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Have Fun at #SHRM15

I let my SHRM membership lapse in 2015 because my employer will no longer pay for it. My employer is me, and honestly, she wants me to spend $190 on spa treatments in Turks & Caicos because she believes in employee engagement. So I won’t be going to the 2015 SHRM Conference & Exhibition in…

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Your Questions about Work and Labor

Here are some questions that have come to me from events and via email. If a company has grown organically, how do you start to grow through acquisitions? I worked on the HR/M&A side of the house at a company called Kemper Insurance. I was the only HR kid who understood the internet, so that…

“Nobody Around Here Gets It”

Whenever people in human resources feel alone or stressed, they will say something like, “People in my town just don’t get it.” Let me give you some examples. “I live in Sacramento, and these HR people just don’t get it. It’s still all about compliance.” “Cleveland is a wonky town. They just don’t get social…

Paradox of Hedonism

Lots of talk on Huffington Post and Medium—and in the HR blogosphere—about happiness at work and in life. “Just do seventeen things and you will be rich, content and happy. You might do better at work, get a raise, be more attractive and have more sex.” I think some of that’s okay, but it seems…

Three Generations of HR

I work with three generations of HR professionals. There are people over the age of 45 who feel as if they’ve changed human resources. Sure, HR has a bad reputation. But Josh Bersin and Dave Ulrich would approve of their new HR practices. In fact, screw Josh and Dave. A lot of their ideas are…

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Come See Me in Barcelona #TWU2015

A few years ago, I asked a colleague if he had ever been to Barcelona. He responded, “I am well traveled throughout Western Europe.” Good grief, HR people are so insufferable. But since that time, I have been looking for a reason to visit Barcelona. I finally found one—and it’s not a human resources conference,…