HRevolution Blogger Experience '09 - HRevolution '09
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Excited to hear more. I'm following or connected to these folks on twitter so I know it'll be meaningful and interesting!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Seriously?
Sometimes it just blows me away when I encounter folks just missing or bypassing the most basic of things in the workplace. We HR people hate forms just as much as you but there are legal requirements (thank Sarbannes Oxley for most of them) that cause us to get all these documents with your signature. It's a pain for you and HR since you've got to sign them and we've got to retain them.
One of the skills I like to work on as an HR professional is streamlining processes and utilizing technology, where appropriate. Many other HR pros do this too. You may get a job with a company that will accept an electronic signature for all those pesky forms. Or you may have to sign them all in hardcopy (let's hope they are at least double sided to save some trees). The thing to remember is if you are given a form or a policy acknowledgement to sign from your friendly HR person, you sign and return it.
Simple right?
I have to stop myself from making a snap judgment as to whether a new hire has the attention to detail core competency when they don't return all the forms. It holds up the HRIS and payroll processing when all the forms aren't completed and it causes frustration all around. The worst part about this HR Administration beast is that it harkens back to the 'personnel' paper-pushing function of HR.
I certainly didn't go into HR to master the paper-pushing process. If I could do my job without ever touching a piece of paper, I would be one happy lady.
One of the skills I like to work on as an HR professional is streamlining processes and utilizing technology, where appropriate. Many other HR pros do this too. You may get a job with a company that will accept an electronic signature for all those pesky forms. Or you may have to sign them all in hardcopy (let's hope they are at least double sided to save some trees). The thing to remember is if you are given a form or a policy acknowledgement to sign from your friendly HR person, you sign and return it.
Simple right?
I have to stop myself from making a snap judgment as to whether a new hire has the attention to detail core competency when they don't return all the forms. It holds up the HRIS and payroll processing when all the forms aren't completed and it causes frustration all around. The worst part about this HR Administration beast is that it harkens back to the 'personnel' paper-pushing function of HR.
I certainly didn't go into HR to master the paper-pushing process. If I could do my job without ever touching a piece of paper, I would be one happy lady.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Independence
As the Fourth of July approached, I had been thinking a lot about what it meant and I kept coming back to the phrase "the personal is the policital".
Freedom and independence for me and my family has been intertwined with immigration for generations. My grandfather, Roy, was born in Lucky Strike, Alberta. He once told me that his family moved around so much that sometimes he would live in Canada and other times he would live in the United States. The border was pretty non-existent back in the early 1900s. Roy ended up fighting on behalf of the US in World War II and was awarded citizenship for his service.
My husband received his citizenship last year after navigating the bureucratic web of the EAD, green card and citizenship application processes. It was stressful, confusing and nerve-wracking but in the end, the process worked. While it may not be the best process, it ended up ok for us.
For the past 11 years, as part of my many HR duties, I have worked with employees on securing their work authorization and green cards. Since I had personal experience, I could relate to their anxiety and confusion over the process. Last year was the first time in my career that an H-1B application I submitted wasn't approved. We never even received word about it. It was absolutely horrible for him and we lost a great employee.
Since I come from a family of immigrants, I tend to perk up when I hear about it on the news. I was pleased to hear that the President finally had the twice delayed meeting on immigration. I won't profess to know what the answer is or what the policy should be. All I know is that what we've got now doesn't work very well. There is a consistent backlog with applications with the USCIS and ICE just announced last week that they are going to audit over 600 employer I-9s. I'm not entirely sure that this is the right focus or use of their resources.
I'm just hoping that whatever immigration policy is implemented doesn't send our economy into further disarray. There is a tremendous 'secondary economy' in this country that many people choose not to see. There are millions of non-documented workers in our restaurants, construction & landscaping companies, meat packing plants, and the like who are earning less than minimum wage. While they may not be paying taxes, they are buying goods and services. Imagine the impact if that buying power disappeared. How many more storefronts on Main Street would be empty?
Freedom and independence for me and my family has been intertwined with immigration for generations. My grandfather, Roy, was born in Lucky Strike, Alberta. He once told me that his family moved around so much that sometimes he would live in Canada and other times he would live in the United States. The border was pretty non-existent back in the early 1900s. Roy ended up fighting on behalf of the US in World War II and was awarded citizenship for his service.
My husband received his citizenship last year after navigating the bureucratic web of the EAD, green card and citizenship application processes. It was stressful, confusing and nerve-wracking but in the end, the process worked. While it may not be the best process, it ended up ok for us.
For the past 11 years, as part of my many HR duties, I have worked with employees on securing their work authorization and green cards. Since I had personal experience, I could relate to their anxiety and confusion over the process. Last year was the first time in my career that an H-1B application I submitted wasn't approved. We never even received word about it. It was absolutely horrible for him and we lost a great employee.
Since I come from a family of immigrants, I tend to perk up when I hear about it on the news. I was pleased to hear that the President finally had the twice delayed meeting on immigration. I won't profess to know what the answer is or what the policy should be. All I know is that what we've got now doesn't work very well. There is a consistent backlog with applications with the USCIS and ICE just announced last week that they are going to audit over 600 employer I-9s. I'm not entirely sure that this is the right focus or use of their resources.
I'm just hoping that whatever immigration policy is implemented doesn't send our economy into further disarray. There is a tremendous 'secondary economy' in this country that many people choose not to see. There are millions of non-documented workers in our restaurants, construction & landscaping companies, meat packing plants, and the like who are earning less than minimum wage. While they may not be paying taxes, they are buying goods and services. Imagine the impact if that buying power disappeared. How many more storefronts on Main Street would be empty?
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Primero
I've been thinking about blogging for a long time and always talked myself out of it. This week, I was inspired to start it up after watching the HR Bloggers panel at SHRM 2009. I follow all of the panelists on twitter and have learned a lot from each of them. As a result, I felt compelled to action.
Oh crap, what now?
So I got to thinking about these amazing blogs that the panelists write - Punk Rock HR, HR Capitalist, Jessica Lee Writes, & YourHRGuy - and I realized that I was jumping into a league of complete pros. I was frozen in fear and had feelings of self doubt.
Suddenly the image of Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro popped into my head. Next door to this legendary and enormous stadium is the smaller Maracanazinho.
I am the Maracanazinho to their Maracana and it's just perfect.
So, here's the place where I'll be sharing some of my longer musings about HR topics. I'm excited about the possibilities.
Tchau for now.
Oh crap, what now?
So I got to thinking about these amazing blogs that the panelists write - Punk Rock HR, HR Capitalist, Jessica Lee Writes, & YourHRGuy - and I realized that I was jumping into a league of complete pros. I was frozen in fear and had feelings of self doubt.
Suddenly the image of Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro popped into my head. Next door to this legendary and enormous stadium is the smaller Maracanazinho.
I am the Maracanazinho to their Maracana and it's just perfect.
So, here's the place where I'll be sharing some of my longer musings about HR topics. I'm excited about the possibilities.
Tchau for now.
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