The HR Technologist

Last week Lance Haun had a really interesting post on his Rehaul blog regarding ways to help stop collection calls.  While the post itself was interesting, it got me thinking about the impact that the current economy is having on people’s job prospects.

I bring this up because Lance’s post last week reminded me of a situation when I was graduating college and looking for my first job.  After much excitement I successfully completed the interview process for my dream job (well, at least for a new graduate) and was provided with the offer letter and the background check form.  Never before had I held a position which required me to undergo a background check, so this was a novelty to me.  Unfortunately the novelty wore off extremely quickly once the results of the check were return and I was informed that I would be unable to start my new position due to a blemish on my credit report.

Here I was ready to graduate college with a massive load of student loan debt piling up and the only thing between me and my dream job was a blemish on my credit report.  In all fairness, I was aware the issue was there, but had long disputed the validity of the obligation (its a long story for a completely different blog).  At the same time I was unaware that would have prevented me from being to accept a position with a very prestigious employer.  Had I known that, the debt would have been paid much earlier, without strongly disputing the obligation.  When it was all said and done, the amount in question was less than $500, but when you’re in college $500 is a fortune.  In the end I finally paid the debt, received a letter demonstrating that the obligation was satisfied and was able to clear that obstacle and start my new position.

Fast forward to the great recession of 2008-2009.  With nearly 12.5% of all US home mortgages at least 30 days delinquent, it’s safe to assume that as a recruiter you either have or will run across a candidate who has a black mark on their credit record. The number is so large due to two primary factors; 1.  Very high levels of unemployment and 2. Declining property values creating situations where people hold mortgages larger than the value of their home (nearly 1/4 of all Americans are currently in this situation).  Substantially underwater mortgages are significantly more likely to default than those who retain some equity in their homes.

Now rethink the situation I described earlier regarding the new job offer.  Imagine you’ve spent a great deal of time being a fully responsible citizen, paying your bills on time , every month.  Now imagine that due to the economy you’ve been unemployed for the past 12 months, have two kids and a spouse, etc.  As a result of liquidating your cash reserves you’ve reached a point where you need to start picking and choosing which bills get paid, and it’s a juggle between paying the electric bill and buying food for your family.  Where you need to pick between making the car payment or paying the electric bill… you get the idea.

Just when things are at their worst, you finally are able to crack through the job market and secure a job offer, for a really good job.  And then all of the sudden your recently blemished credit record prevents you from being able to start that much needed job. Its like a swift kick to the groin, it stings and will probably take you down.  You may not get up again for awhile.  This is the vicious circle that many job seekers find themselves in right now.  You need the job to make the money to pay the bills, yet if you don’t pay the bills you might not be able to get a job.

All of this brings me to the point of this post – in the current economy is a candidate’s credit record truly relevant for most jobs?  HR has a responsibility to the organization to help insure that the best possible talent get in the door and in the current economic climate its time to challenge old thinking, particularly on this subject.

First and foremost I need to say that hangovers suck.  I’ve had the good fortune of avoiding them with the exception of a few random incidents back when I was younger, but when I did have one it was a real pain.  The good news is that they rarely last more than a few hours after you wake up.  At worst it will kill a whole day.

Now imagine a hangover that lasts for 15 years.  Words cannot begin to describe how that might feel, yet for many companies they’ve been dealing with hangovers that have lasted that long and may continue for years to come.

Think back 15 years ago – all the way to 1995, when many organizations were beginning to start remediation activities in preparation for Y2K projects.  Companies bought software, hired consultants, and spent money like crazy in efforts to prevent a catastrophic breakdown in their systems when the clock struck midnight on January 1, 2000.  The catastrophe never came, and yet we were all left with a massive headache related to pushing tremendous amounts of new technology into our companies to meet the impending disaster.

A full decade has passed since the clock “turned over” into the new millennium, yet for many companies they’re still dealing with the aftereffects of the build up to the non-event.

Just using the same technology which was slammed into place leading up to Y2K isn’t necessarily a sign of a HR Technology hangover, but here’s a checklist of things which might be signs of a hangover:

1. The organizational hierarchy in your HRIS reflects a point in time prior to your graduation from high school
2. Your software does not support internet browsers other than Microsoft Internet Explorer
3. Adding email address as a field requires “customization” and involvement from either IT or the vendor
4. Your HR software requires something installed on your computer in order to work properly
5. Web 2.0 functional is a full generation away because you’re stuck with a green screen user experience
6. Instant messenger in your office involves hand signals and a whiteboard
7. Voice over IP means two tin cans and a string

The last few are slight exaggerations, but if you’re stuck in a HR Technology hangover, anything is possible.

In a future post we’ll discuss how you can help cure your technology hangover.  I can assure you that it does not involve drinking water or Gatorade.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock since the Super Bowl you’ve probably seen an episode of Undercover Boss – The latest reality train wreck television show to hit the American airwaves.  The premise of Undercover Boss is simple – the top executive of a large company leaves the safe and comfy confines of his or her executive suite, ditches the custom-tailored suit, leaves the Mercedes behind and joins the rank and file of the company in doing a variety of jobs to better understand what’s happening in their company from the ground up.  Regardless of what you think of the show, the basic premise is naturally appealing to Human Resource professionals such as myself.

While I can go on and on regarding the show, it’s easier best to share the thoughts of other bloggers who have already put digital pen to paper on the topic:

Our first post in the Carnival comes from the other side of the pond, where UK-based blogger and management consultant Jon Ingham of Strategic HCM analyzes (or analyses as Jon would say) the premise of the show.  As with much of popular reality TV in the US lately, Undercover Boss originated in the UK on BBC channel 4, and Jon highlights key findings from the UK version of the show.

Next up is the HR Bartender, Sharlyn Lauby and when she’s not playing Farmville on Facebook she’s writing her post about the benefits of Management By Walking Around.  She also further speaks to a topic that is near and dear to my heart – training, and how it really shouldn’t be optional.

While cleaning out the cat box might be more entertaining than watching Undercover Boss as Marsha Keeffer writes in her blog post, one cannot help but recognize the potential damage that a show like this can have on your employment brand.  This was highlighted very well during Undercover Boss Episode #2 where the CEO of Hooters (apparently a chicken wing chain – I wouldn’t know personally though) pretty much creates a PR nightmare in one fell swoop.  Three mile island was a simple PR situation compared to the Hooters situation.

When he’s not out driving his Saab and video blogging apparently Michael VanderVort is calling bullshit on formatted documentaries – Undercover Boss in particular.

The pride of Oklahoma City, Jessica Miller-Merrell AKA Blogging4Jobs shares with us her post regarding management types.  While she lists out a series of different management types, the one which shares my name is not quite my style.

Leadership can lose touch with the details of the business as Cathy Missildine-Martin writes here. Working in the executive suite colors one’s perspective and removes them from what really drives the business day-to-day.

Anti-establishment blogger (and all around great gal) Laurie Ruettimann – PunkRockHR believes that not everything in life has to be teachable.  And while there were some teachable moments in Undercover Boss, some lessons are better left alone.

Paul Hebert thinks Undercover Boss is worthless crap and picks it apart in his blog post highlighting the extremely unlikely odds that the show was completely random.  Statistically speaking it had to have been scripted in a way to become a PR puff piece for at least one of the executives.

The HR Capitalist, Kris Dunn points out in his post that the transformation of a dysfunctional organization doesn’t happen in 60 minutes.  I agree with KD wholeheartedly, and stake my livelihood on that that fact.  If transformation were that easy I would most likely be flipping burgers instead of helping clients transform their business.  As a result, my family is happy that it isn’t quite that easy to cure dysfunction.

While I may be chided for including the home team in this one (editors note – I do work for Knowledge Infusion), I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the post by Steve Boese on the KI Blog: Talent Nation which examines the logic of a CEO volunteering for the show.  Ultimately, in true American TV fashion, the CEO is setup to be a sort of hero.

While it would appear that the HR bloggers included in the Carnival this week were all negative on the show, that isn’t necessarily the case.  Dan McCarthy highlights some of the key leadership lessons in the Hooters episode of Undercover Boss here.  Key takeaways are the value of succession planning and company values.  And here I thought Hooters was only good for  women in skimpy outfits chicken wings.

While Dan may have seen some value in the show, that may not necessarily be the case with Wally Bock.  In his blog post here he pretty much agrees with what Paul Hebert had to say earlier in the Carnival.  Besides being scripted crap, it’s also rigged.  I’m SHOCKED to hear that.

April Dowling of PseudoHR shares her thoughts on episode 1 of Undercover Boss where Kevin the plant manager doesn’t take the time to meet his employees.  Regardless of the size of the plant, April believes that its management’s obligation to get out and meet their employees.  There’s some good lessons for managerial relations and onboarding.

Once you cut through the general silliness of the show it becomes a very effective way to help senior management hear firsthand how things really work at their companies.  Why spend hundreds of thousands (or millions) of dollars to conduct employee engagement surveys when you can simply send the CEO undercover into the front-lines and get the real scoop unfiltered, without spin, and as direct as possible?  While the results of the show are somewhat questionable, you cannot deny the appeal that it has for an HR professional.

As quickly as you can say PRESS RELEASE, another one bites the dust.  Earlier today SuccessFactors announced their intent to acquire Workforce Analytics software vendor Inform.  This is the second acquisition in as many days by larger vendors in the HR space (Monster buys Yahoo! HotJobs).  Moreover this is the 4th acquisition that I can think of in the last 30 days or so.

It all started a mere two business days into 2010 with Bedford Funding acquiring PeopleClick.  In response to that acquisition I wondered aloud who would be the next to fall.  Back in late fall 2009 SuccessFactors built up their warchest through a secondary offering which raised $215m, with the intent to seemingly grow the business through acquisition.  That assumption has since been demonstrated to be fact.

By purchasing Inform SuccessFactors has successfully accomplished several strategic objectives:

1. Delivered capabilities for more in-depth reporting and analytics than existed with their current technology
2. Added workforce planning capabilities to their product offering
3. Gain greater access to consulting expertise around metrics, benchmarking, and information delivery
4. Gain further global credibility, with a much stronger presence in the Asia/Pac region of the world

In short this acquisition further positions SuccessFactors to deliver upon the promise of business execution software as their corporate tagline indicates.

From the perspective of the HR Technology market this acquisition is not the end of the M&A activity, but rather just the beginning.  With confidence in the economy rising, large companies sitting on piles of cash and depressed valuations I expect that this is just the tip of the iceberg.  2010 will be the year of the acquisition.