Job Resources

Many organizations also try to do a reasonably thorough job of tracking the reasons why employees leave the organization, often through the use of exit interviews.  Better opportunity elsewhere, lack of promotion chances, hating the boss, etc.

Aggregating, combining, distilling, and analyzing this kind of 'coming and going' data, when supplemented with analysis of individual and company performance can be a powerful differentiator, providing the organization's leaders with important competitive insight to inform hiring, development, and operational strategies.

That is, if the HR organization has the tools (possibly), analytical capability (maybe), and an understanding of the best way to present this kind of information in a method that is relevant, consumable, and engaging (oh boy).

Take a look at the image below, the infographic maps more than 4,000 moves both in and out of New York from over 1,700 people in the past decade based on an informal survey by New York public radio’s the Brian Lehrer Show.

The interactive chart captures the destination zip code for the move, whether the move was 'in' or 'out', the date of the move, and even the reason for the move to or from the particular zip code.

The chart also provides the ability to deep-dive into specific zip codes to analyze the overall patterns of migration as well as drilling into individual movements. We can see, for example, that in 2001 someone relocated from NYC 10014 to Tampa, Florida 33602 because the 'Rent was getting too high to stay'.

It is not a stretch for HR to re-invent this kind of graphic as the 'comings and goings' of new employees, and recently separated colleagues.  The zip codes in the chart could be replaced by company regions, locations, even senior leaders.  Examining the inflows and reason codes (curious how many people join and leave for the very same reason) in a graphical manner somehow energizes the information normally presented on simple report, or a bar chart.

While most HR organizations don't have the luxury of graphic or web designers on staff (too bad) to create these kinds of interactive tools to review, interact with, and even re-imagine data, it would benefit most of us in the business of providing and acting upon workforce and organizational information to do a better job of presenting the data in ways that help the data tell its story.

The full infographic can be found here - and be warned, it is a fun and engaging chart that you are likely to spend some time playing with to, and ultimately a kind of curiosity begins to set in as you try and get a closer look at the decisions and motivations of the real people whose experiences make up the data for the graphic.

Compelling, engaging, fun, and informative.  How many of those adjectives can you ascribe to the last report on turnover you sent up the chain, or that you received?

I was neither offended nor disappointed.Tourist photo , NYC, 1950's

The show is all about providing a forum or platform for interesting and smart people to share their opinions, insights, and expertise.  I don't need to say much of anything to have a good show. In fact, I think at times, the less I have to say the better.

That advice I think holds true for many other relationships as well, be they 'real' or virtual or with software programs and their users.  Hurry up and finish talking so I can say what I really think. Let me tell you what I have been up to. Sure, we have that feature.  We have every feature.

It holds true for the design of the systems that we use in our workplaces and in our spare time. Software companies often feel compelled to include every feature that customers request, or that they have seen a competitor tout as 'new and improved'. 

We don't always have to fill up all the space with words, content, opinions, comments, buttons, and features.

Sometimes it is perfectly acceptable to not have all that much to say, and let some negative, or empty space in.

Is it obvious that I spent the holiday weekend goofing off, and did not come up with anything interesting to write today?

As I write this, it's late and I can't be bothered to look up the specifics about the origin of the Labor Day holiday, but I am fairly sure it was born from a long history of employers exploiting the workforce with long hours, unreasonable pressures, low pay, poor working conditions, and unrealistic expectations.  

Thankfully, those days are long behind us. 

They are, aren't they?

These days Labor Day weekend is mostly about transition, the change of the seasons, the end of summer vacation for students, and the start of 'serious' business since vacation and holiday time is pretty much over for most workers.

And of course Labor Day weekend is about barbecue.  Who doesn't spend at least some time on Labor Day weekend at the grill, burning perfectly searing some steaks or concocting their favorite burger recipe.

For me, I plan on spending some quality time with three of the things that have come to mean a lot to me - my butcher, my smoker, and my grill.

I hope you have a fantastic long holiday weekend.  No matter how tough things may be out there for you, Labor Day offers the promise of the end of one phase of your life and the start of another.  

I mark this transition with gobs of smoky, delicious meats, how you mark it is up to you, but for sure once Labor Day is passed, it all starts over again.

You can listen live starting at 8PM EDT from the show page, using the player embedded below, or by calling in to 646-378-1086.

The world of HR Technology changes by the day, new players enter, established players try to up their game with new offerings and capabilities, and a week doesn't seem to go past without another major announcement of buyouts and consolidation in the space.

I have to think all this HR Tech Vendor consolidation can't be good for selling booth space.

Bill will be on board tonight to talk about the big event, which has become one of the key, must-attend HR conferences of the year, to share his views of the market for HR Technology from his vantage point as the leading independent analyst of the space, and to offer up many other insights and pearls of wisdom gained from a long career in journalism.

I hope you can join us tonight for the debut of the great Bill Kutik on the HR Happy Hour show - talking all things HR Technology, and the big HR Technology Conference set for September 29 - October 1.

The first session I sat in on was called the 'ROI of Compassion' presented by Lisa Murfield.  Lisa shared the story of United Bulk Terminal, a small Louisiana employer that was faced with massive business disruption, personal hardship, and even devastating tragedy as a result of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Of United Bulk Terminal's approximately 150 employees, 83% lost their homes, and though damage, infrastructure problems, inability to get supplies to the facility, business operations were shut for over two months.

Using a concerted and coordinated program of support, outreach, and committed communication, United Bulk Terminal was able to successfully resume business operations while retaining over 50% of the 'pre-disaster' employees.  That may not sound like an impressive percentage, but considering the personal devastation, the forced evacuations, and the incredible trauma that the vast majority of the employees suffered, the 50% figure is really quite remarkable. 

How United Bulk Terminal demonstrated a truly committed and compassionate response to its family of employees makes for a fantastic case study in corporate response to massive natural disaster.  But for the vast majority of organizations, the kinds of employee trauma that the company will have to deal with are more common, mundane, and certainly predictable.

Death of a loved one.  Financial loss.  Issue with the health or the behavior of employee's children.  Even the loss of a pet.  

These are the kinds of tragedies that are impacting every workforce, in every city, each and every day. 

Having a plan for massive environmental disaster and large scale business disruption is certainly sound business strategy and planning.  

Having a plan to adequately and compassionately support an employee in their more personal and everyday tragedies might be more important and more impactful. Here is my offering in the creation and administration of these policies - Do The Right Thing.

Thanks to Lisa Murfield for an interesting and enlightening presentation.

The project, organized by brand strategy consultant Richard Smith, is a tongue-in-cheek attempt  to revitalize the American economy via a 're-branding' of some of our most visible and tangible manifestations of economic activity, the set of US Federal Reserve notes.

From the 'About' section of the Project site:

It seems so obvious to us that the 'only' realistic way for a swift economic recovery is through a thorough, in-depth, rebranding scheme – starting with the redesign of the iconic US Dollar – it's the 'only' pragmatic way to add some realistic stimulation into our lives! Therefore, you must take part and we really want to see what YOU would do.

Various designers, students, folks that like to play around with Illustrator and Photoshop have offered their suggestions for redesigning the set of bank notes that for the most part still maintain their basic design structure from the 1930s.

One interesting example from the contest, submitted by the graphic design firm Dowling Duncan is on the right.  Their designs for the various notes and denominations attempt to link the face value of the note to an historically significant figure or event. In the example on the right, the re-imagined $100 note refers to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's famous 'First 100 Days', when a number of significant legislative actions were approved to combat the economic depression of the 1930s.

Besides the collection of really engaging, creative, and amusing submissions (somewhere in there you can find a 'Steve Jobs' $50 bill), the project and the enthusiasm of the design community to participate reveal some interesting lessons that I think could be relevant in an organizational setting as well.  

Sacred cows - What 'wrong' with the $1, $5, or $100 bills?  Well I suppose nothing.  But could they be improved? Absolutely.  Could that improvement actually drive downstream benefits far beyond the redesign itself?  Quite possibly. But unless the attempt is made, you'll never know.  

The crowd - Sort of an obvious conclusion, and one that doesn't need to be pointed out yet again.  Or does it?  It still seems to me that more organizations and even smaller divisions in organizations don't do a great job soliciting ideas from their version of the 'crowd' for improvements, creative ideas, and even feedback. Making the submissions public, improves the process as well.  The better ideas surface more readily, more people can get involved in improving the ideas, and the entire process gains more relevancy and a larger degree of trust. For almost every issue, someone out there is passionate about it, and likely would want to get involved if given the opportunity.

Fun - Looking at the redesigned currency is fun. Creating the designs certainly had to be fun for the firms and individuals that have participated.  Even judging the contest I imagine is going to be a blast. What is wrong with a little fun in the organization? Unless you are in one of the lucky (or smart) organizations that has managed to navigate the last few years unscathed, introducing a bit of fun into the routine would be most certainly welcome.

What do you think?

Is redesigning the dollar bill a good idea?