Office Max!

Bruley was a leasing agent for the Oaks at Mill Creek, an apartment complex owned by Village Green Companies. He also lived in the complex. The excuse used by the company was that Bruley had violated employee rules which forbids “weapons in the workplace”. Apparently the company wanted to pretend that Bruley’s private apartment and that of his neighbor are part of his “workplace” -- something tenants might find a bit disturbing.

We went to the human resources office and they took our pictures for the badges. I sat nicely and gave them a big smile. I wasn’t even on duty yet and I got so many pets from lots of people as we walked through the hospital.

For two years, I was bullied, harassed, discriminated against, and physically hit by a co-worker. My co-workers spent half their shifts sitting and scheming. They covered for a slacker custodian that kept Penthouse in his school office desk drawer. These same co-workers were (every month) repeated absenteeism, bogus Worker’s Comp. Claims, along with the custodian that sat all day, except for approximately forty-five minutes (each day).

The earth began to shift earlier this year with the revelation that Verizon Communications (nyse: VZ - news - people ) paid Hewitt Associates (nyse: HEW - news - people ) several hundred million dollars over the years for human resources work while Hewitt also served as the CEO compensation consultant. It's obvious that there is a potential conflict of interest for the consultant to recommend big pay packages for CEOs, who then direct consulting business back to the consulting firm. In today's climate, even the appearance of such a conflict is unacceptable.

I’ve been miserable at work lately and have been looking around. I recently received a call from a recruiter for another company who asked me to fax in some paperwork immediately. I ran to my office fax machine and did so, not realizing it prints out a copy of your cover page. Our HR guy came and delivered it to me with a big smile and just walked away. Oh, boy. Now what do I do? Busted Belle

You can tell by the way I keep walking right by the elevator, asking how to find the snack machine and getting lost on the way to lunch. I got my keys to the washroom on Wednesday - my third day. Before that, I had to sneak around the back way and get funny looks from the banker-type people with whom we share office space just to take a ... (I resisted making a Nintendo joke. But yes, it was hard). There are no pictures on the wall of my cube, the space around my desk is painfully litter-free and the box of toys I brought from home has barely been played with, much less looked at.

True, I never managed a McDonalds, but remember, the salaries paid to our employees here are equivalent to those of Microsoft higher mangers in the west. Not astronomical, but definitely much, much more than you can make legally anywhere in the country. We are supposed to be hiring the best and the brightest. Even if they are not- even if our human resources management is very poor- you’d expect them to be at least average, since they are all literate and only 30% of the population is literate (maximum).

Another thing was this man who came up to my mum and repeated over and over again " Yes, you must go to human resources etc etc etc". That was quite strange.

Bette Francis, director of human resources for Strategic Products & Services in Cedar Knolls, N.J., started conducting Google searches of job candidates six months ago. So far, she hasn’t found anything bad. The blogs she has seen have given her insight into the candidates’ communication styles, work ethic and expertise. “It’s another piece of information,” she said.

I found this article interesting from Chief Learning Officer called. Research: Poor Conversations Equal Disengaged, Dissatisfied Workforce. This makes perfect sense to me.

My four months stay with this firm, I am engaged with are Human Resources projects. No offense meant, but I really am not interested with them. Sure, it’s something new and the process is another learning bead. Going through it and working with the people I’ve mingled were all good learning experiences, but I hated General Psychology in college. And I’m sure the feeling is mutual. I wouldn’t mind though listening to friends who actually studied the field, or some trivia how the usual things we do describe our personalities (i.e. Niel’s Salter vs. Taster theory). Still, I can’t find my feet planted in its turf. It’s not my cup of tea, and I can’t stand the thought that I have to think how people think, or make conclusions based on momentary judgment or from man’s need to take leisurely trips to insanity. Just can’t.

After passion, the next most important characteristic that companies were looking for was talent. Of course, as one person in the audience indicated, they both have to go hand in hand. You could have someone who is incredibly passionate about gaming but who has very little talent with regards to what they do (i.e. programming, art design, etc). Therefore, looking for talented people who are passionate about what they do is the key. And remember, the passion doesn’t have to be tied to actually building the game itself but any aspect of it. So if someone in Human Resources was very passionate and talented in finding great people for their company, then the gaming industry wants that type of person.

Great video interview with Jack Welch available here on his business philosophy and new book, "Winning". I read his last book "Jack: Straight From the Gut" and there is a lot in there that makes sense for careers and recruiting. In fact if you watch the video interview you will see how passionate Jack is about Human Resources and how much of a difference he feels they make in business.

Under the agreement, Microsoft will contribute up to $2 million in funding and human resources through its Partners in Learning initiative to help build a peer coaching framework for teachers that excel at integrating technology into their curricula while helping build new tools and resources for pre-service and high school institutions.

Rosemary Haefner, Vice President of Human Resources for CareerBuilder.com, offers these tips to make the most of your time off:

With the book's release date nearing, Merritt told his supervising attorney about it in early March, Merritt said. The firm fired him a few days later. The human resources director told him that, because of the book, they didn't believe he'd be able to serve clients as well as Powell Goldstein standards would require. . . .

You would think that the personnel department (I hate hate hate the phrase "human resources") of a major national corporation/conglomerate would have their act together enough to actually follow through when they say "we'll contact you the day before the interview to give you the exact location, where to park, and directions to fill out a short online form." If you did think that, you would be wrong though.

For example, instead of asking: "Will you hire me as a human resources assistant?" you can ask: "Do you know anyone that is looking for a new human resources assistant?"

This indirect question is already a huge step in the right direction. But my golden tip would be: "Who do you think I should contact when looking for a new job as human resources assistant?"

Note these are insights on legal topics within start-ups from a non-lawyer but from a person that has worked with a number of lawyers in corporate finance and infrastructure, intellectual property, and employment and human resources within start-ups and growth firms. I have been spanked (lightly) by lawyers for drafting stuff.

The New Profile of the Long-Term Unemployed - New York Times: After three years of unemployment, Allen Gruenhut finally landed a job as director of human resources for a company in the stone business on Long Island. His age, 53, worked against him in his long hunt for work, he contends, and so did the six-figure salary he earned at his last job, in banking. "They would not take me seriously at job interviews when I said I would be happy with a lower salary," Mr. Gruenhut said.

But I've been thinking about getting back into the startup game. I slog away at a job in a unmoving, monolithic educational institution trying to change a 1950s view of human resources and a 1970s view of systems to deliver a consumer-like experience for employees, managers and faculty. Books like The Art of the Start and my recent experiences keep me thinking that maybe the next startup doesn't have to be software. I was flipping through The Money of Invention: How Venture Capital Creates New Wealth by Paul A. Gompers, Josh Lerner when I decided...

It would be amusing if baseball players had to participate in team-building workshops like corporate workers. A human resources representative would facilitate the proceedings:

Mind you, I fully support the campaign against Wal-Mart (and here). It’s outrageous that taxpayers are subsidizing the health care costs of the world's largest retailer. In Maryland, for instance, Wal-Mart’s human resources people counsel employees on how to apply for Medicaid (and here).

Last night I sat through a lively & irreverent presentation by Martin Wood, CEO and founder of Delkin Devices. Among the highlights was his insistence that if I really wanted to understand Delkin's strategy in memory markets I needed to meet his ... head of human resources.

These two bosses are the most visible examples of a growing army of mobile workers who are giving human resources (HR) departments a new sort of headache: how to track where they are and when, for tax and visa purposes. Brian Friedman, president of Ernst & Young's Institute for Global Mobility, says this is a major challenge for such departments. Gone are the days when working abroad was merely a matter of signing a formal expatriate package with an allowance for differences in the cost of living and the quality of life before waving goodbye for...

When you start at a company, you need to respect the organization. You may hate your new boss, but you have only two options. Quit, or pray that human resources takes care of him. In either event, regardless of the level of intrapersonal respect you grant him, you need to obey the situation you are in and DO AS YOU ARE TOLD.

Print out the jobs you want that you find on the internet. Make a list of the companies. Next to each company, make a list of people you know who work there. Include people who know someone who works there. Add a list of recruiters who can get your resume past HR (Human Resources) and directly to the hiring manager. Get into www.linkedin.com and see if you can find someone working at that company. Add those people to the list.

In late September, the ad agency I work for had an “Oktoberfest” party that used the St. Pauli Girl logo on a sign leading to the party. When the Human Resources woman saw the sign, she asked for the logo to be retouched so it wouldn’t reveal so much cleavage. Thankfully, calmer heads and common sense prevailed, and the St. Pauli Girl remained in her mid-riffed glory.

3. Had no Human Resources department to report to

Bob Stambaugh, president of the human resources technology consultancy Kapa’a Associates, believes that, as the numbers go up, and conflicts increase commensurately, instituting clear guidelines to employees will become commonplace.

ICANN has given final approval to two new Internet suffixes - .jobs for the human resources community and .travel for the travel industry. It could take months for the domain names to start appearing in use, as companies running those names now must set up registration and other procedures.

It appears that the growth in the human resources outsourcing arena is growing, at really tremendous rates:

I've long thought that marketing and human resources directors should collaborate much more. So I'm interested in Regina Miller's blog HR's brand new experience. (Spotted by Jennifer) Regina is foucssing on how to create brands that actually engage employees instead of just creating more instructions for them to follow.

It's important to find good activities outside the office that help with team building and give everyone more incentive to work. Here's one site that offers you the chance to drive a race car on a track. You may find other driving courses closer to your location. A great idea for corporate team building or just a fun day with the staff. If this is too fast for your taste, think about an activity as easy as bowling or just a catered picnic near the office.

Drive the dream! Supercharge your productivity with incentive travel to the Richard Petty Driving Experience in beautiful Las Vegas, Nevada! Seating is limited, click now to Drive the Dream!

Why would you outsource Human Resources if people are your most valuable asset? A lot of Human Resources functions involve training, law or other aspects of business that not only change frequently with time but also look pretty much the same regardless of the type of business. For instance, training managers on the latest hiring and firing best practices isn't very different from one company to another. If you have small company, you might look at a PEO firm to manage your entire Human Resources function. That actually gives you more time to focus on your people instead worrying about compliance with the latest workplace regulations.

There has been alot of activity in the outsourcing markets lately, particularly in the HR outsourcing world.

Fidelity and BASF announced a five-year deal where Fidelity's HRO unit will handle BASF's payroll operations, health and welfare benefit programs and retirement plans. This is on top of the recent news that Fidelity's human resources and benefits outsourcing services added 1,175 new clients in 2004. (Disclosure: I work for Fidelity).

Hewitt announced HRO deals with Marriott, Rockwell, and Thompson (more details here, here and here).

ACS signed a deal with Delta Airlines.

Accenture and BT signed a 10 year, $575M, HR outsourcing deal.

Finally, ACS and Convergys were reported to be the leading bidders to acquire the $900M human resources outsourcing business of Mellon Financial.