Human Resources 101

Performance reviews are about as much fun as a root canal without any anaesthetic. Employees don’t like getting reviewed and managers resist reviewing. In addition, there is debate within the business community as to whether performance reviews are even effective.
Personally, I’m not convinced of the effectiveness of performance reviews as part of the wage and salary process, [...]

Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings; they did it by killing all those who opposed them.
If at first you don’t succeed…try management.
TEAMWORK means never having to take all the blame yourself.
Hang in there….retirement is only 35 years away!
Go the extra mile…it makes your supervisor look incompetent.
When the going gets tough, the [...]

OfficeTeam’s latest survey shows, about 1/3 of companies ineffective at rewarding good performance.
Workers who feel their good work often goes unnoticed may have a case. More than one-third (35 percent) of professionals polled recently said businesses are ineffective at rewarding their employees’ strong performance. Thirty percent of managers surveyed agreed.
The OfficeTeam article goes on to [...]

Ed Kohler riffs off something Steve Rubel posted to Twitter and asks the question, “Are Sports Metaphors Appropriate for Business?” Ed lists some examples of when the sports metaphor falls flat and the importance of matching the metaphor to the audience.
My biggest problem with sports metaphors is the concept of team in the workplace. It’s not [...]

Okay, I know that the weekly roundup seems to be more bi– than weekly, but I’m planning to post these links each week.

Five Worst-Case Interview Scenarios – and how to recover from them.
Twelve Rules for Self-Management – Rosa Say reminds us, before we can presume to manage others, we must learn to manage ourselves. If you [...]

Tips for Productivity and Happiness at Work – some thoughts on productivity at work and what to do if you’re not happy with your job.

Corporate leadership skills gap revealed – management challenges centre around developing potential leaders, selecting and retaining key talent, and creating an engaged workforce.

Dear John: Some Potential Suggestions for Writing Applicant Rejection Letters – some [...]

Tags: books, motivation

Here’s a piece from NPR looking at some of the things the LAPD Call Centre is doing to help their operators cope with stress.
Job stress costs employers $300 billion a year — but how do you keep workers from hitting the burnout point? Apryl Lundsten looks at how emergency call centers help their operators cope.
Marketplace: [...]

There’s a Seth Godin article in the Guardian on being remarkable. As I read through his 10 points, few jump up and smack me on the head. I realize things I have been doing for five and six and seven years were remarkable then, but are now just ordinary.
Personally, resting on my laurels is a whole lot [...]

For those that seek to emulate the Donald’s h.r. management practices, don’t!
In a study published in the January issue of the Journal of Applied Psychology, the researchers suggest that verbally disrespecting and undermining employees, even in subtle ways — abusive leadership styles often portrayed in television shows such as The Apprentice and The Office [...]