The bill has passed and signed and now it's law. And as every HR professional knows, now the real work begins. Remember when FLSA was being updated and we all thought we'd finally have true clarity around exempt and non-exempt workers? I'm betting the regulations that follow this bill will be the most complex we've experienced.
For us in HR profession, sitting at this table, we have three immediate questions:
What do we tell our leadership team?
What do we tell the HR team?
What do we tell our employees (or our clients)?
Before we can tell anyone anything, of course, we need to learn. And that includes learning about cost, coverage, and options. It means learning more about benefit plans and offerings, more about employee needs and behaviors, more about what the CEO thinks, and what the CFO and lawyers think, too. It means figuring out who we need to be listening to and who we need to be talking to.
While everyone else is talking about the politics and reviewing who are "good guys" and who are the "bad guys" and whether this is the "best" or the "worst" thing America has done in a while, we have the opportunity to be a business leader in the HR space. Bring facts, bring trends, bring options, bring good questions and solutions. Our employees (and clients) need clarity for today and our leaders need options for tomorrow.
At this table, we don't come empty handed....or empty headed. We hope you'll accept our warm invitation to have a seat, share a cup of coffee, and offer your opinion about the best way for terrific HR folks to proceed. Who should we be learning from and what questions should we be asking? We'd love to hear from you!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010
Beginning at the Begining
I didn't realize until the other day that the first Personnel Department was started at the National Cash Register Company in 1901, in the aftermath of a difficult strike. It makes a few of us smile to realize that even in the beginning, much of the job was "clean up"!
Today, we don't consider ourselves Personnel. We talk about being a Human Resources Specialist or Generalist, an Office Manager, a Talent Leader, a Labor & Management Director, an Organizational Developer, a Strategist, a Trusted Advisor, an Attorney and an HR Leader, a Business Person focused on HR issues, a Resource Partner,a Consultant to name a few.
At the end of the day, I think the role exists -- no matter what you want to call it -- because someone needs to integrate the needs of the individual employee with the needs of the business. Someone has to take acountability for making sure there are the right people with the right skills in the right jobs with the right levels of investment and engagement with the right leadership to make those grand strategy statements come true.
Lots gets written every week about what we in the profession are dong well and a lot more is written about what we aren't doing well. I think we carry a hard message that many in our companies don't want to hear. And I think we often don't prepare ourselves to be the best advocates for the messages we need to deliver.
It occurs to me as I write this that if our real job is to integrate the needs of different constituencies, than perhaps our challenge is we are not integrated ourselves. To what degree do we understand the conflicting business conversations that are gong on around us? To what degree do we understand what the President or CEO really (really!) expects from HR. To what degree do we know what we personally do best for employees and leaders? Being knowedgeable prepares us for what Dave Ulrich would call being "A Credible Activist".
Does that term resonate? It means being both proactive and credible. Are those terms that as an HR leader, you believe others would use to describe you? Should they be the terms used? If you serve the HR community, do you see this as an important role? And what do our business leaders think?
We'd like to hear your thoughts? Credible Activist & HR Leader - is it the place to begin?
Today, we don't consider ourselves Personnel. We talk about being a Human Resources Specialist or Generalist, an Office Manager, a Talent Leader, a Labor & Management Director, an Organizational Developer, a Strategist, a Trusted Advisor, an Attorney and an HR Leader, a Business Person focused on HR issues, a Resource Partner,a Consultant to name a few.
At the end of the day, I think the role exists -- no matter what you want to call it -- because someone needs to integrate the needs of the individual employee with the needs of the business. Someone has to take acountability for making sure there are the right people with the right skills in the right jobs with the right levels of investment and engagement with the right leadership to make those grand strategy statements come true.
Lots gets written every week about what we in the profession are dong well and a lot more is written about what we aren't doing well. I think we carry a hard message that many in our companies don't want to hear. And I think we often don't prepare ourselves to be the best advocates for the messages we need to deliver.
It occurs to me as I write this that if our real job is to integrate the needs of different constituencies, than perhaps our challenge is we are not integrated ourselves. To what degree do we understand the conflicting business conversations that are gong on around us? To what degree do we understand what the President or CEO really (really!) expects from HR. To what degree do we know what we personally do best for employees and leaders? Being knowedgeable prepares us for what Dave Ulrich would call being "A Credible Activist".
Does that term resonate? It means being both proactive and credible. Are those terms that as an HR leader, you believe others would use to describe you? Should they be the terms used? If you serve the HR community, do you see this as an important role? And what do our business leaders think?
We'd like to hear your thoughts? Credible Activist & HR Leader - is it the place to begin?
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