The Week That Was in HR recaps HR news and views around the world. You are receiving this because you have visited EmployWise.com and have expressed interests in receiving HR news. EmployWise™ is an award winning HR software delivered on the cloud or the SaaS model. It's easy, affordable, and quick to implement for organizations of any sizes. If you've enjoyed this, you can forward it to your friends and colleagues here. You can also share on and .

7 to 13 November, 2011

Leadership
How Important Is It to Focus on Knowing the Right People?
Ian Welsh via Toolbox for HR
If “knowing the right people” means people who could help you in your career, it is a big gamble. First of all, if you don’t particularly like the people you are trying to impress, it is a big investment in forced time that may have little effect. If a million people are following the same strategy, we know there are a limited number of opportunities at the top and only a few, no matter how well they play the game, will succeed. How do the people at the top feel about their followers? If they follow the same philosophy as the “career climber” just starting out, they will be too focused on even more important people to bother about you. If, however, they do seem to care, that would raise questions about the “always looking higher” theory. Conversely, you prefer not to associate too closely with lesser people, but you expect some high profile person to want to spend time with you. Quite a contradiction! Read the full post here on Toolbox for HR.

How to Instill Purpose
John Baldoni via Harvard Business Review
A great many organizations invest a significant amount of money in trying to improve themselves. This commitment to getting better is laudable, but many times organizations overlook something within their organization that, when tapped, can sharpen focus, tighten alignment, hone execution, and — in the process — deliver better results. It's called purpose.
While a veritable tsunami of resources — many of them first-rate — exist to help individuals discover purpose, a mere trickle of resources are available to help organizations discover theirs. This dichotomy led me to research ways to help organizations discover their purpose, and upon discovering it find ways to put it to good use. Read the full post here on HBR.org.

What Did He Know
Michael McKinney via Leadership Now
Senator Howard Baker’s famous question, "What did the president know and when did he know it?" is about moral responsibility. Leaders have a moral responsibility to the people they serve. Those relationships are a leader’s stock in trade and are to be valued above our agendas. For it is through the relationships we develop that we are able to accomplish anything at all. Read the full post here on Leadership Now.

Recruitment
A Good Worker is Hard to Find
Kathleen Madigan via The Wall St. Journal
Water, water everywhere — and not a drop to drink. The U.S. labor pool has nearly 14 million unemployed workers, yet more small businesses complain about the dearth of qualified workers. In a new survey by The Hartford Financial Services Group, 40% of small businesses (defined as companies at least one year old, with fewer than 100 employees and revenues $100,000 or more) say it is “not easy at all” to find good help. Only 14% say hiring good workers is “very” or “extremely” easy.Read the full article on The Wall St. Journal here.

Employees Over 50 Years of Age Could Soon Be A Dwindling Community
via ET Bureau
For the past six months, Rajiv Burman, chief people officer at Max New York Life, has been struggling to fill VP-level positions in his company. "These are pretty senior positions in the middle management level, and need actuarial, underwriting and financial management backgrounds," he says. Burman's problem isn't exactly an isolated one. But seen in the backdrop of a galloping economy obsessed with Gen Y, it could be a portent of things to come. The country's celebrated 'demographic dividend', ensuring businesses of a large and theoretically endless supply of talent, has upstaged a problem that could get bigger and more serious - that of mature leadership talent. Read the full report here on the Economic Times.

Social Recruiting With Google Plus [Video]
Jim Stroud via Recruiters Lounge
Social Recruiting | Is Twitter experiencing Facebook envy? Or, do they just want to be creepy? Google is doing something really cool with their image search and that’s a good thing for social recruiting. Plus, Jim Stroud shares the love. Tune in for all the info and fun. Watch the full video and get the resources download link here: http://www.therecruiterslounge.com/2011/11/12/social-recruiting-with-google-plus-video/

At the Work Place
Thanks, But This HR Hat Stays On!
Rebecca Lloyd via Toolbox for HR
It happens often in the HR world. "Hi, yeah, can I share something with you? But you have to keep it confidential. No HR here, just you and me as friends." Or, "Yeah, I want to run something by you but you can't say anything to anyone, ok? It's just between us." Then the bomb is dropped. Dr. Harry reeked of alcohol when he returned from lunch, right before his two hour surgery, or Sally is sleeping with her boss and now his wife has found out and is sending nasty texts to her and blah blah blah. "But you have to swear this is between us and you can't do anything about it." How often do your employees approach you with starter sentences like this? How do you respond? Read the full post here on Toolbox for HR.

Why Everyone Hates the Boss
David Rock via Harvard Business Review
One of the most common complaints about leaders is that they are promoted for their technical skills, and often have poor social skills. A big insight that emerged on day two of the 2011 NeuroLeadership Summit is that this may simply be a function of the leader's role. UCLA professor Matthew Lieberman, one of the founders of the Social Cognitive Neuroscience field, presented research on our ability to mentalize, or predict other people's emotional or intentional states. It turns out this requires significant effort, attention and resources. People experiencing even a mild cognitive load or "stress" find their ability to think about what others are thinking or needing impaired. The trouble is that our ability to mentalize about other people's thoughts is extremely poor even at the best of times. Read the full post here on HBR.org.

How ‘Bout a Hug? Um, No Thanks!
Sue Shellenbarger via WSJ The Juggle
Figuring out how to express affection for co-workers can be a puzzle. Sorting out how to greet a new co-worker, business contact or client can be even more complicated, as I write in today’s “Work and Family” Column. A greeting that is perfectly normal in one industry may be all wrong in another. Cheek-kisses and hugs are often welcomed by business contacts and clients in media, publishing, entertainment or the restaurant business, according to people I interviewed in those fields. People working for nonprofits also tend to be more “huggy,” perhaps because they are emotionally invested in their work. However, the traditional handshake is still the rule in finance, banking and law – rules made even firmer by the sexual-harassment training that is required by many employers.Read the full post on The Wall St. Journal's The Juggle here.

HR Trends
HR Giving Thanks
Sheri Mazurek via Management Help
Last November in honor of Thanksgiving, I discussed the need to practice gratitude in a post. Studies on gratitude show that people who practice it have lower levels of stress hormones in their blood, are in better physical health, sleep more and are happier (The Positivity Company). And while these benefits of gratitude affect the practitioner of gratitude(sometimes referred to as one having a gratitude attitude) they also have an impact on the receiver of the practice. As mentioned in my post last year, it creates a win-win. In HR we are often looking for the win-win and we spend hours trying to figure out ways in which to create it and build it into our cultures. Read the full post here on Management Help.

Looking for work? Here's a job fair touting tech openings in India
Patrick Thibodeau via ComputerWorld
U.S. companies have been hiring workers from India for years, especially graduates of U.S. universities. But Indian companies, as well as American firms operating in India, are now trying to convince some of them to return to India. A job fair at the San Jose Convention Center this weekend is focused on helping companies recruit Indian workers who may in the U.S. on a visa by informing them about the professional and economic opportunities back home. Read the full report here on ComputerWorld.

India Journal: The Mystery of India’s Missing Jobs
Nandita Agarwal Parker via The Wall St. Journal
According to Harvard University professor David Bloom, the high proportion of working age individuals in East Asia expanded the region’s per capita productivity in the 1970s, leading to high savings rates and ultimately booming economies. Mr. Bloom reckons that same demographic dynamic — favorable age distribution — can expand India’s economic growth by more than one percentage point per annum in the next 15 years. Read the full report here on Wall St. Journal India.

HR EVENTS
Employee Leave and Attendance At A Glance
Subject Matter Expert: Ashish Tiwari
Venue: Your Computer
Date: Thursday 17 November, 2011
Time: 03:00 PM to 04:00 PM IST
To register click here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/548160032

Learning and Development Trends to Watch Out For
Subject Matter Expert: Prachika Poonia
Venue: Your Computer
Date: Thursday 24 November, 2011
Time: 03:00 PM to 04:00 PM IST
To register click here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/927978688

Overcoming Key Recruitment Challenges in the IT Sector
Subject Matter Expert: Meenakshi Gour, PHR
Venue: Your Computer
Date: Thursday 1 December, 2011
Time: 03:00 PM to 04:00 PM IST
To register click here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/457073784