HR Happy Hour - Episode 62

In this episode of HR Happy Hour, Steve invites a few different people onto the show for the hour long discussion. Lori Rudimen who is working for Voice of HR - New Media Services, Shawn Conrad with Halogen Software, William Tincup who's company is not listed. Also a woman named Kathy who is a partner with Intellectual Leadership Counseling, and China Gorman who is between jobs during the recording of this podcast. Leadership and Engagement are the featured discussion points of the show.
Engaging employees in their hearts and minds was the first real discussion. There were great points made about how different companies are able to engage their employees through their hearts or minds. However, as it was pointed out, and as one would expect, the truly great companies are able to engage people in both, their heart and mind. However, a lot of consulting companies are really emphasizing the need to engage people in their hearts. When people are enjoying their place they work with their heart, then the thinking follows. You want to make a company better that you enjoy working for.
The group then started to talk about leadership, and all the many different theories that have been developed in the last 20 years. Befor that time, there wasn't a lot of study into leadership and different ways that people lead. However, today, there is a great understanding of management and leadership, and the ability to change people in the company just by the way a leader leads. The group then discussed whether people are better engaged in companies today or back 20 years ago.

HR Horror Stories - HR Happy Hour

In this episode of HR Happy Hour, it was their 2nd annual HR Horror Stories show. In this podcast Steve and Shauna invited people to call into the show or tweet to tell some good horror stories. Apparently the show wasn't as good as last years, and I could tell that they were stalling in order to give more time for people to call in.
It seemed that everyone that called in knew the hosts of the show, which makes sense. Only someone who is well connected in the HR field would be able to pull off the show that they do.
Some of the most ridiculous stories included a guy from the UK named Bill that told of a time that he was interviewing a man for a position in the company. Bill said that as he was walking into the room, he could see that the man was looking at a picture on his phone and was very interested in it. Bill saw as he walked by that it was a nude photo of a woman. Bill sat down and wanted to see how the guy would respond to his actions. So Bill asked what was so interesting on the mans phone, in which he replied "My girlfriend is hot! Take a look." The man turned his phone around to show Bill the nude picture of the woman. Bill, not knowing how else to respond said "I agree. She is hot!" They went from there into the interview.

Another included a story about a woman, who turned out to be a germ-a-phoebe, was going to the bathroom in the ladies restroom, but not into the toilet. They eventually found out who the woman was by the ladies around the bathroom keeping track of who went in and out of the bathroom and then checking after they left the condition of the bathroom. The lady who was using the bathroom incorrectly was fired for her actions.

HR Happy Hour Episode #74

In this episode of HR Happy Hour, which by the way is much more entertaining than HR.com's podcasts, Steve Boese speaks with the Human Capital Management Leader of IBM Asia, Daniel JohnRotty (SP).
Daniel explains in this episode a very interesting study that he did with top HR management across many large companies in the last couple of months. Daniel goes on to explain, as many people would expect, that in our current economic situation, many companies are trying to downsize the number employees while expand the production of each employee that they keep on. Many companies realize that in order to survive, they have to be able to get a greater amount of work from the same amount of people, while at the same time trying to expand their reach as a company.
Daniel also goes on to explain that he found that most top-level HR managers think that investing and training their employees is one of the most important things that they could do. However, they also think that it is not what they are best at doing. Daniel and the host explored this idea in detail and the reasons why this would be.
Daniel explained a few smaller points that he found in his study, and also gave a small glimpse of what addition information will be coming from his study in the future.
While listening to this podcast, I was continually reminding myself the need to not necessarily work harder than everyone around me, but to be able to work smarter than everyone around me, in order to be ahead of everyone in the industry. As I do my homework these last couple weeks at BYU-I, I have made it a goal to work smarter, in order to accomplish a great deal so that I can graduate. I think this is exactly what Daniel found that the executives of these large companies are looking for in employees.

Southwest Airlines

As I prepare to fly to an interview with Southwest Airlines at the end of this week, I thought it would be a good idea to listen to some podcast about the company and its industry. What I found was even better than I thought.
Southwest has its own podcast channel called "RedBelly Radio", named after the color of the belly of Southwest's planes. In most of these podcasts, the host is Steve Haeaser interviews different people in the company that really make a difference, or have an influence of what the company does.
Southwest is a well known company that provides thousands of people each day an affordable alternative to the sometimes expensive transportation industry. Southwest is well known for their fun culture, the fact that their bags fly free, as well as the fact that they are thriving in an industry that struggling financially.
There were multiple podcasts that I listened to, the longest of which was 11 minutes long, and the shortest being just over 2 minutes long.
Most of the time Steve is interviewing a person who is the head of a department, which allows him to get the purpose and reasoning the actions that Southwest takes. I listened to everything from the excellent customer service Southwest provides, to a special 4th of July episode that talked all about the nations independence. My favorite podcasts of the bunch were from Southwests Media Day in 2006. In these episodes, the VP's of each department were talking about something the company was trying to accomplish within their department. It was interesting to hear how Southwest has been able to capitalize their profits by changing the way they clear a plane and turn it around in just a few short minutes before people start to board the plane again for another flight. Southwest saves about $25 million a year by plugging their planes in to power while on the ground, instead of running all the electronics and devices used for cleaning the planes on engines that burn jet fuel. Southwest is the only airline to do this, but because of it and many other changes they have made over the years, they lead the industry in many different areas.
There was also a short podcast that had an intern for the company interviewing two other interns. In the podcast, the interns discussed their experiences and how much they loved what they were doing.
Lets just say that I am TOTALLY STOKED to be able to fly out to Dallas this Friday in order to interview with the company. Wish me luck!
Here is a link to a New York Times article that talks about the culture of Southwest and their ability to thrive in a downed economy: Southwest. Way Southwest

DriveThru HR Show 121

On this episode of the DriveThru HR podcast, Bryan has a guest speaker named Kathleen Woods.
Kathleen works for a company called Kathleen Wood Partners, simple enough. She says that her business focuses on building and turning around business so that they have greater productivity, which in turn gives the company a greater profit. They work with a wide range of businesses that are spread all over the U.S.
Kathleen said that all of the companies that she works with have the desire to invest in their employees as well as their company itself. She mentioned that many of her clients are thriving right now, even when the economy is down. She says this is because these companies are spending money where it is really needed, and that is in the people of a company.
Kathleen's business, as well as many others like it, are really enjoying a high amount of work right now. The reason is because of the fact that many businesses are starting to realize the importance and need to build up their employees before they can build up their company. These companies aren't focusing on just training either. They are also figuring out that service projects, fund raisers, and other out-of-the-norm activities allow employees to bust out of the mundane 8 hour work day.
What is your company doing to break out of the norm and allow your employees to have fun together?

DriveThru HR Show 125

This is a podcast hosted by Bryan Wempen. Bryan published one or two of these HR podcasts a week. In this particular show, Bryan and a friend discuss a recent HR conference that they attended. The conference was called the The People Report Best Practices Conference. Bryan mentions that the purpose of the conference was for fast food restaurant executives to discuss the barriers that are keeping their companies from expanding. Specifically mentioned about attending the conference was the President of Taco Bell, Greg Creed, and executives of Raising Cain, The Cheesecake Factory, Red Robin, White Castle, McDonald's, Burger King.
Bryan and his friend mentioned the ability for Creed and other restaurant heads to recognize the need for their companies to expand and keep people happy with their product. Bryan specifically talked about the hardship the last few years have been on the restaurant business, because if the lack of funding available to these organizations in order to expand. Franchisees are finding it extremely hard to find affordable financing in order to build a location.
After talking about the financial part of the conference, Bryan mentioned the human resource part of the conference:
Social media is playing a large part in connecting with people in the industry, as well as those within a company. Executives are recognizing that social media is an easy way for them to personally connect with their employees as well as customers. Large companies are really pushing forward in the social media marketing, using the human resource department in order to do this. These companies are instituting service projects and other aspects of getting people to do something other than just "work."
Bryan said towards the end of the podcast that "even if he hadn't learned anything, I am a better person because of this conference." He said that had never seen such high ranking officials at a conference get emotional in talking about their company and the people who they represent. These officials know that those under them, the ones that are in their restaurants, are the face of the company. These executives realize that the better person you are, the better business person you are.

For many people that have never heard the term "Human Resources," the term might be confusing or hard to understand. But unless you have been sitting on a log your entire life, you have dealt with Human Resources (HR) in one way or another.
Human Resources is what I call "the human aspect of a business." HR deals with hiring, firing, recruiting, benefits, pay, training, as well as many other parts of managing people who manage a business.
It is this profession that I have chosen to go into after I graduate. I hope to one day be a trainer in some sort of a business. People often ask me why I want to go into the HR field; after which I usually respond with the fact that I love the business world, but don't like the cut-throat attitude of a lot of day-to-day business tasks. However, one way that I have found that I can make a big difference in a company, as well as a difference in people's lives, is through HR.
I have a sincere love for the Human Resource field. I think it is one of the most essential parts of a company. Because of this love, I will be sharing with you readings, podcasts, or other experiences that I have recently had or read in HR. I hope you learn something.