More Consolidations?

Steve Pearlstein writes a great case for stopping consolidation between two giant pharmacy corporations - MedCo and Express Scripts. Read more by clicking on the link below:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/steven-pearlstein-stop-the-pharmacy-consolidation-train/2011/12/06/gIQAY7POlO_story.html

Forget Black Friday, employees should plan for Cyber Monday!

Black Friday is days away and aren't you excited! I am! J I’ve been watching the Target commercials on TV and I have to say that I think they’re hilarious. For those that are not familiar with them, the Commercials display a very excited lady who is preparing for Black Friday--commonly a major shopping day for Americans. During the commercial, the lady is seen preparing for Black Friday shopping at Target by sharing some of her tips. Some of them are: (1) Plan your way around the store; (2) Get to the store on time and be first in line; and (3) Have a list available ahead of time of the key items you’re interested in purchasing. See one of the ads below.

Even though it’s hilarious to view, it shows just how carefully people prepare for Black Friday.

Cyber Monday has also evolved into a heavy shopping day for Americans. According to a survey by Adecco in a CNN Money article, about 14% of shoppers plan to hunt [for] bargains when they should otherwise be working…some 106.9 million Americans are expected to shop online for Cyber Monday, the biggest online shopping day of the year. That equals to low productivity for some businesses.” (Source: http://money.cnn.com/2010/11/29/pf/cyber_monday_productivity/index.htm) With proper planning, employees can limit the amount of time spent online thereby reducing the impact on productivity.

So, we know Cyber Monday is a touchy topic in the office, especially for managers who are trying to have productive teams on Monday. I think that employees should follow some key steps like the Target lady does and strategically plan ahead. Here are some of my
“Target lady” tips:

1. Make a list of all the items that you need. You may be interested in buying toys for your kids or close friends/family, getting the new gadgets, close or shoes for yourself or a loved one. Write those items down and focus on those items alone. Just as in Black Friday shopping, you want to position yourself so that you are ready with the key items that you need to get the best deals immediately before the items are “no longer available” or “out of stock”.

2. Get coupons that can be used for shopping online.

a. There’s a dedicated Cyber Monday website that you can go to in order to get deals called www.cybermonday.com. Once you get on that site, you can view all the coupons and offers on that individual stores are offering. You can search by Merchant or by category.

b. Living Social also has offerings where you can save 50% or more on your holiday shopping but according to their website, you have to check back Friday to Monday in order to get those deals: http://www.livingsocial.com/cities/230/black-friday

c. Groupon also has deals but they are for Black Friday only according to their website. Go to http://www.groupon.com/washington-dc/.

d. I’m sure each individual store’s website will be sharing online deals that you can get immediately. Check out those sites in advance to make sure what their Cyber Monday deals are.

3. Plan to get up early to shop or shop later in the day. Why wait for when you’re sitting in the office to shop online. There are so many distractions and who wants to be distracted when they’re shopping with tons of emails they have to check, phone calls, people passing by, and did I mention tons of emails. Start early because by doing so, I’m sure you’ll be able to get the best deals anyway in the comfort of your home. You can also choose to shop later in the day so you’re relaxed and can put your feet up while you’re winding down your day in the comfort of your home.

4. Shop on the weekend. Some stores offer the same deals on the weekend which will alleviate the need to shop online on Cyber Monday. We have close to one month to go so you can get the same deals in the store that you can get online.

5. If all fails, get a personal shopper. Some stores such as Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdales provide this service for customers that are able to afford it. You can also find a personal shopper at www.craigslist.org or get a college student home for the holidays who is interested in making extra money. But be careful with this type of service if you’re going outside a store. Interview the individuals to ensure that they are trustworthy and capable of getting the best deals for the items that you want.

And finally, managers don’t get too annoyed with your employees shopping online. It’s great for building morale within the workplace.

As always, prioritize, set boundaries and live!

The 25 Most Influential Business Management Books from TIME magazine

Time magazine shares their list of the 25 most influential business management books. The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard and Spencer Johnson and the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey happens to be two of my favorites. What do you think of their list? Are there any books that you would add?

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2086680_2086683_2086684,00.html

As always prioritize, set boundaries and live!

More Americans Calling it Quits: Another Sign the Job Market May be Better Than it Looks

Stephen provides some insight on what's happening in the job market and how it affects you. Read on! Share your thoughts. More Americans Calling it Quits: Another Sign the Job Market May be Better Than it Looks

SHRM Diversity and Inclusion interview with Robert L. Johnson

At the Diversity and Inclusion conference this year, I had the pleasure of learning more about the new label for Human Resources professionals who are responsible for strategically implementing Diversity and Inclusion programs at their companies. SHRM refers to these people as “Game Changers”. I was able to speak to one of those individuals, Robert L. Johnson, the founder and chairman of RLJ Companies, Inc, an innovative business network that provides strategic investments in a diverse portfolio of companies. Within The RLJ Companies portfolio, Mr. Johnson owns or holds interests in businesses operating in hotel real estate investment; private equity; financial services; asset management; insurance services; automobile dealerships; sports and entertainment; and video lottery terminal (VLT) gaming. In July 2007, he was named by USA Today as one of “The 25 Most Influential Business Leaders of the Past 25 Years.”

I interviewed Mr. Johnson about diversity in the workplace.

Blogabouthr: What was your motivation to speak at the SHRM 2011 Diversity and Inclusion conference?

RLJ: What motivated me is my concern that the US economy is causing a systematic drop in opportunities for African Americans and other minorities. [This is mainly] because of changes in manufacturing, heavy industries and global competitiveness causing jobs to be sent overseas. If we don’t identify areas for diversity, then minorities will fall lower in terms income and wealth.

Blogabouthr: Over your years as a business leader, what are two things you feel you have done to enhance diversity at your companies?

RLJ: To give people the opportunity to succeed at the highest level possible. My companies focus on African Americans and minorities. African American and minorities are consumer and having gained much in terms of populations. Focus is on giving opportunities to minorities for employment and suppliers. I tell my business managers that the critical part of diversity and inclusion is an important opportunity for doing business.

Blogabouthr: In your experience, what HR best practices do you feel have had the greatest impact on your employees/businesses?

RLJ: By giving people responsibility and supporting them in their efforts. Provide them with information about what their job is, overall goals of the company, give them responsibility. Provide a context them and hold them accountable…not for them to fail but for them to focus on a task. [They should] understand their job function, how it fits and the strategic vision of the company. If you need help, don’t be afraid to ask. We want you to succeed. Be open to new ideas and creating an environment where people understand the vision of the company.

Blogabouthr: As the CEO of RLJ Holdings, Inc. and a minority, what do you think leaders still need to do to develop and engage a more diverse workforce within their organizations?

RLJ: Leaders at the CEO level need to know that diversity is an absolute necessity in business. You can’t live in the US where minorities are the fastest growing population and the biggest consumers. The US can’t be competitive without embracing diversity. Make sure diversity is a core part of the market. Diversity should stand right beside other company’s criteria. People should be held accountable. I mentioned the RLJ rule during SHRM’s Diversity and Inclusion conference. The RLJ rule is before making a decision for a high level position, at least interview 2 minorities. Before offering contracts to business, interview at least 2 minority businesses. It’s not mandatory but should be common practice.

Blogabouthr: How does your new website www.oppsplace.com help in creating a diverse workforce?

RLJ: One of the things in my business career I’ve heard is that “Gee Bob, we don’t know how to find minorities with certain job qualifications”. OppsPlace.com answers that question. It’s a one stop shop for identifying African Americans that are capable and qualified to provide a business service. It’s a place where companies search for minority candidates before hiring. Click away! It becomes the norm rather than the necessity that they have to do. Focus from standpoint of minority applicants. They get more data from a company. Companies will be able to employ minorities looking for work.

www.oppsplace.com is set to go live in Spring 2012.

As always prioritize, set boundaries and live!

Conversation with SHRM Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion, Shirley Davis

Today I attended SHRM’s Diversity and Inclusion Conference (#SHRMdivcon) in Washington, DC. SHRM has the right platform for getting information that its members need to be successful as HR professionals. The association leads the way with new research and trends and pushes the buttons for change where needed. SHRM leaders implore that we are all game changers. As HR professionals, we must focus on ways to do things differently in order to develop Diversity and Inclusion programs that work for our organizations. You can get more information by going to #SHRMdivcon.

I interviewed Ms. Davis, a profound innovator and Chief Diversity Officer for SHRM. She is the go-to person for SHRM when it comes to #Diversity. Ms. Davis provided one of the keynote speeches during the #SHRMdivcon. She feels the different trends on diversity that will most impact the workplace are with globalization, technology, education, increase in social identity and the marketplace.

In the area of globalization, she focused on the fact that we need to “look at the large aging population” from a global standpoint. The second area was in technology, particularly in social media. Ms. Davis mentions, “people are leveraging social media” for recruitment purposes and for understanding more about a company. “Employees interested in finding out if companies are committed to diversity can simply do so by going to the companies’ website. They can look at annual reports and learn more from about those companies diversity initiatives.” Education was another area that Ms. Davis touched on. She states, “Our public school systems are not preparing our students and we [as a nation] are at a disadvantage. India and China are outperforming us in so many ways.” Her fourth trending area for diversity is with the increase of social identity groups. She refers to social identity groups as groups such as the LGBT, interfaith and religious groups and the immigrant population. The marketplace was the final trending area that Ms. Davis wanted to touch on. The marketplace definitely has an impact on diversity and we need to ensure that the decisions that we are making are in line with and are focusing on our strategic diversity initiatives. She mentions that we need to reshape and reinvent the game book. Human Resource Professionals, particularly the ones that are dedicating time to strategically serve their diverse populations, are the “game changers” that we so passionately speak of.

What types of trends can you add to Ms. Davis list?

As always, prioritize, set boundaries and live!

DIVERSITY and INCLUSION

What is diversity? How do we build a multicultural workforce? How does what we do as HR professionals tackle this issue on a daily basis?

From Monday to Wednesday next week, I will be attending SHRM's Diversity and Inclusion Conference so I can tackle some of these questions. Follow me on twitter at #blogabouthr and on this blog and send me questions that you may want answered also.

For more details on the conference, go to
http://www.shrm.org/Conferences/Diversity

As always, prioritize, set boundaries and live!

What "seat at the table" are you referring to?

(Yes, I’m writing about this also.)

So, I got to thinking the other day, what would it be like if every HR professional that comes into an organization gets an overview of the different operational areas and learns the business. Yep, I said it, learns the business. You would get hired (Check) You would go through the normal Orientation process of company mission, vision, values, culture, Benefits, Diversity, History , etc. (Check) You would meet with your manager and go through your job descriptions and the expectations that he or she has of you on the job. (Check) You would learn about what I call the trio--the company, department and individual goals. But do you think you will have an opportunity to Onboard and learn the business that you’re in?

Imagine if you were partnered with someone from other departments that you could work closely with on projects that would not just benefit the HR team but provide you with an opportunity to learn about how you and what you do as an HR professional are connected to the company. How HR impacts other areas in the company. How HR is perceived by other departments. Would you consider that a great opportunity? Would you know how to capitalize on this opportunity? Do you even care?

I know a lot of HR professionals that do not know the business that they are in. They do not know what the monthly financial reports are much less how to read them to gauge where the company is financially. They may not know about big initiatives that are coming down the pike, such as the new Branding schemata, the acquisition of “smaller Company A”, the new product that is being developed and how it’s going to affect the business.

The purpose of writing this blog post is just to look at the issue that we are faced with and provide some thoughts on the subject. To explore it a little bit more. I’ll be providing some commentary on this from time to time, because I feel that this is an important topic. In the meantime, if you have any comments, please let me know.

As always, prioritize, set boundaries and live!

The Next Great Human Resources App

Being in HR is not easy. There are sometimes challenges and areas where you think, if only we did things this way, my life would be so much easier. I was thinking the other day of all the Apps that are being created just for simple things. Take for example “Birthday Reminder”, where you can enter the birthdays of your friends or loved ones and get a reminder when that day is approaching. Easy huh. Can’t get better than that. Check out @Appvee or @AppStore for more details on the top Apps out there. What if you as an HR professional or even an employee had an opportunity to build an App that would make your life in Human Resources easier, what would that App look like? What would it focus on? For me, there’d be one that would take me to the closest salon to relax. :-) As always, prioritize, set boundaries and live!

Kids and Finance: What to do with their money

I will post some of these non-related HR questions from time to time in order to educate as many readers as I can. A reader asked a great financial based question. Her sons were given $100 for Christmas and she's trying to find the best way for them to invest their money. I sought the advice of Matthew Brock, owner of Divergent Planning, LLC (http://www.divergentplanning.com). This is what Matt had to say.


"A child will often receive a cash gift from a relative at birthdays or special holidays. For the parent, this means deciding whether to let the child spend it now or set the money aside for the child’s future. The first thing the parent should do is determine if the money is to be saved for future use by the child or for college specifically. Many college accounts (like the popular 529 plan) can only be used for college. Other accounts (such as savings accounts or UTMAs/UGMAs) can be used for any expense related to the child. If the amount is small, it may not be worth opening a 529 or college savings account since many of these have minimums. Also, for any account, if there is no plan to save more than the initial smaller deposit be sure account fees won’t eat away at the principal.

Depending on the age of the child and the dollar amount of the gift, you may want to consider opening up a free checking account. This can be used as a financial education tool to help them get a good foundation of the basics of money and budgeting. Allow the child to spend and track the money in their account online.

I believe the most important part in deciding what to do with the child’s cash gift is to allow them to be involved in the process. This doesn’t necessarily mean let the child decide what to do with the money on their own. It does mean that you should explain to the child where the money is going and why. Its important to educate our children on money decisions early on."

Matthew Brock is the owner of Divergent Planning, LLC a fee-based financial planning firm catering to younger generations. He can help with a Strategy for Today and Tomorrow. To reach Matt, go to http://www.divergentplanning.com/



As always, Prioritize, Set boundaries and Live!

New Year, New search

Happy New Year everyone. I hope that 2011 brings you lots more joy, happiness, and helps to uplift the economy a little. I've heard from a lot of you who are interested in making the move to a new job, but are nervous about taking those first steps. Well you're not the only one. I've coached a lot of people in 2010 on their job search and can hopefully help a lot more in 2011. I think its important for everyone to have the right goals and take the right steps before beginning their job search. Contact me for advice or if you need consultation on your job search. I'll help you set clear goals, work on your resume and walk you through the step by step process of applying for jobs.


Looking forward to a prosperous new year, one with a lower unemployment rate and more available jobs! ;-)


As always, prioritize, Set boundaries and Live!