Whenever I discuss career goals with young adults, I emphasize that life is a journey, not a race. They frequently respond that things change and are done differently than I did when I was beginning my career. While this isn’t the point I was trying to make, I agree with them… [...]
Recently I gave a presentation in Kansas City about elevating your organization’s brand in an effort to recruit and retain the best talent. The feedback and enthusiasm for the topic from the audience mirrored that of many of my clients. Many of our clients are struggling to recruit talent and retain [...]
Last month one of our team members, Mary Lake, wrote a blog about unlimited vacation and employees taking extended holidays. Interestingly, after its posting, a colleague of mine called to share an issue around his extended vacation. My colleague had planned a two-and-a-half-week vacation at the end of the year. This allowed him [...]
My last blog addressed the trend of employees failing to utilize vacation time and what employers could do to encourage them to take their well-deserved time off. Since the blog’s publication I have been personally exposed to some additional generational and cultural trends concerning paid time off. In November, my son [...]
What's your New Year's resolution going to be? Gym? Less television? More reading? Although our intentions are good, unfortunately, these resolutions are often cast aside in fairly short order after the beginning of the year. However, the New Year affords organizations' leadership the opportunity to collectively decide on key resolutions and [...]
As the year draws to a close, I find myself scouring the Internet for 2015 HR predictions and talking with my team on what the next year holds for our field. While often I find that many of these predictions seem to roll over year after year and the articles repetitive, [...]
I recently had a conversation with a colleague about culture in the workplace. Her firm is experiencing low morale, high turnover, and a general air of negativity. She asked me, “How can we create a positive culture and where do we begin?” For days after our conversation, her question still had [...]
I took a break from planning my Thanksgiving activities the other day and was perusing the Internet when a story about Kmart’s Thanksgiving policy caught my eye. For those of you that don’t know, Kmart has alerted its employees that if you don’t show up on Thanksgiving, you’re going to lose [...]
It seems like every day I hear an interview, read an article or have a conversation that somehow (directly or indirectly) highlights the differences between generations, cultures and/or the economic status of those living and working in today’s society. I’ve heard Millenials (those from Generation Y) who find nothing strange about [...]
Communications, both internal and external, can be the lifeblood of an organization. Communications allows for transparency, inclusion and opportunities for employees, partners, clients and prospects. However, one of the most important aspects of both internal and external communications is consistency. Keeping up with the regular sharing of information, news and resources [...]