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Robin Throckmorton Articles

Written by: Robin Throckmorton

Recruiting 2011 – Are you keeping up? - Click To Read Article
Remember the days of posting a job in the newspaper or a magazine and then waiting for responses via fax? How about when you picked up the phone and called a competitor and asked the Receptionist to speak to…an Engineer? Do you remember tracking all your candidates in a large filing cabinet by name…or was it job title, “I can’t remember where I filed it?” It is amazing how times have changed and continue to change nearly daily, especially with the advent of social media and rapid improvements to technology. Like everything else, recruiting has and will continue to evolve over time.

Retention: How Many Employees Can You Afford to Lose? - Click To Read Article
Each year whether we are in a recession or boom, we continue to hear statistics ranging from 60 - 85% of our workers are actively seeking employment. Even during unemployment numbers of 10% following our latest recession, surveys say over 80% of workers are actively seeking their next job. Employers often find themselves in disbelief that these numbers apply to them, especially if they've been lulled into low turnover rates - UNTIL their best employees exit out the door right before the eyes. What are you doing?

Initial Marketing Strategies - Click To Read Article
Marketing is a critical cornerstone for any consulting practice. It is imperative to begin your consulting practice with a well thought out marketing plan. While there are many marketing tools and options, the backbone of your plan should include the development of your brand identity. With a clear-cut brand identity, you can successfully tackle the development of any marketing tool.

Employee Development...It's Back on the Radar - Click To Read Article
Robin Throckmorton, MA, SPHR and Cathleen Snyder, PHR discuss how companies have stopped providing employee development. Companies that survive tough times, often faced staff reductions - whether through reductions in force or attrition, budget cuts, restructuring and any number of measures to ensure the company lived to tell about the "Great Recession". You'll notice that nowhere in that statement was there mention of training, employee development, or rewards and recognition. For many companies, these areas have simply been off the radar. It's time to change this...

Are You Worrying about Retention During the Recession? You'd Better Be! - Click To Read Article
Is retention an issue for your company? Recently when I've asked this question of folks, their immediate response is a loud "NO" quickly followed by "employees are lucky to have a job right now. We don't have to worry about retaining them. They aren't going anywhere." In a sarcastic tone, I quickly retort with something like, if you were to lose a good employee right now, what would that turnover cost you? After they try to calculate it and get crazy numbers that are so far off base, I'll share the simple rule of thumb of 50 - 150% of the employee's annual salary. Can you afford that expense to hit the bottomline right now just to lose one employee? If that isn't enough to make you think about retention right now, let's talk a little more about the impact of losing even more employees when the economy picks up and the labor market is shor

Telecommuting A Common Workplace Solution - Click To Read Article
Telecommuting provides benefits to both companies and employees. In fact, it seems like the list of advantages far outweighs the disadvantages and just continues to grow. With the ease at which telecommuting can be implemented in the workplace, what is holding your organization back from at least considering telecommuting as a means to attract and retain your greatest asset – your employees? In this article, you will learn the advantages and disadvantages as well as how to set up a successful telecommuting program in your company.

How to Become a Strategic Partner - Click To Read Article
Since I teach a graduate class in Strategic Human Resources Management at the University of Cincinnati, I am often asked: “How can Human Resources become a strategic partner with top management?” There is no generic answer to this question because each organization’s culture is unique. Therefore, I typically answer people that ask me this question with a variety of options and help them identify which one is the most appropriate for their culture.

Cupid in the Workplace - Click To Read Article
Do you allow romance in the workplace? According to SHRM, 72% of companies surveyed have NO written policy regarding dating in the workplace. But at the same time, SHRM also found that 66% of the employees surveyed know of a relationship that developed at work. Has your organization addressed this issue? Where do you stand?

The Metrics of Recruiting - Click To Read Article
With the role of human resources shifting from service and administration to strategic planning partner, we need to take on more accountability for how we impact the success of the business. The biggest impact we can make is on the "human" resources the organization employs to maintain the business. Therefore, we must assess the quality and cost of recruiting and retaining these resources.

Succession Planning – Critical Business Planning - Click To Read Article
Does your company have a succession plan for your key positions? Why not? What will it take to convince you that you need one? The unexpected loss of a key player in that critical position!?

Mentoring – Winning Opportunities for Everyone - Click To Read Article
Mentoring can be an excellent retention tool for a company if implemented appropriately. It is a solution that meets the needs of many individuals of all ages and all levels in their careers. Plus, it provides a fabulous knowledge transfer as the older generations begin phasing their retirement.

5 Tips for Managing Generation Y - Click To Read Article
Have you finally realized that saying “because I said so” to that 20-something employee isn’t working? Are you ready and really willing to listen and change what you do to more effectively manage your young workers? Then let’s get started with some real solutions to managing the younger generation!

Individual Improvement = Organizational Improvement - Click To Read Article
If you could find a tool that would provide beneficial feedback to employees that would lead to performance improvement and bottomline results to the organization, would you take advantage of it? Many organizations have found such a tool and found many uses for it. For a number of years, this tool was viewed as a fad but it has survived that first impression and become a tool for organizational improvement. This tool is multi-rater feedback or 360 degree feedback.

Retention: Learn How You Can Create a Competitive Advantage for Your Company - Click To Read Article
There is no magical solution to business success or solving business problems; however, with a little time and money, many solutions are obtainable! The people are a company's most important resource-not a disposable resource to cut in economy downturns.

Performance Management: The Individual Strategic Plan - Click To Read Article
Performance management has become an ever-increasing critical tool to success for businesses. Within the last year we have experienced both a booming economy as well as a recession; a historically low unemployment rate combined with massive layoffs and business closings. But the bottom line to all of this is people! AND, we are human and as such are typically much more productive when we have clear goals, expectations, and feedback.

Guide to Quality Performance Reviews - Click To Read Article
Recently, Randstad's 2002 Employee Review showed that 92% of employees with regular performance reviews were satisfied with their manager or supervisor while only 72% of those with no regular reviews were satisfied. Repeatedly, we see supervisor effectiveness as one of the top reasons employees leave an organization. The cost of either an employee loss or just a loss in productivity from supervisor ineffectiveness could be very painful to the bottomline. So, if this statistic is true, do we really want 20% of our workforce to be dissatisfied with our managers simply because they do not have regular performance reviews? If not, then we need to provide managers with techniques and tools to make performance reviews less painful and more beneficial.

Developing a Strategic Plan for Your Consulting Business - Click To Read Article
Strategic planning is like creating a map for an exciting journey you are about to take. The map will help keep you on course if you start going in the wrong direction but it isn’t so stringent that you can’t check out different roads along the way. After seven years of consulting, this is exactly what my strategic plan has done for me. Each year, I map out where I am, where I want to go, and how to get there. During the year, my plan is a guide for what I should be focusing on as well as a resource to help me do a "check" whenever I am tempted by something new and different. Sometimes, I rewrite my plan based on changes (i.e. technology, client request, economy, emerging trends) but many times it has helped me realize what is important and make the right decision with various opportunities and threats to ensure my long-term goals are met

Biases, Prejudices...Do They Still Exist In You? - Click To Read Article
As human resources professionals we are faced with a variety of employment related decisions on a daily basis. As no shock to each of us, we see biases and prejudices whether hidden or overt that affect these decisions STILL today.

Winning Opportunities For Everyone Through Mentoring - Click To Read Article
Mentoring can be an excellent retention tool for a company if implemented appropriately. It is a solution that meets the needs of many individuals of all ages and at all levels in their careers. In addition, mentoring provides a fabulous way to transfer knowledge as the older generations begin phasing in their retirement.

Social Media: Risk or Reward – What Can HR Do? - Click To Read Article
Social Media can be a double edge sword for a company. According to a survey conducted in 2009 by Russell Herder and Ethos Business Law, 81% of the respondents view social media as a corporate security risk. However, if a company chooses not to participate in social media, they run the risk of being perceived as being behind the curve. In order to prevent the security risk and the perceptions, it is up to HR to take the lead and determine how to effectively manage social media in the company.

To Outsource or Not? That is the Question! - Click To Read Article
With human resources departments getting leaner and leaner, yet they are still expected to do more and be more strategic, is human resources outsourcing the answer?

Together We Can - Click To Read Article
After the events of September 11th, we saw individuals throughout the United States and the world come together as one - red, white, and blue. The differences in our personalities, race, gender, nationality, religious beliefs, etc. still existed but our very diversity became a way to show the terrorists that we are all different in many ways but still unite as one - red, white, and blue! Wouldn't it be nice if we could harness that same energy in our companies so that we worked together as one (but without the tragedy)? You can!!!

There is a Storm Brewing - A Labor Storm - Click To Read Article
How long will this storm last? Have you prepared? Do you have an umbrella? Are you ready to head for the basement when the sirens roar? Unfortunately, we don't have the technology to literally see the future. So, we must depend on studies and the research of futurists to be our crystal ball. We know a labor storm is brewing but we just don't know how intense it is going to be.

The Gen Y Recruitment Solution - Click To Read Article
Learn how to attract and retain the nearly 80 million young and eager professionals-known as "Gen Y," which are said to be, "the most demanding generation in history".

Strategic Planning...Goal Setting...Are You Still on Track? - Click To Read Article
Do you remember how much time and energy you put into setting goals for yourself and/or your business earlier this year? Do you even remember what those goals were? What actions have you taken toward accomplishing them? Each year, January 1 is a milestone that forces me to establish both my personal and business goals for the year. Whether you have a strategic plan for your business/department or personal goals/resolutions, it is exciting and motivating to set them but very easy to put them on the shelf and forget about them until next year. According to research by Tom Terez, only about one in five individuals make a resolution each year AND actually keep it. Why do so few actually realize their goals?

Succession Planning - Your Operational Necessity - Click To Read Article
Robin Throckmorton, MA, SPHR and Patti Dunham, MBA, MA, SPHR work together to share different perspectives on succession planning. Will their information help drive your organization to finally take succession planning serious?

Retention: What Can I Do? - Click To Read Article
Has the market turned on us? Are we actually in a recession? Then why is retention still such a huge issue for all of us? This is one of the most amazing economic states that we have experienced in quite some time. Although there has recently been a huge number of layoffs, there is still a labor shortage. This means that companies are still battling the retention issue. But, we are all quickly learning that having an effective retention program is the right thing to do in any economy because it provides us with a competitive advantage.

Recognition and Rewards: Who’s Got the Time These Days, Not to Mention the $$$? - Click To Read Article
With statistics, such as Salary.com’s February 2009 survey reporting that 68% of employees are actively looking for new jobs NOW, HR needs to find a way to retain workers before the economy regains strength and they jump ship. A report by the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD) identified employee recognition as a key factor in retaining top performing workers. Employee recognition seems simple enough…knowing this, what’s holding us back from firing this magic bullet? Is it time? Is it money?

Part 2: Is This a Solution to Help You Become More Strategic? - Click To Read Article
Business changes come as waves gathering shape, gaining energy and momentum, then crash across the companies that find themselves in their path. Those companies that anticipate and respond quickly to these waves of change can often rise with the tide; those that don't are often crushed on impact." - Michael F. Corbett with Corbett & Associates, Ltd. In our Emerging Issues in HR article last month, I presented you with the steps involved in deciding whether or not outsourcing is a solution for your organization to consider: Step 1: Create a Team Step 2: Conduct a Process Review Step 3: Review Strategic Plan Step 4: Identify Core Areas Step 5: Decide What to Outsource If you moved to Step 5 and still felt outsourcing may be a solution for you, you then decided what you may want to outsource...

Preparation: The Key to a Successful Interview - Click To Read Article
The success of an interview does not rest solely on your performance in an interview but also how well prepared you are. If you are well prepared, you will present yourself in a very confident and professional manner because you will be much calmer and better organized. Plus, you will have a better chance of obtaining the necessary information to make an effective decision about the company and position.

New Year's Resolution: Survive the Economic Fallout - Click To Read Article
Times are tough for some folks…Everyone is being affected by the now historic economic upheaval in a different way. While some acknowledge a definite impact on their business operations, others don't seem to be impacted that much at all. It's this diverse reaction to the downturn which will probably be good for all of us in the long run. Unfortunately, the messages of hope are not as interesting to report about in the news and everywhere we turn we hear negative reports about the economy, unemployment, foreclosures, and the list goes on. It's time to think postive and make some changes for ourselves and our business...

Networking: The Key to Successful Marketing - Click To Read Article
Nearly every marketing opportunity requires strong networking skills to be successful. However, even the word networking can be intimidating. But, do we understand the value that can be gained by networking? Do we always do the appropriate preparation prior to and following a networking event? Let’s discuss networking in more detail and how we can tie it into marketing for success.

Is This a Solution to Help You Become More Strategic? - Click To Read Article
"Business changes come as waves gathering shape, gaining energy and momentum, then crash across the companies that find themselves in their path. Those companies that anticipate and respond quickly to these waves of change can often rise with the tide; those that don't are often crushed on impact." - Michael F. Corbett with Corbett & Associates, Ltd. This quote from Michael Corbett really hits home for most of us as we deal with different business changes each day. I know there are many days that I feel like the guy standing one step ahead of the wave ready to crash. The key is we need to stay one step ahead (more would be better) in order to succeed and thrive in the business world. We have to be ready to embrace change and always be charging forward as proactively as possible. In this article, I want to help you evaluate a spe

Is Your NETworking? - Click To Read Article
Many of us would immediately answer yes to the question "Is Your NETworking?" But do you realize what networking really is? Do you understand the value that can be gained by networking? Do you do the appropriate preparation prior to a networking event? Do you follow-up after meeting a potential network contact? What are some resources available to help promote your networking opportunities? Let’s find out...

Greener Grass!? Counter Offer!? -How Will You Be Impacted? - Click To Read Article
Counter Offer attacks of the Labor War.

Generation Why? Because We AREN'T YOU! - Click To Read Article
I was blessed this summer to have the best experience ever with a summer intern, Kristin Kaminski. We shared many stories about the generations in the workplace but I'm here to tell you that all the stories you hear about the Gen Ys are fairy tales that should be placed in a bedside book for humor rather than told in a management 101 class. Together we will share our expertise on the Gen Y generation in this article on Generation Why? Because We AREN'T YOU!!! What should be taught in the management classes about Gen Ys is they are misunderstood and being managed inappropriately. Let me tell you why...

FUSION: A Six Step Solutin to Handling Conflict Across Generations - Click To Read Article
Together, Robin Throckmorton, MA, SPHR and Linda Gravett, PhD, SPHR share their expertise about conflict around work ethic and work methods, which are the primary sources of conflict in today's workplace even if you are a small nonprofit or a large Fortune 500 corporation. Plus, there are many other sources of conflict ranging from work-life balance issues, loyalty, respect, career choices, technology capabilities or availabilities, dress code to name just a few. The conflicts themselves are the feeder but the impacts they can have on the workplace are more crucial - miscommunications, decrease in morale, increase in absenteeism, increase in turnover, loss of productivity, or loss of customers. We don't, however, have to accept conflict in the workplace and these potentially detrimental impacts as the norm.

Exercise: The Natural Work Stress Reducer - Click To Read Article
Do you ever feel stressed? Nahhhh...none of us do, right? We don’t get stress headaches or have problems sleeping or get overly tired. We don’t even get those tense muscle pains in the back of our neck, shoulders, or back. And, we never ever get depressed or edgy, right? But do you realize that these are all symptoms of stress and if you don’t try to manage your stress it could lead to even worse problems such as high blood pressure, ulcers, heart attack, or damaged relationships? What’s the best solution for stress? Exercise! Together, Robin and her co-author Linda Gravett, PhD, SPHR will share insight from a workshop they do titled Martial Arts Strategies for Managing Stress.

Diapers to Dentures: Who Is Managing Who? - Click To Read Article
Making the younger boss/older worker relationship work.

Do You Deserve a Salary Increase? - Click To Read Article
Because of the recession that began in 2001, many employees have sat idle in their jobs with no salary increase or even a salary reduction for a number of years. However, within the last year or so, things have been changing and employees have been getting salary increases again. If you aren't, why not?

Communication: What’s the Best Way? - Click To Read Article
We are experience many different communication challenges in our workforce everyday given the different communication styles of each of the generations in the workplace. Is one generation’s style more correct than another? Is there one communication style that is better than another? It depends…on the people you work with, the clients you interact with and the culture of your company. As part of our research for Bridging the Generation Gap, Linda Gravett, PhD, SPHR, CEQC and I asked 500 individuals in each of the generations what their preferred communication method was in order to learn more about the different communication styles. We quickly learned there were definitely preferences based on the generations.

Can Your Business Succeed Tomorrow? - Click To Read Article
Learn how to prepare to handle the loss of a key player in your organization. We all know what positions are critical to the organization and that we need to have a contingency plan or succession plan in place to minimize the impact of the loss.

A Fresh Start - Click To Read Article
There is no magical solution to solving your business problems. But, I will share a nugget of information with you that would help ensure that your company could obtain a unique competitive advantage. Many of these solutions will only cost you a little time and a minimal amount of money.

A Day as a Gen Y Imposter - Click To Read Article
A conversation between Linda Gravett, PhD, SPHR (a Baby Boomer) and Robin Throckmorton, MA, SPHR (a Gen Xer) as they remember the day they did a presentation. This was not a normal presentation. On this day, Linda dressed the part of a Gen Y and Robin dressed the part of a Radio Baby Imposter. In the article they share their feelings and impressions as they deliver a training in the shoes of another generation.





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