The March 20, 2012 issue of the Orange County Business Journal features the latest YES! article on a growing trend: textspeak in business language.

The text message reads: “R u in the ofc?”

Without looking at the sender, some might think this message came from a teenager. What if this strange abbreviated language, or “textspeak,” actually came from a colleague? And what is he trying to say?

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The December 12, 2011 issue of the Orange County Business Journal features Kathi Guiney’s latest article on a growing business trend: managing a remote workforce.

As business expands globally it is the “new” normal to have work teams broadly dispersed. As a manager you may have staff located everywhere from Ireland to India to Indianapolis. To successfully manage remote employees requires building a triangle of the right manager, the right employees, and the right communication techniques.

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The WorldatWork Magazine, workspan, features YES! Your Human Resources Solution consultant Sara J. Snoy in its October issue.

HR Consultant Finds Common Ground in Total Rewards

Sara J. Snoy, CCP, GRP, SPHR

Sara J. Snoy has covered a lot of ground during her career in human resources.  She has worked in the manufacturing and service industries,operated her own one-woman consulting firm and managed a corporate HR department in Mexico. Snoy even rode the dot-com boom and weathered the bust.

Read the full interview

By Kathi Guiney SPHR, GPHR President of YES! Your Human Resources Solution

Though the economic recovery has been slow, we are seeing improvement in the employment picture for certain sectors. As job openings increase, the 47% of employees surveyed by Korn Ferry who are either somewhat or very dissatisfied with their current position are going to be looking for the proverbial greener pastures. Thoughtful exits on the part of employers and employers will make the “breakup” easier for both.

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There are articles, books, CDs, training sessions, in fact  whole libraries devoted to “How to Stoke Your Superstars!” and “How to Deal with Your Problem Employees!” But what about those employees in the middle? The70% – 80% of your work force who get the work done day in and day out? The middle managers, the technicians, specialist and the support personnel who provide the foundation of the organization on which superstars perform and pick up the slack from the non-performers? According to a report from Harvard Business School titled “Let’s Hear It for B Players”, it is the B Players who “bring depth and stability to the companies they work for, slowly but surely improving both corporate performance and organizational resilience.” *

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On the radio show Critical Mass for Business, Kathi Guiney and Doug Gfeller discuss how to connect business initiatives with employee needs to achieve strategic objectives.

To state the obvious . . . recruiting activity has been sluggish the last few years. Companies were hesitant to add headcount, and employees generally took a “bird in the hand worth two in the bush” approach, choosing to stay with current employers despite increased workload from cost reductions, reorganizations, etc. But now, as the economy picks up steam, there is movement on both sides of the interviewing table.

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The salary scandal involving administration officials for the city of Bell has created quite a stir in California.  Now the legislature, the governor’s office, the League of California Cities, and many citizens are demanding disclosure of salaries paid to public sector employees.  What does this spotlight mean for private employees?  Would your employees be more or less motivated if they knew what all of their coworkers earned?

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Your phone is ringing.  Should you pick it up or not?  You know it’s HR, and you know what they want.  “We need a job description for that new position in your group.”  You sigh and start typing into the company’s job description template.

Too often job descriptions are seen as just something else human resources requires.  As a consequence, the document is assembled in a hurry, “cut and pasted” from other job descriptions, downloaded off the internet, or left to human resources to divine from just bits of information received during a brief hallway conversation.  Not a good start to creating a quality document!

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The objective of on-boarding is more than paperwork compliance; it is creating a bond with the new employee through effective communication and provides guidance on how to be a successful member of the company.  Surveys from Aberdeen show that up to 80 percent of new hires make a decision in the first six months whether to stay or leave his/her new employer!  This is not much time to create a success story.

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