Commentary & Opinion Archives - Page 35 of 85

November 28, 2018August 3, 2023

Taming the Wild West of Health Care Navigation

As I prepare to write an in-depth article on health care costs for Workforce’s March-April issue, one of the topics that has come up regularly is health care navigation among employees. That’s what I found the Deloitte “2018 Survey of US Health Care Consumers” to be interesting.

The survey broke down the types of consumers in the health care market as “Wild West” tropes and gave suggestions for how different stakeholders could appeal to these consumer segments. Corny? Sure. But corny little bits like this, at least to me, make it way more fun to write about health care navigation, which can be a pretty dry topic. Personally, I would have gone with the space theme, since my roommate and I have been rewatching the early 2000s futuristic space western drama “Firefly” recently, but the historical Wild West works, too.

Health care navigation is a term that refers to helping patients navigate their way through the often complex health system by giving them as much information as possible to make their own decision and guiding you to the most appropriate health professional. Different patients navigate different ways.

Their four categories Deloitte highlighted were: Homesteaders, who are reserved, cautious and traditionalist; Prospectors, who rely on recommendations from family and friends, find their health care providers to be trusted advisers and are willing to use technology; Trailblazers, who are tech-savvy, engaged in wellness and willing to share data; and Bystanders, who are unengaged, tech-reluctant and resistant to change.

The report compared these groups in several different categories, but the two that stood out to me were shopping behavior and willingness to share health information/data.

Let’s start with health data. The older, poorer groups (bystanders and homesteaders) were least likely to share tracked health information with a doctor or to use technology (like wearables) to monitor fitness. The younger, richer groups (trailblazers and prospectors) had the opposite tendencies toward health data.

Now, I know health companies and employers love have their own incentives to get health data, but, from the point of view of an employee, I would just like to point out that not everyone needs to be reliant on technology to keep track of their health. It’s not how everybody functions best, and trying to push wearables or health apps on someone who’s perfectly content in a more manual workout routine is silly.

Also, the data privacy laws in the U.S. aren’t necessarily promising for consumers yet. People should be able to feel like they have control of what happens with their own personal health data.

Not to say that patients/employees shouldn’t be open with their doctors. But, as I’ve written about before, although it’s great if a company genuinely wants to create a program that will improve the well-being of its employees, it should stay voluntary, and people who don’t participate shouldn’t be shamed, penalized or seen as backward or stubborn.

Shopping behavior is the other area of comparison, and this is the meaty part because it gets to the inherent differences in people and who they trust for advice on something as personal as health — and something as complicated and not-necessarily straightforward as choosing a doctor.

It also taps into the reality of how people in different socioeconomic situations make these decisions. Bystanders, the group with the lowest incomes, consider out-of-pocket costs and convenient hours when choosing a doctor and are less likely to change doctors or health plans even if they’re dissatisfied. Compare them to Trailblazers, the highest income group, who are the most likely to do their research on physicians, hospitals and health insurance companies and are the most likely to change doctors if they’re dissatisfied.

Using basic logic, this makes sense. Having a higher paying job with reliable hours and access to paid time off would make it much simpler to make health care provider changes. Meanwhile, if you’re living paycheck to paycheck and have a busy schedule, basing your medical off out-of-pocket costs and hours is perfectly rational.

The report also gave employers and other stakeholders like health systems and insurers suggestions on how to engage employees/patients in each segment.

Employers can begin to engage the tech-savvy, wellness-engaged Trailblazers by offering virtual health visits and creating a seamless technology experience. For those employees who rely on family, friends and trusted doctors for medical advice, employers can push online patient forums and patient advocacy groups.

I was most interested in stakeholder strategies for the two less tech-centric groups, mostly because those segments seem more like a challenge for employers. Connecting with these people and getting them engaged with health care can happen a number of ways, depending on what their barriers are.

A patient who makes health care decisions based off convenience of hours and location could benefit from having access to a physician or health system that offers off-hour appointments.
A patient who is open to trying tech solutions but still intimidated by it could benefit by having a nurse or clinician spend a few minutes at the end of a doctor’s visit and help set up a virtual appointment, as well as answer any questions about how virtual appoints work, how to access them, etc.
For a patient who isn’t likely to engage with the health care system on their own, stakeholders can address this by involving a caregiver, if applicable, who can encourage this person to get the care they need.
For the least engaged patients, what could also help is if community organizations like their local grocery store or place of worship encourages healthy behaviors. For example, a church could hold a healthy food potluck.

Now, none of these are employer-based actions, but I still think they hold some value to employers. For example, employers may have an employee with a chronic condition whose spouse and kids act as a caregiver; maybe they could consider how to engage spouses and children in chronic-condition care in their health plan. Also, employers could offer healthy good in the office, where employees spend a large chunk of their time, and think about partnering with health systems that offer appointments off-hours.

What do you think? What does your organization do to appeal to employees/patients with different preferences?

November 28, 2018June 29, 2023

The 4 Keys to Being a Best-in-Class D&I Professional

“How can I do what you do?” asked a bright young woman on the phone one spring morning. She enthusiastically described how she’d studied and experienced various cultures and was inspired to do work that makes a difference.

She’d read some of my articles, saw me speak and felt a spark of connection. She wanted to turn her passion and values into a career, like I had. And because she was resourceful, she reached out for advice.

One of the joys of being a mid-career D&I professional is that I often get inquiries like this. One of the burdens, however, is providing a helpful response to new professionals facing a world that’s quite different from the early ’90s landscape I navigated, yet troublingly similar.

What’s different is our technology, our demographics, our polarized politics and a resurgence of overt white supremacy and bigoted violence. What’s the same is the lack of credibility many D&I professionals command relative to other professionals and organizational functions. I believe one of the reasons is insufficient rigor in developing the necessary skillset to garner results that matter and exude excellence.

Here are four keys that will equip D&I professionals at any career level to embody excellence and establish themselves as best-in-class D&I professionals, indispensable to those we serve.

Identify and live from your personal “business case.” I’m struck by D&I practitioners who have no substantive answer to the question: “Why do you do this work? (How do you benefit?)” “New school” D&I isn’t just about helping others. It’s about creating a world that works better for more of us and attaining meaningful results that matter. Best-in-class professionals work from their heart, mind and soul, and have personal skin in the game. Being grounded in the heart balances intellectual rigor, and adds depth, integrity and authenticity to our work. A personal business case provides motivation and inspiration when we’re weary. My personal business case is that from a very young age I experienced and witnessed firsthand how traits over which people have no control (sex, race, nationality and social class) can cause other people to treat them as less than they are, thwarting their happiness and ability to contribute.

A personal business case requires not just knowledge of self, but clarity of values and vision. I deeply value integrity, authenticity, excellence, connection and expression. My vision is a world where everyone has access to all the knowledge and resources necessary to live their happiest, healthiest life, contributing their brilliance for personal fulfillment and collective benefit. I stand for a world where we get out of each other’s way — and our own way.

Do your personal work. Having personal skin in the D&I game and caring about people means that the work can be emotionally triggering and exhausting. Those of us who are especially sensitive and empathic can experience second-hand trauma or be re-traumatized by interpersonal dynamics in a workshop or workplace. I’ve witnessed how a facilitator can injure workshop participants through ineffective behaviors driven by their unresolved anger or guilt. I’ve seen how leaders driving organizational D&I initiatives can subvert their own efforts through counterproductive behaviors stemming from exhaustion, mistrust or shame. Many of us who do D&I work do it because we (or a loved one) have been wounded in some way. Do not allow the impact of this important work to be diluted or tainted by you trying to resolve your personal pain through the work alone.

There’s a saying: “If you don’t heal what hurt you, you bleed on those who didn’t cut you.” While it’s true that if we all waited to tackle D&I work until we were fully healed that the work would never happen, it’s critical to be on a path of personal growth. Become intimately acquainted with (and honest about) your motivations, triggers, weaknesses and sore spots. Build keen self-awareness and be in ongoing curious dialogue with yourself about what’s going on with you and how you can develop. Build your emotional intelligence and resilience. If you’re a facilitator, hone your ability to self-manage, and develop a superpower around being present, relaxed and extremely attentive to the subtleties of human communication. Engage difficult questions — in the classroom and the field — with curiosity and courage. Establish healthy boundaries in all areas of life, practice radical self-care, and invest in your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellness. And forgive yourself for your shortcomings and bad days!

Be highly competent in multiple areas of D&I. D&I professionals who seek to be expert trusted advisers should be able to effectively answer a broad array of “diversity” questions. At the very least, you should have sophisticated knowledge about the history, terminology and practical applications of: (1) race/ethnicity (including racism), (2) sex and gender (including sexism), (3) LGBTQQIA+, (4) disability, and (5) major local racial/ethnic/cultural groups (in the U.S.: African Americans, Latinos/Hispanics, Asians and Native Americans). You must also be well-informed about the growing body of research establishing the organizational business case for diversity and the myriad tangible benefits of inclusion. You should know the basics of the latest brain science that impacts our current understanding of bias and interpersonal communication. You should read widely, listen to podcasts, attend conferences and lectures and stay informed about local and global current events. As a bonus, become familiar with the decades of theory and knowledge amassed in intercultural communication, a field similar to D&I.

Be highly competent in an area outside of D&I. Best-in-class D&I professionals are well-versed in at least one additional area outside D&I, such as organization development, leadership development, human resources, professional coaching, training facilitation/design, adult learning, assessment, business administration or international management. Many have first-hand leadership experience, have worked abroad, and/or speak more than one language. These skills equip the D&I consultant to accurately assess a client’s current state, identify strategic opportunities, and make impactful recommendations (read this article for more guidelines for consultants). They also equip the D&I facilitator to establish credibility, better understand their workshop participants and serve them where they are.

“Some think my standards are too high,” I told my caller that morning. “It’s true these are high expectations,” I added, “but they’re not unreasonable.” No one says the professional standards set for attorneys or accountants are too high, and we’re just as necessary. Expecting anything less than these four keys from D&I professionals is to diminish the quality of our expertise and its crucial importance to the success of organizations and the societies they shape and inhabit.

November 15, 2018June 29, 2023

Do You Know? Pre-employment Medical Exams

A mayor in Ohio has gotten himself in some hot water for his selective use of pre-employment medical examinations for hirees.

How selective? According to WKYC, one woman claims that the mayor required her and other women, but not men, to be examined by his personal doctor. For his part, the mayor denies the allegations as an act of a “fertile imagination” and claims that he sends all city workers, male and female, to the same doctor for pre-employment exams.

Why would her allegations rise to the level of unlawful activity?

Aside from the obvious sex discrimination (an employer cannot apply one set of policies to male employees a different set to female employees), it also violates the ADA’s requirements for pre-employment medical examinations.

The ADA applies a traffic-light approach to employer-mandated medical exams.

- Red light (prior to an offer of employment): the ADA prohibits all disability-related inquiries and medical examinations, even those that are job related.
- Yellow light (after employment begins): an employer only may make disability-related inquiries and require medical examinations that are job-related and consistent with business necessity.
- Green Light (after an applicant is given a conditional job offer, but before s/he starts work): an employer may make any disability-related inquiries and conduct medical examinations, regardless of whether they are related to the job, as long as it does so for all entering employees in the same job category.

Because these exams fall in the “Green Light” category, the city is in the clear, right? Wrong. Pre-employment medical exams are permitted as long as the employer does so for all entering employees in the same job category. This employee alleges the females were singled out. Thus, unless she worked with all women in her job category (another legal red flag), the city violated the ADA by sending some, but not all, employees for pre-employment medical exams.

Also, pay attention to state laws when conducting medical exams. For example, Ohio prohibits an employer from shifting the cost of any pre-employment medical exam to an employee: “No employer shall require any prospective employee or applicant for employment to pay the cost of a medical examination required by the employer as a condition of employment.”

As for this mayor, these allegations are just the tip of his legal iceberg. It’s also alleged that he uses the n-word to refer to African American residents, and sexually harasses female employees by talking about his private parts and how pistachios contribute to his sexual prowess. Sounds like a great place to work.

November 14, 2018June 29, 2023

How HR Benefits By Getting Political

This month, I spent a long weekend before the midterm election supporting my brother-in-law’s campaign for a state Assembly seat in rural Wisconsin.

We traveled to several campaign offices and spent the days knocking on doors in small towns. Approaching strangers’ houses to ask them about their political affiliations or their plans to vote can be an uncomfortable experience at first. But it quickly becomes energizing as you encounter incredibly interesting people and witness their reactions.

For me, being part of the boots-on-the-ground effort to motivate voters was deeply inspiring, and it renewed my appreciation for the tireless work that happens outside the cable news cycle.

I was struck by the varied examples of people stepping up and stepping into an opportunity to do something for their community. Whether actually running for office, as my brother-in-law did, or staffing a field office, managing a campaign, hosting an event or attending a town hall meeting, there are countless ways to engage in local issues. And it got me thinking about all the other ways I — and our industry — could be adding to important local and national dialogues.

Given the big challenges facing our country, I can think of no group more qualified or capable of influencing our political climate than HR and benefits leaders, who all have expertise in many of the areas being debated at the national level. HR leaders know all about balancing competing interests, creating equal opportunities and managing complex health and financial programs.

We know how to create policies and programs that can scale. We also know that a solid safety net benefits not only those who need it but also the community around them.

Katherine Eyster, deputy director of workplace programs at the National Partnership for Women & Families, agrees that HR leaders have valuable insights: “HR professionals have a key role to play in sharing their experiences with policymakers and advocates to ensure that legislation is thoughtfully and effectively designed with real companies and workers in mind.” Through her organization’s work, more than 75 companies and business leaders recently endorsed the need for a strong national paid family and medical leave policy.

“For too long the false narrative has endured that what is good for workers is bad for business, when evidence shows time and again that when workers thrive, businesses and the economy grow,” she said.

Adding our voices to the national debate is an idea gaining momentum among HR leaders. Rosemarie Day, founder and CEO of Day Health Strategies, has a forthcoming book about engaging in politics to protect access to health care. In it, she presents a “continuum of involvement” that shows the various ways to get involved.

She shares ways you can speak as a private citizen or spokesperson for your organization. The first step is getting (and staying) informed, followed by sharing information, supporting a cause, speaking up, showing up (at events, rallies and more), organizing people and even running for office.

“As a society, we need safeguards and safety nets,” she said. “Benefits managers can represent the human side of capitalism, and they know the limitations of what private companies can do and the gaps that are very critical for the government to fill.”

Renee Lutzen, director of health care product management at UMB Healthcare Services (one of our clients), is a member of the Employers Council for Flexible Compensation. In that capacity, she has been able to visit legislators and regulators and educate them about the issues we face every day.

“Legislative offices are interested in and very receptive to hearing real stories from real people — those of us who are working in the industry of health care, HR and benefits administration. We’re not just sitting at a desk crunching numbers against theoretical concepts. We have real-life examples we can share on how current health care policies are impacting individuals along with insights on the potential effects proposed policies will have,” she said.

This year, I’m vowing to get more involved and helping others do the same. As for my brother-in-law, he lost by a tiny margin, but I have no doubt he’ll have a fantastic career in public life. His efforts and the integrity and vision that guided his campaign inspired thousands of people in his district and beyond. I hope our efforts will do the same.

November 14, 2018June 29, 2023

What You Can Learn From the Law Firm Partner Suspended for Watching Porn at Work

According to The American Lawyer (sub. req.), Hogan Lovells has suspended one of its partners in its London office for watching porn at work. How did it catch the offense?

An IT employee read his internet logs? No.

He forgot to close his browser when he went to the loo and his assistant walked into his office? No.

He visited an unsafe site that spammed his entire office with malware? No.

Would you believe that someone caught him through his office window? From RollonFriday:

On Monday morning a lawyer with Irwin Mitchell, whose London office is separated from Hogan Lovells by a narrow lane, looked out of their window and straight into the partner’s office. Sources told RollOnFriday that the Irwin Mitchell lawyer was shocked to see the Hogan Lovells partner watching porn at his desk, with his back to the window.

The IM lawyer filmed the absorbed partner on a mobile phone, sources told RollOnFriday, and sent the footage to Hogan Lovells lawyers. It then made its way to the firm’s HR. The partner has now been suspended.

Astoundingly, according to one survey, 3 percent of Americans admit to watching porn at work. And while 3 percent may not sound like a lot, I guarantee you are now doing the math and figuring out who the likely suspects are in your office.

What is an employer to do? After all, the mere presence of pornography in the workplace is enough to set off every sexual harassment alarm bell, and subject an employer to sexual harassment liability if it does nothing.

Hogan Lovells defends its own lack-of-a-policy:

We didn’t block access to websites unless they represented a cybersecurity risk (e.g. they have malware on them). The nature of our work for clients sometimes means we need to carry out investigations in areas which require us to have flexible access. We have reviewed and tightened this policy.

So, what should you look for in “reviewing and tightening” your workplace-porn policy?

1. What does your technology or internet-use policy say, does it include prohibitions against pornography, and does it sufficiently and clearly explain that violations will result in discipline, up to and including termination?
2. Do you block websites that might include adult material, or do you trust employees to their own devices. Keep in mind that if you opt for the latter, many adult websites are rife with malware, viruses, and other things that you likely don’t want on work equipment. Also keep in mind that if you opt for the former, you may need to provide for work-related exceptions (like an employment lawyer researching a case, and I speak from experience).
3. If you are overly concerns that your workplace is rife with porn, you could opt for a porn audit, examining all of your technology assets for inappropriate material.
4. Once you become aware of any pornography in the workplace, your obligation as an employer kicks in to promptly investigate and implement reasonable corrective action. Failure to act could subject you to a nasty and expensive sexual harassment lawsuit.
5. Finally, if your investigation leads you believe that the pornography involves illegal activity (e.g., children), immediately stop and call your lawyer, as this is a serious issue that needs serious treatment.

The internet might be for porn, just not watching porn at work, ever (unless you’re an employment lawyer investigating a case).

November 13, 2018June 29, 2023

Make Benefits and Internal Communications Inseparable

Ask any HR professional what they think of their internal communications group and you’re likely to get an answer at one extreme or the other.

Either you’ll hear about an incredibly strong and strategic working relationship or you’ll get an eye roll with a story about how impossible they are to work with. When meeting your HR goals requires reaching and engaging employees — like during open enrollment — ensuring that relationship is working becomes even more critical.

While sometimes seen as a roadblock or gatekeeper, an internal communications team can be a vocal advocate for the benefits team’s goals and vision, supporting their efforts and ensuring campaigns resonate with employees. That is why making that relationship strong and successful is a key goal in our work.

With that in mind, my colleague Lindsay Kohler identified these helpful guidelines for working with internal communications teams. As part of our team, she’s designed and orchestrated global internal communications strategies. In her prior role, she was part of the benefits team at Nordstrom, managing all benefits communication and working with Nordstrom’s internal communications group.

Appreciate their role. Internal communications teams are responsible for ensuring that what every department communicates is clear, on brand, in support of business priorities, and timely. They need to make sure communications are scheduled so that employees aren’t overwhelmed by competing messages but also don’t miss key events or deadlines.

Internal communications teams have to strike a delicate balance. They are the liaison between every department within every business unit and the employee. At the same time, they’re often accountable to the marketing and PR departments, which have different objectives than HR teams.

By understanding their priorities and how they want to support HR, you can better partner with them to make your communications shine.

Understand what’s important to your executive team. Your internal communications partners will share those same organizational priorities, which should drive your benefits goals as well. Keep those strategic goals in mind as you think through what you want to communicate, and you’ll find it easier to win their support to make it happen.

Bring in your internal communications partner early. When you make sure they’re in the loop from the get-go, internal communications can prioritize resources on your behalf and be your advocate and champion. They can point out potential issues before you’re too far along to change direction. And they can even lend a hand in drafting and delivering communications.

Be open to their point of view. HR teams and communications professionals are bound to have differences of opinion at some point. These disagreements don’t need to be adversarial. By being open to their feedback, you can create a better partnership on behalf of employees.

Treat them as equals, not as gatekeepers. Often, we hear HR teams complain that “everything has to go through so-and-so in internal communications.” On the flip side, internal communications teams assume that they have to say something about every deliverable because they’re being treated as if they are gatekeepers. A slight change in the way you ask for their review can help you shift to a more strategic working relationship. “Here’s what I’m planning to send; I’d like your advice” is much more collaborative than “Can you review and approve?”

Recognize that your priorities may differ from those of your organization. Internal communications teams do their best to accommodate content from all departments. But there will be times that certain initiatives will have to be prioritized over yours. Don’t let that be discouraging. And remember that getting early buy-in will ensure you don’t get many “no’s.”

Ask your internal communications team to schedule regular summits. Communication summits are an ideal way to generate a holistic view of the communication landscape within an organization. With a deeper understanding of everything, employees are being expected to absorb and act on, you can adjust your own communication plans accordingly.

HR and benefits teams and internal communication teams play different roles within companies, but your goals align around doing what’s best for employees. You’ll find that working in collaboration with your internal communications partners will make it easier for you to achieve success.

November 6, 2018June 29, 2023

Sexual Harassment Prevention 101: No Strip Clubs

Last month, the EEOC held a public meeting on preventing workplace harassment.

Titled Revamping Workplace Culture to Prevent Harassment, it’s the agency’s second meeting since forming its Select Task Force on the Study of Harassment in the Workplace, and its first in the #MeToo era.

The EEOC discussed the need for employers to take a holistic approach to change workplace culture to prevent harassment.

Somehow, the EEOC missed “No strip clubs for employees” as one of its anti-sexual harassment talking points.

Under Armour did not get this #MeToo memo until very recently.

According to The Wall Street Journal, earlier this year Under Armour sent its employees an email advising that the company was ending its longstanding practice of employees charging visits to strip clubs on their corporate credit cards. It appears that over the years, executives and employees, including its CEO, took athletes or co-workers to strip clubs after some corporate and sporting events. Not surprisingly, according to the WSJ, “some top male executives violated company policy by behaving inappropriately with female subordinates,” and “women were invited to an annual company event based on their attractiveness to appeal to male guests.”

The Journal goes on to quote Under Armour Chairman and CEO Kevin Plank, “Our teammates deserve to work in a respectful and empowering environment.… We can and will do better.”

No kidding.

Bravo, Under Armour, for taking such a brave stance on your anti-sexual harassment, pro-female culture. Prohibiting employees from using expense accounts at strip clubs is not something about which a company should need reminding. It’s something it should have been doing all along.

Employers, you better “do better,” because we are all watching.

November 5, 2018June 29, 2023

How to Decide When to Make Political Statements in the Workplace

These days, particularly in the United States, it feels like the divided nature of our politics makes it almost impossible to keep from choosing sides.

Whether you’re a person, a business or a politician, you almost certainly know what you support and what you oppose. For organizations and their leaders, that means the more difficult issue often becomes whether to say anything publicly about what you support or oppose.

From a business perspective, the issue of whether to make political statements is critical — and it’s more complex and risky than ever. In the past, CEOs, boards or businesses that took some sort of activist stand used to be able to draw a fairly bright line between social activism and political activism.

Today those lines are far more blurred. Whether we’re talking about the #MeToo movement, education policy, health care, immigration or trade issues, these debates frequently fall into both the social and political spheres.

These are deep and roiling waters for business leaders who personally feel obligated to communicate which side they’re on regarding hot-button issues. Given that there are essentially no people in the middle, coming out on one side or the other comes with significant business risk.

If you’re a business leader who represents a brand and you’re considering taking a public stand on a social or political issue, you should first think very carefully about these three constituencies.

The first group you have to carefully consider when mulling a public political stand is your employees. And here’s the first big question to ask yourself: Is your stand consistent with your stated and lived corporate values, or do those values just represent those of the CEO or some portion of the C-suite? If your stand is consistent with your stated and lived corporate values, and they’re not just the personal musings of a company executive, then you’ve got a check in the go-forward box.

Next, ask yourself if your stand will alienate employees and exacerbate the line between people on both sides of the issue in a more public way than already exists. Think about whether some employees will leave, or if they’ll instead stay and be more committed. Or perhaps they’ll remain but as alienated employees with reduced engagement and performance across the board.

An organization’s public political or social stand can bring employees together or can tear them apart. It can also significantly affect your ability to attract talent, for better or worse, particularly when the economy is strong. You have to carefully measure these potential impacts before you step into the political arena.

Next, it’s absolutely vital to consider how your stand will affect your customer base. Start by considering whether your public position will be received negatively or positively by customers — and also whether it will make it harder or easier for loyal customers to do business with you. The reality is that your stand could grow or diminish your customer base, while also negatively or positively affecting your brand promise.

Remember that you’re representing a business. If you feel compelled to make a political stand, think through how it will affect your actual business, what will the stakeholders will think about that and how or whether they will support you in the long term.

Also read: How to Manage Emotions in a Post-Election Workplace

Finally, you have to weigh the impact of your action on your community. No organization exists in a vacuum, whether it’s a one-location business, has 20 locations around the country or is a global organization with hundreds of locations around the world. Consider how your stand will positively or negatively affect your standing in the communities in which you live and operate. Will the community be in agreement or will you alienate your community base?

Particularly if you’re a business with one or a handful of locations, you do business with other businesses in the community and you likely have relationships with policymakers. That means you have important relationships with the larger social environment in which you are living and working, and your business often relies on these connections in nontrivial ways. If your stand will make any of these harder, you need to think through truly what the ramifications are for that action.

When pondering a political stand, the bottom line is to remove the self from your decision and think only in terms of the business. If the stand you’re going to take will put your business at risk, put your employees’ jobs at risk or put your organization’s reputation at risk, then you need to think seriously about whether you’re willing to assume that risk.A

Also read: Talking Politics at Work Shouldn’t Be Taboo

That doesn’t mean you don’t ultimately take the stand. It just means you have to be knowledgeable about what the effects will be and have contingency plans in place. As business leaders, we have to think through the ramifications for our organizations and the people that make them — and not just for the CEO.

November 5, 2018June 29, 2023

Managing Election Day at Work

As tomorrow is Election Day, I thought I’d share a few tips for employers to keep in mind.

First: Please don’t tell your employees for whom to vote. It may or may not be illegal (depending on your state), but it is certainly a terrible HR practice.

Second: Ohio law requires that employers provide all employees a reasonable amount of time off to vote on Election Day. Deny employees that right, or punish them for exercising it, at your risk. Better yet, embrace the Time to Vote movement and implement policies (like paid time off) to encourage your employees to vote on Election Day.

Finally: After the election is over, think about how we heal at work. Some thoughts (care of The Wall Street Journal): providing meeting space for employees to talk after the election, offering supervisors and managers sample language for opening up a constructive dialogue with employees, and playing soothing music to distract employees from political headlines.

Watch the Video: Voting on the Clock Works as an Employee Engagement Tool

Bonus: While you’re voting on Election Day, don’t forget to cast your ballot for the Worst Employer of 2018.

End of public service announcement.

November 1, 2018June 29, 2023

The 5 Paths of Falling Into HR

Raise your hand if you grew up dreaming of a career in HR. No one? Of course not.

The dirty little secret of HR is that most of us didn’t have a master plan to end up managing people functions and maximizing human capital ROI inside the modern workplace. We grew up with bigger dreams, which is cool because no one grows up dreaming of being a director of account management, financial analyst or marketing manager, either.

Those dreams all stink when you’re 16.

Instead, our teenage selves dreamed of being movie stars, recording artists or professional athletes. The freaks among us were entrepreneurial from the time they were 5 and likely knew they’d own their own business. The rest of us float, usually until the time we pick a major in college, at which time our career paths and ambitions solidify.

But the choice of HR as a career path happens later than most on average. For all the undergraduate programs in HR, the ubiquitous nature of the Society for Human Resource Management and the increasing importance of the human capital function, many HR pros don’t solidify a path into HR until they’re in the workforce doing other things.

Translation: Many HR pros will tell you they “fell” in to HR.

Falling into things can be a blessing and a curse. It’s all relative to the outcome. From my experience talking to the talented high performers who make up the world of HR, here’s some common ways people “fall” into HR without a real plan to enter it.

I started at the bottom, now I’m here. You are a bootstrapper! Right out of college, these people took entry-level roles in our function, usually doing transactions as an HR coordinator, payroll specialist or similar role. They enjoyed the function and in many cases rose to run the whole thing.
I’m a people person. These HR pros were generally present in a company and were identified as someone who was “good with people,” subsequently flipping into HR from another department. When looking at this group, “good with people” is a broad designation that can mean they are extroverted, a good listener or willing to take large amounts of abuse without exploding. It can also mean skill in solving other people’s problems and maximizing their performance inside the organization.
I got dropped into HR on an interim basis and never left. Big companies have rotational programs for high potential employees as part of succession strategies, and HR is generally part of that rotation. From time to time, HIPOs are rotated into HR, love it, are highly effective and never leave or come back to HR after their rotations are complete. In other circumstances, high performers are parachuted into HR on an interim basis to put out a Dumpster fire, find their perfect match and stay for the good times.
I was good at a specialty related to HR and ended up running the whole HR show. Feeder groups for HR include some specialties that are considered a distant or related cousin to the HR function like training or recruiting. This close proximity to the HR function provides a natural exposure and transition point to HR for the professionals in those functions with the chops to handle the chaos that awaits them in the big show.
I failed in another job at our company and they moved me into HR so they didn’t have to fire me. I didn’t want to include this one, but no rundown of all the ways people fall into a HR career would be complete without it. HR has a reputation in some company cultures as a backwater, a way station for average people doing average things. This leads to the perception that good people struggling in other areas can be dumped in HR. This seems to be decreasing in frequency, but it’s a historic reality of our lives together in HR.

You can probably add to the list of ways that people fall into HR. If you’re an HR pro who has an HR degree and has always possessed the clarity that comes with knowing you’d be in HR since you were 12, Godspeed to you. Don’t mess up your dream.

The rest of us woke up one day in HR with the Talking Heads song “Once In A Lifetime” playing in the background. I’m glad I’m here; I bet you are as well.