February 25, 2004

Key to boardroom remains elusive
Posted by at 1:53 PM

In today's Globe, this article discusses how women are still finding it very difficult to get into corporate boardrooms even after the Sarbanes Oxley Act of 2002. It is a major issue that is not only affecting Boston but the nation. This article also reinforces the fact that in Boston, it isn't what you know but who you know.

Women held just 9 percent of board seats at the 100 largest public companies in Massachusetts in 2003, according to a recent report. Half of those companies have no women directors at all, including a shoe company, a fabric manufacturer, and a laundry-service company.

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February 24, 2004

Catbert strikes again
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 9:08 AM

Scott Adams' Evil HR Director, Catbert, is in rare form this morning, dispensing the usual pearls of HR wisdom.
Follow this link to the BostonWorks home page, then click on Dilbert in the lower right of the page.

(If you are reading this blog entry anytime after the 24th, you need to go to "Read Past Strips" at the Dilbert page.)
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February 23, 2004

US DOL: Changes on horizon for nation's workforce
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 12:57 PM

From our weekly update of employment stats and trends, Out in the Field, in the BostonWorks section of the Boston Sunday Globe, a report from the US Department of Labor on the changing composition of the US workforce (hit link and scroll down):

The nation's future workforce will be smaller, more diverse, more mobile, and more vulnerable to global competition, according to a study conducted for the Labor Department.

Shifting demographics, advances in technology, and increases in global trade are the strongest forces shaping the world of work, with big changes on the horizon for workers and employers, said the study by Rand Corp., a think tank based in Santa Monica, Calif.

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For maximum efficiency, call on a Mother
Posted by at 12:21 PM

From the Sunday BostonWorks section, Miranda Daniloff Mancusi gives recruiters some interesting insight to an often overlooked segment of the workforce - Mothers. Sometimes things are so obvious, that you often overlook them. Next time you are looking to fill a project management role or conflict resolution consultant, seek out a Mother.

As a mother of one, stepmother of three, I know that mother-employees can quickly assess priorities and make choices. ''You can have milk or juice, but not both,'' I say to my 2-year old son. Employed in university public relations, I might say to my boss: ''You can have a new website or a new newsletter, but not both.'' Known as the ''milk or juice principle,'' this technique can help managers recognize that without additional resources, such as money or manpower, choices must be made.

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February 20, 2004

Why office romances are bad for business
Posted by at 4:53 PM

HR practitioners know that office romances are inevitable. People spend more time at their job than they do at home most of the time. However, HR should be aware of the legal concerns and effects on productivity that could result from a failed romance. From CareerJournal.com:

Legal battles over the issue are surfacing in the courts. Robert Barbee, a former national sales manager for Household Automotive Finance Corp., sued the company in California state court after he was fired for dating Melanie Tomita, a salesperson there. Mr. Barbee didn't directly supervise Ms. Tomita and worked in a different location; he had tried to keep his relationship with her completely separate from work. He claimed his firing violated his right to privacy. In November, however, a California appeals court sided with management, whose lawyers argued the relationship created a potential conflict of interest. Mr. Barbee has since married Ms. Tomita and is working elsewhere, says his attorney in the case, David Strauss of San Diego.

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February 18, 2004

Will HR be inevitably outsourced?
Posted by Jason Butler at 7:32 AM

CareerJournal has an article this morning discussing the future of HR in regards to outsourcing.

Although HR professionals can reassure themselves that this shift is beneficial because it frees them up "to be more strategic" and "to become a business partner," the reality is something else altogether. There's nothing wrong with outsourcing per se, but its use for most or all of HR's key responsibilities begs the question: Why bother with HR at all? The counter argument by outsourcing advocates -- that the HR department retains strategic oversight of its work -- is self-serving and misguided. If HR is already weakened from internal attacks and indifference, then outsourcing is more likely to be its death knell than its song of liberation. In effect, such extensive outsourcing leaves the profession with an imprecise mission -- or, more likely, without any mission whatsoever.

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February 13, 2004

How to win candidates and influence clients
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 9:32 AM

More tips for recruiters from Lou adler on ERE:

Here's a basic principle worth considering: a recruiter's performance is based largely on the quality of the last candidate recommended. How well you do here depends primarily on how well you handled taking the job assignment. So let's start at the beginning.

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February 11, 2004

Outlook for hiring brightens in Mass.
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 9:40 AM

Some nice news to wake up to this morning in the Globe:

The Massachusetts economy is firmly into a recovery while the prospects for a job market rebound are brightening, according to three indexes released yesterday.

The indexes, which measure consumer and business confidence, and the state's economic growth, are all on the rise, with Associated Industries of Massachusetts reporting business confidence at its highest level since November 2000 and Mass Insight Corp. reporting consumer confidence at its best since July 2002.

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February 10, 2004

Management by Baseball
Posted by Jason Butler at 12:16 PM

Now that we've reached the sporting dead zone, that awful time between the Super Bowl and Opening Day, we have to get our sports jones one way or another.

Here is a site called Management by Baseball, which uses lessons from the national pastime to learn how to become better managers.

What do Hall of Fame baseball managers like Connie Mack & John McGraw have in common with today's business leaders? Why are baseball managers like Joe Torre & Dusty Baker better role models for management than corporate heroes like Jack Welch, Ken Lay & Bill Gates? And just what does Peter Drucker have to do with Oriole ex-manager Earl Weaver? Management consultant & ex-baseball reporter Jeff Angus shows you almost everything you need to know about management you can learn from baseball.

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February 9, 2004

Demand growing for multilingual workers in area businesses
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 2:48 PM

As reported in yesterday's BostonWorks in the Sunday Globe, there is a growing demand for multilingual workers in the Greater Boston area:

Some area companies are accenting efforts to hire workers fluent in more than one language as they grapple with the challenges of dealing with customers from widely different cultures.

The corporate demand for workers with language skills other than English is driven by a variety of trends including the globalization of business and the growth of immigrant communities in states like Massachusetts, which gained more than 200,000 foreign-born residents between 1995 and 2000.

This phenomenon affects industries from high-tech and financial services to healthcare, retailing, and real estate.

What is your organization doing to address this need?

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February 5, 2004

Brighter days seen for job market in 2004
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 10:22 AM

From the pages of our own BostonWorks in the Boston Globe, DBM's recent survey of HR professionals reports an improved hiring outlook in 2004. Employers will also take steps to retain current employees, through training programs, for example, as the economy improves and more job opportunities open up:

DBM, the international human resources consulting firm, reports that US workers should expect moderate to significant hiring as employers begin to fill vacant positions in anticipation of a full economic recovery. In all, 51 percent of the 150 human resource professionals polled this month by DBM said their employers would boost hiring, a 35 percent increase over last year.

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SJC affirms gay marriage
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 9:53 AM

With President Bush still talking of a federal constitutional amendment against same-sex marriage, and Governor Romney making his opposition clear, it's not a done deal yet. But yesterday's reaffirmed ruling by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court makes clear that gay marriage is mandated to move forward in the Commonwealth, an issue for HR professionals to monitor:

The Supreme Judicial Court yesterday put Massachusetts on course to become the first state in the nation to allow gays to marry, deciding that a proposed civil unions bill for gay couples would establish "an unconstitutional, inferior, and discriminatory status for same-sex couples."

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