Today, our campus begins to welcome students back for the Fall semester.  One week from today, classes begin, for the most part, with face-to-face instruction for the first time since mid-March. A lot of time, energy, and resources were spent over the last several months by many well-intentioned people to get to this point.  Classrooms were redesigned to maximize social distancing.  Policies were put in place to try to minimize the likelihood of getting sick. Even dining was reconfigured to accommodate students (Hi, CNN).

 

If people wash their hands, wear masks, and socially distance this may very well work.  So, what is the issue? 

 

This spring, Netflix had the "reality" show, "Too Hot to Handle."  In the vein of such dating shows as Love Island and Temptation Island (sadly, I know all these shows exist), several twenty-something, attractive single men and women were brought together in a tropical setting for the chance to find true love.  They gather and mingle and sparks begin to fly.  However, a virtual assistant named "Lana," the inexplicable "host" of the show, suddenly informs them they can split a $100,000 prize (though it was unclear how it was to be split) if they make it four weeks.  The catch - NO PHYSICAL CONTACT.  Every intimate act that occurs reduces the overall prize pool (and they don't know what each act "costs.)" A kiss? $3,000 deducted from the overall pot.  Something more....?

With $100K on the line, how long do you think you could last? How long do you think those contestants lasted before penalties were incurred?  For two of the cast members, they didn't make it through the night before violating the rules.

 
For our small, liberal arts college of 2,000 or so students (though we are expecting smaller numbers given the environment), we are suddenly expecting 18-22-year-olds, many of whom who have been quarantined for 5+ months to continue to take appropriate measures to ensure that face-to-face instruction continues. 

In the last week alone, there have been 28 cases of COVID-19 at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville. A Oklahoma State University sorority house is now under quarantine after 23 members test positive for the coronavirus. The University of Alabama AD tweets a photo of locals gathering at bars without distancing and patrons not wearing masks.  The University of North Carolina had their fourth(!) cluster of cases; the student newspaper is none too pleased. The list goes on.

So, count me as a little bit leery we make it through the fall semester without seeing a repeat of spring.

 

 

 

There is likely no organization that has more information about selecting its employees than the National Football League's collection of 30 teams. They have hours of game tape where they can witness their potential future employees actually perform; a rigorous scouting, observation, and interview process to prioritize their options.  Yet, even with almost every built-in advantage, teams miss all the time. QB Tom Brady was passed over several times before being selected in the sixth round of the NFL draft. History is rife of "can't miss" players drafted in the top 10 picks flaming out.

As of this morning, the Mid American Conference has canceled its fall football season.  The Big Ten and Pac-10 are on the verge of canceling theirs as well.  The impact on NFL teams is likely to be far reaching.  Let's explore a few:

1.  What does a NFL draft look like in 2021?

For most NFL teams, draft picks are like gold.  With only 7 rounds, they are, for the most part, scarce items.    They represent opportunity: to fill a position of need...as leverage in a trade...to improve the quality of one's team.  First and second round picks are even more valuable as they are one's you can least afford to gamble on.  

There are certainly some players that are locks for the first round regardless of whether the college football season occurs or not.  There is enough information available for teams to make a reasonable assessment of their qualities. However, how far into the pool of available players do questions about quality begin to arise?  Without a season of play, teams are more likely to whiff on any single pick, and teams may emphasize volume rather than

Confounding matters is the likelihood that many players will retain their eligibility for another year, and choose to stay on campus to improve their stock.  Take LSU QB Joe Burrow, for example.  He was seen as a late round pick at the beginning of the 2019 season.  A National Championship and Heisman Trophy later, Burrow was the #1 pick in the 2020 NFL draft.  Meanwhile, Georgia QB Jake Fromm was projected to a 1st round lock heading into last season, and ended up a fifth round pick.  How many current college players think they will be the next Joe Burrow by returning to college for another season?  And, how many view Fromm as a cautionary tale?

2. Scouting becomes more critical...or does it?

Joel A. Erickson of the Indianapolis Star writes “I’ll tell you this, scouts now become more important,” Indianapolis general manager Chris Ballard said. “Let’s say the disaster happens, and we’re evaluating all of last year’s tape. It’s going to take real work and real skill to get that done.”   

“This is where your connections as a scout become very important, because if you can’t get on the road, you have to have enough connections where you are able to pick up the phone and really dig and call, and people have to trust you to really give you the accurate information,” Ballard said.

However, Jason La Canfora of CBSSports.com finds this won't be easy: 

Even if NCAA teams were only going to practice and not play games until the spring, the front office people I have been talked to figured that sending scouts on campus to try to talk to these players and see them up close would be a moot point. It's always looked like diminishing returns to them, and rethinking how they evaluate players has long been in order. 

"These campuses are going to be closed to outsiders for the most part and some won't even really be open at all," said one NFC personnel exec. "And we're going to have guys going all over the country watching them up close and talking to them and watching film in their facilities? I can't see it. We aren't planning on it. I just don't see that happening."

 

3. "Buy or Make?"

Companies often have to decide whether to choose workers who already have the skills necessary to be competent immediately or invest in developing lesser-skilled employees. With so many unknowns in the draft, does this give leverage to upcoming free agents in improving the team.

One also has to consider the ripple effect of no season.  Not only is the college season possibly being canceled (or delayed until spring), but many high school sports have been put on the backburner as well.  How much development is going to occur during this lost season? Will there be a log jam at many colleges as players return, particularly with scholarship limitations; there is only so much room at the inn.

The Green Bay Packers were much maligned for moving up in the draft to select QB Jordan Love, when All-Pro Aaron Rodgers still may have several productive seasons remaining.  Instead, the Packers staff may have been prescient in seeing an unpredictable QB market over the next several years due to the market and wanted a more known commodity.

4. People analytics has its time to shine

With reduced game tape, and scouting possibly being limited, using data may be the best way for organizations to find inefficiencies in the market for players.  People analytics will become that much more critical for NFL teams to find that diamond in the rough, or to avoid taking on a player who is on the decline. 

Last year, we lost a shining light in HR - Callie Zipple - to stomach cancer at the far too young age of 32 (and you can read my thoughts about her from a previous blogpost here).  As a student and as a representative of SHRM, she was always striving to advance the profession and make HR better.

I was contacted by her parents last week wondering if I could find a home for the HR and business books she had accumulated over the years. Given her push for HR education, and the recent announcement by the SHRM Foundation to create a student scholarship in her name for future HR leaders, I thought the best use might be to help support the scholarship through support for SHRM Foundation.  

So, here's the deal.  If you make a donation (no matter how large or small) to the SHRM Foundation in 2020, and send an email to me at matthew.stollak@snc.edu with some proof of donation, I will send you one of the books from Callie's collection (while supplies last) free of charge.  You can make a donation to the SHRM Foundation here.

I have 54 books to send out...can we find 54 kind donors to help support HR research and education?

Better late than never, it is the 2013 Season of the 8 Man Rotation - your compendium of all things sports and human resources.  The team of Steve Boese, Kris Dunn, Lance Haun, Tim Sackett and yours truly have once again assembled to bring you all the highlights from 2013 in the sports world that impacted or is related to human resources.

What is the 8 Man Rotation?  From the 2010 season, "In basketball parlance, it refers to the five starters and three players off the bench who play the primary amount of minutes during a game.  Given that most basketball rosters contain 12 or more players, the coach has decided that the combination of these 8 players provides the team with the best opportunity to win.  Team chemistry and production are at its maximum."

This edition highlights such chemistry and production with 60+ posts covering Manti Te'o, Earl Monroe, Triple H, and LeBron James.  Find out what is meant by the phrase, "Ball Don't Lie."  Get a detailed look at the NBA Summer League.  In addition, you get a foreword from Saints superfan, Robin Schooling.

So, download it now, and read it in parts, or in one piece all weekend. Bring it on the plane for some light reading on your trip to Utah for Hirevue's Digital Disruption or Orlando for SHRM Annual.  It also makes a great Father's Day gift!

As always, you can get the 2013 Season, as well as the 3 previous seasons at the8manrotation.com.

top HR bloggers?  Heck, No!

Instead, it is the number of articles that I have assigned to my HR Spring seminar beginning on Monday.  In fact, it may be more, since there are several e-books listed that contain a number of articles within them. Overkill?  Perhaps.

Most HR textbooks are not up-to-date on what HR professionals have been discussing over the past couple of years, and it is hoped that my students will be minimally conversant on the current hot topics, even if they have already been beaten to death (engagement, big data, gamification, etc.)

The students have already had at least one HR class, and the list is far from comprehensive, but I hope it gives them an idea of where HR has been, and where HR is going in 2014.

Check out the list here

Any critical articles that are must reads?  

I come from a family of educators.  One uncle was a math teacher for 35+ years with Milwaukee Public Schools.  My cousin teaches AP Chemistry in Green Bay.  My wife is a school psychologist.  My mom taught choir at the K-12 and college level.  My dad was a Psychology professor for 40+ years at Michigan State.  I've been teaching for 18 years.

The curriculum in which I was trained was focused on Labor Economics and Human Resource Management theory and practice.  It did not prepare me for the event when a pregnant student's water breaking in the middle of class discussion.  It did not prepare me for attending the funeral of a student who died in an automobile accident.  Even with my dad's background, it did not prepare him for when a mentally ill student attacked him in his office for some supposed transgression by throwing eggs at him.  And, it certainly didn't prepare any teacher, even with drills, for the horror that occurred in Connecticut last Friday.

Sadly, my reaction was not of anger or sadness, but numbness, with the only surprise that it doesn't happen more often.  Columbine, Paducah, Bart, and Jonesboro.  It was not "a" school shooting.  It was "another" school shooting.  ANOTHER.  Yet, the news seems to treat such an event like a hurricane or earthquake, as if nothing can be done.  It's all too depressingly normal

There has been a lot of discussion about what to do...more extensive background checks, banning certain types of firearms, increasing waiting periods, increased public health funding, particular in mental health.

However, the most ludicrous proposal I've seen is the suggestion that we need more arms, more guns....that teachers should be armed.  Why?

1.  I'm sure the belief is that an armed gunman or gunmen will enter a classroom guns ablazing, and the heroic teacher will have a gun at her ready and fire accurately to take him/them down, saving ALL the children.  U.S. House of Representatives member Louie Gohmert stated this very point on Sunday talking to Chris Wallace on Fox:  "Chris, I wish to God she had had an M-4 in her office, locked up so when she heard gunfire, she pulls it out and she didn’t have to lunge heroically with nothing in her hands and takes him out and takes his head off before he can kill those precious kids. [...]"

That is delusion of the highest order.  It is fantasy that even J.R.R. Tolkien would reject.

• It assumes the teacher will have firepower sufficient to take that individual or group of individuals down
• It assumes that the gun is quickly and readily available at the teacher's side instead of being locked away in a desk or closet that might take some time to access when the assailant enters
• It assumes the teacher will be able to accurately identify whether the person entering is a threat or simply another student or colleague.
• It assumes that even if the teacher was able to access the weapon quickly enough, and make the correct identification, she will be able to act both quickly and accurately enough to get off shots that will not only disarm/diable/kill the assailants, but conveniently does not hit one child.

Instead, as I have noted on the blog before, performance under stress is very difficult.  "In the typical fight-or-flight scenario, scary high-pressure moment X assaults the senses and is routed to the amygdala, aka the unconscious fear center.  For well-trained athletes, that's not a problem: A field goal kick, golf swing or free throw is for them an ingrained action stored in the striatum, the brain's autopilot.  The prefrontal cortex, our analytical thinker, doesn't even need to show up.  But, under the gun, that super-smart part of the brain think's its so great and tries to butt in."  Basically, no amount of drills will prepare a teacher for a scenario where he or she is trying to protect a class full of children, and taking out an assailant, while attempting to be accurate.  It will not happen in most occasions.

Further, peer reviewed research indicates that having that weapon will increase the risk to the students and the teacher.  Its better to NOT have the gun, than to try to be John McClane.

Finally, the scene is more likely to resemble the bank robbery shootout from "Heat" than a peaceful face-off.  As a parent, do you want to have your child in a classroom such as this?

2.  Its not been a good couple of years to be in the education business.  In Wisconsin and Illinois this fall, and Michigan this past week, teachers have been portrayed as union thugs who are parasites on the taxpayers and are indoctrinating students in communism or atheism.  They cannot be trusted to fairly evaluate themselves, students, or their colleagues. They cannot be trusted to have collective bargaining rights, and they unfairly force its members to pay dues into the union.

But, you trust them to pack heat in the classroom?

3.  We've just seen right to work legislation passed in Michigan that no longer "forces" bargaining unit members to pay dues that were negotiated for and accepted by a majority of the union members.  Yet, who will pay for the firearms (the gun that Gohmert describes costs at least $800) that teachers are supposed to carry?  The schools?  With Wisconsin cutting nearly $800 million from the education budget, where will the funding for this come from?  Are teachers going to be forced to pay for guns they will be expected to carry as a condition of employment?

4.  What is the insurance liability going to be for the school and/or teacher?  What's going to be the reaction when a teacher mistakenly identifies a child as an intruder?  Will the NRA come running to protect that teacher?

5.  Will arms training now be part of a college or technical school curriculum?  There are many things a teacher recognizes will be part of his or her job...teaching, wiping a student's nose, cleaning up after a young student if he or she soils him/herself or vomits, discipline, hours spent outside of school prepping and grading for classes, even, as we saw, serving as human shields for them....all for very little pay (Substitute teacher Lauren Rousseau, one of the victims, earned $75 a day, or less than $10/hr).  

Gohmert assumes many of the teachers will go on willy-nilly with his scenario.  However, I think a requirement to carry a weapon would cross a line for many teachers, both current and prospective.
As Dave Brockington writes, I have the right to concentrate on excellence in pedagogy and not in SWAT tactics.  I have the right as a university professor to assume that when the door to my lecture hall opens, as it does five times per hour, it's another late student, and not my long awaited chance to unholster the Glock I'm packing in order to pop off a couple untrained rounds in playing hero." 

Teaching is my passion, but I would quit my job before being expected to carry a gun as part of my job. I imagine many of my colleagues would as well.  Similarly, I would expect that the attractiveness of become an education major would decline as well.  As noted above, you vilify us, cut our salary and budgets significantly, and now you want us to take on this added, significantly dangerous, requirement?  I don't think so.   

The result?  A potential nationwide shortage of teachers.  And, as the law of supply and demand indicates, the cost to hire teachers rises.  Prepare to pay.

6.  Then again, it may be mitigated by the decreased number of students.  How many parents will be willing to send a child to a classroom where the potential for gun violence has skyrocketed with the presence of potentially accessible weapons?  

And there is your challenge, HR.  How are you going to handle the demand for greater work/life flexibility as many parents request more time off to homeschool their children?

Welcome to the latest edition of the Carnival of HR.  There is a veritable cavalcade of HR knowledge provided from a bevy of HR Subject Matter Experts ready for your perusal.  Cue the Deer.

Some Questions

Mervyn Dinnen at T Recs wonders "Is Success Overrated?"  Check out the link to find out his perspective.

Chris Young at the Rainmaker Group asks "Employee Engagement: Just How Screwed Up Is Your Team?" 

Ian Welsh at Toolbox.com wonders "Could We Improve Recruiting Quality By Recording Interviews?"

Our own HR Minion, Shauna Moerke, examines career transitions and queries "Who Do You Want To be Tomorrow?"

At Lean HR, Dwane Lay asks "The Santa Claus Question."

Some Answers

At Envisia Learning, Wally Bock gives us "Two Simple Ways to Help Managers"
  
At the HR Schoolhouse, Robin Schooling gives us the skinny on "What the 'HR Community' is REALLY Talking About."

At the HR reMix, Melissa Fairman provides some life lessons in "Everyone Should Get Laid Off Once."

At Insight, Nancy Saperstone looks at "Office Politics that Work - Improve Employee Productivity."

With the 2012 American football season in full swing, Tim Gardner, in his The HR Introvert blog, looks at "One Employee's Passion is Another's Loss of Inclusion."

At Upstart HR, Ben Eubanks examines the "Benefits of Team Building."

At Julie WG, Julie Winkle Giuloni gives us the lowdown on "Creative Crossings: Where Employee Development and Career Development Converge."

At Canadian HR Reporter, Stuart Rudner warns us to "Beware the Dangers of Templates."

At Everyday People, the Godfather Steve Browne tells us to ditch the labels and "Go Tagless!!"

At Great Leadership, Dan McCarthy gives us some history in "Managing Remote Employees: Lessons from Ancient Rome and Today."

At the Curious Cat blog, John Hunter wants us to "Manage Better By Managing Less."

At Mentoring Mullarkey, Patrick Mullarkey gleans some good HR info from the Police Academy movies in "Carey Mahoney: The L&D Professional That We All Want To Be."

Some Numbers

At her self-titled blog, Jesse Stoner gives us "The Five Steps of CRISP Decision-Making."

At Thin Difference, Jon Mertz examines "How to Navigate Life in Work - Six Considerations."


At the Inflexion Advisors blog, Mark Stelzner provides us with "7 Steps to Surviving HR Vendor Consolidation."

At Tribe HR, Paul Baribeau demonstrates no triskaidekaphobia with "13 Ways to Get Your Employees To Tune Out."

At People Equation, Jennifer Miller goes from A to Z in "26 Ways To Be A Better Boss."

******

Don't forget - there is a special Carnival of HR next Wednesday, September 19.  It is being hosted by Ann Bares at the Compensation Cafe.  So tune in next week....same time, different channel.

One of the major issues over the last month of the Presidential campaign is the notion of welfare reform.  Earlier this year, after demands from a number of Republican senators, Obama gave states more flexibility to find ways to get individuals off government assistance into jobs. 

His administration in July issued a letter to state governments saying that the Department of Health and Human Services would consider requests from states to experiment with new ways to fulfill the work requirements. The letter said that in order to receive waivers to carry out the experiments, states would have to show that their plans would move more welfare recipients into jobs than existing policies.

However, as a result of this action, the Romney campaign ran an ad stating:  

"President Obama quietly announced a plan to gut welfare reform by dropping the work requirement. Under Obama’s plan, you wouldn’t have to work and wouldn’t have to train for a job. They just send you a welfare check. And welfare-to-work goes back to being plain old welfare."

 It was front and center in former Sen. Rick Santorum's convention speech last night:  “This summer he showed us once again he believes in government handouts and dependency by waiving the work requirement for welfare,” Santorum said, referring to Obama.

Ignoring the point that virtually every fact checking organization has argued this claim is false (ex. "Four Pinocchios" "Pants on Fire"), or that 5 ads have been produced thus far with his same theme, here are the unasked questions I'd like answered:

• Which one of the 29 current Republican Governors is asking Obama for a waiver to drop the work requirement so that their state residents can get that welfare check?  Gov. Walker of Wisconsin? Gov. Christie of New Jersey? Gov. Scott of Florida?  Gov. Snyder of Michigan? Gov. Kasich of Ohio?
• Which one of the 20 current Democratic Governors is asking Obama for a waiver to drop the work requirement so that their state residents can get that welfare check?
• Is Independent Gov. Chafee of Rhode Island asking for a waiver to make it easier for Rhode Island citizens to get a welfare check?

I want names....otherwise, if there isn't such a waiver......nothing changes.

At the beginning of the year, Laurie Ruettimann argued the word of 2012 was Manifesto.

However, it took Todd Akin's specious understanding of science to make me realize the word of the year was "legitimate."

Much of the 2012 election is really about the legitimacy of the Obama administration, as well as those who vote.

Akin's poor choice of words try to differentiate a word that should not be parsed - rape.  Whether he meant forcible or legitimate, he was trying to diminish certain situations resulting in pregnancy as not worthy of abortion coverage.

We see legitimacy as well in the significant number of voter ID laws being passed across the country.  Despite the virtual absence of voter fraud in elections, those individuals without an ID will not be seen as legitimate voters in the eyes of the their local polling place (even though most have been able to vote in several previous elections without a problem).

 “No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place where both of us were born and raised,” is the latest salvo by Mitt Romney to delegitimize the Obama presidency by enlisting the birther movement and insinuating that Obama was not born in the United States.  Therefore, he is not a natural-born citizen and does not have the legitimate right to be President.

We see this in human resources as well.

The continued use (10+ years running) of the phrase "seat at the table" concerns HR's legitimacy as a prime business function.

Recruiting and the search for the elusive "purple squirrel" of candidates is an attempt to identify legitimate candidates that many not exist.


What's legitimate in your world?

I like Aaron Sorkin shows and movies.  I watched "The West Wing" and "Sports Night" regularly.    I thought "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" was an interesting mistake.  I enjoyed the script for "The Social Network."

However, in watching his latest endeavor, "The Newsroom,"  he is guilty of using a device that drives me up the wall....having private conversations in front of other co-workers.

Whether it is about relationships, or, even worse, dressing down a subordinate, these conversations are held in the audience of other friends or peers.  You can see the pained expressions in those friends and co-workers' eyes, the awkwardness that ensues, and rarely, if ever, is there a follow-up scene with an apology for the inappropriateness of the conversation.

While you think it makes for good TV or movies, it makes for bad management.

Please stop.

I've been on the road most of the day traveling from Michigan to Wisconsin, but I wanted to respond to Laurie Ruettimann's post on the current SHRM election.  She was kind enough to vote for me, along with the rest of the 8 Man Rotation (Lance Haun, Tim Sackett, Kris Dunn, Steve Boese) for the 2013 SHRM Board of Directors.

I can't speak for the rest of my 8 Man Rotation brethren, and I am not sure I will have the time in 2013 to attend the SHRM Board meetings, along with the concomitant requirements of serving, but, if elected:

1.  I will not fly first class.  I'll settle for an exit row along with frequent delivery of Diet Coke to my seat from a flight attendant.

2.  Any monies received from serving on the Board will be redirected immediately to the SHRM Foundation.

Also, note that the8manrotation.com will be up and running by 2013.

In the meantime, while voting for the 8 Man Rotation for the 2013 SHRM Board of Directors, you can read the 2010 edition and the 2011 edition of "The 8 Man Rotation - A Look at Sports and HR."

Thanks for the support Laurie

Yes, I'm channeling my inner Kreskin and making the prediction that employee recognition will be one of, if not THE major workplace issue in 2022.

Why?

This:

For over 30 years, Wreck-It Ralph has been doing the same job as the "bad guy" in a popular video game.  As he states, "it starts to be hard to love your job, when no one else seems to like you for doing it."  He decides to leave his own game to become a hero in another.

It features the tagline, "The story of a regular guy....just looking for a little wreck-ognition."

Not only does it feature many beloved video game characters (Q-bert, Pac-man, Bowser, Sonic), it is the 52nd animated feature from Disney, which means marketing will be through the roof.  With a release date of November 2, expect kid demand to be heavy through Thanksgiving and Christmas.

So, as the next generation of workers reach working age, don't be surprised in 2022 when you see a greater demand for recognition on the job.  They just want to be like Wreck-It Ralph.

In a little over 2 months, the fifth iteration of HRevolution will take place in Chicago on October 7 at the McCormick Place.  Hotel rooms have been secured, and tickets have already been sold.

So, what's new?  The agenda has started to be released.  If you head to the Eventbrite page, you can see what some of the topics and who some of the speakers will be.

And, don't forget, after you register for HRevolution you get a whopping $600.00 discount off the HR Technology® Conference on-site rate. Look for the savings promo code at the bottom of your HRevolution confirmation email.

Check it out.