Human Resources

Human Resources

The Employee Whisperer

Fast Company | by Kate Rockwood | November 2008

How Kenexa is blending psychology and technology to create passionate workers.

At the suburban Philadelphia offices of Kenexa, people grin at one another all day long. Sometimes they hug. Bright posters of the company’s guiding principles dot the walls: YOU’RE ALLOWED TO LAUGH YOUR WAY THROUGH A PROBLEM AND MAKING FRIENDS REPLACES OUR ORGANIZATIONAL HIERARCHY. The CEO, Rudy Karsan, spouts odd koanlike talk: “The world is like a roomful of jars. Every time you open a jar, there’s untold treasure in there.” [Read more…]

Should Your People Come Before Your Customers?

InformationWeek | by Rob Preston | Sept. 29, 2008

One school of thought is that if you treat your people right, they’ll be far more motivated and equipped to engage with (and maximize returns from) your customers.

The customer comes first. It’s considered a business management truism. The way to boost profits and market caps is to focus on the people who buy your products. “Delight” them, as former GE chief Jack Welch would say. Create relationships that foster brand loyalty and return business. Management experts C.K. Prahalad and M.S. Krishnan go a step further, exhorting companies to “co-create value” with their customers, one customer at a time. [Read more…]

Beyond Flextime

Inc.com | by Scott Westcott | August 2008

For Linda Skoglund, getting a pedicure on a busy Tuesday afternoon was a career turning point. It ran against her Midwestern work ethic. And certainly, there was plenty of work piled up at J.A. Counter & Associates, the $2.5 million insurance and investment advisory firm she owns in New Richmond, Wisconsin. On the other hand, canceling her visit to the salon that day could have sent a bad message. It risked signaling to her 15 employees that they weren’t allowed to do whatever they wanted at any given time during work hours. And that would tank her plans to overhaul the work environment at J.A. Counter. [Read more…]

Mistreating Employees A Clear Sign of Management Troubles

During the glory days of the dot-com bubble I worked as director of web development at Homestore.com (now Move.com). Homestore ran Realtor.com, the largest real estate site on the web. Homestore’s management team was unable to capitalize on the unique position and strategic advantages the company had in the marketplace and squandered the resources and talent they were entrusted with.

Homestore com Logo old

The way executives reacted to the looming financial crisis of their own making is an illustrative case study in how not to conduct layoffs and how not to manage a company’s most important assets – its employees.
[Read more…]

Some Employees Are More Equal Than Others

Some Employees Are More Equal Than Othersby Chris Banescu –
When I was younger I used to believe that getting a good education and working hard would offer me a stable life. I learned real quick that many companies don’t reward hard work anymore – at least not like I thought they should.

I believe in hard work. I think people should be rewarded on what they produce. But all too often the wrong people get promoted. Employees get preferential treatment and enjoy more benefits and opportunities as long as they don’t make any waves, toe the organizational line, and always support their bosses; no matter how incompetent, hypocritical, or abusive they are.

When we first come across such a dysfunctional work environment (especially early in our career), we are not sure what to make of it. We recognize that such preferential treatment of less qualified employees is neither ethical nor fair, but we don’t know how to handle it. [Read more…]