The Second Edition

The revised and expanded edition of The Big Book of HR was published last month. Some of you are probably thinking, “Are you nuts to have taken on this endeavor?” Yes, no, not really!

Anyone who manages people in today’s challenging world knows that it hasn’t gotten easier – just more complicated, and, for that matter, more interesting.  We revised The Big Book of HR to reflect some of the new realities leaders and managers face. The following is just a sample of some of the things that have changed.

Workplace Flexibility: The prevalence of flexible work arrangements – flextime, telework, shift flexibility – continues with the types of programs offered varying to meet the needs of the individual organizations.  We explore these along with the more innovative approaches to flexibility and work-life integration that are occurring at companies such as The Virgin Group (unlimited vacation) and Netflix (unlimited parental leave and full pay in the first year after the birth or adoption of a child).

Performance Management: Performance appraisals are being scrutinized as some organizations move to abandon traditional performance appraisals in favor of more flexible approaches. We look at the traditional approach as well as the emerging trends and discuss differences and similarities.

Incentive Compensation: Start-up firms in the technology sector, which are nimble and flexible, are disrupting many established practices. Taking their lead, employers are turning to variable pay, a type of incentive compensation, to reward employees as salary budgets continue to be relatively flat and low, and to attract and retain younger workers. We explore the pros and cons of these approaches and how they affect different segments of the workforce.

Technology: Even on the people side, the use of technology has revolutionized how we lead and manage our businesses. It’s impacted how recruiting is done, how training and development programs are delivered in a geographically dispersed workforce, and how meetings and communications are conducted. We explore the challenges and opportunities for managing people in a world so influenced by technology.

People Analytics: Google has been a leader in the area of using data to make good decisions on issues relating to their employees. With technology enabling us to make better decisions based on information rather than what feels like the “right thing to do,” we discuss how good data – which is readily available – is being used.

The Gig Economy: More individuals are working as independent contractors, freelancers, or temporary workers. Whether it’s by choice or necessity, the trend is growing.  This is disrupting the existing social contract with workers that was designed for an industrial workforce. We look at the interesting suggestions being made at changing that contract and the way people are paid and receive benefits.

See how the revised and expanded edition of The Big Book of HR can help you manage people in our changing world. Itis available from major booksellers everywhere.  

Barbara Mitchell & Cornelia Gamlem

A Day in the Life

At a Writers' Digest Conference Barbara and I attended, a writer (translate: someone who receives royalty checks on a regular, steady basis from writing) was asked what his day was like.  It went something like this: breakfast, take the kids to school, back to the home office to write for the morning, lunch, gym in the afternoon (a by-product of that, it increases endorphins) then into the office for a while.  Another writer talked about watching movies on TV.  She has to convince her husband she's working when she does it—she’s studying characters!  When she's blocked, she does laundry.  It clears her mind, gives her a chance to reboot, and makes her feel that she is being productive. 

Not too many years ago, managers in organizations would have been shocked, outraged to learn that their workers who telecommute didn’t spend their days “chained” to their computers and “working” just as industrial workers were tied to the factory for the workday. Doing laundry, exercising, watching TV (it can be a distraction when you work alone) were considered shameful, disgraceful and outrageous. 

Anyone who's ever worked in a traditional office environment can attest to how much time workers are capable of wasting.  Gossip around the water cooler or break room, folks dropping by to chat, smoke breaks, coffee breaks, and oh yes, surfing the Internet in the office.  Having experienced both corporate life and independent consultant's life, I can attest that I'm much more productive working from a home office.

Beyond productivity, the way we work today is more fluid. Work and productivity no longer need to take place in a fixed place or at a fixed time. When we were an agrarian society, the lines around home and work were nonexistent. People worked and lived on their farms, and there were no schedules. Nature often dictated when tasks were done. During the Industrial Revolution, workers moved from the farm to the factory. Laws and rules evolved to regulate work and work schedules. Now the Information Age is once again transforming the way we work as workers are moving from the office back home, and the lines between work and home are getting blurred. We’ve come full circle.

As technology has made it easier to work remotely, workplace flexibility is becoming a reality for organizations. In today’s competitive environment, flexibility and a culture that encourages balance between personal and business obligations is an advantage in attracting and retaining the best employees. Smart organizations recognize that allowing their employees flexibility when possible increases their loyalty to the company and is a good retention strategy. Technology also has provided tools to determine if work – meaning results – is occurring. Managers should be taking advantage of these tools. 

Workers have lives and during their daily 8 to 5 routines, they need to have the time to take care of their business and not be "chained" to their desks or workstations. That’s why we devoted an entire chapter in The Big Book of HR to Workplace Flexibility and examined the latest trends.

Choices & Flexibility

Marissa Mayer announced that she’s pregnant with twins and plans to take a short maternity leave (two weeks) when she delivers in December. The chatter about this news is all over social and mainstream media. Endless numbers of people are weighing in on her decision. I caught part of a discussion about it on the TV news while waiting for an appointment. Should she take a longer maternity leave? Did she have a responsibility to do so since women have fought long and hard for expanded benefits? Shouldn’t she serve as a role model for all women? The same morning the Washington Post’s column “On Leadership” was also talking about her parenting decisions.

As CEO of Yahoo, Ms. Mayer has some decisions to make – both about how to parent and about how to run a company. She’s not the first CEO to make such a decision. Chad Dickerson, CEO of Etsy, the on-line commerce sites, took a full paternity leave when he and his wife adopted a child in 2012. In each case, both CEOs had to weight the circumstances of their situations – which were similar, but not identical – to make their decisions. For Dickerson, the timing of his leave was at the height of the holiday shopping season. He had to go to the board to explain the importance of taking this time off and provide a plan for their approval. Mayer’s company, Yahoo, is going through a critical period in its life cycle, spinning off Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce company, a transition that will be completed by the end of this calendar year. Their situations are unique in comparison to the situations of other employees in their respective organization who are facing the same decision about parental leave. Their positions in their companies are not distinctive and not representative of the typical parent (mother or father). 

As I listened to the debate on the TV about Mayer’s choices, I couldn’t help but think that there’s not a cookie cutter approach for how new parents deal with the demands of their growing families and the responsibilities of their jobs. It’s yet another aspect of diversity. Jena McGregor, the columnist who wrote the piece on Mayer, rightfully pointed out that as CEO, she may not have as many choices as other expectant mothers at Yahoo might have.

Organizations in this country are making great strides in offering more robust benefits to help all employees, not only new mothers and fathers, have better work-life integration. The stigma surrounding men taking paternity leave is dissipating. We’re making progress, but still have more work to do as a country on this issue. Despite how far we have, or haven’t come, it’s a journey that continues. More choices are available than a generation ago and more should be available to all working parents. Flexibility continues to be an important issues for workplaces today. In the meantime, it’s important to respect the decisions that individuals choose to make.