Did women become too hard?

In this article from "Der Spiegel" it says that women became too hard in order to be competitive in a men dominated business. The article is already a little bit older. Do you think anything has changed? The author mentioned that companies want softer leader and spend 10k-20k on seminars for their female managers to become softer and nicer to their colleagues.

Do you think it is HRs responsibility to look out for things like that? To sponsor participation in so called "bully broad-camps"? Should a company try to change its employees in such a personal way? Also, why should women participate and men shouldn't?


Unfortunately this article is in German:
http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-21057482.html

Recruitment process - the effect of a positive or negative experience

http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghanbiro/2013/12/08/5-tips-for-a-winning-candidate-experience/#!

This is an interesting article about the importance of the effects of the recruitment process. Research shows that the negative experience of a job applicant may have severe consequences for the company. What are your experiences/thoughts on this topic? Have you always even received an answer when applying for a job? How did this make you feel and what were your reactions?

Gift or Bribe ???

Gift or Bribe??

Here is an interesting article about this topic http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/33308.html.
There is a thin line between gifts and bribery.
It can be difficult to determine this line in foreign countries.
Do you know countries with special regulations regarding gifts and bribery?
What for example if you work at the purchase department and you get invited to visit a potential supplier, who pays your flight and a room in a 5star hotel?
What if he also offers you to extend your trip and relax 3 more days.....

Where do you think bribery begins?

As we discussed the issue of performance appraisal in today's class, I wondered how you'd think about such assessments? Have you had any good/bad experiences in your past, or discovered differences among different countries?

Here's an article that emphasizes the need of changing traditional performance appraisals while suggesting new ways of managing and assessing an employee's performance.

What do you think about the new keys to success as outlined in the article?
How do you personally think changes could look like (in Europe, Austria)?

http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshbersin/2013/05/06/time-to-scrap-performance-appraisals/

Ranking Employees: Most People Are Slightly Worse Than Average, With A Few Superstars

A new system to evaluate the efficacy of staff at Yahoo has led to increased moroseness and frustration among employees. The employee evaluation system recently implemented by CEO Marissa Mayer has apparently resulted in the firings of more than 600 people in recent weeks.
Along this evaluation system, managers are asked to rank their employees on a bell curve. Low performers, thus those having gotten lower scores and therefore being ranked at the lower end of the curve, are to be dismissed.

Yahoo's Latest HR Disaster: Ranking Workers on a Curve

As the article points out, many people have lost faith in the efficacy of ranking employees since employee performance does not follow a bell curve.
Moreover, while exerting a little ("healthy") pressure on employees can result in higher levels of motivation among staff, "constantly pitting employees against one another is terrible for morale."
Especially for companies such as Yahoo, being highly dependent on innovation and the creativeness of its employees, this could have a detrimental impact. Being afraid of scoring low in regular evaluations, employees are more risk averse and thus less innovative.

What is your personal opinion on Yahoo's most recent HR policy?
How do you feel about employee rankings in general, and what effects do you suggest might a direct comparison and pitting of employee performance against each other have on staff motivation and working morale?

Job satisfaction

Hey there!

I found an interesting article about job satisfaction, where it says that a bonus doesn´t have that much impact on motivation, they state that only 13% get motivated by it.

What do you think, which factors lead to job satisfaction? Are intrinsic or extrinsic motivation factors more important or is it better if there is a balance between those two.

I´m looking forward to hear your opinions!

Cheers
Tanja
http://uk.hrmanager.com/articles/share/88063/

Swiss pay referendum

Hi,

on sunday Switzerland will vote on wether to prevent earnings of a company's top managers to be higher than 12 times the income of the lowest paid employee.

http://www.businessinsider.com/switzerland-to-vote-on-executive-pay-law-sunday-2013-11

What do you think about this 1:12 referendum? Is it fair to limit the sallary of the highest paid employees or is it ok that a manager's monthly salary is higher than the annual income of low paid workers?
Is this proposed law a constraint of freedom for the companies and  can it harm competitiveness?

I am looking forward to your opinions!

Wired Interview Questions

In the last session we had to define a selection process.
There I came to several wired Interview Questions.

Would be interesting what you answer.
Feel free to be creative with your answers.

Dell asks: "What songs best describe your work ethic?"
Jiffy Software asks: "Have you ever stolen a pen from work?
Google asks: "How many cows are in Canada?
Kimberly-Clark asks: "If you had turned your cell phone to silent, and it rang really loudly despite it being on silent, what would you tell me?"
Zappos asked: "What superhero would you be and would you dress up at work given the chance?"
Gallop asked: "What do you think about when you are alone in your car?"

Clark Construction Group asked candidates for an engineer position: "A penguin walks through that door right now wearing a sombrero. What does he say and why is he here?"

Apple asks: "What kind of animal would you be and why?"
http://www.businessinsider.com/weird-interview-questions-from-apple-google-amazon-2013-9?op=1

Yahoo's Latest HR Disaster: Ranking Workers on a Curve

Hey y'all :)

There‘s a new scandal regarding Yahoo: Apparently, managers were obliged to rank employees on a bell curve and afterwards fire those at the low end. This was „in“ during the 1980s, but nowadays only about 5% of high-performing companies use a forced ranking system. 

A bit of pressure can motivate people, however being judged all the time can be bad for your motivation. 

What do you think about this method of judging and comparing employees to each other? Do you think this approach is motivating or shouldn‘t you try to rationalize people‘s performance like this? 

I would like to hear your opinion!

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-11-12/yahoos-latest-hr-disaster-ranking-workers-on-a-curve

Dear fellows,

As you might have heard, the career calling job fair took place in Vienna last Thursday, which is only one example of tons of similar fairs in Austria.
Maybe you visited one of those, and I am interested in your opinion.

Since a job fair provides its participants with the possibility of getting in contact easily with representatives of a large pool of national and international businesses, it seems as a successful trigger in order to build up your future career.

However, do you personally think that a job fair such as career calling is a good and, as the most important reason, an effective mode of constructing networks on the job market? Since we do not live in Utopia, we should be aware that statements like "oh you perfectly fit our team" has been said hundreds of times before to other visitors. Of course, such a fair is also for companies a pre-selection tool  of potential applicants, although it sometime seems as an alibi-interest the representatives pretend to have in their visitors. What do you think?

I just read one corresponding article in this manner which I would like to share with you.
Thx

http://www.examiner.com/article/job-fairs-pros-and-cons-for-seeking-employment

Women quota - will it become effective in the EU?

Hi guys,

in the link you can find a short statement about current developments about passing the woman quota in Europe.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/10378585/EU-quota-for-40pc-of-women-on-boards-moves-step-closer.html

According to this statement the legislation about it could be passed aftr the European elections in 2014, so already in some years four out of every ten management positions could be taken by women.

What is your opinion about the women quota? Do you see it from the positive point of view, that women are encouraged to take management positions?
Or do you rather see the negative side; e.g. positive discrimination?
Wouldn't it also be expensive for many European companies if this quota was introduced?

Looking forward to a discussion.

Lisa

Hi,

Please find attached the link to an article which was very attracting to me, since it deals with the attitude of young labor market rookies and the trend to rather start an own business instead of initially enter the labor market via the traditional way. Find the link below.

http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hro/news/1075315/global-entrepreneurship-week-young-people-develop-employ-attitude

I think a not insignificant portion of young people (15-20) need to improve their attitude regarding work, because my experience taught me that many of them quickly know much more about paid leaves and holidays rather than their obligations and objectives. In my opinion, this fact requires attention and provides some space for adjustments.

What do you think, what is right, what is wrong? Please share your opinion!

Thanks,
Michael

Why I left Google

Good afternoon everyone :)

On one of our lectures Niko mentioned article about lady who was very successful in Google but she decided to leave. Here is the link: https://medium.com/this-happened-to-me/c02f1ff471c6

She wrote "I was resisting because I would be giving up the safety and prestige associated with life as a Googler". From my point of view this is the biggest dilemma individual faces while making decision on leaving the job or staying.

I am interested to know what will you do?

San Francisco - The Family-Friendliest Place on Earth

http://www.geniushr.com/san-francisco-family-friendliest-place-earth/

Hi guys,

I just read that interesting article about a new law in San Francisco. It gives employees the right to request changes in their work schedule, location, assignment and working hours to care for a child, family member or spouse.

Sounds like pretty good news to San Francsico residents. But what about employers? They might not be so happy about this. And is it even realistic? Or do you think it could even have advantages for employers? Let me know what you think!

Job Crafting - can you make your job more meaningful?

Hey guys,

I hope all is well. As probably all of you remember, we shortly discussed ‘Job crafting’ in our last session and learned that it is a naturally occurring phenomenon whereby employees mold their tasks to fit their individual strengths, passions and motives better. I found a pretty interesting article which defines the expression of job crafting a bit differently. 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2013/06/20/job-crafting-the-great-opportunity-in-the-job-you-already-have/

Interestingly here the author states in an example that more and more people do far more than what is simply written in a job description, in the centre stands how our work affects others or whom it might benefit in the end, not the “me” but the “we” is the heart of job crafting. Shortly, jobs should be expanded to meet desires which make (hopefully) a difference. 

Have you ever thought about to what extent your tasks at work can do good things for others? Or is it all about your own interests like money/recognition/security? Is it even important for you how you relate to your work? 

Looking forward to our discussion!

Female-to-male management ratio across Europe is 29:71

Hi everybody!

I found an interesting article about the female-to-male ratio in executive management roles.
In Europe is it still 71% men and 29% women in such higher positions.
What do you think about this facts? What is your opinion on why it is still this way?

http://www.hrmagazine.co.uk/hro/news/1020893/female-male-management-ratio-europe-71-mercer

Job related work experience---what is that ???

Job related work experience---what is that ???
http://9gag.com/gag/aOq0ZpD

All of us know this expression in our faces when we read several job announcements, which require many years of job related work experience.
But how should we get them? With internships you are normally not able to get the required years of expertise.
How do you deal with this issue??
Do you think that employers are seriously demanding that much experience??
How would you argue at a job interview??

Online job board for people with disabilities

Hi there!

As I did my PTS at an Austrian online job board (careesma.at) in Spain, I would like to shortly present a very interesting initiative operated by this job board: CareerMoves.

I worked a lot with the team of CareerMoves, wherefore my interest in this topic increased day by day. CareerMoves is an online job platform for people with or without disabilities. The website is connected to the online job board Careesma, where Austrian companies can put job ads in order to find new staff. Careesma offers the possibility to implement the CareerMoves icon in a job ad to specifically address people with disabilities. Every company which decides to use these icons can then also find its job ads on careermoves.at. 

 

People with (any kind of) disabilities are asked to openly communicate their qualifications and limitations. The main idea is to facilitate the entry into the Austrian job market, as people with disabilities still face many problems.

Today, already more than 50 companies participate in this project, among others, Baumax, ÖBB, Thalia, Ikea or Mc Donald´s.

What do you think about this initiative? Would you recommend HR managers to implement the icon on job ads? Do you think the job board will further grow in the next years?

If you want to have a look at the homepage or at which jobs are offered, here is the link to the website: www.careermoves.at

As I am really convinced by this project I am looking forward to your comments on this topic!

Hello everybody,

i found another really interresting article. It is about a man who was fired from his job because of his age or an accident?? Yes i formulated this as a question as I want you to read the article and tell me afterwards what you think about it.

http://hr.blr.com/HR-news/Discrimination/Age-Discrimination/Was-76-year-old-employee-fired-due-to-age-bias-or-

-Steffie

Creating the best workplace on earth

(http://hbr.org/2013/05/creating-the-best-workplace-on-earth/)

Very interesting article that brings different perspective on how to create best workplace. What impressed me the most is this "when companies try to accommodate differences, they too often confine themselves to traditional diversity categories—gender, race, age, ethnicity, and the like. These efforts are laudable, but the executives we interviewed were after something more subtle—differences in perspectives, habits of mind, and core assumptions". We discussed topic of diversity not that long ago what do you think about that kind of approach? Personally I like it. 

Polina Svashenkova

Stress in Working Life

The attached article (unfortunately in German) is about stress in the working world and how companies can and should help their employees cope with it. Especially after the suicide of the Swisscom-CEO Casten Schloter, out of stress reasons, this topic came into the centre of attention. 

There are programms like the "health index" where employees fill out surveys, giving their employers and insight what workrelated stress they have. There are other attempts to solve the "stress problem". Volkswagen for example does not let any emails through to the Smartphones after working hours in order to prevent stress.

What do you think? Does the more and more interconnected workingworld cause more stress? Should one always answer the emails of a superior immediately, even at night? Also, what do you think can companies do to help people reduce the stress? Should there be a consultant, should every firm do it like Volkswagen, or is there also another approach?

http://www.zeit.de/2013/41/arbeitsplatz-druck-stress-schweiz

"The Internship"

I know that this is a bit offtopic, but yet, somehow it isnt :)
Has anybody already seen the movie "The Internship" or "Prakti.com" (as it is called in German)?
I watched it back in spring in the States and saw it again this week.
A nice movie about working at "Google" in San Francisco. And although it is "just" a movie, I think it is worth seeing. It gives a pretty good insight into google, the best place to work for and into diversity, team spirit and how interns are treated (does that ring a bell, dear fellows from the Russian course? *g*)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdnoqCViqUo

Title or Talent?

"By valuing a person's potential, drive and passion, and being prepared to invest in their development, both the employee and company will reap the benefits - whether they have a degree or not.", says the recruiting director of Phone4U, an independent mobile phone retailer in the UK.

How important are academic achievements? Is it nowadays, in this struggling economy with unemployment primarily affecting the young work force, indispensable for young people to have a degree (if possible from a highly recognized educational institution) in order to eventually overcome the hurdle of unemployment, successfully beat the competition and finally get a job?

Or is it something else (rather than a degree) recruiters should pay their attention to when having to sift through a vast number of applications to find their ideal candidate?

Is a Master's degree a guarantee for employees being able to put their studies into practice and being more productive? And does "academic achievement" equal "being appropriate for the vacant position" or should there, in fact, be more to the equation?

I personally share the opinion of Phone4U's recruiting director on the fact that sometimes it really pays off for companies to invest in the right development programmes in effort to train and keep young talents, regardless of their educational background. But what do you think - title or talent, what do employers benefit the most from?

Recruit qualities over qualifications, says Phones4U director of recruitment

The Swedish Working Culture

http://www.sweden.se/eng/Home/Business/Business-culture/

After accomplishing my internship in Sweden I am totally in fond of the Swedish Business Culture.
Everything is easy going, relaxed and there are almost no hierachies.

I have to say, the fact that there are almost no hierachies and that despite or because of this (alsmost) everything is working out well impressed me alot. The best thing about my internship was that even my opinions were valued and were as important as the opinions of all other colleagues.

Furthermore, as the article states, the work-life balance in Sweden is really good. No one is working over time and everybody can handle family and work at the same time.

What do you think? Could you imagine a workplace without hierachies, being only on first name terms with your boss and even your clients? Do you think something like this could work out in Austria as well? Or are we too much fixed on being formal and having someone "above" us?

The article shortly describes how the work life in Sweden looks like. I'm curious about your opinion!

Lisa

Religious expression in the workplace as a trigger for discrimination

Earlier our colleague Marlene Jabinger posted an article about the strict "Look policy" of the American company "Abercrombie&Fitch".
I found this article (http://www.hrmorning.com/abercrombie-fitch-look-policy/) which highlights a new fact about Abercrombie's look policy. Two muslim women filed lawsuit against the company due to religious discrimination. They were discriminated or even fired because they wanted to express their religious believes by wearing a head scarf while working. Looking back at the presentation of TNT by Mr. Neuwirth he also pointed out religion as an element of diversity (if you remember his anecdote about the muslim guy starting to pray with his carpet in the office and how he received a special room where he could pray 3 times a day during his working hours). I believe that the religious expression can be a huge trigger for discrimination in a company. Do you think people should stick to their work during working hours (ignore all personal habits like religious habits, etc) or should they be able to follow their religious beliefs also in the office? Would you be okay with your co-worker praying 3 times a day for 10 minutes? What's your opinion?

Diversity

Dear colleagues!

Since we had a very interesting lecture on Diversity Management on Monday, I would like to start a conversation about that topic. I found an article which states that it is important to improve Diversity in the workplace and it even gives some guidelines which strategy has to be used in order to get a variety of employees from diverse backgrounds. I would like to know what´s your opinion concerning Diversity at work, do you think companies even care about it or do they tend to ignore this topic?

I´m looking forward to your comments!

Regards

Tanja

http://guides.wsj.com/management/building-a-workplace-culture/how-to-increase-workplace-diversity/

A company's most valuable asset

Dear colleagues, 

I found this very interesting article which is called „Nine Ways To Keep Your Company's Most Valuable Asset -- Its Employees“ (http://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2013/08/20/nine-ways-to-keep-your-companys-most-valuable-asset-its-employees/)

The author compares the loss of an employee who leaves the company with the loss of a valuable asset. According to studies, replacing a key person costs between 70% and 200% of the persons‘s compensation.  

The author mentions that most of the retention strategies cost very little. Most of them are psychological, such as mentoring, having fun at work or having supporting managers and superiors. Hire the right people and leveraging the manager-employee relationship are other important factors. 

I personally agree with the author regarding non-monetary rewards. I think it can be much more motivating to have a good relationship with your work colleagues or to feel like your work is valued than simply get paid more. Moreover, the fact that you can progress in your job and that you are doing something useful are very important. 

However, I believe that all this can be motivating once you get a sufficient salary. This means that if you don't get enough compensation for your work efforts, even great non-monetary rewards won't be enough to create satisfaction.

What do you think, are non-monetary rewards more important for employee motivation than simply paying more? From your personal experience, what motivates you to stay with an organization?

Equal Pay Day --> Today

Related to yesterday's guest lecture, I visited the International Equal Pay Day Platform and had to laugh about this video: Global Equal Pay Day Campaign

I know, this issue is not a new one. In fact it is as talked to death as global warming and the unstoppable climate change. Nonetheless, it did not lose in importance. It is turly incredible that women still have to face the fact that they are earning less than men for the same work and effort.
Personally, I feel that there actually should not even be the need of never-ending discussions about this topic in the first place!

Thus, not to talk this explosive issue to more death (sorry for this "highly creative construction"), just watch the video and quietly grin to yourself about our conservative society and outdated way of thinking.
(If you would like to comment, however, please feel free to do so ;) )

PUMA SE

Hey all,

I was just thinking about my PTS again and I wanted to talk with you about something I think they are doing really well.

As many of you know, I worked with PUMA SE in Herzogenaurach in Germany. I was an intern there for 7 months in the PLM Kids Apparel Team.

In the company there were around 120 interns besides myself. I believe this is an amazing measure to on the one hand save loads of money and on the other hand giving over 100 young people the chance to work in an internationally successful company.
What is more is that PUMA is giving all of their interns the chance to keep on working in the company by storing their data in the internal database. I was really surprised when my two bosses told me that they have been interns before. And I also heard that from the head of HR, the headwear PLM, two girls from the marketing department and so on.. So in my opinion this is really a good HR measure. PUMA has so many interns from all over the world and if they have a vacancy they just contact the former interns that would be perfect for the job. And one more time it is a win win situation. PUMA gets an employee who already knows a lot about the company, the systems and already have social contacts in the company and the former intern has the chance of getting a fixed position in this really amazing company.

What do you think about this measure? Is it good to have a lot of interns you can turn to if you have a vacancy or do you think it would be better to also give people a chance who never worked with this company before as they might bring in something new?

I am curious to hear your opinions on this topic.

-Steffie

as we talked about diversity in todays presentation of tnt, i was thinking about one specific company that hit the headlines a few months ago: abercrombie & fitch and their "look policy".

the CEO of abercrombie & fitch, mike jeffries, a self-proclaimed fan of cool-kid elitism explains that - only "good-looking" and thin people get hired for his stores in order to attract other "good-looking" and thin people to shop there
- marketing is exlusively for "cool kids" 
- for men they offer sizes up to xxl (sporty and muscular guys "need" bigger sizes) whereas for women they do not offer bigger sizes than 40 because anyone who is wearing a plus size is not cool enough to shop at a&f

what do you think? is it ok to say what a brand actually stands for by discriminating "not-good-looking" people? who decides which person is good-looking or not?
before writing everything down which crosses my mind right now i end this post with the following statement of mike jeffries:

…we go after the cool kids. we go after the attractive all-american kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. a lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong.

http://msmagazine.com/blog/2013/06/03/abercrombie-and-fitch-cool-kids-and-corporate-bullies/

when you click on the link above you will find a funny video of Ellen DeGeneres (american tv host) - who addressed the a&f controversy on her talk show - it really pays off watching it!!!

employee incentive programs

Hi all,

I just read an article about employee incentive programs.

There are many possibilities to motivate employees besides simply paying more.

Personally I think the best incentives are these, where you are able to spend some time with your colleagues outside of the office. 

As all of us already worked for some time, what did you experience?

Which incentive would you like?

Which incentive would you offer to your employees or which ones you would not?

http://www.allbusiness.com/labor-employment/working-hours-patterns-flextime/14634979-1.html

Facebook and Co. - How do you handle it?

http://www.hrmtoday.com/talent/recruiting/don%e2%80%99t-snoop-on-recruits-facebook-profiles/

I know the topic isn't really new, but I stumbled upon this article and would be interested in how you handle this issue? Do you consider it when you post something (especially some party pictures etc.) on Facebook? And would you give your Facebook details to a potential future employee?

For me the topic is especially interesting, because a friend of mine has worked several times in an Recruitment Consultancy during the summer and one of her main tasks she told me about was to actually screen the Facebook profiles of all candidates they had. Even before the candidates were contacted and interviewed, the company checked their Facebook profile. So the posts and pictures were basically then the first impression they had from the candidate. And as you all know, the first impression is hard to revoke, even if it was just one stupid picture or anything like that...

Looking forward to your comments :-)

Go ahead and pay more

Recently I read very interesting article that highlights challenges and need of creativity in HRM (http://www.hrmtoday.com/featured-stories/go-ahead-and-pay-more/).

I agree with author, especially in nowadays economy, companies are in need for creative solutions in order to find ways on how to avoid waisting money on employees who do not perform well. Author suggests one of possible solutions. What do you think about his method? Will it work?

Also author discusses "managers fear factor". I found it interesting because it sounds very controversial on one hand companies are trying to save every penny but on the other hand when time comes to act managers fear to be disliked if they use "harsh" way. How do you feel

Forget Employee Engagement; U.S. Companies Need Passionate Workers

Here a pretty interesting article from Businessweek - The Management Blog

Employee engagement is a short-sighted remnant of the 20^th century management thinking. What companies need today, in a fast-moving globalized world, are workers who are truly passionate about their jobs. This, however, imposes a real challenge on today’s managers.

Research claims that passion is highly related to pay (and the role or position a worker has in the company). Workers, however, state that their passion – even though having been in existence once – simply evaporates as companies do not keep their promises and as they constantly have the feeling of having “one foot out the door” since employers are constantly reorganizing and restructuring. Why wasting passion on the job when you might not even keep it..

But what is actually the difference between employee engagement and a truly passionate workforce? Which strategies could companies implement in effort to, first of all, select workers who exhibit a passion for their job in the first place and secondly, keep them passionate of and inspired by their work? Is passion – rather than skills and qualifications – a better criterion according to which employees should be recruited? Do you personally think that new technologies and an appealing physical design at your workplace could encourage your passion about your job?

What are your personal experiences with “passion for the job”? Have you ever been inspired by an employment?

Generational tensions

Dear colleagues! Here I have another interesting article: As population is getting older, more and more workforce will be aged 60+. Amongst others, the article below deals with the question if the younger generation of workers sees this as a direct threat on their career progression. What do you think, isn’t it an important and integral part to learn from or share knowledge with experienced staff?

Also the nature of the workforce is changing over time. Besides new trends in technology, can you think of any other tensions which may arise between the so-called ageing workforce and Generation Y?

I am looking forward to your comments!

http://uk.hrmanager.com/articles/share/85059/

Future Office Synergies

Dear fellows,

I kindly would like to ask you to read through this article I found on today´s version of The Entrepreneur. 

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/227422

Dealing with the future office installations and organization, I personally think all of us might deal with this in the future career. 

I recently talked to my brother-in-law about a similar topic - he was delegated to come up with the office layout for a new subsidiary of a Russian bank in Vienna - and he explicitly mentioned his focus on some topics covered in the article.

What do you think about future´s workplace? What are your experiences on this topic during your PTS, was the office layout keen on sustainability and efficiency? And what do you think about the one-on-one meeting room approach of Mr. Bercy, the architect of Bercy Chen Studio.

Looking forward to your comment and highly appreciate your colaboration!

Michael

The Semco Way

Here I found a quite interesting way of organizing a company.

The Semco Way

Basically people work in small groups without titles. They can choose their working hours, working budget and their salary. They only get measured by their colleagues.

I know that this might sound very liberal and can not work with every company , but if a company has skilled and reliable employees it can be very efficient.

http://www.agreatsupervisor.com/articles/lessons.htm

Feel free to share your thoughts!
Do you think it could work?

5 benefits of using contractors

hey guys.
i found an article concerning the benefits of using contractors..
what do you think about this topic? do you agree or disagree with the author on the benefits??
and what do you think about using contractors in general?

in my opinion using contractors is really a benefit for a company. the benefit that is most important is the flexibility as every company needs to be flexible today and needs to adapt to the fast changing environment really quickly.
furthermore also the cost saving point is an important and really nice advantage of using a contractor. many companies put cost saving on top of their to-do lists today.
last but not least i think also the aspect of the contractor bringing fresh aspects to the company is important. the person is not bound to the company for a long time but is new to the company and therefore much more likely to see problems or challenges the company has to face.

so, what do you think about this topic? do you also think it is really beneficial to the company or do you think using contractors is a bad idea?

i am looking forward to your opinions :)

-steffie

http://www.hrmtoday.com/featured-stories/the-top-5-benefits-of-using-contractors/

The Role of HR in Expatriate Training

 

http://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/role-hr-expatriate-training-2854.html

As we have mentioned this topic shortly in class and I am really interested in going abroad, I found this article. If it makes sense or not, but when a company decides to send employees abroad, the HR department has a major role in this process. Beginning with the training and preparation in the home country, the most important part is the support within the country. If the whole family is going, things like renting, visa procedures, kinder garden and school for the kids, language training as well as regularly feedback-meetings in order to be able to react to certain issues as fast as possible.

I worked in China for a German car manufacturer and their were a lot of expats. In general everything was organized very well; like contracted housing- and Visa-agencies as well as a quaterly Expat-table, were current issues are discussed. Also an international kinder garden and a school with german speaking teachers is available.

What do you think about expatriate-assignments in general and the role of HR in this process?

I worked for a big company, but what about the small ones?

Looking forward to your contribution!

Markus