News & Events

By Patty Hampton, CSP

Last week I had a wonderful conversation with my brother following my company’s Tenth Anniversary Gala. My brother shared that he was moved and inspired by our gala and its keynote speakers. He also mentioned that the speakers opened his eyes about employee and student performance as he thought about his own organization. My brother was dreading his organization’s impending decision to close several schools and layoff more than 400 employees for underperforming. The underperformance of employees and students in his organization has had a ripple effect which included a loss of funding.

My brother spoke openly about how all employees have a responsibility, and need to be accountable, for the overall performance of their organizations. I could feel my brother’s anxiety as he spoke and the urgency in his voice as he continued to share what he was going to be facing when he returned to work. Well, Tuesday has come and gone and 400 people have lost their jobs and the lives of hundreds of students have been altered.

Wake up people!Spring has just two months left. Isn’t it possible for us to make a difference in our organizations every season? Isn’t it possible for us to measure the performance of our organizations and its most precious flowers – its employees? We planted seeds last season and many of them are still waiting to be watered. We have to be accountable and shift from where we are to where we want to be this same time next year or even next week! To wake up, we have to be willing to ignite a passion so deep inside of us that we are unstoppable.

This is the season and the time for ALL nonprofit professionals to make a huge difference in their organizations. If you are a leader in your organization and you are just showing up to collect a paycheck then maybe it is YOU that needs to change. Maybe you are the one who could possibly be the leader of the change and help your organization shift from where they are to an entirely different level. Believe it or not, time is going to move on whether we move on with it. We don’t have time to be average doers or thinkers. We need to use this season to be excellent and expect the employees in our organizations to perform at unstoppable levels.

I learned a long time ago that the speed of the leader dictates the speed of the gang. If that’s true, then why not take your leader to lunch. I dare you to have a conversation about how you can help him/her make a difference this season in the organization. I encourage you to be bold, be powerful, and see where that conversation leads. When was the last time you were moved and inspired to make a difference and change the ordinary to extraordinary? When we decide as individuals to take action change happens. There is nothing rewarding about getting up everyday and showing up at work to do nothing. I don’t know about you, but I don’t have that kind of time to waste. Sometimes all it takes is one person to make a difference in the lives of many. Why can’t that one person be you?

Over the years we have all been in our own way. Sometimes you just have to let go and let your faith order your steps. If you are tired of where you are then take a leap of faith. Do something about making positive change happen in your organization, because when you change you can change the people in your organization as well.

I believe that we are where we are because of the choices we have made. We choose to stay where we are because we choose to stay where we are. This kind of stinkin’-thinkin’ has got to stop. We need to change ourselves before we can get our organizations and its people to move into action. We need employees to be jazzed about coming to work and spending 10 and 12 hour days out of their lives to further a mission that I trust they believe in. When you don’t water your plants they die, right? Well, it’s the same for the people in your organization, but we don’t die, we tend to move up or move out.

A new season brings about change for everyone. Why not measure the performance of your organization and its people by the season? Set a few goals that you’d like to see accomplished over the next two months. Have a few casual conversations with the employees around the lunchroom or water cooler about where they’d like to see the organization move in the next few months. This is valuable information that you can share during your lunch with your leader or CEO.

As an HR professional, I used to teach my CEO to do management by walking around. When was the last time you walked around to take the pulse of your organization? Do you really know the people in your organization?

This is the season we all need to take a stand. Stand for something and do something to shift yourself and your organization into a higher performing culture. There is enough negativity we receive from all directions in this world. The one place where we are employed could be the one place where we can make a difference.

It’s time for all of us to do a little spring cleaning. We have got to move our assets people. What we put into the lives of others comes back to us ten times over. So wake up people. Wake up!

By Patty Hampton, CSP

While providing human resources management support to one of our client offices, I reached out to two new employees to welcome them to the organization. Both of them were surprised to receive my call. My intentions were purposeful yet genuine.

For a new employee, settling into a new organization can be a lonely process. The phone calls took no more than five minutes out of my day and it was important for the new employees to know how excited HR and their team is about them joining the organization. This one phone call also set the tone for how they would be treated and valued and that they were about to enter a “giving” culture. On their first day, everyone knew about the two new employees and stopped by their office for short introductions. During their new hire orientation break, I could hear other employees chit-chatting in the hallway about the best places to eat lunch and sharing knowledge about the organization.

New employees like to be involved and feel productive on their first day and we have a responsibility to not only give the organizational tour, but kick it up a few notches and provide them with the tools and resources to be successful in their career.

Although the on-boarding process is a great first step, ensuring that your formal and/or informal mentoring program helps the new employee have a smooth transition is just as important.

If you are in a leadership role and you are responsible for managing a team, one of your most important leadership responsibilities you need to “own” is employee mentoring.

Here are just a few benefits for instituting a mentoring program in your organization:

• Provides a hub for transferring knowledge
• Gives new employee opportunity to establish a working relationship with an industry expert
• Preserves institutional knowledge from one employee to the next
• Establishes desirable professional behaviors in your workplace culture
• Provides an inexpensive or no cost approach to professional development
• Develops young and more seasoned leaders
• Provides new employees with cross-training opportunities
• Gives a new employee direct access to your competent performers
• Establishes an open dialogue with respect to the do’s/don’ts of the organizational culture
• May reduce staff turnover

From on-boarding to employee mentoring, employees need to be engaged. How we support them in maintaining that “fire-in-the-belly” attitude is crucial to our organizations. By promoting a mentoring culture you are also embracing and creating a workplace that is open, honest and filled with employees that add value to themselves personally, but also to the communities and constituents your organization serves.

By Patty Hampton, CSP, managing director

This past weekend, the story I shared last week did go south. Many of you probably guessed by now that my friend did not run a background investigation on their CFO. I knew the rest of my friend’s story was headed to a point of no return, and I was right. Let me give you the short version.

The CFO in the story was hired three years ago with no background investigation conducted. Little by little purchase orders and payments approved by the CFO were beginning to look suspicious. During a board meeting, a member quietly asked my friend why the CFO approved payments to vendors for items divisions never received. The board member also indicated that the vendors on the finance report did not look familiar and purchases were never approved through the normal processes.

My friend began an internal investigation and discovered that the CFO had set up bogus vendors and dummy organizations and paid them thousands of dollars for goods and services that never materialized. Needless-to-say, my friend ended up calling the organization’s attorney and filing a police report which led to a more thorough investigation. The CFO along with his cohorts were questioned and eventually confessed to embezzlement!

I told my friend he could have avoided this poor hiring decision even if it was initiated by the CEO. As HR professionals we have a responsibility and a commitment to help our organizations avoid poor hiring decisions that could end up being costly mistakes.

So the next time your CEO hands you a resume make sure your recruitment practices include these top five procedures:

1. Call the applicant and schedule an in-person interview.
2. Have the applicant complete an application of employment.
3. Secure a release from the applicant and run a background investigation.
4. Conduct reference and education verifications.
5. Note and share your flags of concern to hiring managers (including the CEO).

This morning, I asked my friend what he learned from the incident so I could share more with you, and he replied, “No organization has a magic wand when it comes to hiring. I’m sure if you look at your own organization you’d find a few hiring decisions you wish you could take back. We had been looking for the right person for some time and I think this was nothing more than a desperate hiring move.”

My friend sounded embarrassed about how this entire ordeal unfolded. The good news is that the CFO was terminated for gross misconduct and warrants have been issued for several arrests.

By Patty Hampton, CSP, Managing Director

Over the years, my colleagues and I have run into a few interview blunders. Here are the most memorable that made our top 20 list. Enjoy, we all need to laugh sometime.   

1.  
   1. The applicant’s email address was, “sexymama2000.”
   2. The applicant’s voice mail message played a song for you and you actually listened!”
   3. The candidate said he would tattoo the company logo on his arm if hired.
   4. The candidate interrupted his interview to call his therapist.
   5. The candidate made a typo in the spelling of his own name and then insisted it was spelled that way.
   6. The candidate brought her mother to the interview and asked if her mom could fill out a job application too.
   7. The candidate brought a bag lunch and ate during the interview.
   8. The candidate took three cell phone calls during the interview.
   9. The candidate chewed and popped gum during the interview and wore an iPod, clearly demonstrating their multi-tasking skills.
   10. The candidate said, “I am so well qualified, if I don’t get this job it proves your management is incompetent.”
   11. The candidate arrives five minutes late to the interview and asks “Is my hair okay?”
   12. After the interview, the candidate implies I should consider him for the position because we are of the same race, and states, “Help a brotha’ out” as his closing statement.
   13. The candidate takes off her suit jacket, exposes her bare arms, and immediately begins to use her resume to fan her underarms as she responds to the first question.
   14. The candidate arrives 20 minutes late to the interview; she claimed she just left her babysitting job and proceeded to apologize for her unprofessional attire of flip flops and a beach dress.
   15. The applicant disclosed that he’s been living in his mother’s basement for 35 years.
   16. The candidate wowed me with her tears and won an Oscar for her performance.
   17. The candidate responded to an interview question by giving me a history lesson on Black History Month.
   18. The candidate asked for a moment of silence during his interview.
   19. The candidate asked for grooming techniques for the interview – it was clear that she was dressed for Happy Hour.
   20. The candidate stated, “I hope you’re impressed with my resume, I got all of my highlights from e Harmony.”

By Patty Hampton, CSP, Managing Director

Can you identify the top performers in your organization? Are you investing in their growth and development despite the economic and organizational budget woes? If you answered yes to both questions, consider yourself one step ahead of the curve in your hiring and succession planning process. If you answered no to either question, read on.

Hiring the right person, the first time, is a challenging but imperative task because the success of your organization begins with hiring the best-matched people for your open positions. To do this, it’s important to know the specific job competencies for each position you plan to fill and to use hiring techniques that will attract and retain top talent. Here are some ideas for getting the right people into your organization.

1. Employ behavioral and competency-based interviewing. Behavioral interviewing focuses interviewees on past performance, as that is generally a key indicator of future performance. Competency-based interviewing defines observable and specific behaviors that exemplify excellent performance in a particular work context (e.g., a specific role or group of jobs).
2. Shape and develop desired competencies for all jobs. Competency-based job descriptions communicate job requirements and performance expectations to internal and external candidates. This exercise may lead to the development of core competencies for the organization.
3. Involve other staff in the selection and interviewing process and obtain objective feedback. By involving others in the selection and/or interview process you are giving the candidate the opportunity to meet potential team members or people that they may be working closely with on specific projects. This process can be daunting and trying to coordinate sometimes, but remember, the idea is to get the right people on the bus so you can possibly avoid having to invite candidates back for a second or third interview. Caution: Stay away from the jury style approach – it ain’t cute
4. Compensation and benefits is not everything. While ensuring that your salaries and benefits are competitive and in line with the market, believe it or not, potential employees don’t always have a “show me the money” attitude. People want to be able to connect with your organization. They want more. They want to be a part of a healthy organizational culture that values, trusts and invests in their employees. People value careers where organizations can clearly demonstrate that they value and provide work/life balance.
5. Investing resources, management, time, and energy in your “perfect” hires makes good business sense. Investing in your best talent enables you to promote from within the organization, and it sends a clear message to new and existing employees that the organization values growth and expects excellence.
6. Develop leaders at every level of the organization. Believe it or not, this involves with the mailroom staff, the receptionist and the executive-level management. Developing leaders should be based on your organization’s needs, mission and vision.
7. Invest in your best talent and their future. When you invest in your top talent and their future, you are at the beginning stage of ensuring that your internal knowledge network remains contagious throughout the organization. Invest in staff through professional development opportunities, special assignments, cross training, coaching and mentoring programs.
8. Develop, promote from within and make staff accountable for their success. Make staff accountable for their individual development. Make sure your employees are proactive in their career development by making it a part of your overall performance management process. Employees want to be a part of something big and they want to make a difference. Tap into that desire. By making organizational knowledge a priority, employees learn new skills that will help them in their current jobs or prepare them for a new position. This also will promote a workplace that talks openly about career growth, opportunities, and promotions.
9. Human Resources professionals need to stay connected to the pulse of the organization and know the reasons behind retention and turnover. Make sure your recruiter asks the obvious question: Share with me one or two major experiences you’ve had in your life that make you passionate about working for our organization. A candidate’s response may give you a glimpse into how engaged this individual might be if offered the opportunity. When was the last time you did a workplace assessment survey? Put this question on the survey. You might be amazed when you read the responses from current employees. Is it possible that you could begin to address turnover issues and transform your organization?
10. Plan for Succession. The transition from hiring the right person to promoting from within to developing leaders is essential. Succession planning is a key component in an organization meeting its strategic goals, reducing turnover, and creating a learning culture that values growth. Keep these additional tips handy as your plan takes shape.

• Review the needs of the organization.
• Write down key positions and the next time they might be open.
• Analyze the competencies and performance requirements for key positions.
• Assess whether existing employees currently have the leadership skills for key positions, or who could be groomed for them.
• Develop and coach existing employees to move into new roles.
• Provide career development specific to job competencies.
• Develop employees for leadership by training them to be coaches and mentors.
• Communicate your succession planning process to all employees, and describe how they will be involved.

By Patty Hampton, CSP, Managing Director

When the British journalist, Sathnam Sanghera, decided to share that he did not value HR and called HR departments “self-serving, neurotic and navel-gazing” in a recent column, he landed on a slippery slope with this United States HR practitioner.

For more than 30 years, I have had the distinct privilege of being an employee who not only admired the work of HR professionals, but one who ended up being an HR practitioner in corporate America. These experiences provided me a front row seat on both sides of the employee/employer relationship. I can testify that the human resources I experienced are partly responsible for my positive attitude and heart-felt admirations that led me to refute and rebut Sanghera’s column. 

As an employee, I applauded HR for how they managed talent, established practices and implemented policies that were fair and consistent. I also witnessed how my friends and colleagues made life changing decisions that could have jeopardized their employment, and HR was the first on the scene to support them in these most unique, yet challenging and interesting employee relations issues. When I was tapped to become an entry level professional in an HR department, I was eager and quick-stepped my way into being an HR practitioner. The possibility of adding value and developing and implementing strategies was not the only driving force, but I attached my wagon to a highly compensated VP of HR who showed me the importance of why HR needs to embrace and shape the talent within an organization and continuously keep employees engaged in advancing the organization’s mission and vision.

The more progressive HR management roles throughout my career were carefully identified because of the “care and feeding” so to speak of what really matters in an organization – its people. In managing the human resources of an organization, HR professionals get to see the faces behind the policies, benefits and compensation, performance management, recruitment, staff training, and legal issues.

Sanghera’s column, fails to provide evidence for not valuing HR, but focused more so on what HR people “do” for their “telephone number salaries.” Well, Sanghera; let me break it down for you.

HR adds value when the people of an organization make a difference in the bottom line. HR adds value when the organization’s stakeholders, its constituents, and the communities in which they serve thrive from positive results. HR adds value when they generate revenue for their organizations. HR adds value when we know how to and strategically advance the goals of an organization through its people. HR adds value when we can show an organization how to reduce costs but stay true to what matters the most – its people and purpose. HR adds value when we align its internal resources to its external needs.

HR adds value when we can have measurable proof about the successes of the organization that point back to our efforts. HR adds value when we have strategically played a huge role in positioning an organization along a competitive continuum.  We not only add value in these areas, but some of us are more than strategic partners for the organizations we serve, as employees we are the organization!

So, if you choose to not value HR and believe that HR departments are self-serving, neurotic and navel-gazing, than that’s your prerogative. But, we “highly compensated executives” here in the United States have “earned” our space. And, I have no doubt that the people you put on blast in your column at the HR BBC have as well.

Oh and by the way, Sanghera, HR will also add value when we treat all employees with cynical attitudes similar to yours with the dignity and respect even when it’s time to shepherd you out of an organization.

There are only two final words I can say in response to Sanghera’s column, thank you. Thank you for stirring up the passion and excitement that reminds me why I love my HR career. For my HR colleagues here in the United States, this is how we need to roll.

By Lisa Morton, SPHR, President

Most organizations have been forced to follow the lead of the Federal Government in Washington, DC and shut down this week because of back-to-back snowstorms. Fortunately, most organizations have their own inclement weather policies. (If your organization doesn’t have one, now would NOT be the time to create one! Maybe you can shoot for next winter.)

You may not know that the Department of Labor (DOL) has some pretty specific rules about how your employees are to be paid during periods of inclement weather. Did you know, for instance, that if your organization is closed for this week — as many are and will be — your exempt staff must be paid their normal weekly salaries even if they don’t have any annual or sick leave available. While you can require exempt staff to use their leave for days that you close down, you still have to pay these individuals as normal. Also, if you remain open — not that you would in this crazy weather — you must pay your exempt staff for any partial or whole day that that staff report to work. Again, you can deduct accrued leave for such absences, but you must still pay the employee his or her normal wages. If you have staff who aren’t yet eligible for paid leave, you can make reductions in pay for whole day absences only, not partial days or by the hour as that would put their exempt status in jeopardy.

Of course, your hourly staff are paid that way — hourly. And while you don’t have to pay them if you remain open and they are unable to report to work, progressive, employee-friendly organizations are generally treating this week of unprecedented bad weather as an unplanned, post holiday present. With staff worrying about keeping safe and warm, keeping their driveways and walkways shoveled, checking on their elderly family, and making sure they don’t run out of groceries, not having to worry about whether or whether they will be paid this week isn’t one of those things they should have to worry about.

Just a thought! Enjoy the break. Play scrabble, read a good book, and get some good quality time in with your family and friends. Before you know it, Spring will be here!

Special Note: On Wednesday, February 10,  I participated in a round-table discussion on careers with nonprofit organizations on Blog Talk Radio. You can listen to the program here.

By Patty Hampton, CSP, Managing Director

The weather outside is frightful and the snow is so delightful, but another 16 inches of white power has many Washingtonians, Marylanders, and Virginians working from home. Being snowed in this week has me thinking about why so many of us still do not telework or have some sort of work-from-home program instituted in our workplace.

According to Wikipedia, more than 50 million U.S. workers could work from home at least part of the time. The snow storm that has crippled the Washington, DC Metro Area since last Friday certainly indicates that many more of us could possibly work from home. So, why aren’t we? What is holding back your employer from implementing some form of telework or work-from-home program? Could it be that the “eyes in the sky” don’t trust us? Could it be that there is a certain amount of comfort knowing that we are down the hall, around the corner, or sitting in a cubicle?

All these questions deserve to be explored, but let’s start by examining the pros and cons of a telework or work-from-home arrangement. By working from home we can:

• Improve our health (e.g. reduce stress)
• Maximize performance
• Control our time for maximum efficiency
• Put the finishing touches on a project and come in ahead of a deadline
• Help reduce traffic congestion
• Save money on transportation costs, parking, etc.
• Boost morale
• Experience a true work/life balance

All these benefits do not mean that every workplace, position or individual is capable of working from home and teleworking. A work from home arrangement may not be for you if:

• You lack the ability to concentrate.
• You are not good at policing your own progress and require constant supervision.
• You need office camaraderie.
• You are unable to separate work time from personal time.
• You lack a disciplined attitude and cannot exceed your employer’s expectations.
• Your home environment is not conducive for work.
• Your home office lacks the technological advances/devices to communicate effectively with management.
• You are naturally lazy.

Working from home is a no-brainer, especially when faced with unforeseen situations like a snow storm!  But teleworking or a work-from-home arrangement can only be effective if both the employee and employer have the right attitude. I challenge everyone to approach and implement a strategy that will not only benefit the organization, but one that will continue to serve and embrace your customers and constituents.

By Patty Hampton, CSP, Managing Director

All reports seem to indicate that the country is headed towards an economic recovery. Is your organization ready for such a change?

Next month Nonprofit HR Solutions will release the results of its 2010 Employment Trends Survey. Early data from this survey of over 500 national nonprofit organizations indicates that a large portion of the sector is gearing up to replace the workforce it cut due to the 2009 Great Recession. Are you ready and willing to take full advantage of your staffing firms’ human resources capabilities?

Here are a few good reasons why partnering with your staffing firm and tapping into their resources may prove to be useful:

• Gain access to talent that could help during peak or busy times without the need for a long-term commitment;
• Give current employees support to focus on specific job functions, especially after a reduction in force;
• Alleviate longer hours and additional work load for current employees;
• Access a broader talent pool that compliments current staff;
• Have only the staff that you need during busy times, in a depressed economy, and when facing budget constraints;
• Reduce overhead costs including payroll and benefit costs (i.e. overtime);
• Reduce unemployment claims;
• Shift the burden from you to the staffing firm;
• Reduce time involved to hire;
• Eliminate administrative tasks from management;
• Avoid burnout of internal talent;
• Reduce poor hiring decisions; and
• Get expert guidance and advice on current and future talent management needs.

Times of rapid growth are just as difficult as times of brisk downsizing. These times tax any HR department. Your staffing firm has the ability to help HR manage these periods and ensure a thoughtful resurgence for your organization.