time and can hurt productivity.

Open floor plans make noisier work places, and all but the most expensive glass walls allow more noise to pass through.

Some companies realize after the fact that their open floor plans are too open, and they end up spending money on frosting glass, erecting or lengthening cubicle walls, or replacing glass with sheetrock.

So do the pros outweigh the cons? Employees who like to doze off at their desks after lunch would say no, but a growing number of companies say yes.

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How to Engage your Remote Staff

TribeHR Staff — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:20:00 GMT

Engaging your team when they're in the same room as you can be challenging. But when they're halfway across the country, or halfway across the world, the task can seem impossible.

New software increasingly allows businesses to reach farther and farther from their HQ in a quest to get the best people for the least amount of money. But remote staff often report that they don't feel supported by their colleagues and supervisors.

Coping with telecommuters can prove challenging. It's important to remember to keep communication lines open, to ensure your corporate culture includes all employees, and to provide ongoing training.

A new infographic from mindflash.com offers a few tips on how to make training for your remote workers go smoothly:

Looking for more great HR infographics? Download our free eBook: "A Look at 2011: TribeHR Infographics."

Business Success is Social, Local, Mobile

TribeHR Staff — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:00:00 GMT

As the New Year begins, marketing insiders from across the web have compiled some of the best strategies to help make 2012 as successful as possible. Topping nearly every list is the need to embrace mobile technologies, tap into real (as opposed to virtual) communities, and to strengthen and develop relationships with consumers, employees and everyone in between.

Surge in Mobile

Mobile marketing will surely dominate in 2012. As smartphones and tablet use continues to increase, the need for mobile-optimized websites will be vital. Companies should be adept in using simple forms, easy navigation, and big buttons.

Marketers will need to consider screen size when developing advertisements and content. The best of the best will work to optimize their platforms for both tablets and smartphones.

Location-based marketing will begin to emerge with geo-targeting (targeting demographics based upon a particular geographic area). Imagine walking by a coffee shop, when your phone alerts you to a new message. You open it to find a coupon for a free coffee from the very store you just passed. This technology is still quite new and will surely have some quirks to work out, but it's mobile marketing in the purest form.

Real Life, Real Communities, Real Prospects

We see that you're nearby! Come in for a visit! flickr/sidkid

Whether you have a brick-and-mortar store, a service to provide, or even if your entire business is based online, it's undeniable that the local community plays an integral role in small business success.

While it's obvious that the brick-and-mortar small businesses need to embrace their communities, online brands do as well.

With today’s increasing technologies, it’s not unheard of for websites to have customized pages for specific regions. For example, if a Philadelphia native were to visit a site based out of California, the background images can be that of the city’s skyline, a view of Boathouse Row or the statue of Ben Franklin.

By relating the images to the user, you are already one step ahead of the game, instantly making the visitor feel comfortable with your site. Evoking feelings of home can promote engagement and purchasing, even when users are across the country or the world.

In addition to online marketing strategies, there are many other ways to stay “local” in business. Offering pro bono services to non-profits, or creating community based seminars, positions you not only as a business leader, but as a community leader.

Connecting the Relationship Dots

Ultimately, it all comes down to developing, maintaining and cultivating relationships. 2011 named content as king in the marketing world, but the real focal point should be the customer. The relationship that is formed between a business and its customer is by far the most crucial, especially in today’s world of technology.

Social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn create instant word-of-mouth advertising. But if you fail to live up to your promises, a 140-character message can easily convey a patron's dissatisfaction—which may then be quickly shared throughout the web. Fortunately, the same holds true for positive feedback.

Utilizing social networking sites as part of your marketing strategy allows you to establish your place among industry thought leaders. It provides a forum for interaction between the company and its customers, opening the lines of communication for both positive reviews and crisis management. In addition, it’s the quickest, easiest, and maybe even the cheapest way to share company news, promotional activities, and accomplishments, all with the goal of driving traffic back to the site.

Content Marketing Tool Box

Developing an online marketing strategy is not simply about writing a good blog or Tweet, but finding a way to incorporate all the tools available. From mobile marketing to social media management, each tool is as important as the next—as long as the costumer is always the number one priority.

Make your employees a top priority, too. Get them a social HR software service.

By Angela Stringfellow. Angela is a social media strategist, and a PR and marketing communications consultant.

To Review Performance or Not to Review Performance

TribeHR Staff — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:17:00 GMT

Let's start with a question: Which of these statements is true?

A) Only 45 percent of American workers said the feedback they receive in their performance reviews is fair and accurate.

B) 67 percent said the feedback they receive during their performance appraisal is a surprise to them.

C) Only 25 percent said their performance reviews include specific examples to support the feedback they receive.

D) All of the above.

E) None of the above.

The answer, unfortunately, is "D," according to a recent report.

It's statistics like these that are causing a small number of companies to scrap formal performance appraisals—between 1 and 10 percent no longer conduct conventional reviews.

The companies that still do semi-annual or annual reviews maintain that scheduled conversations between managers and employees enable them to formally recognize their employees' achievements, and let them point out weaknesses for employees to work on.

Managers frequently use reviews to offer career guidance and to build relationships. Eliminating performance evaluations, supporters say, might mean that "difficult" conversations between managers and employees never happen.

Failing to officially document problematic performance can pose problems if an employee is fired. But many employees say performance reviews make them nervous, and don't motivate them.

Managers need to know how to speak to the people they supervise.

Some companies agree and say they are glad that they no longer give reviews, according to a yet-to-be-published study which examined 17 firms that don't use formal performance appraisal systems. All 17 reported low turnover, high employee morale and strong relationships between managers and employees, among other benefits, according to the study by Scherwin, Coget, and Kirner.

Last year, Atlassian Inc., an Australian software company, ditched traditional performance reviews for its 450 employees. The publicly blogged experiment, which continues, asked managers and their subordinates to discuss performance and goals at weekly one-on-one meetings, with feedback going in both directions. The company says it's working.

Glenroy Inc., a Wisconsin packaging film manufacturer with 178 employees, hasn't given formal performance reviews for about 20 years. The company's informal system has put responsibility on workers to offer advice. The employees, meanwhile, are trained to give feedback effectively, and to receive it graciously. Meanwhile, an outside consultant determines pay, and workers are promoted if they and their supervisors think they're ready.

New experiments in employee evaluation doesn't always work, however. The University of Wisconsin Credit Union gave up performance reviews but returned to them because no other system had been put in place. Experts say it's important to do something if you don't conduct performance reviews.

The bottom line is employees need to know where they stand with their supervisors. When done right, formal performance reviews work well. If companies eliminate them for whatever reason, they need to put another effective strategy in place. Employees need to know where they stand; managers need to know how to speak to those they supervise. Companies do best when all employees feel that the evaluation process—whatever it is—is transparent.

TribeHR makes it easy to try new formats for your employee performance reviews. Get started today with a free, no-commitment 60-day trial.

By Mark Di Vincenzo. Mark is a journalist with 24 years of experience and a New York Times best-selling author.

How to Hire for Cultural Fit [Expert Insights]

TribeHR Staff — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:52:00 GMT

Lindsay Purchase interviewed Ben Baldwin on behalf of Workplace Tribes in early January.

Finding the right person to fill a particular role can be a job in and of itself. From determining what you’re looking for, to conducting interviews, to negotiating compensation, hiring is a complex and time-consuming process.

ClearFit has introduced a successful online software that aims to simplify and improve the predictability of hiring, while also cutting costs and saving time. Users can create a job posting, and applicants are evaluated based on their background and cultural fit.

"People think that selling or interviewing is about talking.
It’s not.
It’s about listening."

Cultural fit, which includes such things as personality and motivation, must be looked at in accordance with knowledge and experience, says ClearFit co-founder Ben Baldwin. But “if you were to pick one that’s the most important to know, it would be the cultural one, because you can’t really change how someone fits.”

“The hiring process is broken,” says Baldwin, something which he attributes in part to human behaviour and our instinct towards choosing like-minded people. An employee with strong cultural fit is not necessarily the person who you best understand or relate to.

“If you can find people who are quite different from you, even if they’re on the same path as you, then it’s great because you complement each other rather than overlap,” Baldwin says. Diversity lends itself to greater innovation and division of labour.

The process of selecting a candidate with appropriate cultural fit can be a “make or break situation” particularly within small businesses, the importance of which increases with the seniority of the position.

The impact of poor management can have serious implications for team morale and retention.

“If vital administrators and technical staff don’t fit, what happens is something I call a malignancy, where they can have a really far-reaching negative impact on the organization,” Baldwin believes. This can lead people to question their own fit and job performance, rather than the authority figure.

A major component of hiring is the interview stage, a key area where Baldwin says critical mistakes can be made. He explains, “People think that selling or interviewing is about talking. It’s not. It’s about listening.” The role of the interviewer “should be asking great questions,” specifically behaviour-oriented questions which are revealing of potential cultural fit.

"Figure out what you need.
And also figure out what you don’t need."

Furthermore, Baldwin notes that for applicants who are rejected, interviewing can be an unnecessarily negative experience.

“People treat the hiring process like a screening, when actually, if you’re doing it properly, it should be a sales process,” he says. Even if the candidate is not an appropriate fit for the position, a positive encounter increases the probability of referrals

Another common mistake, acknowledges Baldwin, is having “an unrealistic view of what they need in a hire.” You may be having difficulty filling a position because the person that you’re looking for has qualities that don’t match your actual requirements. It’s important to both “Figure out what you need, and also figure out what you don’t need.”

Baldwin concludes optimistically, noting that the hiring process “can be fixed pretty easily, and it’s not difficult to become really good at this stuff. The overarching thing here is that you need to know cultural fit, and that you need to know it early.”

Innovative nonprofit organizations are improving their hiring processes, too! What can you learn from them? Download a free white paper to find out.

Hiring your first Sales Manager

Paul Baribeau — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:08:00 GMT

Most companies know that if a member of their team leaves, they'll need to make a replacement hire. But especially for smaller companies, it's often hard to know when it's time to make a new hire.

Does your hire have experience? Fit your brand?
Have good connections to a target market?
flickr/victoriafee

In most industries, growth means improving and refining the sales process. Competent salespeople are experts in exactly that—selling things.

So when do you hire them? Should they be your first new employee? Do you need to understand the sales process before you make a hire, or will they help you figure it out? Is a good salesperson a good manager?

Colleen Francis and OpenView Partners can help! They have 10 tips for hiring your first sales manager:

Your first salesperson should be you.
Your first hire should be an expert in selling.
Identify the results you want—and it’s not always about the money.
Consider the compensation package before you begin the hiring process.
Use your network and current employees.
Focus on experts who are skilled in your sales process.
Ask them to walk you through their accomplishments.
Ask about their losses.
Communication and listening skills are essential.
Look for a cultural fit.

Check out the full article over at Openview Labs.

TribeHR's applicant tracking system makes it easy to build the best team. Get started today with a free 60-day trial.

Ignite Human Resources

TribeHR Staff — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 14:13:00 GMT

Highlights From "Ignite HR"

Ignite events allow presenters only five minutes and 20 automatically-advancing slides to get their point across. This structure prevents audiences and presenters from lingering on any particular slide, point, or issue. Anyone familiar with SXSW or TED will recognize and appreciate the concept.

A recent Ignite HR experience in Omaha centered on the theme of “putting the human back into human resources,” and featured thought-provoking presentations from business owners, HR professionals, social media experts and more. As part of a larger event, the HR Reinvention Experiment, these six Ignite HR presentations were a great blend of topics, voices and perspectives. The presentations are guaranteed to get you thinking about human resources in a different way.

Joe Gerstandt spoke about inclusion and diversity. He argues that both concepts suffer from being poorly understood, and it's up to HR to make sure organizations really support diversity. In order to benefit from diversity, organizations must be able to deal with any tension in a healthy way.

Maren Hogan spoke about building talent communities and communicating with people. In her opinion, a platform is the least important part of the process. Engaging via a talent community is about having real conversations with real people.

William Tincup gave a heartfelt presentation about reinventing the HR department to be strategic instead of tactical, returning to the "center of excellence," or the core specialties that HR is known to provide. He feels there are some tasks that shouldn’t be handled by the HR department.

Stuart Chittendon builds on Tincup’s presentation by explaining why human resources and talent management professionals should "own the brand," and not rely on management.

Other presenters included David Allen and Kelly Sickmeir, who shared their tips on turning potential into productivity, and Janyne Emsick, who shared some inspiring stories from her travels in developing countries.

If there's an overarching lesson to be learned Ignite HR, it's that human resources professionals should remember that human beings are at the heart of every aspect of the HR function. After all, as Stuart Chittendon said, “business success is built upon an engaged employee culture that is energized and driven by the brand.”

How does your company build a culture of success? Check out the HR 101 video series for more great tips.

By Anthony Sills. Anthony has contributed to publications and sites such as The New England Job Show, “The Historic Westside,” and Green City Times. He is currently working on his first book.

Sitting for 8 hours: Worse than smoking?

TribeHR Staff — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:32:00 GMT

Have you ever considered that sitting at your desk could be as detrimental to your health as smoking? Well, if you spend hours on your rear, start worrying, experts say. Blood clots, cardiovascular disease, weight gain, diabetes—the hazards are real.

The reality TV world may contend that crab fisherman have the deadliest job, but “desk jockey” may not be far behind. People are increasingly becoming more sedentary, and our bad habits are pushing us towards a healthcare epidemic.

America in crisis

According to Steve Blair’s report to the American Psychological Association, physical inactivity is the “biggest public health concern of the 21st century.” A professor of exercise science and epidemiology at the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health, and the senior scientific editor of the 1996 U.S. Surgeon General’s Report on Physical Activity and Health, Blair has conducted extensive, long-term studies on the effects of inactivity on Americans.

Some animals are built for sitting. You're not one of them.
Flickr/Kevin Dooley

Nearly 50 million Americans are sedentary, his research has determined, and their risk of developing “numerous health conditions” is double compared to those who are moderately active. In fact, Age and Aging has reported that sitting daily for long periods, as well as decreased activity more generally, lead to higher rates of mortality, cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, poor cholesterol, and obesity.

At the University of Western Australia, researchers concluded that that several other factors associated with desk jobs contribute to poor health. Fluorescent lighting and maintaining a constant focus on a computer screen can result in chronic migraines. Meanwhile, working long hours has been shown to increase the risk of short-term memory loss, potentially leading to dementia.

If you’re a frequent flyer you’ve probably heard the warning that sitting in your seat for long flights may cause blood clots. This is also true for sitting for extended durations at your desk in an office. The longer you’re in the chair, the higher your risk for developing deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolisms.

Employers to the Rescue

Employers can take simple steps to help ease this potential crisis.

Encourage healthier lifestyles.
Help establish weight loss challenges and walking clubs, replace birthday cakes with fruit platters and offer healthier options in vending machines. You can post charts in the bathrooms listing calories burned by particular activities or demonstrating simple exercises people can do at their desks. (Check out this great infographic of the danger of sitting all day.)

Remind workers to take computer breaks.
People need to rest their eyes. A break or lunch room with natural lighting can be a big relief for those who are putting in more screen time than is good for their physical and mental health.

Offer alternative seating solutions.
Provide balance balls, which help provide muscle engagement and encourage balance and good posture. Employees can switch out their desk chairs for an hour or two a day. Also experiment with standing desks and kneeling desks. These aren’t for everyone, but you can introduce the option.

Partner with a local fitness club.
See if you can work out a deal so your employees get membership discounts or perks. Investigate whether your health insurance provider offers health lifestyle mentoring and guidance programs in exchange for lower premiums.

The chronic diseases that result from inactivity can be prevented and in some cases even reversed. By taking steps to ensure a healthier workforce, you can keep costs from spiraling out of control.

Get big-business HR software at small-business prices. Build a culture of success with TribeHR.

By Angela Stringfellow. Angela is a PR and marketing communications consultant and social media strategist.

Motivating a Young Workforce [infographic]

TribeHR Staff — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:10:00 GMT

The latest generation to enter the workforce is confident, well-educated, and technologically literate, but disproportionately highly unemployed. What gives?

This infographic from onlinegraduateprograms.com explores the diversity, identity, politics, education, lifestyle, jobs, and financial status of today's American millennials. Does it belie a paradigm shift? Or just overconfidence?

What makes Americans under age 30 tick?

Download all of our HR infographics from 2011 in one easy-to-read PDF.

Food Perks in the workplace: Keep the coffee hot

TribeHR Staff — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:38:00 GMT

What’s better than a salad with crispy, dark green lettuce and fresh croutons, or a club sandwich piled high with turkey, bacon, and perfectly ripe tomatoes? A free salad and a free club sandwich.

Yes, there is such a thing as a free lunch, and it can be found at companies large and small throughout the country.

Why do business owners offer food perks? Two reasons:

Many believe well-fed workers are happier, more loyal and more productive. Business owners consider the cost of food and drink an investment in their employees and in their companies.
Let’s face it. Some companies aren't interested in happy employees per se. They believe if their employees don’t have to leave the office to find lunch, they’ll end up spending more time at their desks—and thus be more productive.

Either way, business owners, regardless of their level of compassion toward their employees, wouldn’t offer food perks if they didn’t think it would benefit their companies.

Wall Street firms have been doing this for years, and Silicon Valley companies have followed their lead.

Google provides lunch and dinner by in-house chefs, and snacks and coffee throughout the day. Facebook goes one step further and offers its employees breakfast, lunch, and dinner, including international cuisine. It also provides snacks and coffee.

LinkedIn gives it employees catered lunches, ice cream, snacks and coffee.

Twitter provides its employees with catered breakfast and lunch, snacks, and Happy Hour once a month on Fridays. Tagged tops Twitter by offering its employees breakfast, catered lunches and dinners, snacks, and a Happy Hour every Friday.

Eventbrite provides catered meals and snacks. And Gaia Online gives out restaurant-catered lunches and snacks.

Many companies you’ve never heard of offer food perks, such as:

Catered lunch-time meetings or training sessions. Food is a definite lure if you want good attendance at voluntary events. Pizza or sandwiches work well. Companies often provide the eats at mandatory meetings scheduled for first thing in the morning or around the lunch hour, too.
Bottled water. Local and state building codes often require companies to have water fountains, but many companies go beyond that and stock their lunch room refrigerators with bottled water.
Fresh fruit. Bowls of fruit on lunch room tables were a rarity as recently as 10 years ago, but many employers are trying to model healthy eating by giving their employees food that's good for them. Healthy employees take fewer sick days and are more productive.
Candy bowls. Okay, candy isn’t a health food, but it’s a happy food. This is one of those cases where small gestures, when done consistently, can go a long way. Companies set out bowls of candy throughout their buildings and assign administrative assistants to make sure they remain full.

Full candy bowls. Full stomachs. Fulfilled employees?

Put the human back into human resources with HR software from TribeHR.
Get started today with a no-commitment 60-day free trial.

By Mark Di Vincenzo. Mark is a journalist with 24 years of experience and a New York Times best-selling author.

Swag for Small Businesses

TribeHR Staff — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:59:00 GMT

Everyone likes free. That's one reason many successful businesses give away swag—branded promotional items—at conventions and trade shows, through contests, directly to customers, and even to their employees.

Companies large and small use swag to build brand awareness. Businesses promote their products and services, and the recipient gets a free gift that they'll probably use. So everybody wins.

You don’t have to be a large corporation to reap the benefits of low-cost advertising that comes from people walking around wearing t-shirts stamped with your company logo. Small businesses and start-ups can do swag, too.

Small Biz Swag

In addition to building brand awareness, swag can be used to build your contact lists. Collect business cards and email addresses when you hand out your stuff to help you keep track of your supporters.

Alternatively, try a contest or give-away. The prize? Something great that people will use—which happens to be smothered in your company's logo. It’s a great way to get the word out about your product or service.

You can adapt your swag distribution creatively, to help with your overall employee recruitment and retention. Small business owners can even use swag as part of a guerrilla marketing strategy. Just make sure that you get quality items, so that people don't associate your brand with things that brake easily.

If you order swag as part of an event, make sure that you'll receive the shipment in time to be prepared (Tip: Have it delivered several weeks ahead of time).

Good stuff

Try to get creative and think of something people will actually use. It’s common practice to give away pens, t-shirts, water bottles, and tote bags. If you want your small business to stand out, try something different.

Mugs: Everyone likes a cup of joe. And morning meetings happen. Nice advertising.

Hats: People collect these and even actually wear them. Honest.

Stress squeezies: These always make customers smile, because every now and then everyone gets stressed out.

Sweatshirts/hoodies: People can always use another sweatshirt for the gym—where other gym rats will see your logo.

Candy/snacks: Food. It's what we eat, calories or no.

USB Drives: Not only are these useful, but people take them out at meetings, giving your company more exposure. You can even pre-load them with useful information and other promotional offerings.

Find Your Swag

Small businesses can get swag from tons of different sources. Some promotional product distributors will find whatever swag you need, and work with you to have it branded with your small business name or logo.

A better method is to check with other business owners about where they get their swag. Ask if they were satisfied. At TribeHR, we get our custom stickers from Stickermule.com. For Christmas, we got hoodies from rightsleeve.com that were a big hit.

Mouse around the Internet, and snag yourself some swag.

Free stickers from TribeHR? Yes please!

How comfortable should my employees' chairs be?

TribeHR Staff — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:53:00 GMT

You've probably noticed them shoved in the far back corner of that unused conference room on the second floor, the place where abandoned desk chairs go to die. Should you worry that employees reject so many pieces of office furniture? The answer is a resounding "yes!"

Doctors who study the spine agree that people should sit in a supportive chair at a desk that is the right height. In fact, ergonomics, the study of making the work environment fit the physical and psychological needs of the employees, is really hot these days. And for good reason: comfortable workers are better workers. Workers who don’t strain their bodies at their desks take fewer sick day.

Incorporating ergonomics into the set-up of the office can reduce instances of neck pain, back pain, headaches, and eyestrain, and even prevent bursitis or tendon problems that come from doing the same tasks over and over.

Some of the simple suggestions include making sure the office chairs and desks are adjustable so that each person is working at the correct height, and placing computer monitors directly in front of each user so employees don’t need to stretch or slouch.

Cessi: Ergonomics, a company that works with offices on ergonomic issues, supports the idea that an ergonomic environment helps reduce workplace injuries and fatigue. Plus, when you increase employee comfort, you increase job performance too.

Gretchen Rubin, author of the best-selling book, The Happiness Project, says happiness at work mostly depends on how much you like your job. But she adds that a properly adjusted chair, good lighting, and even some attractive desk accessories can't hurt.

Comfort, of course, can be taken to an extreme. The Google offices in San Francisco feature spectacular bridge views (nice for the eyes), free food (good for the stomach), and even a slide instead of a staircase.

The Whatif! meeting bed. 23hq/Alexander Kjerulf

The London-based Whatif! Innovation Company, known a few years back for having a meeting bed in the office, uses a slide show on its website to spotlight its office interiors: Overstuffed chairs and couches. Ottomans. Employees spread out on the floor for meetings.

So what’s the bottom line? You don’t need to put a colorful slide in the stairwell, but companies do need to pay attention to their employees’ desks and chairs. Expect to spend a chunk of money. A quick trip through the online shopping world reveals that “ergonomic” office chairs cost anywhere from $99 to $699 and up.

The more expensive chairs are often better constructed, and come with more features like support and swivel and roll—and will last longer. But so will your employees’ backs.

Good chairs mean comfort, and comfortable employees are the most productive. Spend a bit now; you’ll reap the benefits later.

Follow TribeHR on Twitter!

By Carla Turchetti. Carla is a print and broadcast journalist who likes to break a topic down and keep her copy tight. That's why this bio is so brief!

9 Ways to Improve your HR Brand

TribeHR Staff — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:10:00 GMT

Company culture and recruitment are clearly connected. Whether you promote your recruiting brand on Twitter or traditionally, it's critical to your hiring process. Companies that have strong corporate cultures, which they promote effectively, are consistently able to recruit the best staff.

Employees who describe their organizations as amazing tend to repeat these 9 themes:

Compatibility—Whether rigorous or informal, employees felt management is committed to hiring people who will be compatible with the existing culture. This may include hiring within employee networks, offering referral bonuses, etc.
HR brand: You're doing it wrong. flickr/Tyron Francis

Responsiveness—Management is responsive and easy to communicate with. This may manifest as an open-door policy, lack of status symbols such as private offices, shared e-mail lists, etc.
Trust—Management has a lot of faith and trust in employees, and employees trust each other, too. This is shown through teamwork, flexible scheduling, a relaxed atmosphere, and active solicitation of employee feedback on important business decisions.
Excellence—The company has an established reputation for hiring the ‘best and the brightest’ in their industry.
Friendship—Employees feel a sense of camaraderie at work.
Freedom—Employees are encouraged to explore their hobbies and interests, whether charitable, entrepreneurial, or just "play."
Training and Development—Ongoing training and/or professional development is encouraged and expected. It's an engrained part of company culture.
Challenges—The company provides employees challenging work and all the tools and support needed to get it done.
Awesomeness—Cool office perks may not be necessary, but they can never hurt. Free stuff and cool activities always make a workplace more fun.

How do you shape your HR brand?

Impress your job candidates and build the best team with TribeHR's HR software. Get started for free today.

10 Terrible Ways to Greet New Employees

TribeHR Staff — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:30:00 GMT

By Mark Di Vincenzo. Mark is a journalist with 24 years of experience and a New York Times best-selling author.

As any small business owner will tell you, employees are a company's most important asset. The vast majority of owners will therefore try to make a great first impression when new employees come on board.

This post isn’t about that. It’s about the knuckleheads who don't. Here are 10 ways to frighten or disengage your new staff on their very first day of work—a classic list of what not to say and do:

1. “Wait here while we, uh... do something else right now.”
When new employees arrive for their first day, make them wait in the lobby for several minutes. Don’t bother being ready for their arrival. They won’t care. After all, they’re getting paid to just sit there and read magazines, right?

2. “Here’s your desk. Sorry, but the computer and phone aren’t working yet.”
It doesn’t matter if everything’s hooked up and ready to go. Employees are getting paid, so unless they're good with technology, they should show some patience and wait until the IT guys can get around to helping them.

3. “Dear (New Hire)... ”
When you give your new employees their welcome letters, don’t worry about having their actual name on it. They can fill in the blanks for you. It’s not a big deal. No one reads those letters anyway.

1. “Wait here while we, uh... do something else right now.” flickr/frances1972

4. “We’ll introduce you to your co-workers—later.”
Don’t waste your time introducing new hires to other employees on their first day. There’s plenty of time for that later. If they need to, they'll figure out who's who. And besides, by now they're too intimidated to remember names and titles anyways.

5. “You told us during your interview that you take a lot of initiative, so we’re not going to saddle you with a partner.”
New hires don’t need an experienced co-worker to help them transition to their new environment and answer their questions. Employees are adults. They don’t need anyone to hold their hands. Ever.

6. “Hey, the lunch room down the hall has some pretty good stuff in the vending machine.”
Most newcomers don’t expect to be taken out to lunch on their first day of work. That’s kind of old fashioned, isn’t it? And besides, the other employees are too busy to take someone out to lunch who they don’t even know.

7. “Oh, by the way, HR’s on the fourth floor. Finance is on the seventh floor...”
A tour of the building? Don't be ridiculous. It’s a waste of everyone’s time, and besides, employees don’t need to know where the other departments are, or meet people who they won’t have to interact with very much.

8. “Expectations? We’ll get back to you about that.”
Employees don’t need to know what the expectations are for them when they just start a job. That’s something they’ll figure out on their own after they settle in.

9. “It’s your first week, so just sit back and observe.”
There's no need to give new employees something to do right off the bat. After all, what can they be expected to do? They just got here. They’ll probably appreciate not being overwhelmed with work, after all.

10. “This week will be crazy for me, so if I don’t check back with you, just leave at 5 p.m.”
New employees will be sick of their supervisors before long, so don't bother to check in with them at the end of the day during their first week. After all, they just started. What do they have to say that can’t wait? They can save their questions for later.

All of these examples are great ways to greet a new employee—if you want to get off on the wrong foot and set a terrible example. If any of the above sounds like your company, don't be surprised if your valued new employees soon become valued new employees for one of your competitors.

Hire the best team and build a culture of success. Greet your new employees with access to engaging HR software.

Bad Gifts for your Colleagues

TribeHR Staff — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 13:46:00 GMT

By Mark Di Vincenzo. Mark is a journalist with 24 years of experience and a New York Times best-selling author.

What Not to Give at Work

Christmas has come and gone. If you work in an office, you very well may have given a colleague or a supervisor a gift of some kind.

So you probably know (or should know) that giving gifts in the workplace can be tricky. Giving the wrong gift—one that's too personal (perfume), romantic (red roses), or offensive (a sex toy)—can lead to a meeting with HR or an unhappy supervisor.

Any sort of gift, especially an expensive one, and even one that meets every definition of appropriate, can make your co-workers feel uncomfortable if they didn't get one for you.

It’s a good idea to review what not to give Ralph in Accounting or Betty in Marketing. Here are eight things to avoid:

flickr/bfishadow

1. Cash. This is unacceptable unless, of course, the company is giving end-of-the-year employee bonuses. It’s never OK for a supervisor to pass out $20 bills, even though only a rare employee would turn them down. Gift cards or gift certificates, however, are just fine.

2. Red roses (or Chia pets). Red roses are something you give your sweetheart, not anyone you work with (unless you work with your sweetheart, and that's another post entirely). Red roses are associated with love. Many other types of flowers might give a co-worker the creeps, too.

A good rule of thumb is that if they last a long time—say, a cactus or a potted plant—they are less likely to be interpreted as a romantic gesture. Flower bulbs are also fine. Chia pets? Just plain tacky, though that can be good for a laugh.

3. Personal care products. These are just too personal, especially when given to a member of the opposite sex. You also run the risk of offending the recipient, who will wonder if you think they're poorly groomed. Scented hand lotion is probably harmless, though be careful that the recipient doesn't have allergies, or they might re-gift it (see below).

4. Adult items. This should go without saying, but don't give gifts that are sexual in nature—toys, artwork, books or anything that depicts nudity—even to long-time colleagues. A rare exception is co-workers who are also close friends, but these gifts shouldn't be exchanged at the office.

5. Most clothing. A company T-shirt is OK (swag swag swag), and scarves and gloves are fine. But just about any other item of clothing is too personal. Shirts, pants and even socks are things your girlfriend or husband can buy you, but not Shirley in Risk Management.

flickr/Dan Century

6.Alcohol. Tread carefully with alcohol. Many businesses don’t even allow unopened bottles or cans on their premises, which should be a clue. But even if your company has more lenient alcohol policies, you never know who is struggling with alcoholism. Or imagine you give a nice bottle of Champagne to a colleague, only for them to open the bottle in the car right after work, and cause a car accident on the way home.

7. Most jewelry. This is out for the same reason that most clothes make inappropriate gifts for co-workers. Not only is jewelry personal, traditionally it's something associated with loved ones. If you must get jewelry for a colleague, go for something clearly inexpensive, or socially conscious.

8. Potentially offensive gifts. This should also go without saying, but never give gifts that include potentially offensive or off-color messages about race, ethnicity, culture or sex. This may include gifts with political or religious messages. If one of your colleagues is a friend who you know would like an item with a certain political or religious message, present it outside the office.

When it comes to something homemade, the rule is give if it's legitimately good. If you bake delicious oatmeal raisin cookies or you knit awesome scarves, go right ahead. However, if you’ve just started to learn how to play the guitar, don’t give your co-workers a CD of your music.

When it comes to re-gifting, do so if you know the recipient will like it and if it didn't originally come from someone else in the office.

Keep in mind that not exchanging a gift is often better than giving the wrong one. So maybe now is a good time to start shopping for next year's secret santa?

Looking for the perfect gift for a co-worker? Give kudos to someone on TribeHR today!

A New Year, a New Business Strategy

TribeHR Staff — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 14:34:00 GMT

By Angela Stringfellow. Angela Stringfellow is social media strategist and marketing communications consultant.

With the start of a new year, take a moment to step back and look at how you manage your staff.

It's 2012, and we haven't all been killed (take that, Mayans!). But if that 2012 apocalypse does end up happening, wouldn't you like to be remembered fondly?

New Year’s resolutions are not just for losing weight or giving up smoking—they're about making all sorts of changes for the better. The clichés about starting fresh and starting over have their place in business, too.

For the micromanager:

The mayans predicted it, so it must be inevitable. Right? Right? Flickr/Thierry Ehrmann

This is an ideal time to examine your often destructive method of management and turn around morale within the company.

If you're a micromanager, you probably know it. You’ve heard the whispers behind your back, but you just don’t know how to go from a dictator to a leader.

In 2012, vow to create a more cohesive working environment, one built upon mutual respect instead of fear. Think about managers you’ve had in the past. Who was more influential: the one who watched over your every move or the person who gave you an opportunity to grow?

Across all business styles there are opportunities to reflect and make changes. Even the most effective and positive business owner or manager can find ways to make the work place more functional.

Probably the simplest and easiest way to create a more productive culture is to provide positive reinforcements for your team. A pat on the back, a moment of recognition, or the all mighty ice cream social goes a long way.

For the HR pointer:

You know, that HR person who doesn’t know much more than the average employee about the company’s benefits programs. Seeing your reflection in the mirror? Then do yourself and your employees a favor and learn the business inside and out.

Be a valuable resource to those you serve, not simply a person who points to a website or a phone number when questions arise. If a young professional asks about maternity leave or medical time, get them answers, and make sure they're the right ones.

It may seem like wasted effort learning the ins and outs of the various programs when, really, you can just point to a website. But fluent knowledge helps position you as a strategic resource within the company, instead of an administrative filer of forms. Perhaps corporate handles most of the benefits issues; that doesn’t mean you can pass the buck to them each and every time.

If you already work to provide your employees with accurate and vital information, pledge to continue doing this. Keep them informed about any news they need, and hire talent that enhances the company culture.

As you reflect back on 2011, remember that it’s never too late to make positive changes in 2012! Even if the end of the world is coming, you may still have a few more months to make a difference!

Get a fresh start with a fresh approach to human resource management. See how TribeHR builds a culture of success.