As we supply and support an integrated HR/Payroll application, it was no surprise to read that HR users are being recognized as early adopters of technology. HR and payroll users are under constant pressure to provide strategic information about an organization's labor pool in increasing levels of detail. HR also needs to be able to attract the best people and keep them engaged with the organization. Add to that the pressure from employees to provide a valuable user experience for them when inquiring about or accessing their related HR and payroll information. At StarGarden, we have taken this view to the next level. We believe that HR should have full control of all the systems that an employee can access, including those traditionally controlled by IT such as network access. Who knows better than HR and payroll who is currently employed and in what capacity? When employees exit the organization, HR and payroll are the first to know whereas IT sometimes can lag by days leaving a serious breach in security. Check out our Federation Server (SGFS) information if you are interested in learning more. http://www.stargarden.com/Federation%20Server/Identity%20Management%20and%20Provisioning.aspx   http://www.poly.edu/press-release/2012/05/08/make-way-it-departments-hr-moving-tech-ladder

Couldn't resist posting this one. I am a bit biased but I can't argue with their findings. "Specifically, at all levels, women are rated higher in fully 12 of the 16 competencies that go into outstanding leadership. And two of the traits where women outscored men to the highest degree — taking initiative and driving for results — have long been thought of as particularly male strengths. As it happened, men outscored women significantly on only one management competence in this survey — the ability to develop a strategic perspective." Check out the full article in the Harvard Business Review: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/03/a_study_in_leadership_women_do.html?utm_sour

There has been lots of debate since the Canadian Federal Budget came out about retirement getting further out of reach for many Canadians and how it will cost more out of individual's pockets to cover retirement costs. Added to that cost is the fact that we are all living longer. It was assumed in the past that the lengthening of our lifespans in the developed world would slow over time. But that is not happening. In North America and advanced Europe, lifespans increased by eight years between 1970 and 2010, and are projected to increase by an additional four years through 2050 — that's about five weeks more per year. At the same time old-age dependency, or the ratio of population over 65 to those in the prime working ages of 15 to 64, is expected to increase from 24 per cent to 48 per cent of the total population in advanced economies by 2050— in other words, roughly one worker for every retired person. http://www.hrreporter.com/articleview/12812-cost-of-aging-rising-faster-than-expected-worldwide-imf Given that we are going to live longer and therefore need more money for retirement (money that won't be supplied by the government in the form of increased pensions), we can assume that many of us will have to work longer. Add to that the fact that we will be facing a labour shortage as the boomers exit the work force, we need to make sure there are strategies in place to retain older workers. Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College released a study titled 'Flex Strategies to Attract, Engage & Retain Older Workers' that looks at how employers can use flexible strategies to retain older workers. The report found that the employers in its case studies used a variety of flexibility initiatives. Offering part-time positions, hiring retirees as consultants and temporary workers and offering flexible work arrangements are among the most commonly used strategies with older or retired workers. The report goes on explain how Marriott Hotels, Central Bapist Hospital, and MITRE Corp have successfully used retention strategies to keep their older workers engaged and working. http://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/benefits/Articles/Pages/Flex_OlderWorkers.aspx

I have done a couple of posts about the evolution of work and how the traditional workplace will have to evolve to meet the needs of the next generations. One concept that is gaining popularity is unlimited vacation. Proponents of unlimited vacation argue that it frees people up to take vacation when they need to or want to rather than when they have to because of organizational policy. Employees are more likely to schedule their vacation around their work if they do not have to strictly meet the guidelines of a vacation policy. In addition, employees are increasingly taking their work with them on vacation. Technology and mobile devices have given us all the flexibility to check in with work wherever we are in the world. So some companies are arguing, what does it matter the actual hours employees are at work or where they physically are if they are meeting their objectives? This relates back to the Results Only Work Environment (ROWE) I discussed in one of my previous posts. This will obviously not work in all companies and certainly physical presence in some industries is a must. Many of these concepts work in non-traditional environment such as startup technology companies. Generally these types of companies attract a worker that is driven by the excitement of the startup and the work is their passion. So vacation is not on the top of their list of priorities. And regardless of the industry or company, it all comes back to clearly defined goal setting and performance measurement. If you have that in place, you have more flexibility in how and when employees work. Check out this article on why unlimited vacation increases productivity: http://www.fastcompany.com/1823415/why-unlimited-vacation-policies-ensure-productivity

Interesting article from Richard Crespin on Forbes.com. http://www.forbes.com/sites/csr/2012/02/20/the-path-to-prosperity-lies-through-h-r-thats-right-h-r/ Richard states: "Yet, if you want to see the global economy humming again, worker productivity on the rise, and people with good jobs, good pay, good benefits, and a good relationship with their employer, that path lies through H.R. No one gets a job, gets paid, gets benefits, or finds a job they love without going through H.R" Richard feels that all big government and organizational initiatives hinge on HR skills. For example, although HR doesn't create jobs, it certainly is key in filling those jobs and onboarding employees to be effective in them. This article caught my eye because here at StarGarden, we have geared our product development around just that concept. We feel that HR and Payroll are the resources in the organization that know exactly who employees are, what they do, and what they get paid. They are the first to know about hires and the first to know about terminations. We feel that all employee information, including information currently held by technical resources, should be managed by HR. We have all heard about employees who can still access the company network after they have been terminated. If the termination process launched by HR also controlled the authority in an organization, this type of security breach would be diminished. HR and the systems they use, need to be the central respository of all employee information (in our opinion :)).