Category Archives: HR

Farewell to 2023

Our last Business Practice Event (“BPE”) of 2023 was last week, on November 16th. We met for dinner and a presentation by the amazing Jess Hickey, where she walked us through the tricky realm of workplace harassment (she’s in the black jacket in the picture). We are grateful to Jess for sharing her knowledge and experience with us!

The Board of Directors for 2024 has been voted on, and the officers will be installed on December 12th at our holiday social. We’re looking forward to another awesome year here at SDA Seattle!

Getting ahead – getting promoted

We were delighted to welcome back Jess Hickey for another educational hour (Part 2 of our four-part program*). This time she talked about a framework for getting ahead and getting promoted. In a nutshell:

At work, make sure you act in a way that’s promotable. What qualities are important to your firm?

Of course, you should be good at your job. And you should be able to demonstrate that you can do the next bigger job.

Prove it! Show your employer you can take on new or different responsibilities, that you can master different skillsets.

Be easy to work with – be a good partner; respect others. Don’t be the Debbie Downer or Whiny William at work.

Build relationships, whether that means you make work friends or you get to know the company leaders. Look for sponsors in your firm, e.g., a mentor or someone who champions you.

*Stories They Never Told You About Business

  • Part 1 (March 17): What the Finance? How to pull all those financial tools together and run a business with them
  • Part 2 (June 16): Getting Ahead: Frameworks for Getting Promoted
  • Part 3 (TBD): BD doesn’t stand for Bad Drinks: Networking tricks and tips for even the most reticent of participants
  • Part 4 (TBD): Time Keeps on Ticking, Into the Future: Thinking about time as a tool rather than a captor

Ask What Motivates Them

SDA’s New York chapter hosted a roundtable “Let’s Discuss . . . Building Better Managers,” in which Omar Vega talked about how managers should not overlook the people aspect of the company.

 

Vegas said that performance is determined by three things: Ability, motivation, and opportunity.

 

·      Ability: The measurable skills, knowledge, behaviors, and attributes that are important to successful performance.

·      Motivation: The person’s desire to perform, whether it’s from within or from outside sources.

·      Opportunity: The chance to perform, to demonstrate they have the ability to do the job.

 

Motivation is a key component. Managers should have a sit-down individually with their staff and ask questions, and listen, to what truly motivates them.

 

With respect to staff, managers should also think about Return on Potential, rather than Return on Investment. Managers need to help their staff see where they want to be, and help guide them to where they want to be.

 

The best managers:

 

·      Let their team know why something is being done.

·      Help their staff see how they can use their strengths to add value to their firm.

·      Listen carefully, as learning goes both ways.

 

Bottom line: Focus on your staff’s strengths, and help them conquer any weaknesses they may have with training and encouragement.

 

Omar Vega is a Senior Associate and Director of Human Resources at Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners in New York.

Free resources just a click away

Did you know that BizLibrary offers resources to help you grow your knowledge and skills?  You can also find blog posts on its website, such as this one, with this catchy title:  4 Ways to Self-Promote Without Looking Like a Jerk.

Have you known anyone like that, where maybe you’re rolling your eyes thinking, “He/she is so full of him/herself!”

It’s hard for some people to change. If you know of someone that still sounds like a jerk when they talk about all their accomplishments, go ahead and share this blog post with them. Maybe it will help.

 

Deltek’s Clarity A&E Industry Report

The 39th Annual Deltek Clarity A&E Industry Report is ready, and Deltek has webinars for you to learn more about the data it has collected.

Register to attend one or all of their webinars.

More continuing education credits – only 5 months away!

SDA National is at it again! Here comes another EDConnect—a convenient way to get continuing education credits in all things A/E/C. It’s a three-day webinar conference that you and others in your firm won’t want to miss. Stay tuned for more details/registration.

Have you hugged your coworker today?

 If you’re in the habit of wanting hugs from your coworkers, or you know someone who is an office-hugger, you should read an article written by Aaron Goldstein (partner at Dorsey & Whitney LLP). It talks about how the Ninth Circuit ruled that hugging can create a hostile work environment. Also in the article are links to recent information from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) about workplace civility training.
Here’s the article.

I didn’t know that! Did you?

Speaker Peter Nohle (Principal, Jackson Lewis, P.C.) gave us an awesome overview of the new exempt/non-exempt overtime rules. We had tons of questions, and he answered all of them. Chapter member Stacy Walker shares her top three “I didn’t know that!” moments from that business practice breakfast.

  1. PTO. If an exempt employee exceeds their annual PTO benefits, it is not permissible to deduct the excess hours/wages from the employee’s paycheck.  Instead, it is proper to deduct the excess time from the following year’s benefit.  Exempt employees are not allowed to “purchase” additional leave through a payroll deduction.  An exempt employee may request a full (not partial) day off for personal reasons without using their PTO benefit, and in those cases it is allowable to deduct those wages from payroll.
  2. Travel Time Pay. Unlike most states, Washington State doesn’t have a “portal-to-portal” rule. There is flexibility for employers in how to handle this. The general rule in Washington is that the employee’s commute time from home to their first stop, and from their last stop to their home, is not compensated.  However, all travel from point to point between the first stop and that last stop is to be considered “work” time and be included in compensation calculations.  This is based on the practice of not considering an employee’s commute between home and office to be work time.  The speaker cautioned that whatever policy a firm decides to employ, it is wise to work with employees who are affected to try and avoid creating situations where those employees are likely to become disgruntled.  Should a disgruntled employee file a complaint, the firm’s entire employment practices can be under scrutiny even if the issue prompting the complaint is found to be without merit.
  3. Hourly Rate Calculations for Non-Exempt Employees. “Regular” hourly rates—not “base” hourly rates—must be used for overtime calculations, and need to include non-discretionary bonuses.  Payments that must be included in calculating regular hourly rates include awards, bonuses, incentives, commissions, travel expenses, shift differentials, and lump sum on-call payments.

So, now you know.

Marcia Petrie Sue’s fireproofing strategies

According to Marcia Petrie Sue, there are 10 things you should take personal responsibility for if you want to help safeguard your job. Whether you’re new to the workforce or you’ve been around for ages, these 10 tips are common sense items you definitely want to keep in mind. Check out Marcia’s top 10 here.

SDA presenter turned author continues the knowledge-sharing

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“That’s not in my job description,” said the HR director.

Whoa! You’d think that HR director would know that saying those words can sometimes ruin one’s career (or current job position).

We actually know the person (character) who said (wrote) that. It’s none other than one of our favorite presenters, Cheri Baker. If you didn’t know that Cheri is also an author, you’re in for a treat. She just rolled out her new ebook, “Orientation to Murder (A Katherine Voyzey Mystery)”. That’s book number 2 in her author career; her first was published in late 2013, “Involuntary Turnover (A Katherine Voyzey Mystery)”.

When Cheri is not writing about HR Director Katherine Voyzey, she is a consultant providing coaching and employee and leadership development to individuals and organizations. Having that subject matter expertise under her belt, you might think she’d get away from “teaching” in her mystery books and just let her readers feel the simple act of sitting back and enjoying a good read. Not entirely so.

You’ll still find golden nuggets of “how to be a good HR manager/director” throughout Cheri’s ebooks. But now you’ll be enjoying what you read (the mystery story) instead of feeling like you’re reading a dry list of how-to’s.

For example:

  • Even though you want to say “That’s not in my job description” at work, the underlying tip is, “Don’t say that out loud.”
  • An HR manager/director should always maintain a professional behavior (if you feel like cussing, don’t cuss out loud).
  • And privacy is just that. No talking about employees to other employees. Period.
  • A good reply to prying employees: “Sorry, I can’t (won’t) share confidential information about other employees.”

If you’re looking for an easy to read, interesting story on the life of an HR director and how she deals with staff at the hospital she works at (along with all the mystery stuff), you might want to check out Baker’s ebooks.