Consequences

EvilHRLady has a great follow up post to comments on 8 hours &lunch and HR Capitalist about overly family friendly workplaces.

She touches on one of my favorite topics---Choices and consequences. Every choice has some sort of consequence even if it is simply the "loss" of the road not taken. (Opportunity cost in economic jargon?)

Every day I say to the young offspring. "You are making your choice right now!"

They are beginning to get it---they choose to keep doing what they are doing at the moment (tormenting a sibling, jumping on the bed) and they will suffer the consequences. (cue evil laughter) It is usually enough to deter them.

Now I only wish that I could imbue the same conditioning in some decision makers who decide that simply choosing to change a policy or process in a vacuum can have some interesting consequences on an existing system.

"Ive decided to change the sick policy, we are changing the policy from an hours per hour accrual to an accrual that will accrue based on the lunar cycle and display in roman numerals!"

"You realize that it will take a wee bit of customization to do that, and since you chose to outsource all your system hosting and development it will probably take a few months to implement, test and put into production. Not to mention it will cost about 100K."

"Well, we've already published the policy"

"Good luck with that"

I wonder if a wooden spoon would work for them too?

Here's a bad choice in progress---I suppose overconfidence can lead to all sorts of interesting consequences.

Surveys

I was at a local Starbucks ordering a large regular coffee. I may have confused the barista: a non-complicated order and I was not on a cell phone while I ordered (don't own one).

I may be evil, with numerous flaws (my wife will corroborate), but rudeness* and self-importance are not among them.

Anyway, after I paid, the barista handed me the receipt with information on completing a customer service survey.

I like surveys.

I like designing them, I like reading them, I like completing them, and I even like analyzing them.

What I do not like is when well-meaning, but clueless management types decide to “do a survey” and do not consider what they are going to do with it once they get the results.

In the rare case they do ask me before they have written them and sent them out, my first question is: What type of reports/analysis are you looking to see once you get the results.
Huh?
Yep, that’s right, think about the final process first.

You know you are in trouble when you get a stack of returned surveys with all free form questions like. (yep, its happened more than once at more than one place)

Tell us how you like working for PEBKAC Corporation? ________________________

What do you think we could improve at PEBKAC Corporation?____________________

Instead of
I like working for PEBKAC Corporation: strongly disagree, agree, strongly agree, ambivalent

Then the next question, “When can we get an analysis of this?”

Define analysis---- Your only option is to get a list of the answers. We can sort it by question though.

Well, off to complete my Starbucks survey. There is a chance at a cash prize, but the price is supplying personal information on “where to send it”. Sorry, but you will have to buy that outright!

*Note to any potential HRIS converts---you really can't be rude as an HRIS person; never forget that you are a customer service provider. Therefore, one of your core competencies will be to master the art of passive-aggression.

Still here

My posting frequency is not what I was hoping, but we have been acquired and Ive been busy with the assimilation. (resistance is futile).

Hey, who knows, I soon might have PLENTY of time to post. (and play with the kids all day--- that doesn't sound so bad until they actually want to eat and have a place to live. Demanding little urchins eh?)

One of our SaS providers also was acquired so now I get to play "educate the account rep of the week" on how their own system works for us.

Nothing is more fun than telling someone how our setup works on their service and then having to do it again in a week or three when a different developer or whoever is assigned. (then again, it is job security!)

Fight or Flight

I apreciate the insight into HRIS / HRMS implementation. ....I would like to add my perspective to this.We have a Human Capital Management Software product - Adrenalin


Ok, your pespective is a sales pitch, but I can accept that---sales/marketing people have to make a living too, and they provide quite the entertainment for my EVIL questions when making me sit through a presentation or demo.

I sat through a 4 hour demo today and since I was in a good mood so I didn't draw too much blood, However, they did leave with their usual list of "Ill get back to you on that". Try bringing a tech person with you next time, (although I know why you don't)

My current favorite question: You've shown me quite an impressive array of features and eye candy, what are the biggest complaints you get from your users about what it can't do?

I am somewhat intrigued by the name of the product----Im not quite sure if a stress inducing hormone is the best choice, but then again, it does have the ring of truth about HRIS products.

The inevitable (but my second favorite topic) what kind of HRIS?

Although I am not an HRIS person, but as luck would have it my company is going through the motions of selecting an HRIS. The funny part is I am the person who is going to be on the implementation team from the HR side and I am very seriously thinking of moving into the HRIS side, since I also love technology and playing with new gizmos. What are your thoughts on different HRIS systems available in the market for a small (200-300 employees) company?

First, sorry for not addressing this sooner (Ill go into more detail in your email), but things have been busier than even I might like (and I don't like it when Im not overly busy--too boring). Second take a long introspective look and see if you have the evil antisocial soul that is such a core competency for HRIS. (I transitioned from finance so merciless evil was no big deal)

Quick answer:
My experience with HRMS/payroll implementations is for 10,000+ employees. It is the realm of the big players like Peoplesoft; ADP enterprise/peoplesoft; SAS; etc. Choosing from them is really a process of "who is going to charge me the least for the most features on my RFP and "what salesman lied the best to my senior management"

The smaller market for HRIS/payroll is out of my direct experience, but the same should apply.

Do you have an RFP? My last employer thought they were a waste and is still probably paying for that mistake. If not, do one, or get someone who does it for a living to do it for you (my recommendation).

Do you intend to own in house or asp? In-house is my preference, but for smaller employee populations, outsourcing may be the way to go since you may not have the IT infrastructure.
However, if you forsee many customizations or expansions, your cost savings can evaporate rather quickly.

Any other readers have any experiences with the smaller market?

It would be kind of neat to do HRIS for a small population (especially if all located in single state*), but then again, do many small operations actually have dedicated HRIS?

*California excepted

The Darkside of HR

I received a thank you note from an HR colleague for contributing towards a gift or some other thing I must have done in one of my less sinister moments.


I normally toss such things directly to the recycle bin, but considering the fact that I actually like this person (yet another weakness) I read it.


This quote caught my attention:


"I really look forward to the times when I work with you and the darkside of HR. "

I have some thoughts on why HRIS might be considered the darkside (other than my sarcastic tendencies giving it a bad name), but that's another post.

Busy, busy, busy

Aren't we all? :)

However, several projects have landed on my lap and being that time of year, our painfully low headcount in HRIS is even lower.

I'll try to post a bit more frequently, but it may be a week or four.

Coming soon---my favorite topic: turnover calcs and the people who misunderstand and misuse them.