Originally posted December 25, 2012
From "Miracle On 34th Street"

Merry Christmas everyone

(Spoiler alert - if you haven't watched the season finale of Sons of Anarchy, you may not want to read on).

The worst HR job in America might be the HR Director at Teller Motors.  Here's why:

*The job is located in Charming, CA, a town with a death rate that rivals Cabot Cove, ME

*It's family-owned, with a highly unstable family.  The current owner, Jax Teller,  shot and killed the former owner, his stepdad, Clay Morrow.   And the owner's mom, Gemma, just killed the owner's wife, Tara, with a carving fork.

*The owner is involved with many illegal activities, including guns, drug-running, and prostitution.

*Recruiting employees is tougher than a union closed shop in 1939.

*Employees are more likely to get killed by a member of the IRA than receive a company-sponsored IRA.

*Health care premiums are likely to skyrocket in the next year.  Given than Tara was a physician and provided care to the company employees gratis as well as stole supplies from the hospital in which she worked, the employees are likely in the market for a new doctor.

*Teller Motors has a very stringent orientation procedure.

*Most common reason for turnover?  Death.

*Most useless taxes paid?  FUTA and FICA. Most employees are unlikely to be fired and few are around long enough to collect Social Security.

*Forget about the AFT...the latest concern may be OSHA, who may put Teller Motors on their watch list for imminent danger after the company clubhouse was firebombed.

At least the company parties are off the hook.

I was saddened to hear the news today of the departure of Curtis Midkiff, Director of Social Engagement, from SHRM for greener pastures at the American Red Cross. 

I, of course, am happy that Curtis found an opportunity that he was excited to pursue, but it will definitely be a loss for SHRM.

I first met Curtis when I was chosen as one of five inaugural SHRM Blog Squad members for the SHRM Annual Conference in San Diego.  No one was exactly sure what the SHRM Blog Squad would do, but it was enough of a success, that SHRM brought it back the next year, and again, and again.  And what was just a small endeavor 4 years ago blossomed into an enterprise comprising 50+ members sharing their insight, tweets, blogs, etc. at the Annual Conference each year.  In addition, he was instrumental in bringing a little extra flair to the Monday night SHRM Tweetup, including a party with DJ Jazzy Jeff.

Without Curtis' vision and efforts, I am not sure SHRM would have embraced social media as readily as they have done, and I hope they continue to do.


So, best wishes in the next step in your career, Curtis.  The American Red Cross is lucky to have you.

Four years ago today, some 50-odd people (or is it 50 ODD people) descended upon the Hilton Seelbach in Louisville, KY to attend the first HRevolution unconference.  Put together by Trish McFarlane, Ben Eubanks, Steve Boese, and Crystal Peterson as an alternative to the mega SHRM Annual Conference, HRevolution attempted (and continues to emphasize) to bring a new voice to the future of HR.   Topics for that first day included:

• Blogging Basics - tools, platforms, getting started
• Advanced Blogging Topics - hosting, building an audience, promotion, aggregation
• Social Media in HR - building the case, learning the tools, planning the strategy, executing the plan, measuring the results
• New Technology you can use - Demo and discussion of some exciting new technologies for information sharing and collaboration, low-cost (some even free), low maintenance, and really cool

Since its inception, it has had five iterations, with the latest in Las Vegas.  

For me, it has been a truly transformative event, both personally and professionally, as I have gone from a simple attendee, to presenter, to planner.

Significant friendships have formed.  People who never met prior to the event have taken trips together.

Its spawned the ever popular 8 Man Rotation series.

Its even led to marriage, as 6-time attendees Frank Zupan and Tammy Colson met in Louisville, fell in love one year later in Chicago at the 2nd HRevolution, and married four years later on the eve of the 6th event.

So happy anniversary HRevolution....here's to many more.   Anyone interested in St. Louis in May 2014?

With the news  that hotel reservations are now being accepted for the 2014 SHRM Annual Conference, I bring you my 5th annual expose of SHRM hotel costs.


I look at selected SHRM conference brochures (i.e., the ones that I still possessed) over the past 14 years to see what it would cost a person to book a single room on a per night average.  Clearly, prices in 2001 will be different than in 2014, so I use an inflation calculator to adjust costs to today's dollars.  So, how does the 2014 Conference in Orlando compare to years past?

Cost of an Average SHRM-Affiliated Hotel (per night)
San Francisco (2001): $262.71 (standard deviation of $57.92)
Chicago (2008): $262.19 (sd of $30.18)
Chicago (2013): 248.49 (sd of 20.58)
San Diego (2010): $250.22 (sd of $43.07)
Washington DC (2006): $238.34 (sd of $40.95)
Philadelphia (2002): $223.02 (sd of $559.63)
San Diego (2005): $210.37 (sd of $51.29)
Atlanta (2012): $202.33 (sd of $22.57)
Las Vegas (2007): $171.69 (sd of $33.09)
Orlando(2014): $162.07 (sd of $36.07)
Las Vegas (2011): $132.56 (sd of $18.38)

On average, Orlando looks to be one of the best hotel bargains in years for SHRM attendees.  Half of the hotels are below the median cost of $151.50.  The first quartile is at $139, and the 3rd quartile is at $186.   The lowest price hotel is at $99 with a top price of $244.

Given that the average price of a Chicago hotel was $248.49 last year with significant hotel and food taxes, SHRM14 attendees will be saving an average of $86.42 a night...more than enough to buy a ticket to Universal Orlando or Walt Disney World.

See you in Orlando

The 6th iteration of the HRevolution event took place on October 6 in the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas.  As a different HR conference, HRevolution has strived to provide 1) quality content that is entertaining, informative, and thought provoking, 2) opportunities to network, 3) opportunities for conversation to break off from the prescribed agenda, and 4) all of the above at a more than reasonable price.

All was accomplished with aplomb.

Content
The agenda kicked off with a range of topics, from a discussion of generations with Matt Charney and Ben Eubanks, to early technology adoption with China Gorman, to global HR with a panelist of HR professionals from New Zealand, Canada, the UK and the US.

Craig Fisher once again provided the latest and greatest in HR Tech tools, while Lois Melbourne provided an important lesson on the importance of passion in what we do in HR.

At lunch, HR Improv made its triumphant return, much to the delight of the audience.  A bevy of volunteers had to give a 5 minute presentation from a PowerPoint deck of slides they had not seen before.  From the difference between English and French Cheese, to "what is a birthday?"  the audience had a rollicking good time.

Seasoned television veterans Kelly Kahl and Phil Gonzales gave their unique perspectives of HR from an industry few in the audience were familiar, while Teela Jackson and Crystal Miller kept the audience engaged with their session on employer branding.

The last set had Tincup and Sackett talking about the problems of "A" Talent, while Dwane Lay led a raucous session where HR professionals tried to top one another with their HR horror stories.

Anne Meath provided a fitting close with how Wegman's provides a great place to work.

Networking

With over 100 attendees, HRevolution provided not only an opportunity for old friends to reconnect, but to welcome new attendees to, what Trish McFarlane describes, as the 'family.'  From 9 6-time attendees to over 50 first timers, the opportunity to discuss the latest in HR as well as their own personal experiencing, provided a warm, inviting environment.

Extended Conversation


As recommended, it was not surprising to see conversations go beyond the agenda.  Lance Haun led an impromptu session on "Not Talking About HR For An Hour," while Bill Boorman broke off with "Every Time You Talk About EVP, a Puppy Dies."  As always, one never knows where the conversation will go at HRevolution.

Thanks again to SumTotal for sponsoring the evnt, fisherVista for sponsoring the Saturday evening Tweetup, and co-organizers Steve Boese, Trish McFarlane, and Ben Eubanks for their tireless efforts over the past few months to pull the event together.

 

On Tuesday, September 10, a lively chat was held regarding the relationship between SHRM professional chapters and volunteers, and student programs.  Nearly 129,000 impressions were made, and nearly 36,000 accounts were reached according to Tweetreach.com.

Here are the questions and answers that took place:

Q1 - What are the benefits of working with a SHRM student chapter? 

The participants found a number of reasons to engage with student chapters:

• Students were going to be their future peers; the professional chapter's future depended on them
• Student chapters provide quality access to interns, as well as served as a source to fill future vacancies
• To break down generational barriers
• To fill a programming niche at the professional chapter, as students choose and present a topic of interest to professionals

Q2 - What are you, your professional chapter or State Council doing to support your SHRM student chapter?

• Providing free professional chapter membership to students
• Mentoring
• Providing for discounted, or free, registration at chapter meetings, or the state conference
• Providing speakers
• Job shadowing opportunities
• Offering the opportunity to tour a company's plant or workplace
• Financial support - $500 if the chapter earns a Superior Merit Award, $250 if they earn a merit award
• State Council offers $100 to each student chapter that submits a merit award

Q3 - What are the biggest challenges you face in working with a SHRM student chapter?

• The schedule often made planning difficult with the academic calendar running from August-May, which the professional chapter goes from January to December.
• Student turnover made building relationships difficult
• Students often lacking the time to connect or showing interest in the professional chapter 

Q4 - What could SHRM be doing to help address those challenges?

• Make working with student chapters a bigger part of SHAPE
• Address current chapter bylaws to create a student member category
• Examine new ways for chapters to communicate with students
• Be clearer with professional chapters about the challenges inherent in working with student chapters

Q5 - Based on tonight’s discussion, what is one thing you will do to help your student chapter this year? 

• Create a Student Core Leadership Area representative for the chapter
• Create a membership category for students
• Be more aggressive in connecting with the student chapter(s) in the area
• Expand opportunities for students at the state level
• Encourage greater volunteering among professionals with the student chapter
• Utilize Tara Fournier, SHRM's Manager of Member Engagement, as a resource 

Per usual, SHRMChats will take place at 8PM EDT, 7 PM CDT, 6 PM MDT and 5 PM PDT on the second Tuesday of the month.  Look for the next SHRMChat to be held October 10, where the focus will be on SHRM Chapter Membership issues.