Some time ago, I mentioned to you all about my daughter who happens to study philosophy and literature in college. Since college is over for the summer, this series is also coming to an end.  We’ve discussed multiple different ways her world of arts and my world of business coincide and have even produced a blog series from those very discussions. Today is the final version to those that I have already shared with you and it will be the last in this expansive series. While I believe that Shakespeare has so much to teach us, there are other places we should look to learn from as well. However, this day is a day we take some final advice from the greatest playwright of our time and apply it to the business world, because what Shakespeare taught us about love and war, he can also teach us about business. Today’s topic: As You Like It.

If you are unfamiliar with the plot of the play, here is a very brief summary: Rosalind, the daughter of a banished duke, falls in love with a young man named Orlando, a disinherited son of one of her father’s friends. She is banished from the court by her usurping uncle, Duke Frederick , and then takes on the appearance of a boy, calling herself Ganymede. She travels with her cousin Celia and the jester Touchstone to the Forest of Arden, where her father and his friends live in exile. By the end of the play Ganymede, once again Rosalind, marries Orlando. A series of young characters are married and the Duke is softened by this and steps down to let Rosalind’s father regain the throne.

 What can we learn from this story, which is definitely a lot less treacherous than the others we have covered so far? Well…

1. If you believe in something, be good and do everything you can to achieve your goals. Rosalind took on the appearance of a man to escape the kingdom properly in order to find her love and her father. She doesn’t give up because she believes strongly in her love and because of this she ends up finding him and succeeding in marrying him in the end. If you believe in a potential partnership or business dealing and you really think it can bring you somewhere new or great within your company, do it! Believe in yourself, and face all odds and success will be yours.
2. It is very easy to change and if you want to change yourself, do so surely. In the second act of the play, Jacques gives a soliloquy about the ways in which human life can be changed and how it happens. He talks about common paths and the similarity of human experiences. This topic is also brought up when Rosalind decides to dress as a man for preservation. She does not dance around the situation, she makes her decision and sticks with it which is ultimately very good for her. If she had changed her mind or dallied for too long, things could have ended up a lot less pleasantly. This is the same with decisions in business – if you make a decision, stick with it and do your very best with it because if you abandon something halfway through you can never see what it could have been and it is likely that it will be difficult to ever get back to where you were when you first tried it.

 The point of these blogs is to remind you that the best ways to handle your business can be found just about anywhere and the sooner you start looking, the more you will find “the answers” in places you would never expect. To stay at the edge of issues on HR and staffing, be sure to subscribe to the Human Capital Supply Chain Blog.

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We’ve discussed multiple different ways the world of arts and the world of business coincide. Today is another addition to those that I have already shared with you. This day is a day we take some advice from Shakespeare about love and war, as well as business. Today’s topic: Macbeth.

If you are unfamiliar with the plot of the play, here is a very brief summary: On his return from war, Macbeth comes across three witches along with his another general named Banquo, whom is killed by Macbeth after he hears the prophecy. The witches predict that one day Macbeth will become king and because of this he murders the current king, Duncan. His wife helps him commit this act. The crown is then passed on to Macbeth. Banquo’s ghost begins to hunt Macbeth and his wife. She grows mad and weary with guilt. In the end, as is usual with Shakespeare, just about everyone dies.

So, what is there to learn from this that applies to the modern day? Well..

1. Do not mistake ambition for something else. The biggest lesson to learn from this play is that ambition can become something monstrous if you forget that the best way to become successful is an honest and hardworking way. Macbeth gets very far in the play, becoming the king, even, but he does it at a cost he can hardly fathom – he takes lives, and does it without regret or conscious because he feels that is what he is supposed to do to succeed instead of working hard for what he wants and earning it through pure means. This is the same when you’re working towards any goal, or any position in a business, whatever you achieve will not be worth it if it is achieved in negative ways because in the end, the truth always comes out and scores are always settled.
2. If someone you trust is about to make a poor decision, tell them that it is a poor decision. It’s incredibly difficult to tell someone that you think what they are about to do is something that they shouldn’t, especially if it is a supervisor or boss at work, but that is always the best thing to do because the consequences of not admitting what you feel are much greater than the opposite. If Macbeth’s wife had protested to the original murder, she never would have taken her life at the end because she would not have had the guilt to worry her. This is very important in a business setting because it is never a single person’s decision, an office is a well oiled machine that completely relies on proper communication and honesty between employee and employer, employer and employee.

The point of these blogs is to remind you that the best ways to handle your business and lessons to learn these things by can be found just about anywhere and the sooner you start looking, the more you will find in places you would never expect. To stay at the edge of issues on HR and staffing, be sure to subscribe to the Human Capital Supply Chain Blog.

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 Today is another addition to those “literary posts” that I have already shared with you. This day is a day we take some additional advice from the greatest playwright of our time and apply it to the business world and your recruiting department, because what Shakespeare taught us about love and war, he can also teach us about business. These lessons are most applicable to your Internal Recruiting Staff.  Today’s topic: Othello.

If you are unfamiliar with the plot of the play, here is a very brief summary: This is another of William Shakespeare’s tragedies centered on a man named Othello, a highly esteemed general in the Venetian service. He has an ambitious friend named Iago who becomes incredibly jealous when he promotes another friend, Michael Cassio to the position of personal lieutenant. Iago starts a campaign to smear Othello’s name. Othello elopes with his love, Desdemona, but Iago continues to plot against them. This causes Othello to become suspicious of Desdemona and, not knowing of his friend’s treachery, confides in Iago that he plans to poison her. He finds out the truth after it is too late.

There are three lessons we can learn from this play that apply in the business world and your office environment, and they are…

1.  Don’t let jealousy or negative emotion prevent you from making a practical decision. Othello let the jealousy that he felt with Desdemona cloud his decision making. He was so convinced that the things Iago was telling him were true that he didn’t stop to think about what the truth actually was or could have been and instead acted emotionally instead of logically. This can happen to you as well with any business decision – emotions like excitement, eagerness, or the more negative ones like those plaguing Othello in the play – can make you act too rashly or make poor decisions. Think first, and then act.
2. Don’t cut yourself off from others. When Othello, Desdemona and the others left Venice for the island, they found themselves with little to nothing to do. Because of this, they did one of the only things that they could think to do and that was pick apart and turn on each other (sound familiar ???). Always promote clarity and community within your office. Frequently, people say or do things that can cause big ripples without even realizing the extent of their comments, so good policy and clarity of communication and focus is very beneficial.
3. Keep your cards close to your chest. I’m not saying that it is bad to trust people that you work with, but I do think that it is good never to let any single person know everything you have planned. If you spread information out between various sources you can still get the feedback you need to help you create a greater picture. If Othello had not shared his plan with Iago, he may have had more time to stew and realize the negative aspects of what he wanted to do.

 The point of these “literature” blogs is to remind you that the best ways to handle your business is to learn that lessons can be found just about anywhere and the sooner you start looking, the more you will find them in places you would never expect. To stay at the edge of issues on HR and staffing, be sure to subscribe to the Human Capital Supply Chain Blog.

Shakespeare Returns to HR is a post from: Human Capital Supply Chains

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Recently I have reminded you about how I have a daughter who studies philosophy and literature in college. Her and I frequently discuss the ways in which the worlds of business and the world of art and literature coincide. Not too long ago, we related this back to Shakespeare’s Hamlet and how lessons learned from that could apply in both words. Today we’re taking some more advice from the greatest playwright of our time and applying it to the business world, because what Shakespeare taught us about love and war, he can also teach us about business. Today’s topic: Romeo and Juliet.

If you are unfamiliar with the plot of the play, here is a very brief summary: It is set in the city of Verona, a violent and feuding place with two noble families locked in an ongoing war. Romeo and Juliet, the children of two of these families, become involved in a passionate love affair and are forced to keep that love hidden from their respective families. This leads to the deaths of both the children and in the end their families, all too late, put their feud behind them.

1.       Communication is one of the most important things when it comes to relations with other people. While it will not be as extreme in a business situation as it was for Romeo and Juliet, miscommunication can cause a lot of problems. Romeo and Juliet met their demise because of bad timing and poor communication – because they did not go to the source or speak directly to one another, and instead used other modes and assumed that they would work. Always double check the memos you sent out, always call back a day or two later to make sure that the messages you left were received. It is always better to be sure that contact was made than to wait until it is too late to recover if they were lost.
2.       Honesty is always the best policy. The progeny of the two families in the play were led to deceit because they felt that if they told the truth, everything would fall apart and be thrown into chaos. The fact of the matter, though, is that they had no definite, sure idea what would happen, but chose to act on the assumption that something bad would. Their avoidance of the truth led to their demise – if they had been honest, there is no denying that things could have ended up much better for them. This concept applies to practicing of business as well. Our fears are always worse than any repercussion from telling the truth – if something goes wrong, admit to it and work through it instead of hiding it away. If it is hidden, things only get worse and you end up having to lie more to cover up the original one and eventually it will be out of your control. Romeo and Juliet learned the hard way, not everyone has to.

The point of these blogs is to remind you that the best ways to handle your business and lessons to learn these things by can be found just about anywhere and the sooner you start looking, the more you will find in places you would never expect. Whether it is the back of cereal boxes or conversation with your children as opposed to business journals and social media, there is always something to be learned. To stay at the edge of issues on HR and staffing, be sure to subscribe to the Human Capital Supply Chain Blog.

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An article in the New York Times suggests that employers and employees alike might be moving toward a temporary-centric staffing model.

In November 2010, 80% of the 50,000 jobs created in the private sector were temporary positions. For all of 2010, a bit more than 26% of 1.17 million jobs were temporary positions. That’s a lot.

What are we to make of such high numbers of temporary positions? There are, I think, two possibilities:

1.      What we are seeing is a standard trend of a recovering economy. In past recessions, a jump in temporary hiring has always preceded a steady rise in long-term hiring. Overall economic growth for 2010 was 2.9%, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis – a good number, to be sure.

If growth in the next few years remains steady or improves, it’s just a matter of time, some would say, before employers start creating more full-time positions.

2.      We are witnessing the beginning of a long-term trend toward more temporary employment. (And that’s across the board: blue collar, office, and highly skilled and specialized workers.)

Even before the recession, employers were getting skittish about the high healthcare costs associated with full-time employees.

In addition, work in general was becoming more project-based, demanding fewer full-time project managers and more temporary teams of workers.

Advances in staffing software have also enabled employers to better predict their employment needs, leading them to cut down on expensive full-time hires.

In short, the recession pushed employers to a new staffing model: hire a minimum amount of full-time workers and use staffing agencies and independent contractors as needed to fill out the rest of the workforce.

Which of these is correct? Only time will tell, of course. If we see economic growth surge past 4% in 2011, the competition for qualified workers will force employers to make more full-time offers. If growth hovers between 2.5% and 3.5%, expect temporary employment to account for a large number of new jobs.

My guess is that there’s something else that’s changing in the larger workforce. More people – especially highly skilled people – are opting for a freelance, independent contractor lifestyle.

The growth of information technology and sophisticated telecommunications makes it easier than ever to work from home (or the coffee shop, library, or any place with an Internet connection), which in turn makes it easier, if you have skills that are in demand, to broker yourself out to multiple employers.

If that’s the case, then temporary employment will be on the rise for many years to come.

But my guess is just that – a guess. There simply are no good statistics available on independent contracting. You can be sure, though, that I’ll be keeping my eye on – and commenting on – employment statistics as they come out.

For more up-to-date news on recruiting and staffing software, follow the Human Capital Supply Chain blog and subscribe to our newsletter.

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A while ago, I mentioned to you about how I have a daughter who studies philosophy and literature in college. We’ve discussed multiple different ways her world of arts and my world of business coincide and have even produced a blog from one of those very discussions. This time we have a series of blogs set up for you, this being the first. This day is a day we take some advice from the greatest playwright of our time and apply it to the business world, because what Shakespeare taught us about love and war, he can also teach us about business. Today’s topic: Hamlet.

If you are unfamiliar with the plot of the play, here is a very brief summary: A ghost has been haunting Elsinore castle, bearing an amazing resemblance to a recently deceased King Hamlet. The Prince, son of the king, also named Hamlet, learns from this ghost that his father was murdered by a man named Claudius. The play is about Hamlet’s decisions in relations to his father’s death and whether or not to take revenge on Claudius.

 There are three lessons we can learn from this play that apply in the business world, and they are…

1. Nothing is certain.  We must always be prepared for the worst. In Hamlet’s case, it’s making sure that there aren’t men waiting to kill him behind every curtain. In our case, it is about properly taking care of our employees and ourselves in order to keep everyone happy (and healthy). We can never be certain that a plan will work out so we must exhaust all options to ensure that it does. If we have a business meeting coming up, we should consult multiple people in order to make the best plan of order, just like Hamlet consults with multiple people to help solidify what he plans on doing.
2. When is the right time to act, and when isn’t. In the play, Hamlet goes to great extent to find out the truth about whether Claudius is truly guilty for his father’s death. He does not instantly assume that the ghostly apparition that spoke to him is right. In the business world, it is a daunting task to keep track of the truth, but it is a necessary one. Before taking action, always take everything in to consideration. If you hear something unpleasant about one of your employees that could bring shame to your company, find out the truth first. Talk to the employee themselves, ask around. If you do this before making any rash decisions, you may save yourself a lot of trouble. At the very least, unlike Hamlet, you will not have to worry about any goblets filled with poison.
3. Revenge doesn’t help anyone. When it comes to conflict in the office, it is always good to let yourself cool down and assess the situation before striking out. In Hamlet’s case, a swift set of vengeful actions results in nearly everyone’s demise. This is a bit extreme in comparison to conflicts in the office, but the idea is still the same: stay calm, think first.

The point of these blogs is to remind you that the best ways to handle your business and lessons to learn these things by can be found just about anywhere and the sooner you start looking, the more you will find in places you would never expect. To stay at the edge of issues on HR and staffing, be sure to subscribe to the Human Capital Supply Chain Blog.

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An HR thought leader is someone who has innovative ideas and concepts – someone who, despite what is going on around them, defies convention and tries something new and succeeds. It is a term that was coined over fifteen years ago and has a lot of new dynamics in the current age. I have recently written to you about resources for those who desire to be on the track to HR thought leadership but there is more to sharing innovative ideas than just outlets. There are common traits that can be found in those who are HR thought leaders in this day and age and my goal is to share some of those with you today so that you may hone such traits in yourself and your work.

1.       Fearlessness. If you want your voice to be heard and your idea to be listened to, it is very likely that you will have to put yourself in multiple situations that could very well be outside the realm of your comfort zone. It’s okay! Do it! Talk to people you don’t know, ask questions that you need answers to, go to meetings and conferences and forums and you will begin to be recognized as long as you are not afraid to put yourself out there. No harm in trying, no matter what.
2.       Passion. One thing that can make a lot of ideas fall flat is a lack of passion. You may have an idea that you know could be very marketable but for some reason it just doesn’t inspire you or fire you up like other things do. People can sense this. People can tell when what you are pitching to them is something that comes from deep down inside. People respond well to “belly fire” more so than they do to most other things. If you want to be a thought leader, you have to believe in what you are doing. Don’t do anything halfway.
3.       Humility. Even if you’re positive that your idea is the best idea in the entire history of ideas, there is always room for growth. Remember this and stay humble because any help is useful help and you never know when some advice may make all the difference. People don’t want to help someone who believes they will never need it. Sometimes you do.
4.        Drive. Never! Give! Up! That’s the most important lesson here – drive. If you want to fly higher than anyone else, you have to continue to practice your craft, hone your work. You have to put in extra hours, get up early, write it all down, and keep on growing and working and believing. If you really believe you can do it, you have to keep doing it until you reach your goal. Once you reach your goal, keep climbing.

In the end, being an HR thought leader comes down to you. It comes down to your confidence and your drive. It comes down to your desire to really share your ideas with the world. If you believe you can change it, there’s no reason not to try. To stay at the edge of issues on HR and staffing, be sure to subscribe to the Human Capital Supply Chain Blog.

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Irish poet William Butler Yeats once said, “Think like a wise man but communicate in the language of the people.”  I think this quote embodies a really important thing that we sometimes forget not only in the office, but in all aspects of life: how to properly communicate. We talk to strangers, friends, colleagues all the time, but there are many techniques we could employ to enrich our communicative experience for us and those we are communicating with. That’s what I’ll be talking about today – things to take in to consideration in order to communicate better.

1.       Listen! Suggesting listening as a way to improve your communication may seem silly, as it is something we do naturally, but if you stop to consider it, there is a lot of time we spend doing the exact opposite. How many times have you been more preoccupied with what you plan on saying next while someone is speaking to you instead of listening to what they are saying yourself? How many times have you completely ignored someone’s sentiment because you do not agree with it? If we take a pause to absorb what is being spoken to us instead of focusing on what we want to say next, we may learn a lot more than we would expect.
2.       Communication is not just the things you say. A lot of communication is about the way you present yourself. If you want someone to make sure they know that you are paying attention to what they are saying, things like straight posture, eye contact, and nodding or some other interactive gesture can help to get that point across. A lot of these things we do naturally, but in some situations, where we are nervous or uncomfortable, for instance, keep them in mind or that stiffness may send the wrong message.
3.       Constructive Criticism. It is natural to react defensively to any criticism someone might come to you with, but if you work on relaxing and taking it in stride, you will find yourself with a lot more room for growth and learning. The same goes with when finding yourself with criticism for someone else’s work – remember what it feels like to be criticized, and be constructive, statements like, “I like what you’re doing here, but…” help soften the blow of any problems you may find and segue into easier lines of communication on how to improve.
4.       Remember who you are speaking to. Being able to empathize with others will help you to know how to communicate better. For instance, if a worker is doing something that is negatively affecting the rest of those in the office working on a similar project, instead of automatically issuing a sort of warning or letting them go, tries to understand why they might do those things. If you can do that, you can help resolve it by speaking to them from a place of understanding.

 A lot of communication is natural, but sometimes we have to remember certain things to keep ourselves ready for anything at any time. To stay at the edge of issues on HR and staffing, be sure to subscribe to the Human Capital Supply Chain Blog.

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Although I could have done a year-end retrospective in December like everyone else, I wanted to wait and see the last unemployment number first.  Unfortunately, the number – 9.4% — wasn’t what anyone was hoping to see. Analysts and commentators everywhere, still eager for any small bit of good economic news, seemed to unilaterally pounce on the number as a sign that things are improving slowly. That’s probably true, but it’s not too hard to find analysts who remain pessimistic. And since the country started out 2010 with an unemployment rate of 9.8%, it’s hard not to be pessimistic myself.  No matter how you cut it, 9.4% still represent about 14 MILLION unemployed Americans.

But the time for looking ahead is in my next blog post. For now, I’ll note the five biggest staffing and employment trends and stories of 2010:

1. The unemployment rate hardly changes. See above.

2. Staffing companies are busier than ever. Staffing employment in December is 16% higher than in the same month last year, according to the ASA Staffing Index.  The same was true for most months of 2010. Lots of companies, it seems, are relying more than ever on temporary workers to fill their employment needs. Hopefully, this foreshadows improving numbers in the permanent labor force. At least one ASA analyst thinks it does.

But it could also mean that we’re at the beginning of a long-term transformation of employment in the U.S. Are employers skittish about hiring full-time employees because of the uncertain economy? Of course. But they are also unwilling to commit to endless hikes in health insurance costs, and it’s safe to say that healthcare spending won’t go down anytime soon.

3. No slowdown in the healthcare sector. It’s no secret that healthcare employment has risen along with healthcare spending. From my vantage point, however, most healthcare institutions still have a long way to go before they develop sound, long-term staffing solutions that improve efficiency and cut costs. I’ll comment on this more in my next post.

4. IT staffing continues to be strong. According to one report, IT hiring slowed down toward the end of 2010 because there weren’t enough qualified professionals to be found. The CIO’s of the world will have their hands full in 2011, to be sure. Does this mean that CIO’s should work more closely with their companies’ HR departments to develop better short-term and long-term staffing solutions? Of course.

5. The staffing and HR worlds are slowly becoming more automated and integrated. There is still a lot of resistance to the idea of automating a staffing solution, but the poor economy over the past few years has, I think, driven a lot of companies to look for cost-savings anywhere they can find them. More people, it seems, are also warming to the idea that automating a human capital supply chain not only saves money, but is actually better for employers and employees alike.

Stay tuned to read about my outlook on 2011.

Visit the eEmpACT staffing resources section for more about staffing solutions, staffing software, and other tools for improving human capital management.

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SaaS is a new field, legally speaking. What are the rights of SaaS users?

Cloud computing is growing rapidly.  Experts predict that, by the end of 2010, the Software as a Service (SaaS) market will be 20-30% larger than it was on January 1 – and that’s while the economy as a whole is growing at an annual rate of less than 3%.

With growth comes growing pains, however, mostly in the form of unanswered questions. What happens to material in a cloud when a SaaS provider goes out of business? How liable is a cloud computing company for its mistakes? Should users have to pay for part of the licensing fees for cloud-borne software?

Two SaaS market experts — Ray Wang and James Urquhart — have each written a “Bill of Rights” for SaaS customers in an attempt to answer some of these questions. Here are the highlights:

1. Customer data always belongs to the customer. This includes data generated by using a SaaS program. The customer also holds all data proprietary rights when its relationship with the provider is terminated. This right protects the privacy of customers, freeing them from worries about a SaaS company misusing their data – which is, indeed, their property. If I rent power tools to make a desk, the owner of the tools has no right to the desk. Services – the SaaS tools – are what is purchased in a SaaS agreement. Whatever is created with those tools belongs to the customer.
2. Customers must always have full access to their data. This naturally follows from #1. If the data is my property, then the SaaS company has no right to withhold it from me.  If I haven’t paid my fees, it has a right to withhold services, but not to hold my data hostage.
3. Customers have a right to know where their data is stored and backed up and how it is secured. Since data is valuable property, the company which stores that data owes its owner a full description of the data’s security. This allows a customer to buy appropriate insurance and make disaster recovery plans as they see fit.
4. Customers have freedom of speech as they use the provider’s services and as they communicate about the provider, except as the law prohibits. Again, a SaaS provider is renting out tools. They cannot dictate what their customers do with those tools. Also, no one should have to worry about being cut off from the programs of a SaaS provider if they complain publicly about it.

At eEmpACT, we are definitely committed to the above SaaS customer rights, and we support efforts to emphasize them throughout the SaaS industry, especially as SaaS becomes more common in the business and personal computing worlds.

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