by Janine Nicole Dennis | Mar 11, 2015 | Ask Czarina, Business, Life
Image courtesy of lovethispic.com
Series Introduction
Every year, I like to find a different way of celebrating my favorite day: my birthday. Since I am turning 32 next month (I know…awww…), I’ve decided to share 32 revelations I have had during the course of my life about everything from life in general to business. Think of it as daily inspiration for you and therapy for me. It is a challenge for me, because I don’t think I have ever published a post everyday in the entire existence of The Aristocracy of HR. Plus, I recognize that while I am fairly generous in sharing on social media and here, I have only just scraped the surface on sharing who I am when I’m not pontificating how HR and Business can do better. Let’s use the month of March to get to know one another better. I hope at the end of the month, you walk away with something you can use in your own life or business.
Day 8 of 31- Digital Snobbery
I’ve been dabbling with social media for years. In my opinion, the start of it was in the early 2000’s with platforms like MySpace, BlackPlanet.com, Mi Gente etc. I wasn’t hip to how it would evolve, but I was on those platforms doing what I could to promote my then modeling career and everything else I was doing. Those platforms fizzled and then entered Facebook around my college years. You couldn’t even join unless you had a college email back then. I had one girlfriend that was on it and begged me to join- I wasn’t impressed. It wasn’t until 2010, that my employer at the time said “hey there’s this thing called social media and all of you Talent Acquisition Specialists need to be on it making us look good”. Not their exact words, but essentially that was what we were all charged with doing.
Under duress, I joined Twitter and Facebook. I chose a terrible Twitter handle that later caused me to be heckled into changing it. I was offended at first. However if not for my “hecklers” and (they know who they are), I wouldn’t have created the brand I have today as the “CzarinaofHR”. In any event, since I officially joined social media- I’ve learned what works, what doesn’t, and that just like in real life people have lots and lots of opinions on what you should say and do on social media. I am still learning how to best position myself on the platforms I am on. What I have let go of is the angst around following the unwritten rules of how you should exist on social media.
From buzzword usage to quizzes on Facebook, there are individuals (sometimes cliques) that are always so beyond whatever the next fad is before it even gets going. Its a kind of digital snobbery that people have picked up where everything and anything someone chooses to share is a problem or is not the proper usage of the platform. It’s like a cool kid thing. They think, “maybe if I post smug, snarky, offensive updates or respond nastily on someones thread people will applaud me or better yet like me. If this is you, I say this in the nicest way possible- get over yourself! I have seen plenty of things that were offensive or ridiculous. When that happens often enough, I simply unfriend, disconnect or block your feed. It is simply not in my best interest to tell you that your feed is full of rants, bigotry or that the sun doesn’t rise and set with your daily selfie. Whatever you choose to portray on social media is your business. I guess the trouble with it all- is that we have become accustomed to judging this digital life many of us are living. Assumptions are made about who you are and what you value based on words, updates, tweets etc. It maybe an unfair disadvantage since people share at different times and for different reasons. Nevertheless, the judgment is all the same.
As I branch out and explore other lanes of business, I am assured there will be someone quietly or publicly questioning why I’m doing what I’m doing. The way I approach my digital life and real life is, I do what I want and what feels right. That means I will hashtag what I want, use slang if I choose, promote my business if I need to and utilize buzzwords if it best explains what I am trying to convey. I care about my audience. I care even more about being true to who I am and what I want to share with the world. I pay attention to social etiquette and guidelines as a reference point, but I don’t let it put me in a box or prevent me from coloring outside of the lines. Social media is a fun extension and curation of my life, and some of you are fun sponges.
I am forever indebted to social media to opening a world of possibilities to me. There’s no way I could have imagined the friends, colleagues, and opportunities that social media would bring when I started back in 2010. My point is use social media for what works for you. It’s supposed to be helpful and fun- don’t ruin it for people.
Czarina’s Lesson: Don’t be a digital snob!
by Janine Nicole Dennis | Mar 10, 2015 | Advice, Ask Czarina, Featured, Life, Women
Image courtesy of Flickr.com
Series Introduction
Every year, I like to find a different way of celebrating my favorite day: my birthday. Since I am turning 32 next month (I know…awww…), I’ve decided to share 32 revelations I have had during the course of my life about everything from life in general to business. Think of it as daily inspiration for you and therapy for me. It is a challenge for me, because I don’t think I have ever published a post everyday in the entire existence of The Aristocracy of HR. Plus, I recognize that while I am fairly generous in sharing on social media and here, I have only just scraped the surface on sharing who I am when I’m not pontificating how HR and Business can do better. Let’s use the month of March to get to know one another better. I hope at the end of the month, you walk away with something you can use in your own life or business.
Day 7 of 31- Jealousy
When I was in junior high school, I went through a tough time. Socially, I was smart enough to be considered a nerd but cool enough to not be completely shunned by the cool kids. The school district I went to was a mostly middle class district with a healthy portion of some low-income families mixed in. By the time I reached the seventh grade, I had a healthy helping of girls that would make my life miserable in school and after school as well. It was customary that a certain group of girls would somehow initiate other girls by fighting them. I had the displeasure of being one of the chosen ones. At that time, I was vying for Ms. Junior America here in NY and my face was posted up in most of our neighborhood establishments because they were sponsoring me. Full disclosure, I wasn’t a fighter. My parents were strict about school and so I focused on my studies and pretty much kept to myself and the small nucleus of friends I had at the time.
I fought every week for the majority of my 7th grade year. It got so bad that my grandparents had to come from Queens to where we lived in Long Island to pick me up after school just so I wouldn’t have to fight. I didn’t understand right away why I was the one to fight until the perpetrators started spilling the beans during the fights. I would hear “you think you’re cute because you have long hair” or “I don’t care if you were Miss Junior America, I will cut your face.” It took a while, but the conclusion was these girls were jealous of me and who I was becoming. I did well in school, was well-liked, came from a great home and had things going for myself. In contrast, these girls that often tried their hand with me were terrible in school, disruptive in class, pretty much all came from troubled homes and other unfortunate circumstances.
I was so disgusted with the fighting that I remember telling my parents I wanted to go back to Queens to go to school. I couldn’t imagine going through high school with these girls. The answer was “no”, of course. However, something kind of miraculous happened- I got tough. I hated junior high school for what I went through, but the truth is after 7th grade no one would dare come to fight me. After being antagonized daily, I decided I was not going to be a victim anymore and I fought back.
The end of junior high school was a blast and high school was pretty much smooth-sailing. I had one or two try to test me in 9th grade and they were sorry they tried. Beyond that, I went on to excel academically and no one was happier than me when I graduated and moved on to college.
In hindsight, this was an important time in my life. It was the beginning of a series of tests where people would try to beat me down and instead I would come out swinging. Friends of mine laugh when they hear me speak and find out I have an edge to me. I always tell them this story and say I had to become tough to survive. From my first job until now, I have been tested in a number of ways professionally- only this time the bullies have grown up and they have leadership positions in companies. What has never changed is “me”. I show up unapologetically to do the best job possible. Sometimes it was appreciated by my bosses and often times I was seen as a threat. When the green-eyed bandits entered once again- the 13 year old Janine is activated with a dash of wisdom and I come out swinging.
Being green with envy and/or being jealous is a hell of a thing. It robs you of honing in on the things you excel at. It impedes your progress, because all of your focus is on what others are doing. Jealousy is certainly experienced by both males and females, but I have to say women have the men beat in this regard. From the playground to the corner office, we are our own worst enemies when it comes to advancing the women’s movement. Beating each other down is just one of the ways we undermine our wants and needs for equality. If I see another woman doing something I would like to do, it’s empowering to me. It doesn’t even dawn on me to hate her or wish her bad. Hence why, it has always been a mystery to me why some women dwell in this emotion of jealousy. It’s an ugly and counterproductive way to be.
Here are some other things I have learned about jealousy:
1) You are not the problem. Compromising who you are to make the jealous party feel better is unfair and unnecessary. You deserve to be who you are without repercussions (it took me a long time to figure this one out).
2) The root of jealously is admiration. On some level, the person who despises you sees things in you they wish they could be.
3) If it walks, talks, and sounds like jealously- it is jealously. I never like to jump to conclusions where humans are concerned. I would often see signs and try to talk myself out of the reality that there was a jealousy problem. When I was honest with myself the answer was apparent.
I’m fairly sure there are less egregious ways I could have become the woman I am today. I don’t think anything that has happened in my life so far is without purpose. As such, I choose to remember this time in my life as a time when I rose above the green-eyed bandits and found my strength.
Czarina’s Lesson: We cannot expect to be equal, when we are stepping on each other; rather than uplifting one another.
by Janine Nicole Dennis | Jan 13, 2015 | Featured, Human Resources, OFCCP, Policy
Courtesy of Wikipedia
By the fall of 2013, those of us in the federal contractor community were made aware of some significant changes coming down from the OFCCP. In good old OFCCP fashion, we were inundated with several new directives that were proposed with very little guidance to employers. Of course all of the major employment law firms went to town developing webinars and the like. Unfortunately, those did little to ease employer’s pains and added to the growing number of contractors in a vegetative state over the new compliance requirements. In January of 2014, I went to a conference in San Francisco to give a concurrent session as well as lead a roundtable on diversity and inclusion. During my roundtable, I asked for a show of hands as I attempted to ascertain how many federal contractors I had at the table.
What I found fascinating was all of the participants were federal contractors and when asked if they started reviewing and planning to comply by March 24th of 2014 as stipulated-they all gave me a resounding “no”. I attempted not to look astonished but nevertheless I continued sharing tidbits about things I was doing to get ahead of the new outreach and recruitment efforts analysis requirements. They all swore they were going to be on top of it when they returned to the office. I certainly hope that was true.
That was then and this is now…
We are now nearly one year into the new compliance and I still hear murmurs of companies not getting in OFCCP shape. If you haven’t started or are taking your sweet time- wake up! The audit list now has 22 items you will be responsible for. Get ahead of it now and lessen your pain when you inevitably receive your notice.
My fellow HR colleagues usually hate me for this-but I believe that much of the pain felt in complying with OFCCP regulations is due to how we approach it. When you see these regulations as onerous ( and I agree some of it is) and fail to see what you get in return for your compliance (which is government money)- you will ultimately procrastinate in doing what is needed. If you treat hiring of minorities, females, individuals with disabilities and veterans as quotas, you will always be in a rut of trying to explain why your AAP goals don’t budge year to year. When you receive government money it is only right that you be held to a higher standard with regard to how you do business. If you take a little bit at a time and approach the requirements as both a business imperative and priority-it will become less burdensome.
Here are five pieces of OFCCP compliance that employers are slacking on:
1) Is your outreach and recruitment efforts rooted in quality or quantity ? You need to be consistently auditing your diversity outreach and recruitment process to see what works and what doesn’t. If you identify outreach activities that aren’t yielding candidates or hires- you need to be proactive and cease utilizing that outreach.
2) Have you revised your self-identification forms yet? According to the new regulations, you need to be asking applicants to self-identify both pre and post offer. This includes updates to include self-identification for Individuals with Disabilities (IWD). Get your OMB-Approved form here.
3) How are you handling reasonable accommodation requests during the hiring process? Be sure that your ATS works well with assistive devices and technologies in an effort to ensure that individuals with disabilities are give equal opportunity to apply and be considered for vacancies.
4) Have they added your EO clause to all subcontracts? Get purchasing involved! This is another requirement that contractors are overlooking. Equal Opportunity clauses must be added to subcontracts, along with language that explains subcontractors obligations as a federal contractor.
5) What’s your hiring benchmark? The 7% goal for IWDs’ is a lofty goal for many businesses. My advice is set your benchmark and make sure it is attainable. If you set it at 5-6% you are just slightly below 7% and it looks admirable that you attempted to get close. It remains to be seen whether contractors will be penalized for playing it safe here.
Now that you have some food for thought, prepare yourself by doing mock audits. Also, encourage your recruitment teams to regularly audit their activities and raise any issues ahead of time so you can tweak things prior to an onsite or offsite audit. Good luck!
by Janine Nicole Dennis | Dec 15, 2014 | Featured, Human Resources, Life, Society and HR, Talent Management
Disclaimer: This post was co-written by Steve Levy of the uber awesome, Recruiting Inferno blog and Janine Truitt, Chief Innovations Officer of Talent Think Innovations, LLC and Founder of The Aristocracy of HR.
If you haven’t recognized the surge of conversations and bickering about race lately you have either been ignoring it or have living under a rock. For most people, having a discussion about race relations is the equivalent to standing in a public place with twenty people where there is a remarkable stench, but no one wants to be the one to say aloud that the room stinks. Talking about race stinks, but it has to be done.
Despite the front-page awareness brought by the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO and Eric Gardner in Staten Island, NY, there’s one place that has yet to directly embrace the discussion.
The workplace.
For all the sensitivity training mandated by corporate Human Resources with their PowerPoint decks and contrived “can’t we all just get along” group exercises, practically all diversity and inclusion sessions can be boiled down to lyrical statements such as these from the Diversity and Inclusion in the VA Workforce presentation from Department of Veterans Affairs:
Diversity is the mosaic of people who bring a variety of backgrounds, styles, perspectives, values and beliefs as assets to the groups and organizations with which they interact
The “melting pot” theory of American society has evolved, instead consider a vegetable soup metaphor
Members of various cultural groups may not want to be assimilated, they want their tastes, looks and texture to remain whole.
These present a sanitized and easy-to-deliver message that diversity and inclusion can be learned by all employees in a few hours.
Yet they never mention the phrase, Race Relations.
In some instances, participants are even asked to shout out words and phrases that further marginalize the recipients, like:
Jews are great with money; Blacks are great at sports.
Feel better now? Great, now get back to work and make some money you silly goose…
The bigger question is where has all of our diversity and inclusion training gotten us? As HR people, have we had the truly difficult conversations surrounding race or have we just chosen to do what’s comfortable for everyone involved – the 50% solution?
I can comfortably say we have done the latter. We’d much rather have employees overhear the whispers in cubicles or the clandestine rumblings about race at the water cooler than to have an open and honest discussion in the context of our corporate mission and values.
When we speak about diversity and inclusion in the workplace, we usually give it the backdrop of tolerance. We can’t make people love one another but is tolerance of one another enough? Our sentiment is that just as parents teach their kids about racism so does a company “teach” its employees how to treat those from other races within the company.
However, you can’t have bigots “protectively” draped in the veil of Human Resources prancing around your organization. It doesn’t work to insulate racially insensitive behavior because as we are witnessing, racism always manages to rear its ugly head. Take Sony Pictures: None of those fools saw a hacking of their emails coming and so they happily cracked racial jokes about the President of the United States along with bashing other notable artists. Where was HR?
It will be interesting to see if and how their HR department deals with the racial joking in the context of any policies they have on the books. The likely scenario will be that the public will play the role of HR and “force” Amy Pascal to resign because the public remedy of chopping off the head of the stinking fish – at the expense of fixing the deeper reason for the stench – carries more weight to company “leadership” than addressing the issue as a violation of a company policy which of course is predicated on the presence of an actual company policy that deals with racially charged actions.
Working in HR, we have found out that policies stating that there is “Zero Tolerance” for discrimination and/or racist discussion in the workplace are bull. While most companies have them to cover their behinds, HR issues such as internal inequity run rampant with minorities making disproportionately less money than their white counterparts (want more? search for “do minorities earn less”). Zero Tolerance policies notwithstanding, employees in general are free to spew their racial epithets company-wide, because they can without any significant repercussions. Heck, kindergarten children who point “finger guns” at other classmates are suspended more frequently than employees sending around racially-insensitive emails!
We have a major issue in the US around race and it has been fermenting in business and the workforce for a long time. You can thank race relations for your EEO-1 reports, for your Affirmative Action Plans, and for all the data you have to collect to prove your applicant pools have adequate ethnic and racial representation.
The world is laughing at us.
As our colleague and friend, Ron Thomas recently said in his article “Breathe Deep” about the world’s view of business and HR: “Every race imaginable, every language imaginable and everyone is too busy with their lives to get caught up in this racial mindset. We are too busy doing business to get caught up in this US kind of thing.” His point-of-view is framed by his relationships with business leaders in Dubai where he currently lives and works.
Here’s a thought…
If it is explicit (meaning in policy and action) that racism and/or discrimination will not be the basis for any business decision in company “X”, employees have three choices, (1) they can resign and find a company where their bigoted ideas are supported; (2) they will act accordingly and ensure that all people are treated fairly; (3) or they will be fired. Zero Tolerance should really mean Zero Tolerance.
However, anti-racism policies alone are not sufficient to solve the core problem. The real issues are Action and Accountability. Given the events of gross police misconduct in Ferguson, MO and on Staten Island, NY, are HR and C-suite leadership any more encouraged to offer corporate solutions for addressing race relations in the workplace? It is important to throw both company leadership and HR out in front because it stands to reason that the current model of HR wouldn’t write a policy or create education that will change this racial trajectory if it isn’t supported by leadership.
Much of the undercurrent of annoyance and fury surrounding the recent killings of black men in the media are not just about the killings, but how it is rooted in a build up of injustices felt in every corner of society by every category of a workplace EEO-1 report. Monochromatic leadership with monochromatic workforce planning when combined with the fear or inability to discuss complex socio-economic issues has led to an uneven playing field when it comes to the differences of upward mobility and opportunity for both whites and blacks.
We’ve steered clear of the word minorities as it is an all-encompassing “safe word” that frankly allows us in HR to downplay the impact our policies, procedures and ideals have on specific groups of people. With Diversity and Inclusion training, task forces, affinity groups, and even people of color on Boards of Directors, it sure sounds like we’re being inclusive when in reality the sanitization and compartmentalization produces even further misunderstanding and pushes conversation farther back into the closet.
Both of us have very strong ties to law enforcement; we’re quite aware that the job is dangerous and we do worry about our friends and family coming home every evening. We also know how hard-working, conscientious, and fair most of them are. It’s a small percentage of police officers who cross the lines into racist action, much in the same way we suspect that a similar percentage of companies create a culture of racism with divisive C-level leadership and non-existent HR oversight.
While “leaders” have created the problem, within the workplace, HR should have the knowledge, influence, and ability to change the deeply ingrained culture that is responsible for enabling the racism. Our thesis is that racism in the workplace continues to undermine the very purpose for why we exist in organizations and in so many instances HR has taken the easy way out.
It is time for a change.
When the death of black men in Ferguson, MO, on Staten Island, and in stairwells takes place so easily, then it really does become time not for a national discussion of race in America but a national call to action and change of culture. Surely we’re not naive to believe that either discussion or action will eliminate bigotry but since we’re in a profession that purportedly cares about the workplace, it is time to mobilize a new Human Resources to create new deliverables about Race Relations.
The workplace is not a community that sits on an island cordoned off from society but is in fact a microcosm of society. HR has failed either by fear, ignorance, or some bizarre take on professionalism to address racism in the workplace. If employees are the heartbeat of the company, then for certain HR is the pacemaker – and it’s time for some serious surgery.
People are now marching on the streets across the country – and it’s calling attention to racism in America but it’s time for HR to march into boardrooms. It’s time for HR to lead the discussion on racism at work, not as means for attaining a certificate of completion for diversity training but with a goal of creating a culture and all the necessary elements to root out racism in the workplace. It’s time for HR to look its recruiting and retention practices to see if we’re “bringing” racism into the workplace with bad hiring and “promoting” racism with bad management.
If all this talk about racism makes you uncomfortable to think or speak about, think of your “valued” employees who endure these racially-charged emails, water cooler jokes, and I-know-why-you’re-here smirks because you failed to create a culture that supports the value they bring to your company. If your talent chooses to leave or you can’t attract the best and the brightest because your company’s HR policies, procedures, and people aren’t fair and supportive, do you know what that makes you?
Unemployed.
by Janine Nicole Dennis | Dec 4, 2014 | Business, Featured, HR Innovation, Human Resources
I had the privilege of being invited to the first ever IBM and Purematter Thinkathon: Hacking The Future of Work event in New York City last month. It has taken me this long to properly synthesize all of my thoughts and experiences from the event.
Why Hack The Future of Work…
The purpose of the “Thinkathon” was to get 30 people who influence the world of work in one room over three days to discuss the future of work. Over the course of these three days we were met with mind-bending presentations from IBM’ers as well as other notable keynotes. We also spent time in groups discussing how we see things like workspaces, communication, talent, technology privacy etc. working in the future.
Of the notable keynotes, was a woman by the name of Faith Popcorn. She was charged with providing the group with a glimpse of the future of the work circa 2025. While I believe we all came into this presentation with our eyes wide open and ready to be schooled, many of us became a little disheartened with what we learned of the future. In this keynote, 2025 was a vision of robots having governance over pretty much everything, simulated living/working, and the disappearance of careers. It’s important to note that Faith Popcorn is known for making wily predictions that come to pass 95% of the time (check out some of them here). As someone who has a passion for the human touch in business, I felt like someone punched me in the gut listening to her go on about a world 100% driven by robots and technology.
Based on her view of the future of work, the human touch is extinct and we all live and work in a simulated, computer amplified world. The idea that humans relinquish more and more control as technology advances presents a pressing question for HR professionals. If careers are obsolete, and people can work via simulated workspaces with a bevy of robots running about our communities and companies- what will HR’s role be?
Jay Kuhns, fellow HR expert and I with IBM employees and VIP Futurists at the IBM Design Camp. Photo courtesy of @kwheeler
The facts are…
HR will have to transform more rapidly in the next 10 years than it has the past thirty to keep up with societal and technological advances should Ms. Popcorn’s predictions hold true. Will there be whole HR departments run by robots in 2025? I don’t think so, but do I believe that we will see more and more outsourcing of functions that are better delivered by technology or people specifically dedicated to that one function? Yes. As far as the talent goes, we are all reported to be free agents by 2025 and solely responsible for marketing ourselves to companies for work. The idea that there are no more defined roles within an organization filled with professionals with a finite set of skills creates complexities for recruitment teams and every other facet of HR as we know it today. Which begs the question will there be a need for recruitment teams in 2025? I think there will be reverse recruitment in the sense that jobseekers with broader profiles will have the ability to actively recruit or seek out companies that align with their values, passions and that have a need for their skillsets. We already are starting to see this with the concept of employer branding and candidate experience. In 2025, Onboarding may be a thing of the past or repurposed, if people are no longer in traditional roles requiring the usual assimilation into their companies.
When asked about the economical impact of this new reality of the future of work, Faith Popcorn responded “there will be the haves and have-nots.” Which leads me to address the global implications of this new reality of the future of work. With companies outsourcing work to alternative markets abroad to create efficiencies and lower labor costs- will we drive these advances in how we work or will the U.S be a late adopter? Admittedly, Faith’s research and predictions are based on the American market, so she could not speak to the global implications of what she was proposing. However, with an economic reality of haves and have-nots and no real mention of those that “have a little” a.k.a. the middle-class, who are the future workers? Are they humans, robots or a mixed bag? If any of the future scenarios involve robots as actual workers this changes the entire landscape of employment law and labor relations. We will have to start thinking of things like “do robots have rights or does being human need to be a protected class?” Wild!
My opinion is change is often far more gradual than the vision of the future I viewed in Faith Popcorn’s presentation. The change we experience in the world of work will be gradual largely because many companies haven’t even adopted the technology and progressive practices available to us now. The playing field is not level for all people socially and economically which also hasn’t been resolved on a global scale; nor will it be in the foreseeable future. I have reason to believe there is a greater need in the future to preserve humanity and it’s place in the world of work. I also believe that when you predict things in the future you have to also account for the inevitable outlier events and resistance to change that often color and shape the final outcome. Too much of anything is never good and that also holds true for any imagined advances for the future of work. With some technological leaps, hardcore streamlining with a focus on creating new efficiencies and a genuine dedication to meeting the needs of future talent and business; I think the future of work has plenty of promise.
What do you think the future of work will look like in 2025? I want to hear from you!
Over the next couple of months, I will be working with IBM on some cool initiatives. Follow my journey along with my 29 fellow futurists with the hashtag #NewWayToWork.
Here’s a glimpse of the IBM Verse launch I was privileged to attend on November 18th, 2014.
http://youtu.be/f1nsDgl5eB8?list=PLEjl4yzB6ckErwJCQyIcBOY0m2s-li4Af
