Evil HR Lady

‘ve cried at work. Twice.

The first time, I was a temp in my very first HR job. The position was supposed to be temp to perm (a term I now despise), and I was doing what I thought was a great job. But, the company eliminated a senior administrative assistant’s role, and rather than fire her, they got rid of the temp.

This was right and fair and exactly what they should have done.

But, when my boss told me, I cried. I needed the job. I was six months out of graduate school, and finding a professional job had been difficult. My boss helped me get the next position, and it turned out to be an excellent path for me. But, at the moment, I went into the bathroom and cried.

To keep reading, click here: It’s Okay to Cry at Work–Everyone Else Does It

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Kickstarter’s vote to approve a union may throw the tech sector into a tailspin.

Employees at the Brooklyn, N.Y.-based platform, which helps people raise money for projects, voted 46 to 37 to unionize this week–a move that could prompt employees of other tech companies to unionize.

Historically, unions protected blue collar and government workers fighting for higher wages, better benefits, more flexible work hours, Nataliya Nedzhvetskaya, a doctoral student at the University of California, Berkeley, told The Hill. “This action seems to be motivated primarily by more moral issues,” added Nedzhvetskaya, who studies employees in the tech sector.

In other words, tech employees are no longer just looking out for their own paycheck.

To keep reading, click here: What Kickstarter Employees’ Union Win Means for Tech

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When I managed a team, we had a team meeting every other week. At the beginning of the year, I booked the conference room for the entire year’s worth of meetings. 

It won’t surprise you that not all of those meetings happened.

What surprised me is new research out of Norway that says that 30 percent of scheduled meetings never happen and it costs businesses a fortune. They estimate, for instance, that a business with 250 employees in New York City wastes almost $150,000 a year on canceled meetings.

Yikes.

To keep reading, click here: Meetings Can Be a Waste of Time and Money, but Skipping them Isn’t Free

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“I live in an at-will state, so there’s nothing I can do, but…” I see this phrase, or one similar, all the time. But at-will doesn’t mean it’s a free-for-all when companies want to fire someone. Here’s what you need to know (as an employee or an employer). 

What is at-will employment?

The simple version is that employees can quit at any time for any reason or no reason, and companies can fire employees at any time for any reason or no reason. There are, however, limits to this that are important. People get caught up in the plain language and forget that there are both legal protections and company policy protections in place.

Limits on employees

Realistically, an at-will employee can walk out the door right now. They can walk away in the middle of the busy season. They can say something rude to a customer, throw their name tag on the floor, and head out the door if they want to. They can ghost an employer. And the employer still has to pay them for all hours worked, and if it’s an exempt employee, for the whole day.

To keep reading, click here: Employment-at-Will Does Not Mean What You Think It Means

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One thing I love about being a woman on LinkedIn is the fabulous messages I get from Army Generals and entrepreneurs who find me so incredibly attractive that they have to reach out. Like this message I received today from “Greg.” 

I put “Greg” in quotation marks because, while he says that’s his name, I have my doubts. But, hey, love is love regardless of the name. Anyway, here’s the message!

Hello,  

How are you doing? I hope this finds you in good health. I have been going through some profiles and yours catches my attention. Your extremely beautiful and I would like to get to know more about you. I’m an entrepreneaur. Owning two businesses. One in china and one in Turkey. Widowed and searching for a woman who is like minded and would like to build my business with me. what do you thing? I hope to reading from you soon  

Regards Greg

Sadly, his message did not work on me, and I suspect it might not be effective on the other ladies on the world’s biggest dating site—errr I mean LinkedIn. So, in the spirit of Valentine’s day, I thought I’d give Greg and his fellow true love searchers some help in picking up women on LinkedIn.

To keep reading, click here: How to Pick up Women on LinkedIn

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Outsourcing happens. Sometimes it’s an excellent decision for the company, and sometimes it is not, but regardless when it happens people lose their jobs. That is precisely what happened to Chief Human Resources Leader and General Counsel Marc Alifanz. (Full disclosure–Marc is a friend of mine, and he taught me how to use LinkedIn more effectively.)

Marc wasn’t alone in his job loss–the company decided to outsource the function, so the whole HR team lost their jobs. It’s depressing, but it happens. Instead of focusing on his own job hunt directly, Marc made a brilliant move that showed authentic leadership.

To keep reading, click here: When This HR Leader and His Team Got Laid Off, He Responded in a Perfect Way

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There are plenty of things your coworkers say that drive you up the wall. There are plenty of things that you say that drive your coworkers up the wall. But, it turns out there are some corporate phrases–jargon that people like to hear.

Who knew? 

I mean, we all knew we liked to say it, but we don’t want other people saying it. (I swear if one more person says they have an “ask” for me, I won’t be able to control myself.) 

Verizon did a survey and asked people about corporate jargon and came up with quite a list of phrases. But, surprisingly, they also included phrases we like. They are:

To keep reading, click here: Corporate Jargon that We Love to Hear

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