Q: What’s scarier than a haunted house?
A: A haunted warehouse that ends with Michael Scott pretending to hang himself, and then delivering an anti-suicide message.
Yikes!
Although I was a little disappointed that this week’s episode of “The Office” quickly left my favorite holiday behind and moved on to other themes, I was glad to find the main storyline totally hilarious and centered around one of my favorite animals — the koi. When Michael and Jim go out on a sales call, Michael clumsily tumbles into the client’s lobby’s large koi pond. He can’t hide his soaked suit when he returns to the office and soon becomes the butt of everyone’s jokes.
“I’m not usually the butt of the joke. I’m usually the face of the joke,” says Michael before calling the staff into the conference room for a meeting on sensitivity training.
“The most fundamental part of sensitivity training is that you cannot make fun of a person for something or some action that they have done that they regret,” he says. (read more…)
The 5 most-clicked links in SmartBrief on Workforce this past week:
SmartPulse — our weekly reader poll in Smartbrief on Workforce — tracks feedback from leading managers and HR practitioners. We run the poll question each Wednesday in our e-newsletter and feature analysis from Lance Haun, vice president of outreach for MeritBuilder, the main guy over at Rehaul.com and a member of the SmartBrief on Workforce Advisory Board on this blog.
Last week’s poll question: Does Generation Y get more attention in the workforce at the expense of other generations?
- Yes, 62.%
- No, 38%
“At almost every conference a person goes to, they hear about Generation Y and how to adapt to them. I have to wonder if by focusing so much on one generation, we lose sight of the fact that our job is to hire, motivate and engage our entire workforce as well. People on the tail end of the baby boomer generation will be working another 20 years.” — Lance Haun (read more…)
Kerry Noone, marketing communications manager at Sodexo’s Talent Acquisition Group, is among the dozens of great presenters at ERE’s #socialrecruiting summit in New York on Nov. 16, which is our featured event this month. SmartBrief on Workforce Senior Editor Mary Ellen Slayter recently spoke with Kerry about how employers can use social media to attract the best workers. An edited transcript of that conversation follows.
MARY ELLEN: A recent survey of SmartBrief on Workforce readers found that only 28% of their employers had even tried using social media for recruiting. What are they missing?
KERRY: Companies that are not using Social Media for recruiting are missing out on the opportunity to connect with candidates on a level that is new and exciting. They are missing out on the opportunity to improve their candidate experience and an opportunity for employment branding. Social media is mutually beneficial for employers and candidates. In addition to improving the candidate experience by connecting them with real people who can answer their questions, it allows the employer an opportunity to share with candidates their culture. (read more…)
Human Resources departments shouldn’t feel the need to make a big fuss over Halloween, writes Laurie Ruettimann. Workers shouldn’t expect HR to plan the party and HR shouldn’t feel compelled to set costume guidelines for people who want to dress up. ” If someone comes to work looking like a sexy goth cheerleader or a pimp, send that idiot home,” she writes.
- Don’t get spooked by Halloween
- Deciding when a digital signature is enough
- When to rely on LinkedIn for references
Image credit, tacojim via iStock (read more…)
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