I'm a stickler when it comes to attendance, and my students and former staff are well aware of how irritated I get when someone is late, wants to leave early, or doesn't show up without notice.
I think it is very important to start people on the right foot by being rigid with your attendance policy. Once employees or students feel you are lax in allowing lateness or frequent unexplained absenteeism to occur, your place of business or classroom will suffer.
Common courtesy around attendance involves informing those who you are reporting late to or not reporting to at all of your situation. I have had several people in both my academic career and professional career who have been late or absent a few times, but there is always a legitimate reason, and they always let me know ahead of time. As well, I have statistical evidence that shows that those who do not give notice of their lateness or absenteeism end up leaving school, failing courses, losing their job, or having further problems at work than the absenteeism.
What strategies have you employed in the workplace or classroom to prevent these situations from becoming problems? I'll share more, as well as reader feedback, in a future column.
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (seen below in its entirety) is an amazing motivational tool for those who need inspiration. Taking inspiration from the Last Lecture, many teachers incorporate a "Last Lecture" into the final class of the semester. Similarly, this same concept can be used in company meetings, seminars, or farewell get togethers.
In the workplace, The Last Lecture can take the form of:
- having an inspirational speech at the end of a day of training
- giving employees leaving a chance to say goodbye to their teammates
- wrapping up a workshop with an inspirational speech or presentation
Watch the Last Lecture below if you haven't seen it already, and get inspired by a man who lived more while dying than many do living.
One of the challenges of entrepreneurship is knowing when to bring others on board to assist. Over the 5 years I've been doing consulting, I've always been a one-man show and have used contractors to assist with web development and the like when necessary.
Recently, my business grew to the point where I knew it was time to consider bringing on an intern or a freelancer to assist with some tasks. I developed a structure where my intern will have the ability to work on their own schedule and provide me with the research and resources I need in a timely fashion. She works remotely, and we talk on the phone three times a week to check in and communicate via email between appointments.
After two weeks, I am very pleased with the arrangement. The working relationship is strong and the level of commitment I get is exactly what I needed; someone to take on some of the legwork of researching new business, working with existing clients, and exploring new ways of doing business.
I'll keep you updated as the summer goes on as to how this working arrangement progresses. I am already feeling better with what I have on my plate and am excited for the new opportunities bringing on a freelancer can bring.
I'll be doing a Meet and Greet at the Apple Store Crossgates on Wednesday May 26th from 11-1. Stop in to say hello and find out about some of the great options on a Mac/iPhone or iPad for your business.
The Mac has several great uses for HR and Careers. Many professionals use Macs for timeclocks, Quickbooks, Payroll Management and more. On the career side, Macs can allow you to easily build and develop a website for your business, run a business with a POS system housed on a Mac and more.
For training, the iPad is a great tool as well. I use the iPad to read books on the Kindle reader for iPad as well as Apple's own iBooks app. Additionally, I can do presentations on the go through Apple's Keynote app for the iPad.
I haven't done a scientific study, but results over the years have indicated to me that people who are introduced and assimilated into a work culture immediately upon hire stay longer, are more productive, and more successful longterm.
From my experience and those of my management peers, employees who spend time with their direct supervisor, co-workers and key players in the organization within the first day or week of employment tend to stay with the organization and be more productive.
One place I worked, my new boss took me to lunch on my first day; another, it was the first week. Every place I have worked has involved this type of indocrinization.
How can this be applied elsewhere? Whether its your students, your employees, or your social group, going out of your way to make sure the new kid on the block feels like they know their role and how they will interact with others is the right thing to do.
Take time out with every new person, and you will spend less time out recruiting to replace them later on.
I'll be presenting a workshop at Tech II in Saratoga Springs on Tuesday March 23rd. At this workshop, I'll be presenting some of the latest and greatest apps and programs for the Mac and iPhone to work with your business.
There are some amazing apps that help you stay in communication with your coworkers and employees, especially ones that work with programs such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. There are labor scheduling apps, project management apps, and a variety of tools to help you on the go and in the office.
One of the fears always shared with me about the iPhone is that its "not the Blackberry" - not so! Real-time email, messaging, and linking with Microsoft Exchange are just a few clicks away. Calendar sharing and contact sharing as well.
Hope to see you there on March 23rd. For more information, or to sign up, visit
Here is a submission from the writer of Monday's submission, WK, who also wanted to share his worst experience in the hiring process.
"My worst experience was for my first job (at a retail store). The interview was set up when I received a phone call asking if I could come in for an interview in 15 minutes. Me being a 16 year old kid at the time, anxious to get a job, and finally make some money of course, I agreed, got dressed appropriately and rushed over.
When I arrived to the store, I was led to an office where I was told to sit and wait for the manger. It took almost 20 minutes for someone to come to the office. The assistant manager conducted the interview, asking the necessary questions and giving me the information on the job. After the interview was completed, I was informed the general manager wanted to see me as well.
10 minutes or so later, the manager finally arrived, and at this point, I was quite disappointed and upset at the process, and I was sitting with my elbows on the desk and my chin on my hand. The manager pointed out my posture and added it wasn't very professional of me.
He then went on with his own interview process, asking me the same questions and telling me the same information the assistant manager had already gone over. I informed him that we just went through this already, and that I understood everything that had been explained to me. He replied that "that's how we conduct interviews."
By the end of the process, my view of the company became one that was of negative nature and I didn't care much about the job once I started it. The worst part of it all was the job only paid $6.15 an hour which was minimum wage at the time." WK
Something I claim to have invented was the left turn on red in a left turn only lane. There was a stretch of road near Sea World in Orlando where no traffic ever would be coming and I'd sit there waiting for the left turn lane to go green. After about 4 or 5 times waiting and waiting, I decided to make my own rules and turn left on red when there was no oncoming traffic.
Today, in fact, I also did the same thing in Saratoga!
What does this have to do with HR? Sometimes we face rules that are meant to be broken that won't hurt anyone else. For example, if there is a candidate we really feel should be considered for an opportunity but they don't necessarily meet the qualifications, we may want to sell the candidate to our superiors or to the hiring manager based on other qualities they possess.
Or, we may do a schedule change for someone who was late one time in 6 months who had a legitimate reason for being late, rather than punishing them with a late on their attendance card.
Another example of a "left turn on red" in the workplace can be doing something outside of your responsibilities that may require supervisor approval, but by waiting until a supervisor arrives would cause a customer more stress and the business possible loss in revenue.
Many employers seek to bring new ideas and new perspective to their organizations. This sometimes means there are two experienced seasoned executives or professionals applying for the same job, but from different industries. Much like I explained with Southwest's hiring strategies, often the job will go to the candidate with experience outside the field to get new perspective; this doesn't mean that the experience someone has isn't relevant or is outdated, it just means that sometimes companies want to bring in a personality type, not the experience.
For example, bringing in someone with a strong retail background into a hospitality business (or vice versa) may bring the leadership experience and perspective in a different background.
Always consider the choice which is not the most convenient, and you may find a better fit.
I just finished reading Sway by Ori and Rom Brafman, which shared some excellent points on many Human Resources related issues. Here are a sample of quotes and passages from the book and some comments.
"As difficult as it can be to admit defeat, staying the course simply because of a past commitment hurts us in the long run" (Brafman) - sometimes we stick with a job or a role just because it is comfortable. It may take great courage to move on to something else.
The book talks about LBJ's leadership strategy - calling people in the middle of the night, or taking visitors off guard by calling a swimming break and jumping in the pool. (Brafman) - being an effective leader means not always following the same pattern all the time. Mixing up how you communicate and how you conduct yourself can keep people on their toes and keep you always on top of your business.
The book also discusses how a new professor was introduced to a class, and half the class was given one intro, and half another, with the only words changed in the passage being "very warm person" and "rather cold person". The perception of this teacher was totally different between the first group and the second group.
This book was a great read that took me a while to get through because there were so many amazing bits of information to absorb. I'll share a few more in a future post.
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