Technology Archives - Page 13 of 27

July 25, 2017June 29, 2023

Unicorns, Meet the Dinosaurs: Leading a Fast-Growth Tech Company at Age 50

It was clear from the 2017 SaaStr conference in San Francisco that technology has not lost its luster. In only its third year, the three-day conference was a huge hit with around 10,000 post-revenue software as a service founders, executives and investors. But at the same time it had identified some disparities, such as clear underrepresentation of female founders and CEOs.

While rare at 22 percent attendance, the female executives were still remarkably more visible than an almost extinct cohort: the over-50 tech executives. These “dinosaurs” appeared to be so rare that no one even dared (or cared) to take the statistical analysis of their presence (or lack thereof).

The only anecdotal knowledge of their existence was my own experience observing the busy hallways and energy-filled sessions and looking for my own kind. An occasional nod from a like species as a sign of mutual affection and understanding was accompanied by a sheer sign of strength, confidence and pure enjoyment, as if we already knew the end of the movie and all other participants were just watching the trailer.

Do Unicorns Need Dinosaurs?
Unicorns are startup companies valued at over $1 billion. By the latest analysis, there are 197 private tech companies valued at $1 billion or more (including whisper valuations). According to Fortune, at least a dozen of those would have a chance of making it to the S&P 500 list; an impressive feat.

It is well known (and celebrated) that 14 out of the top 100 wealthiest tech CEOs are under 40 years old. At the same time, the median age of a U.S. worker is 42. In Silicon Valley, that number drops to 31, according to Bloomberg. Even more remarkable, and to put things in perspective, less than 10 executives under the age of 40 are heads of non-tech Standard & Poor’s 500 companies, according to Spencer Stuart, while the average age of all CEOs at S&P 500 companies is 53, according to The Conference Board.

Is there an executive age bias in Silicon Valley? It is not due to age discrimination. A vast majority of tech firms are socially and culturally very liberal and pride themselves on diversity.

The best way to understand it is to look at how most tech firms get started and by whom.

In most cases, there is an identified, unfulfilled need that is subject to a “disruption of an existing solution” and it triggers a professional cognitive “juice flow” by either a young marketer, or (in most cases) a young programmer who believes they are placed on this Earth to solve that problem.

Those individuals are rarely busy running large organizations and are frequently either students, or employed by other young marketers or programmers whom they want to emulate or even one-up. Once the idea is born, they have the time and passion to drag their friends out of their jobs (or dormitories) and convince them to resort back to the college all-nighters in order to produce a prototype or launch the app so the initial capital can be raised and get the company started. Very few, if any, existing mid to large-company CEOs are going to do that (unless already retired from a previous financial windfall).

In most cases, the founder(s) end up not including a more experienced business executive in their early ranks, either as an adviser or, even rarer, as their boss. Here are the most common reasons as to why this practice is so rare:

Twenty- to 30-year-old tech wizards are very self-assured and believe that their tech prowess or expertise in marketing to like cohorts will create products and market demand for the company to succeed on its own and within their own leadership.
The technology evolves so rapidly that there is a common belief that if an executive is over 40, their ability to recognize, apply and leverage the most advanced techniques and tools is outdated and therefore rendered immaterial.
Since most young founders have rarely held more than midlevel jobs at more established companies, there is a significant lack of mentoring and familiarity created between the two (sometimes three) generations of leaders.

The Case for Dinosaurs
So, are the young founders missing out? Why should they reach out to gray-haired elder statesmen and women? Here are three reasons:

Experience. Older executives have seen the market cycles, funding fads and corresponding investor mood swings. They have, in most cases, already made operational errors in burn rates and know when to step on the gas and when to brake.
Patience. As Rome was not built in a day, neither is a successful company. The best outcome for a growth company is to combine youthful exuberance with cautious optimism.
Advice and confidentiality. Since few if any tech startups are created by a parent-child team, the next best thing is a synergistic, complimentary relationship of a visionary young founder and a mature executive whose personal interests for the partnership are diverse and business interests aligned.

Every aspiring Mark Zuckerberg and Nathan Blecharczyk ought to have a Warren Buffett or Sir Richard Branson in their executive suite. Because when they are planning to create that next unicorn, they may just need a dinosaur to sustain their dream.

Sasha Poljak is the executive chairman of Nimble Software Systems, creator of Ximble.com, a staff scheduling and time tracking app software platform deployed in more than 30 countries worldwide. Poljak is a seasoned entrepreneur and angel investor who has led strategy and market development in a number of successful tech ventures.

July 5, 2017June 29, 2023

Smart Lockers Open Options for Workplace Wellness and Safety

Employees at Hull & Knarr have no excuses to not pedal around on a bike. The Indianapolis-based financial services firm has opened the door to new wellness and team-building initiatives for its employees in an eco-friendly and accessible manner.

A brightly lit orange locker room with company-owned bikes, showers and personal lockers with bike equipment and accessories line the workout room for the firm’s workers to use at their leisure. Commuting to work and rides during lunch are the most common times the equipment is used, said Brad Ferrell, director at Hull & Knarr.

“Anything we can do to remove reasons not to participate [in biking] — we really try to remove all those obstacles,” Ferrell said.

Of the company’s 13 employees, Ferrell said five or six use the bikes daily. He said having all of the biking equipment easily accessible has created happier and healthier workers, which in turn has positively affected the workplace.

“We are creating a culture where people want to be a part of something, but it also gives them a cause and something to root for,” said Ferrell, who tries to bike at least twice a week. “It creates teamwork outside of the office.”

Hull & Knarr use IM lockers for personal bike and workout equipment. *Photo courtesy Brad Ferrell*

In the three years Hull & Knarr has used the smart lockers — which can track employee use and well-being by how many times lockers are opened and offer data for rewards and incentives — they have evolved to become more user-friendly and personal for anyone looking to balance work and wellness. While these locker trends are not new to corporate wellness, they are beginning to reshape workplace culture to give employees a healthy dose of activity and social engagement with others in their office and the larger community.

Much of this has stemmed from IVM Inc., the creators of the lockers and one of Hull & Knarr’s clients. The lockers can be used numerous ways — from IT help, snacks and medical supplies to fire extinguishers, according to IVM President Mike Pitts, who has seen the product’s growth since the company was founded in 1991.

IVM produces not only smart lockers but smart vending machines too, which thrive among big tech companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Facebook, and are made to improve accessibility of needed items in the workplace. By scanning an employee badge, those looking for headphones, a temporary computer or a new keyboard can get them immediately without using cash or coins.

Facebook, whose headquarter offices in Menlo Park, California, use IVM’s vending machines to sell bike parts to employees and promote corporate wellness. The machines replace the need for a campus repair shop and promote cycling across the board, giving employees instant gratification through IVM’s technology, Pitts affirmed.

Facebook’s office headquarters sell bike parts to employees and promote corporate wellness.

The newest tool to the vending machine community are the fire extinguishers from WESCO Distribution, a longtime IVM customer. The company is getting ready to roll out the fire extinguisher application with a major electric utility. WESCO places IVM’s vending machines and lockers in utility and nuclear plants to distribute safety tools such as goggles, safety suits and gloves for employees to grab before starting their shift.

“That all came about from this culture of watching out for employees,” Pitts said of the upcoming deal. “[It’s] not just giving them the tools they need to do their job but the things that make their jobs safer and better to this far extreme of even the well-being of their employees.”

This kind of technology use in the workplace brings up the question of future technological assistance and how smart lockers are influencing the workplace. Pitts said he does not foresee any negatives as technology will positively affect productivity, accessibility and job security and will not eliminate jobs — similar to the continued growth of robotic technology.

“What you are going to see over the coming years is that these vending systems are going to be prevalent throughout all industries,” he said. “They are going to be used for so many different things that it staggers the imagination.”

Ariel Parrella-Aureli is a Workforce intern. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com.

June 26, 2017August 3, 2023

2017 Game Changer: S. Cameron Cox

It’s not easy being a media company these days.

It’s even more difficult, one might argue, to be a media company experiencing seismic transformational change. So is the case of Atlantic Media, publisher of the 159-year-old Atlantic magazine. S. Cameron Cox isn’t an editor or writer at any of the company’s esteemed publications, but ask any of his colleagues and it’s easy to see how his work has been equally as instrumental in the company’s recent growth and success.

Cox, 38, is managing director of talent and culture at Atlantic Media, and in the seven years he’s been with the firm, the company has grown twofold, from about a 400-person operation with a primary presence in Washington, D.C., to an 800-person operation with offices spread across the globe. In that span, Atlantic Media has launched new publications, expanded its headcount and reorganized its teams globally, all of which have required an astute leader on the talent and culture side to manage the change.

Even before taking on his current role in June 2016, colleagues say Cox has been a sought-after adviser to new hires and seasoned executives alike on matters relating to anything from the intricacies of people management to the technical minutiae of implementing a new benefits administration software platform and building a global recruiting function.

[To read about our other 2017 Game Changers, click here.]

June 12, 2017August 31, 2023

Beauty and the Gig Economy

When actress Cara Santana first heard about Uber’s gig economy model, she thought it absurd. She wanted to rebuke the idea. But now it’s a noun, verb and an adjective. In 2014 she took the same business model and started The Glam App, which brings local makeup, hair and nail artists to women looking to beautify their lives from home. Santana, also known for TV roles in “Salem,” “Santa Clarita Diet” and movies “Reunion,” “Beverly Hills Chihuahua 3: Viva La Fiesta!” and the upcoming drama “Steps,” points out Uber has changed the way people see the free-market economy and bolstered independent contractors. CEO Santana only has eight full-time employees with offices in London and Los Angeles, yet Glam has over 30,000 active users in 22 markets in the U.S. and U.K., and over 2,000 stylists.

The company recently partnered with L’Oreal for an exclusive artistry program called the Glam Academy, curated in collaboration with Beyoncé’s go-to artist Sir John who is curating four new looks for The Glam App this year using L’Oréal Paris products. Workforce intern Ariel Parrella-Aureli recently chatted with Santana about being an entrepreneur, hiring employees and creating a strong company culture.

Workforce: Why did you pick the gig economy structure for the app?

Cara Santana: The social culture of the modern-day working woman, the millennial, is instant gratification, convenience, accessibility. They really believe the shape of the culture was going to a place where, either because of time constraints or because of this need and ability to get most things instantaneously, that the beauty industry would fit in. With 65 percent of women working more now than in 2008, you have obviously a culture of millennials who have grown up where they are able to get things when they want, whether it is Postmates or Tinder or whatever. We have to be able to fill a real need, which is beauty — it’s not going anywhere. It felt like a natural progression to apply this model to the business of beauty.

WF: How has your acting career helped your app company?

Santana: How it really helped me is being an “entrepreneur” which is the term I think that gets thrown around a lot, and being an actress, there are a lot of similarities. There is no linear path, there is no handbook on how to get to success; you don’t do A and get to B. there is a lot of rejection, creating your own brand and identity as an actress and same with a business. The turmoil and the struggle of “making it” in the acting world is very similar to “making it” in the small business entrepreneurial world. And thinking outside of the box, having a tough shell, being open to rejection and hearing “no”—there are a lot of similarities in it, so that prepared me for resilience and to march to the beat of my own drum and have faith in myself.

WF: How do you balance being a CEO and a celebrity?

Santana: My mom has always taught me, you can’t do everything on your own. She has always been a working mother, ever since I can remember. When I started to build The Glam App, I knew inherently that I wasn’t going to be able to build it on my own and make it successful. I surrounded myself with people whose strengths were my weaknesses, whether it’s partnering with Joey, who had a very strong creative vision, which is not really my forte, or hiring a COO who was very strong in operations and hiring an assistant who could help balance my schedule. That is a large team, and such cohesion helped simplify and streamline everything I’m doing and it allows me to really create that balance.

WF: How do you build your workforce in this industry?

Santana: The challenge to any business is the hiring. When I talk to other CEOs and owners of businesses, it is always the staff. You really want to create a company that has good culture. You want to have like-minded people working for you. It is such an interesting time — millennials are now the workforce. I am looking for innovative, ambitious and creative talent who have the best qualities millennials have to offer but with a really strong work ethic, because a startup is just categorically different than any other type of environment. It is long hours — I work 80 hours a week, everyone on my staff pretty much works 50 minimum and we are a small team, so you want to find people who are invested in the cause who really want to see The Glam App meet its potential.

WF: What are the positives and negatives to this business model and specifically to the beauty industry?

Santana: The biggest challenge is converting behavior. When something is new and not the norm, there is a natural sense of reservation to it and so big cities like Los Angeles or New York, where people have been getting their hair and makeup done at home, it’s a luxury. But in Phoenix or Dallas, that is really changing the normal behavior [of the makeup industry]. We are allowing all women — no matter their socioeconomic status, age, where they live — you are allowing them the opportunity to have affordable and accessible beauty experiences in some capacity. You are also enabling this group of artists; the hair, makeup and nail professionals, who otherwise would have a very limited ability to work, whether it be in a salon or building their own freelance business, which is incredibly hard. We are allowing these stylists to build their brand, build their clientele, supplement their income while allowing young consumers and stay-at-home moms and working women to find the time to feel good about themselves without having to compromise on their life.

WF: How does this affect local beauty salons or makeup stores?

Santana: I like to always say we want to be their partners. We are not trying to cut and color — do all of the salon-type services. What we are trying to do is simply the styling aspects. Salons cannot always fill all of their needs. Maybe there are not enough stylists; maybe someone wants an in-house call. We want to work hand-in-hand and enable the growth and progression of stylists and beauty providers in every capacity, so we hope it positively affects the salon space.

WF: What is the partnership with L’Oreal going to do for the company’s growth?

Santana: Partnering with such a recognizable beauty brand helps our artists see what we are doing that people are taking notice. This isn’t just a fly-by-night idea, but there is real legitimacy to the business, and brands like L’Oreal and Dolce & Gabbana, the W Hotel, Glamour Magazine — all these people we are working with are realizing the value of the market. This really is the future.

WF: How do you create a common work culture and value system with employees on the internet and working remotely?

Santana: It is a work in progress. You want to instill a sense of incentive and desire to work toward a common goal. We do a lot of incentivized tasks, whether it is winning trips to other offices, incentivizing our stylists to bring in clientele by providing them with a program that gives them rewards back. We certainly try to create a fun and positive working environment and create a company culture of like-minded individuals who want to work hard, who are bringing creativity to a “sterile business model.” It is about finding those young millennials who are interested in making a change and making a social impact while maintaining the Generation X sentiment of work hard and play hard. Today’s generation is really driven by the ideology of making an impact. Do I feel valuable? Am I doing something substantial? Am I being recognized? It’s a balance but having incentives and creativity to really garner the interest of your employees and independent contractors is key. As long as you are playing to that base instinct and base feeling of those needs, you get a successful employee.

WF: What have you learned about being a CEO in the workforce?

Santana: I look back at who I was or what version of myself I was two years ago and the version of myself I am today — it’s leaps and bounds different. The hardest part is picking and choosing your battles and creating an environment where people want to come to work. I didn’t go to business school so a lot of what I am learning I am learning on the go. The hardest part for me has really been balancing the work and the small successes and really taking a moment to identity what has been a win versus moving on and bulldozing to the next thing, and balancing my personal life and not losing my own identity.

Ariel Parrella-Aureli is a Workforce intern. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com.

June 1, 2017June 29, 2023

OMG! Ur Hired!

Millennials and their Gen Z successors have little time for thoughtfully crafted emails or telephone pleasantries.

These digital natives grew up texting and often consider other formats to be cumbersome and outdated. So it should come as no surprise that they think text messages are a completely appropriate way to communicate with recruiters and their future workplace peers.

A recent survey from Yello, the talent acquisition software company, shows 86 percent of millennials “feel positively about text messages being used during the interview period,” and a similar HeyWire Inc. survey shows 67 percent of employees are using text messaging for business-related communications.

While it may seem like an overly casual environment to connect with potential hires, texts offer a lot of benefits — especially in a recruiting setting, said Jason Weingarten, co-founder of the Chicago-based Yello. “Text is faster, it’s easier and it’s more personal,” he said. It can also solve many of problems that create a negative candidate experience, including delays in communication, lack of follow-up and overly generic form letters.

“There are many points in the recruiting process that are very stressful for candidates,” he said. “Getting a quick response or update can ease some of that anxiety.”

It can also be handy for recruits who have another job and don’t want to communicate via their company email or phone, said JoAnne Kruse, chief human resources officer at American Express Global Business Travel. “They are lot more responsive via text, and it’s an easy way to move the process forward.”

A Strange Bunch

Besides convenience, texting is a great way to get a sense of a candidate’s personality, said Jack Barmby, CEO of Gnatta, a customer service software company based in the U.K. His developers and support staff use text messaging to talk to each other and to potential new hires. “It is the underpinning of how we communicate,” he said.

The company uses Slack, a cloud-based team collaboration tool for its text platform, creating different conversations for different projects, teams and topics. Participants post project updates, questions and comments that others in the group can see and respond to.

“It’s more efficient than email because users can quickly scroll through posts, find those that are relevant, without getting bogged down in a bunch of ‘reply-all’ email chains,” he said. There are no formal rules for use, beyond the basics — don’t be a jerk, and don’t post comments that are not relevant to the topic. “Otherwise it’s very organic, and we encourage people to let their personalities flourish.”

Gnatta also uses it as a vetting tool for new hires. When a candidate makes the hiring short list, they are invited to join one of the casual Slack channels, where Gnatta employees talk about what’s going on in their lives. The recruits get a chance to see how the team communicates, and the team gets a sense of their personality, Barmby said. “The ‘shine’ of the interview comes off, and they have a chance to be themselves.”

Inviting candidates to engage via text helps his team determine who will be the best cultural fit for the organization, and it ultimately becomes an extension of the onboarding process. He admitted that some candidates are turned off by the process because it adds a week to the decision, but others love the opportunities to connect with potential peers. “Developers can be a strange bunch, and not everyone is a good fit,” he said. Spending a week chatting with the team is a great way to decide who will fit in.

For all its conveniences there also are risks to using texts in recruiting. Companies need to be thoughtful about the information they share via text and how those communications can be tracked, Weingarten said. “If you get audited, you need to be able to show the source of the texts, how they were sent, and what messaging you used.”

Recruiters shouldn’t put too many rules around how texting is used. Where recruiters are looking for better, faster and more personal ways to engage with talent, texting is a cheap and familiar solution that can add real value to the process.

“Text is the next iteration of how we communicate,” Kruse said. “It can be a hugely helpful way to quickly connect with people, is a style that they prefer, so why wouldn’t you take advantage of that?”

Sarah Fister Gale is a writer in the Chicago area. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com.

May 3, 2017June 29, 2023

10 Key Elements of Any Data Security Policy to Safeguard Your Company

I recently told you that small businesses (less than 250 employees) suffered 31 percent of last year’s cyberattacks. What can you do to best protect your business (of any size) to repel an attack? Let me introduce you to the data security policy, an essential component of any employee handbook now, and likely forever.

What should an effective data security policy contain? Consider 1) consulting with a knowledgeable cybersecurity attorney; and 2) including these 10 components (c/o me, Travelers, and the U.S. Small Business Association):

Safeguard Data Privacy: Employees must understand that your privacy policy is a pledge to your customers/vendors/etc. that you and they will protect their information. Employees should only use data in ways that will keep customer identity and the confidentiality of information secure.
Establish Password Management: A policy mandating complex passwords, changed regularly, is required for any workers who will access corporate resources.
Consider Two-Factor Authentication: Consider requiring multi-factor authentication that requires additional information (i.e., an additional pass-code delivered to a designated secondary device) beyond a password to gain entry.
Govern Internet Usage: Each organization must decide how employees can and should access the internet, which balances employee productivity against corporate security concerns.
Manage Email Usage: Many data breaches result from employee misuse of email, which results in the loss/theft of data or the accidental downloading of viruses, malware, or ransomware. You need standards on the use of emails, message content, encryption, and file retention. Moreover, do not forget to train your employees on how to detect and deflect phishing attempts.
Govern and Manage Company-Owned Mobile Devices: Organizations that provide mobile devices for employee use need a formal process to help ensure that any use is secure. A good starting point? Requiring the same password protection as non-mobile devices, and a mobile device management infrastructure that lets you remote wipe a device if it’s lost or stolen.
Establish an Approval Process for Employee-Owned Mobile Devices: Ownership of smartphones has reached a critical mass. A “Bring Your Own Device” program is no longer an option, but should be required. If employees are going to bring personal devices into the workplace, and use them to connect to your network, you need to deploy reasonable policies to govern their use and protect your network and security, instead of ignoring the issue or instituting prohibitions that employees will ignore anyway.
Govern Social Media: All users of social media need to be aware of the risks associated with social media. Social media presents a real risk of corporate breaches of confidentiality. It is easy to tell your employees, “Think before you click.” Yet, 76 percent of the Inc. 500 lack a social media policy for their employees, and 73 percent of all employers conduct no social media training. If you aren’t educating your employees about the risks and benefits of social media, both in and out of the workplace, you are not only missing a golden opportunity, but you also leaving yourself exposed to breaches of confidentiality and other snafus.
Oversee Software Copyright and Licensing: Software usage agreements oblige organizations to adhere to their terms, and you should make employees aware of any software use restrictions. Also, employees should not download and use software that has not been reviewed and approved by the company (some of which could expose the company to viruses, malware, or ransomware).
Report Security Incidents: Finally, all of the above goes out the window if your employees do not know and understand when and how to report a security breach, and how and when to report malicious viruses, malware, or ransomware in the event it is inadvertently imported. All employees must know how to report security incidents and what to do to mitigate any damage.

As is the case with any policy, a data security policy will not be worth the paper on which it’s written if you don’t train your employees on what it means and how it operates in practice. Data breaches are not an if issue, but a when issue. You will be breached; the only question is when it will occur. While you cannot prevent a data breach from occurring, you can and should train your employees to sure up any knowledge gaps that further opens the risk they inadvertently pose.

Jon Hyman is a partner at Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis in Cleveland. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com. Follow Hyman’s blog at Workforce.com/PracticalEmployer.

May 2, 2017June 29, 2023

If You Think Your Small Business Isn’t at Risk for Cybercrime, Think Again

If you’ve ever spoken or thought the words, “We’re too small to worry about a cyberattack,” you’d better think again.

According to a recent study, 31 percent of all cyberattacks in 2016 were directed at companies with less than 250 employees.

Do I now have your attention?

If you’re still on the fence, consider these other stats, courtesy of Dark Reading:

98 percent of all companies suffered a cyberattack in 2016.
The average company suffers a minimum of 11 cyberattacks per day, with some facing as many as 50 daily.
27 percent of all cyber incidents are caused by insiders due to malicious or accidental actions.
Individuals open 30 percent of phishing messages directed to them, with another 12 percent clicking the malicious attachment or link, enabling the attack to succeed.
40 percent of companies have no cyber incident response plan in place
70 percent of companies lack cyber insurance.
Over the lifespan of a mobile device, 22 percent of all such devices will disappear, with over 50 percent of those never to be recovered. With more and more internet traffic flowing via mobile over desktop, these missing devices (along with other security holes such as open and unsecured wifi) pose a huge risk to your data security.

I’ll soon discuss your first and best defense against a cyberattack, a data security policy, and the key elements that it must have to best shield your company.

Jon Hyman is a partner at Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis in Cleveland. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com. Follow Hyman’s blog at Workforce.com/PracticalEmployer.

April 26, 2017June 29, 2023

Structuring a Remote Working Program

Remote working has shifted from a trend to a strategy necessary in the war for talent. It’s not going anywhere. It’s a competitive advantage.

And with that comes many considerations. Employers must ask, if I am to adapt remote working as a benefit to employees, what do I need to know? What are all of those logistic, legal and management-related things that I can’t afford to ignore from the very start?

This was the theme of David Lewis’ lecture at the Society for Human Resource Management’s Talent Acquisition conference in Chicago. Lewis, president and CEO of HR consulting company Operations Inc., brought up several important points any employer considering a remote working option should remember. He was very pro-remote work — benefits include shorter commutes, a broader access to talent and less need for office spaces — but also realistic in pointing out the structure and rules for a successful remote working program.

One key message was that although remote working is an option employers should consider, it’s not an option for everybody. It’s not a universal employee right. Leaders should look at each position objectively and decide whether it’s a job that can be done remotely. Some jobs simply can’t.

On an individual level, good performers who have proven that they are productive and reliable are solid candidates, while bad performers are not. That guy who always needs somebody looking over his shoulder or holding his hand throughout the day? He would not be productive working from home.

For employees who have the green light to work remotely: It’s not all hunky-dory from there. Employers should know what kind of office space this employee is working in. Is it an environment conducive to household interruptions? How is this person’s internet speed? If this person needs a better internet connection, who pays for it? (Usually the company does, said Lewis.) Does workers’ comp cover the work-from-home injuries?

The type of office furniture an employee uses is a consideration as well, said Lewis. What if their chair causes back problems? What if their desk is at an awkward height and hastens other physical problem?

Many companies will provide certain amenities for a home office, like technological needs (computer, printer, potentially internet). This could also apply to furniture. Some companies provide an allowance for this, said Lewis; others may provide the same standard furniture to remain consistent to all employees.

Start the conversation with, What do you already have? If this employee already has an appropriate chair and desk, great, that’s one less furniture set to deal with.

One final takeaway was that some managers will naturally be paranoid that remote workers just can’t be as productive as working in-office. Don’t decide that remote working isn’t working and take away the option because of paranoia, said Lewis. Rely on metrics and hard data for something like that.

I spoke with a co-worker about this session later in the day. His consensus was that a lot of this sounded like way too much micromanaging. I don’t disagree; I wouldn’t want my employer measuring my at-home desk and scrutinizing my work-from-home environment with a fine-tooth comb. The desk I use is a giant rectangle of wood with four metal legs from an old Ikea table. I don’t know how tall it is. It’s covered with dried acrylic paint and to-do lists written in Sharpie. But it’s cleared off except for my lamp, essential oil diffuser and laptop when I work from home, and it’s never caused me any problems. Still, I don’t think it’d pass the test.

What I got out of this session was less about the micromanaging and more about the idea behind it: Remote working isn’t going anywhere. And having clear guidelines and rules from the very beginning isn’t a bad idea for employers who want a consistent working-from-home policy. Some sort of framework that deals with potential future legal issues like workers’ comp or OT would be helpful.

Ultimately, as long as the employee is hitting their deadlines and continuing to be productive even when working at home, I’d hope most companies would ignore some of the more nitpicky things in the remote-working guidebook, like chairs and desks.

Andie Burjek is a Workforce associate editor. Comment below, or email at editor@workforce.com. Follow Workforce on Twitter at @workforcenews.

April 17, 2017June 29, 2023

Offboarded by Zenefits, Parker Conrad’s on Board with New Project

It’s been barely a year since HR technology’s prodigal son, Parker Conrad, was forced to leave Zenefits over regulatory misdeeds after building the HRIS software company into Silicon Valley’s fastest growing startup ever.

He returned in March triumphant with the announcement that he’s launching new company called Rippling, an onboarding services firm that promises to eliminate the checklist from the onboarding process.

According to Conrad, Rippling is going eliminate the biggest problem that small and midsized companies face with onboarding: the endless task list. “A company with 100 employees might have 40 different places where employees need to get set up,” he said. That can require multiple people in several departments to complete different tasks just to get one new hire onboarded. “I felt like it was a problem that wasn’t being solved,” he said.

So he set out to solve it by automating the entire onboarding process, from setting up emails and filing paperwork to making sure employees have their key cards, office space and computers. Rippling even provides the computers preloaded with all the appropriate software, which the company will then update every two years. Conrad sees Rippling as a permanent layer of business software, supporting all of the administrative tasks related to employee changes during their tenure at a company, including promotions, change of office, or new managers. Companies pay $8 per month per employee for the service.

It’s an intriguing idea that has earned Conrad the admiration and financial backing of many of the same firms that supported his first foray into HR tech. He has already secured $7 million in venture capital, and it is likely the first of many rounds of funding if he can follow through on the business plan.

Though that’s a big if. Even Conrad admitted that automating onboarding is a lot harder than building a better checklist. And even if his team can engineer a solution, the onboarding space is crowded with competitors that have been around a lot longer. Onboarding has become the new darling of the HR tech space, noted Ray Wang, principal analyst for Constellation Research. “It is the natural next extension application.” The question now is whether they can win over enough customers. “That’s the challenge for any new software firm,” Wang said. “You have to get to volume to make it work.”

That means Rippling has to figure out how it will stand out when buyers are already overwhelmed by the number of options and features available, said Lilith Christiansen, vice president of organizational development for Kaiser Associates in Washington, D.C. “There are so many tech companies in this space, and they all focus on different aspects of onboarding.”

Rippling isn’t the only startup trying to differentiate itself by making onboarding faster and easier. “Lots of companies are focused on enhancing the experience for new hires and managers, and they are going beyond just automation,” she said. Christiansen pointed to MindTickle, which uses gamification to engage new hires; Appical, which offers an entirely mobile-enabled onboarding process; and Worktop, which focuses on motivating new hires and making sure they are prepared to work on day one.

“From a startup perspective it’s a great time to be in this space because there are a lot of opportunities for innovation,” Christiansen said. And she sees the entrance of Rippling as further proof that the space has room to grow. “Obviously, there are still a lot of problems with onboarding that haven’t been solved.”

For buyers of these tools, she encouraged HR leaders to think about their own onboarding pain points, then assess which tools are designed to specifically address those issues. For some, that might be dealing with paperwork, while others will want to focus on learning, engagement or time to productivity, she said. “When you start with a diagnostic, you can narrow your universe of options and find the right technology to meet your business goals.”

Sarah Fister Gale is a writer in the Chicago area. Comment below or email editors@workforce.com.

March 30, 2017June 29, 2023

Social Media May Distract Employees, but Should We Care?

Earlier this week, I asked when employees will learn that online comments can, and will, be used against them. There is another half to the workplace-social-media equation—employers, who have the task of regulating their employees’ use of social media, which happens more and more in the workplace.

Yesterday, Cleveland reporter Olivia Perkins discussed a recent survey, which found that nearly 90 percent of employees access personal social media accounts at work, to varying degrees of distraction.

The survey of 1,200 employees, at companies of varying size, found that 18 percent of respondents said they checked social media 10 times or more during the workday. On the other end of the spectrum were the 12 percent of respondents, who said they never checked social media at work.

The on-the-job social media habits of most employees fell somewhere in between. Sixty percent of respondents said they checked social media at work one to five times daily. Ten percent said they checked social media six to 10 times during the workday. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.

The question is what to do about it? My answer? In most cases, absolutely nothing. As I’ve long argued:

Employers that try regulate personal social media use out of the workplace are fighting a Sisyphean battle. I call it the iPhone-ification of the American workforce. No matter your policy trying to regulate or outright ban social media in your workplace, if your employees can take their smartphones out of their pockets to circumvent the policy, how can you possibly police workplace social media access? Why have a policy you cannot police and enforce? And, don’t forget, the NLRB is watching, too.

Instead of regulating an issue you cannot hope to control, treat employees’ use of social media for what it is—a performance issue. If an employee is not performing up to standards because he or she is spending too much time on the internet, then address the performance problem. Counsel, discipline, and ultimately terminate if the performance does not improve. A slacking employee, however, will not become a star performer just because you limit his or her social media access; he or she will just find another way to slack off. Instead of wasting your resources to fight a battle you cannot win, reapportion them to win battles worth fighting.

We ask so much of our employees. The 9-to-5 is no longer relevant. If my employee, who is giving up nights and weekends for me, wants to spends a few minutes during the workday posting to Facebook or checking the score of last night’s game, or buying something on Amazon, I just don’t care (unless you are working in a safety-sensitive position, and then why the hell are you on your phone at all?), unless and until it reaches the level of distraction and impacts performance. Then, however, we are treating the performance problem, not the technology problem, which is the appropriate and practical solution.

Jon Hyman is a partner at Meyers, Roman, Friedberg & Lewis in Cleveland. To comment, email editors@workforce.com. Follow Hyman’s blog at Workforce.com/PracticalEmployer.