Melina Murray

Managers and HR Pros.

Do you ever arrive at work with fresh bagels or muffins for your team/company “just because”?  

Have you ever surprised a hard-working team at 2:00 with tickets to a movie for all?

Perhaps you have just surprised them with a “It’s 2 pm, time to go home today.  Thanks for all your amazing work.”

As a manager, have you shared 24/7 duties with staff during the holidays so they can have family time too?

As an HR person, do you wander the office and talk to people?  Ask questions, learn about what they do, what they want?  (In a friendly way?)

Do you sometimes do things just to make someone’s day a little brighter?

This was news to me recently.  It has been a long time since I worked with a company with less than 10 people, so recently, when I needed to find health insurance for such a company, I was not too optimistic.

Then I got a surprise.  Some insurance companies are now offering affordable (yes, I said affordable) coverage to companies with 1+ employees.  

And- the cost is much less than COBRA.  Cool.  

I am finally back in the blogging world!  After a (too) long break due to extensive travel, I realized that not only have I neglected my blog, I have a lot to say.  So, I will start with non-compete agreements.  

I don’t like non-compete agreements. 

While I understand the premise behind them, I find them to be controlling, restrictive and detrimental to a person’s professional growth.  Companies come and go, they grow and shrink- especially in technology (and, well, banking these days).  Using the threat of not being able to get a job in the same industry to retain an employee is the worst kind of retention.  

In addition, many non-competes are written so broadly, it is almost impossible to figure out what kind of job with what kind of company is possible. And while very broad non-competes are generally thrown out in some states, the fact a person would have to sue (and pay for the suit) to find a comparable job is astounding.  And then there is the idea of enforcing a non-compete with a laid off employee.  I don’t get it.

While I am not in favor of non-competes in general, I do understand and appreciate the need to protect a company’s intellectual property.  There are other ways to protect the information, and there are ways to write a non-compete that doesn’t prevent a person from making a living doing what they do best in a place they can grow, enjoy their work and contribute to the company’s success (assuming that is not with their current company).

Today ends the SHRM 2008 conference. It was an interesting experience, my first.

On the volunteer side, I really enjoyed seeing some of the behind the scenes logistics. I have worked many events in the past and was impressed by the set-up and, more importantly, attitude of all the people I met/saw working on the conference. In addition, the people I met while volunteering were awesome.

As for the conference itself, I have to say one or two days would have been enough for me. I walked the show floor and talked to many, many people in about 3 hours. (then walked it again, trying to avoid gifts, bags, toys, etc) The rest of the time was spent talking to people in lines, at tables and other random locations. The variety of types of vendors was interesting. I was surprised to see network security and entry access system companies. However, in small businesses where the Office Manager handles both HR and operations, I can see how that may be valuable.

Something Laurie Ruettimann (PunkRockHR) said in one of her posts during the conference made me laugh and resonated with my own experience.

One woman asked me, “What do you do?”

I told her that I blogged about HR issues, and she told me that blogs make her nervous.

Another guy asked me what I’m writing about. I said, “HR stuff.”

He said, “What’s the name of your publication?”

I said, “Punk Rock HR.”

He said, “Yeah. Okay.” Then he walked away from me.

So much for networking!

I had a similar experience when talking to one of the executives from SHRM.  He walked up to introduce himself and was friendly until he asked who I work for.  I said “Myself. I have my own company and work with small businesses.”   He looked surprised, said “Oh. OK. Excuse me.” and walked away.  What a way to end a conversation.  

It seems the general demographic of the conference is mid-sized to larger businesses.  While I met a few small business HR pros and some independent consultants, the vast majority of attendees seemed to come from large companies.  Interestingly, I had to curtail my use of the word “blog” when talking to people as I was constantly met with blank looks.  Sad.

One of the things that surprised me most was that there was no filter or sense of privacy in many discussions.  Whether talking to people, or sitting next to someone on the phone, I learned so much about things I shouldn’t know.  Executive salaries, serious legal issues, layoffs, terminations (with names), etc. (and the company names)  If I were some sort of HR gossip columnist, this information would have been a gold mine. 

In the end, I am happy I attended- both as a volunteer and as an attendee.  Between meeting some amazing people and gathering little nuggets of information, SHRM 2008 was well worth it.

It is lunchtime at the SHRM conference and as I walk around, I am astounded by the number of people eating alone, not talking to anyone. I took a quick tour from outside all the way back to the very top/back to see if it was just some people. Nope. It holds true all the way through. I would say about 70% of those in the hallways, rest areas (sofas/chairs), outside, and in any public space are enjoying (or not) alone time. Not reading, not working, just eating. Those at tables were in groups, talking, enjoying themselves.

Does a table make it easier to talk to strangers? Are people afraid to sit together on the floor? Is there a perception that networking is only on the floor or during sessions? Is everyone already exhausted from the morning? Or is this group generally not very comfortable interacting with strangers? I wonder.