September 29, 2003
NEHRA joins forces with BostonWorks
Posted by
Douglas Eisenhart
at 10:31 AM
Today we are launching a brand new section of the site for our employer and recruiter audience. Developed in conjunction with the Northeast Human Resources Association, more commonly known as NEHRA, the new section -- NEHRA - The Voice of HR -- will deliver timely tips and features on hiring and related workplace topics.
NEHRA is the voice of authority on these matters, and we are thrilled to be able to provide their insights and expertise right here on BostonWorks. We will also carry listings of all NEHRA events, including professional development, for the HR community, and in the not-to-distant future we hope to bring you live chats with NEHRA members who will field your questions and share their expertise.
So please check out the newest section of BostonWorks and be sure to let us know what you think via our feedback page. And stay tuned for more from NEHRA and BostonWorks.
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September 26, 2003
Joel on office design
Posted by
Jason Butler
at 1:53 PM
How to design workspaces for software developers.
Having drop-dead gorgeous, private, windowed offices makes it a lot easier to recruit the kinds of superstars that produce ten times as much as the merely brilliant software developers. If I have to compete at New York salaries against Bangalore salaries, I'm going to need those superstars, so when people come in for an interview, I need to see jaws on the floor.
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September 25, 2003
Is your company family friendly?
Posted by
at 9:45 AM
This is a USA Today report on the Working Mother magazine's list of top companies for family friendly companies. Companies are becoming more family friendly by offering, leaves, flex time, reduced work weeks, and other benefits in order to retain their best employees. Is your company family friendly?
All the companies in the top 100 list offer flextime. That compares with 55% nationwide, according to the 2003 benefits survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management. Susan Seitel, president of research firm Work & Family Connection, says companies have gone to great lengths to be more family friendly because they want to retain their best employees.
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September 17, 2003
Why care about HR service levels?
Posted by
at 9:58 AM
From Human Resource Executive Magazine:
HR organizations need to start managing themselves like businesses. HR is an internal service provider, whether it realizes it or not. Characteristics of good service providers include: defined-service offerings, service levels and measurements, intimate knowledge of cost drivers and a deep understanding of the relationship between fluctuations in their customers' business performance and their HR volumes (i.e., volumetrics).
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September 15, 2003
Big Help Job Fair @ Fenway Park draws 8,000 job seekers
Posted by
Douglas Eisenhart
at 2:39 PM
Fifty of the region's leading employers across a range of industries, from retail to healthcare to biotech to financial services, participated last Wednesday in BostonWorks Job Fair at Fenway Park. The event drew 8,000 job seekers and was covered by local media. Check out our photo gallery of the event as well as the WCVB Channel 5 video clip.
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Working the network
Posted by
at 10:46 AM
ABCNews reports on how you might be six people away from finding the hot prospects.
There's a theory of sociology — popularized by John Guare's hit play Six Degrees of Separation — that no more than six people separate you from anyone else in the world. Think of it as a chain: You know someone, who knows someone, who knows someone else. Based on how many people we each know, there are no more than six people between you and Queen Elizabeth or you and the Pope or, yes, you and the perfect hire. The trick, of course, is finding the right six people.
There's no sure way to do it, or we'd all be lunching with our favorite TV stars. But networking substantially improves the odds that you'll connect with someone you otherwise would have missed.
All it takes is a little discipline. Networking is not just asking every person you meet whether he happens to know someone looking for a job. It's a methodical approach to identifying top candidates.
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September 12, 2003
New ways to measure the effectiveness of your recruitment advertising campaign
Posted by
at 2:54 PM
ERE's Dave Lefkow gives us new metrics to use when evaluating the effectiveness of our recruitment advertising efforts.
The qualitative nature of recruitment advertising — i.e., the fact that you only want your advertising messages to reach certain very targeted individuals — throws a lot of the meaning of traditional advertising statistics out the window.
Using traditional advertising tracking tools usually leads you to measure the number of applications in comparison with the cost for each media. This gives you a "cost per application." The application is similar to an online purchase in a lot of ways. Information is transmitted from your "customer" — the applicant — to you using an online form. Both are easily traceable and tied to media. But the job of recruiting does not end at the point of application; in fact, it has only just begun.
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September 11, 2003
Job stress, burnout on the rise
Posted by
at 12:07 PM
From MSNBC.com:
With mass layoffs, pay cuts, seemingly endless workdays and disappearing vacations, Americans are coping with an enormous amount of job stress. Feeling unable to keep up with the demands of their jobs, many are reaching burnout levels.
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September 9, 2003
Employers learning that "B" players hold the cards
Posted by
at 4:32 PM
I blogged a similar article on July 31 from HBS but I think this is such an important realization that many companies have not come to that it deserves to be blogged again.
USA Today published that defines the "B" player, who they are and how they work. Also, it discusses reasons companies are concentrating their rentention efforts on this group.
When employers aren't busy weeding out the bottom 10% of their workforce, they've been trying to steal the A players from the competition in a battle to lure the best. But some of those employers are coming around to the realization that failure and success might not lie among the weakest and strongest links, but in the solid middle, the B players like Joel, the 75% of workers who have been all but ignored. Companies have been trying to capture what organizational intelligence consultant Adrian Savage calls the "unicorns," but the focus is starting to shift to the horses, the B players.
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Tight times a test for rah-rah firms
Posted by
Jason Butler
at 10:38 AM
The Christian Science Monitor takes a look at how high-loyalty firms adapt to tough times.
Commerce Bank is among many companies trying to foster a high-loyalty, employee-friendly culture. Working for one of these firms can be a heady, fulfilling experience. ...
And if things go wrong, even for reasons outside the company's control, the backlash from the workforce can be enormous.
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September 8, 2003
Business partners
Posted by
at 11:28 AM
From SHRM's HR Magazine:
...it is a growing trend that bears tremendous potential for organizations and HR professionals. A recent in-depth survey conducted by CFO Research Services and analyzed by Mercer Human Resource Consulting has documented what Hartley and Mercade already know: The HR and finance professions work better together than separately.
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September 3, 2003
Ten managing tips for today's workplace
Posted by
Jason Butler
at 9:19 AM
Dan Miller, VP of content over at Monster.com, has started his own weblog and today writes an excellent piece on ten managing tips for today's workplace.
More than ever, managers must show their mettle, motivating employees who find themselves breaking bread at more goodbye lunches than power lunches. Here are 10 key principles to building and sustaining an effective team, in a time when working smarter with fewer employees is the new reality
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