Work/Life Balance: Hindered or Enhanced by Technology?

When it rains it pours...yes, on occasion that is exactly what happens.

It never ceases to amaze me that when one thing goes wrong, another thing is right around the corner. In today's rapid world of communication and action its easy for your work and your personal time to have blurred lines. (Love that song btw)

This last week has been a doozy! I mean everything that could have gone wrong did. So, in hindsight I have to be thankful for technology. Because if it were not for my laptop, the internet, email, social media and wifi - I would not have been able to juggle, adapt and make good on my many commitments.

I also can't help but remember the earlier part of my career before I was uber-connected... before I slept next to an iPad and cell phone. Before I needed a charging station. Before I set up alerts in different sounds and managed my day by electronic calendar. Back then I used a Franklin Covey day planner, a tickler-file, a rolling file cabinet of resumes and an SIC code book for cold calling. I even had my head shot on my business card for branding... this was before LinkedIn. This should make me feel old, right? But I am only 34!

So, I ask you: Do you think that technology gave us more work/life balance or stole our work/life balance? I personally view it as an enhancer of balance, although I know and understand many feel the opposite. Technology will either help you (like me) juggle and maximize your entire day or it will hinder the quality of life balance. I like to work, socialize and think- in spurts. I like variety in my day. Some time to work - some time to play. But when the world comes at me fast and all things happen at once - technology seems to provide me with the opportunity to find balance in a lot of ways. It is probably because I don't compartmentalize... I try to go through my life taking what comes in a day and making time to be distracted. It's neither good nor bad, just how I do things.

What about you? Does technology hinder or enhance your work/life balance?

Cube Life

Cube Life: Those who spend 40+ hours working in a corporate, 4-walled, open–roofed workspace. This is also where you spend the majority of your waking hours. 

I was walking around the sales floor today and couldn’t help but notice all the cube decorations in everyone’s space. I swear some looked like artful masterpieces of sales and company-name puns on selling. People tacked up wrapping paper backgrounds, hung pictures and others clipped photos of the Officespace characters with open message bubbles. In passing conversation I found out about a 7ft. cardboard cutout bear and even threw out a suggested viking hat…because why not?!  I thought, you know what - when you are "dialing for dollars" in your cube… at least it’s something to look at. You can casually make work fun by swapping out some items each day. Of course we need to keep it clean and appropriate, but a 7ft teddy bear is hilarious and about as clean as you can get. I guess the top performer gets the bear in their cube as recognition. Cool idea - HR agrees.

This reminds me of a funny story…

When we first opened the office we had a consultant working with the leadership team. We were touring the office before closing on the lease and I said, “these are nice cubes!” His response was, “Don’t call them cubes, it’s bad for recruiting. Call them workspace.” Huh?? Seriously?

Well, let’s keep it real here... they are cubes! They also happen to be workspaces. These technicalities are made of ridiculousness. The fact of the matter is whether you call them workspaces or cubes, if your pipeline is backing out because of that…you have bigger problems! Like say... employment branding maybe?  He is not and never was a recruiter, but regardless how can one make a blanket statement like that? As if all people would be turned off from the word - cube. Businesses everywhere have office environments that are cubicle concept. I would Imagine our candidates even expect the job they are applying for requires them to work in a cubicle. So, let’s not paint a Zebra blue here… and just keep it real.

What fun things does your office do with their cubes? Any fun non-monetary sales reward ideas or experiences you would like to share?

Toby couldn't handle the real stuff

It never fails to amaze me the drama we deal with in HR. Toby from The Office makes HR look bland, boring and dorky. A big joke of a profession. Like we are the push over, non-confrontation people-peacekeepers. Well... as funny is that is to watch for entertainment purposes, we are more like ping-pong people-jugglers with bouts of nail biting, research, planning and a ton of backbone (unlike our friend Toby). This profession is no joke, we do real things that affect bottom lines and sometimes peoples lives. 

But... after long days of "no joke"...we sure know how to have fun and make up for lost time!

~ Ode to Recruiting ~

The life of a recruiter is a life among mountains and valleys. Wins, losses, moments of redundancy and the occasional moments of pure dumbfounded-ness. I love every minute of it... I truly do. The chaos of high volume and the countless hours digging online. The intricate puzzle where company and talent dance. The spark of hope that this person will make an impact. The artful mixture of marketing, sales and people. The inspiration of a new leader and the building blocks of company culture. From purpose to frustration; I have dedicated over a decade to you. Thank you for finding me... because recruiting chose me and I chose to stay.

Never Super-Glue, Always Engagement

Employee Engagement - big words in the HR world. 

What are the benefits? Oh, let me count the ways...

• Cut recruiting costs
• Cut long term training costs
• Increase productivity
• Healthier workforce
• Strong company culture
• Pipeline for succession planning
• Better customer experiences

You can see why these two words hold such importance in a company, however promoting, developing and enhancing engagement is not a simple thing and there are so many variables.

• Compensation
• Benefits
• Management and Leadership
• Corporate Culture
• Learning and Development
• Career Paths
• Work/Life Balance Programs

and so on...

I personally feel that management is one of the more important variables in employee engagement strategy. I've worked for organizations that automatically look at recruiting as the culprit of poor retention. As if recruiting can influence an employees dissatisfaction in their job a year after hire... 

Yes, onboarding is a recruitment function that is vital to retention, but people quit and stay for a multitude of reasons. Some argue that quality of hire is where the buck stops. I find this funny, because in a past position I was hired to upgrade talent, so I did just that. A year later, I was refilling the same positions due to attrition. I can distinctively remember saying, "I can bring them in, but I can't manage and retain them too". 

In the exit interviews we would get a ton of feedback on why people decided to leave. 8 out of 10 times it was because of their manager. Now, I realize every organization is not one-size-fits-all and each organization experiences different struggles. I think in this particular company there was a clear arrow pointing to management style and corporate culture. Incidentally, this particular organization did not have a management development program which is an opportunity sorely missed in my opinion.

There is a great book by Kevin Sheridan called, " Building a Magnetic Culture"  . It's a quick read and covers the idea that engaged employees attract customers. I also read a recent Gallup report "Employee Engagement Insights for US Business Leaders", where they also indicate that engaged workforces attract and retain customers, thus improving the bottom line. 

Now I ask my readers - what do YOU think are the key items to effective employee engagement? Do you agree that engaged employees improve business bottom lines by attracting and retaining customers?

Now wouldn't life just be easier for us HR practitioners to use super-glue instead of  engagement strategy...Ha!

Candidate Xperience

In my first post, I listed the candidate experience as one of the things that should be important to a Recruiter. This last week I had two examples of how this "Candidate Experience", at its basic element, is about being customer focused and your ability to build relationships - even if only for a week.

Case One: I referred my friend (let’s call him Ted for purposes of privacy) to a job posting by a professional acquaintance (Tiffany). Tiffany connects with Ted to discuss the details of the position and they move forward having Tiffany represent Ted for the role. During this process, Tiffany questions Ted’s integrity in his transparency of salary requirements. Ted takes offense because his integrity has never been questioned. In fact he is so adamant to prove his integrity, he is willing to prove himself through W2's and check stubs. While this is sometimes just part of the process; Tiffany back tracks realizing her delivery was poor and that she upset her candidate. Ted feels Tiffany does not have his best interest in mind, so he backs out of the process to interview for this job. Talk about LOSE/LOSE situation that could have been avoided!

Here’s the thing… if the recruiter had the candidates best interest in mind, as well as, her clients – she would not have approached the candidate in a way that was accusatory. If I were put in the same predicament as Tiffany, I would have asked the questions necessary for the client but also given the candidate the benefit of the doubt.

Suggestion: Emotional Intelligence is something that can be developed and it would have helped the recruiter with her delivery and her ability to understand her audience. Any business professional (HR or otherwise) should be developing their EQ quotient as it is a proven key indicator of success and even more so when your profession is with people! Daniel Goldman is a thought leader on this subject; you can follow him on LinkedIn!

Case Two: An old colleague (from a previous job) reached out to me. I maybe had 3 total interactions with him in 4 years, so it was a surprise to hear from him. He was looking for direction on his job search. I asked him, "why me"?  He said that all his past experiences with me were positive and he considered me trustworthy even though we were just barely acquainted. I was flattered to be chosen and happy to give him the direction he needed. I helped him narrow down the type of job he was looking for and the job titles he needed to search for. It felt good to give back - it was like chicken soup for my recruiter soul!

Here’s the thing….We should always treat the people we interact with respectfully and with a customer focus; no matter what their role or level. People remember when they have positive experiences and they are willing to be your internal and/or professional advocate. A sense of community is a huge advantage to a recruiter!

Suggestion: Give back what you know to others. You never know when that very person is helping you out in return. Karma is a beautiful thing!

In my opinion, The Candidate Experience is about being positive, helpful and focused on your customers’ satisfaction. In a Recruiters life, the customer is the hiring manager, the candidates (all in the pipeline) and the support professionals (inside your organization) that provide you the ability to successfully onboard a new hire. 

Look… I know we recruiters have large workloads and the whole life balance struggle.  However, I think the candidate experience also provides good recruiter karma! It not only proves your organization cares about your hire, but it helps before the hire with offer closing, networking/employee referrals and even helping an old colleague find a job. There is a great blog post on Smashfly about Candidate Experience, if your interested in a deeper dive, rather than my mumblings!

What examples do you have of The Candidate Experience either making or breaking the deal?